Future of LVDCWA

This may be the last post on this blog.

As you may know, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and Lehigh Valley Alliance on Aging has decided to discontinue leadership of the Lehigh Valley Direct Care Workers initiative, including maintenance of this blog.

This is a decision based on practicality and focus rather than budget.  United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and I still believe in the value of supporting the retention and recruitment of Direct Care Workers. In fact, the recently developed United Way strategic plan framework reaffirms the need for supportive services to help older adults remain in their homes, but seeks to increase actual services in other strategies.

As you may know, United Way stepped in to financially support LVDCWA after the Better Jobs Better Care demonstration grant ended, nearly two years ago, at a cost of nearly $40,000 each year for the past two years. We tried a number of strategies to make the project successful, including one-on-one discussions with local managers, this blog, conferences and speakers at the monthly meetings.

Despite our efforts, we were unable to secure large numbers of members and attendees, making the project costs per person very expensive (over $1,000 per person) and our return on investment very low.

We are currently in the process of informing current members about the decision.  Some members have expressed a desire to maintain the association on their own.  At the current time, Terry Rives is collecting a list of interested parties.  If you are interested in participating in the Lehigh Valley Direct Care Workers Association moving forward, please contact Terry at terryrives@gmail.com.