Earlier in 2015, the White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) launched a series of regional forums to provide input and ideas for the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, which will take place on July 13 in Washington, DC. The forums, which are by invitation only, are designed to engage with leaders in the field of aging, older adults, their families, caregivers, and others on key issues affecting older Americans.
Lutheran Services in America (LSA) announced it has been invited by The Annie E. Casey Foundation to participate in the Provider Exchange®, a network of child welfare providers that commit their work to improve the lives of children and families. The LSA cohort of providers will create evidence-based practices and outcomes-guided programs to improve the well-being and lives of at-risk youth and families across the United States.
LSA was well represented at the White House, Partners in Health: Aligning Clinical Systems, Faith and Community Assets, held on April 15-16 at the Eisenhower Executive Office.
On Monday, March 23, LSA President and CEO Charlotte Haberaecker took part in a White House Conference on Aging listening session focused on Healthy Aging. The meeting was hosted by Julian Castro, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as several key officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Assistant Secretary for Aging/Administrator of the Administration for Community Living Kathy Greenlee, and White House Conference on Aging Executive Director Nora Super.
With more than 100 LSA members serving children, youth and families in 33 states across the country, the LSA network has a dominant national child welfare presence. The Children, Youth and Families Community of Practice comes together to learn from and with each other to transform the well-being of vulnerable youth and their families by continuing to improve current care practices, develop new and innovative solutions and encourage practitioner informed policy decisions. At the 2015 LSA Annual Conference several members of the Children Youth and Families Community of Practice began working with Sara Morrison from the Center for the Study of Social Policy. A second session, made possible by a grant from the Lutheran Services Children Endowment (LSCE), is planned for June 25th in Washington, DC.
With over 100 LSA members serving children, youth and families in 33 states across the U.S., the LSA network has a nationwide footprint in child welfare. LSA members provide a broad range of services from foster care and adoption to counseling, housing, health care, mental health care, early childhood education, charter schools, alternatives to detention, Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) foster care programs, and programs for youth aging out of foster care.
Lutheran Services in America (LSA) has announced the establishment of the LSA Disaster Network to build partnerships and obtain additional resources for Lutheran social ministry organizations active in disaster services. The LSA Disaster Network will leverage the experience, expertise, and national footprint of LSA member organizations to increase members’ ability to help local communities prepare, respond and recover from declared and undeclared disasters. LSA organizations are actively involved in disasters large and small; from recovery efforts in Super Storm Sandy to flooding in the rural communities of North Dakota.
Attention continues to be given to the influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) crossing the borders into the United States. This year, more than 60,000 refugee minors are expected to enter the U.S. from Central America and other regions, and that number is expected to double in 2015.
With more than 100 LSA members serving children, youth and families in 33 states across the country, the LSA network has a dominant national child welfare presence. LSA members provide a broad range of services from foster care and adoption to counseling, housing, health care, mental health care, early childhood education, charter schools, alternatives to detention, Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) foster care programs, and programs for youth aging out of foster care. In the past year the LSA Children, Youth and Family (CYF) Working Group was formed to focus on youth aging out of the foster care system and how we can work collectively as a network to address the challenges and opportunities inherent with this issue.
The Post-Acute Care working group was established in response to the unprecedented changes underway affecting senior services. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act, technological innovations, changing reimbursement methods, changing relationships with hospitals, new partnerships, and new emerging players in the industry are causing dramatic changes in payment models and care models for post-acute care providers. Formed earlier this year, the working group brings members providing post-acute care together to identify strategies and to collectively to respond to the emerging trends in the post-acute care market.
