Recognizing Innovations in Mental Fitness Programming for Older Adults

Application Process for 2012 is now CLOSED.

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

The ASA-MetLife Foundation MindAlert Award program recognizes innovative mental fitness programs for older adults developed by nonprofit organizations. Based on the program focus and the population it serves, MindAlert Awards are available in the following three categories:

1.  Lifelong Learning/Third Age educational programs
2.  Mental Fitness Programs for the general population of older adults
3.  Mental Fitness Programs for early stage cognitively-impaired older adults  

Each Award winner will receive:

• A cash award of $1,500
• One complimentary Aging in America conference registration
• A one-year complimentary membership in ASA
• The opportunity to present a program at the National Forum on Brain Health, held in in conjunction with the 2012 AiA Conference 

Click here to learn more about the MindAlert Program, Sponsored by the MetLife Foundation

Winner of the 2011 ASA MindAlert Award Sponsored by the Metlife Foundation: 

Joining Elders with Early Learners (JEWEL)

The American Society on Aging, in collaboration with the MetLife Foundation, is pleased to announce that the Joining Elders with Early Learners (JEWEL) program was selected as winner of the 2011 MindAlert Award.

The JEWEL is an intergenerational program, a product of collaboration of My Second Home of Family Services of Westchester and the Mount Kisco Child Care Center. The program was founded in 1998 in Port Chester, NY. My Second Home is a social model adult day program that provides a safe, nurturing and home-like environment for older adults. Eighty-seven percent of participants have some degree of cognitive impairment from mild memory loss to dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

The JEWEL program brings older adults from My Second Home and children from MKCCC together at their shared site on a daily basis through both structured activities and informal interactions.  An Intergenerational Coordinator works with staff of both agencies to design activities that are developmentally appropriate and meaningful such as reading, arts and crafts projects, exercise and recreation, baking, picnics, gardening, music or simply chatting.  Program evaluations have shown  that older adults in the JEWEL program demonstrate  improvements in cognitive functioning, socialization and expressiveness.  More than ninety percent of caregivers noted a positive change in their older adult family member or friend after attending the program including an increase in self esteem and self-worth.  The program was awarded an Intergenerational Shared Site Best Practices Award in 2008 from MetLife and Generations United and was recently selected as one of eight programs nationally in the Alliance for Children and Families New Age of Aging report, “Impact and Innovation:  Effective Models and Practices in Serving Older Adults.”

The JEWEL program was honored during the National Forum on Brain Fitness, held on April 27th, 2011 in San Francisco, CA in conjunction with the Aging in America Conference.