The National Council on Aging (NCOA), the national voice for every person’s right to age well, has been awarded a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) to establish a new capacity-building center to support the nation’s direct care workforce.  

Under the 5-year grant, NCOA is leading a coalition of organizations to develop and deliver core competencies and professional development for direct care professionals whose work enables older adults, people with disabilities, and their families and caregivers to lead healthy and independent lives. 

NCOA is leveraging the strengths of these national partners: 

• National Alliance for Caregiving, which recognizes friend and family caregivers as key partners in ensuring person-directed care 
• National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, representing 55 disability councils across the U.S.
• The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, which works to elevate the status of direct support professionals by improving practice standards, promoting system reform, and advancing their knowledge, skills and values, through certification, credentialing, training, professional development, and accreditation services 
• National Council on Independent Living, which advances the disability-led Independent Living Movement to expand the capacity of Independent Living Programs to enhance the human and civil rights of all people with disabilities
• National Governors Association, which is the voice of the nation’s governors and a leading forum for bipartisan policy solutions 
• PHI, the nation’s leading authority on the direct care workforce, promoting quality direct care jobs as the foundation for quality care
• Social Policy Research Associates, which works on public and philanthropic efforts designed to improve people’s health and livelihoods
• The Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, which improves policies and practices to ensure that all children, youth, and adults with disabilities contribute to their communities of choice
• The Paula J. Carter Center on Minority Health and Aging at Lincoln University, a historically black college/university and key contributor to knowledge of the intersections of aging and disability on minority health