Creativity & Innovation
Generating fresh ideas and new ways of doing things can help senior nutrition programs as they navigate challenges and work to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world, from public health emergencies to meeting the needs of a new generation of older adults. Discover how programs across the country are identifying innovative and creative practices to improve services, diversifying funding, and improving the health of recipients.
Briefs
- No Reservations Required: Establishing Restaurant Partnerships in the Age of COVID-19 —
Considerations for restaurant partnerships - Sullivan Senior Center's St. Patrick's Day Grab & Go — Socially distanced activity serving meals
- Connecting Home-delivered Meal Participants to Remote Evidence-Based Programs— NCOA article on organizations' success in pairing meals, clinical services, and evidence-based programs
Quick Guides
- Recipe for Success: Dining Options (YouTube)— Bite-sized video reviewing various service delivery options
- Recipe for Success: Grab-and-Go (YouTube)— Bite-sized video with tips on implementing this option
- Innovation: Part Discipline, Part Creativity, All Possible — Four basic steps
- Choice Menu Quick Guide — Increase participation by offering choices
- Sample Choice Menu — Examples of how choice menus are offered by four different programs
Guides
- Iowa Cafe Guides
- Iowa Cafe Guide for Partners — Example restaurant partnership guide designed to help foodservice establishments partner with AAAs
- Iowa Cafe Guide for AAAs — Example restaurant partnership guide designed to help AAAs partner with foodservice establishments
- Guide to Working With Restaurants and Grocery Stores for Meals — Guidance in partnering with food retailers to maintain competitiveness, provide high quality meals, and offer increased meal choice
- Social, Mental, Emotional Health Coloring Pages — Activity guide
Tools & Toolkits
- Senior Nutrition Programs: Restaurant Program Toolkit — Key features of restaurant programs, how to create them, and promising practices for implementation and sustainability in one kit from the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center
- Behavior Design Toolkit— CDC toolkit for applying behavioral design strategies to help guests make healthier choices at the meal site
- Sharing Our Space— Resources for developing and enhancing intergenerational sites from Generations United and the Eisner Foundation
Presentations
- Network Spotlight
- Giving People a Reason to Show Up (YouTube)— Eight-minute Network Spotlight about being able to provide and drive a nutrition program based on what older adults ask for
- Thinking Outside the Box With Meals On Wheels (YouTube)— Ten-minute Network Spotlight on creative ideas to incorporate into home-delivered meals and community outreach with George Larson
- Innovation in Nutrition Grant Model B (Encore Cafe) Replication Call With Original Grant Recipient (YouTube)— One-hour overview of the project and guidance from original grant recipient
- Keeping Things Fresh (YouTube)— Six-minute Network Spotlight about serving fresh meals with self-grown produce in Wisconsin
- Senior Center Without Walls Model (YouTube)— Five-minute Network Spotlight about delivering meals and activities for older community members in and by the community
- Serving Frozen Home-delivered Meals (YouTube)— Three-minute Network Spotlight on how changing to frozen meals made positive impacts for the Orange County Office for the Aging (New York)
- Adding Breakfast to Benefit Participants (YouTube)— Six-minute Network Spotlight on how Meals on Wheels Atlanta provides breakfast boxes to meal participants
- Meal Site Environment: Institutional or Innovative — Ideas and tips to optimize the meal site environment and improve overall participation
- Increasing Participation (YouTube)— Joint twenty-five minute webinar with NCOA Modernizing Senior Centers Resource Center on increasing participation in meal programs
- Revamp Your Congregate Meal Program Series (YouTube) — Four-part series hosted by ACL’s Senior Nutrition Program that aims to help local programs increase congregate meal participation and expand community reach
- Power Up Your Congregate Meal Program Series (YouTube) — Three-part series hosted by ACL and NCOA about the congregate meal program
- Enhance Hospitality — Tips for enhancing atmosphere and hospitality in congregate meal programs
- Offer More Choices — Easy ways to increase menu and meal choices
- Updating Programming To Attract Baby Boomers — Example program models
- Making Your Meal Program THRIVE (YouTube)— One-hour webinar on a University of Arizona Center on Aging project focused on ensuring emotionally safe, supportive, and inclusive environments, with accompanying Making Your Meal Program THRIVE Slides
Reports
- Implementing a Community-Based Initiative to Improve Nutritional Intake Among HDM Recipients— LifeCare Alliance study that dives deeper into providing autonomy to older adults when it comes to selecting home-delivered meals and awareness of health complexities.
- Strategies for Implementing the interRAI Home Care Frailty Scale With Home-Delivered Meal Clients— LifeCare Alliance study focused on HDM staff implementing a standardized frailty instrument with clients on a consistent basis.
- Reimagining Cross-Sector Collaborations Post-Pandemic to Optimize Care for Vulnerable Homebound Older Adult Populations— Interfaith Ministries study on stakeholder collaboration to meet the needs of vulnerable older adults during the pandemic.
- Long Term Support Referrals to Enhance Food Security and Wellbeing in Older Adults: Texas Physicians and Nurses on What Works— Texas Congregate Meal Initiative study on viewpoints of TX physicians and nurses in regards to decline of congregate meal programs and community-based referrals for older adults.
Resources
- Food Trucks
- Food Truck 101 for Senior Nutrition Programs — Meal program innovation
- Meals in Motion — Utilizing food trucks to innovate
- How To Start a Food Truck Business: A Step-by-Step Guide— One-hour SCORE webinar on launching a successful business
- Social Enterprising Aging Network Example: REAL Grille — Example of innovation including use of a food truck and catering services
- Meals in Motion Food Truck— Four-minute video on a Connecticut food truck that serves congregate and home-delivered meals
- The Diner: Promising Practices from the Network — Example of pivoting to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Partnerships With Food Banks and Other United States Department of Agriculture Programs — Frequently asked questions on how Older Americans Act programs can partner with SNAP, TEFAP, food banks, SFMNP, etc.