Grant Years
2024,2025
Program Strategy
social mobility
Location
New York City, NY
The Challenge
As New York City’s population ages, countless older adults are increasingly vulnerable and in need of support.
the solution
how it works
Search and Care relies on 90% private funding, which presents a significant challenge to sustain each year. Unlike agencies that depend on unpredictable public funding, and are often required to assign social workers caseloads of 60–65 clients, Search and Care intentionally keeps caseloads to 45 or fewer. This allows them to provide home-based, personalized, and truly comprehensive care. Thanks to private support, they avoid a “one size fits all” model and instead care for each older neighbor as a whole person. Their individualized care plans go beyond crisis intervention, addressing both immediate and emerging needs to help clients maintain safe, independent lives in their own homes.
Social workers and care managers act as sounding-boards, advocates, and surrogate family by providing fee-free, personalized, comprehensive care to address the urgent, emerging, and future needs of vulnerable older New Yorkers. They also assist with enrollment in SNAP, Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, and other benefits.
Escorts accompany clients to appointments, stay for the duration, and assist them back home. Since many clients are frail, suffer from vision problems, and/or are fearful of going alone, this service helps to ensure in-person health appointments are kept.
A Community Nutritionist helps design personalized meal plans, provides individual and/or group nutritional counseling, and offers access to an Emergency Grocery Fund, ensuring clients are able to eat nutritious, culturally appropriate, and enjoyable meals to prevent food insecurity.
Through the Money Matters program, bilingual financial social workers help clients feel more financially secure by assisting them with bill payment, budgeting, debt management, and helping them avoid exploitation.
This program supports the companion animals of older adults so that they age in place alongside their guardians. In certain instances, the cost of pet food, supplies, grooming, transportation and vet care are covered. This program utilizes PAWS NY (another Carte Blanche Organization) for volunteer walking and fostering.
Offering one-on-one assistance and group workshops, the Silver Circles program teaches older adults how to use their devices; computers, tablets, smartphones for email and video-conferencing, to helping them become proficient with telehealth apps such as MyChart.
impact