A guide for residents of Assisted Care Facilities that explains how they can get money to improve their quality of life—and decide how the money is spent—through the New York State Department of Health’s EQUAL Program.

Community Partners

<h2>What’s the issue?</h2>
The Enhancing the Quality of Adult Living (EQUAL) Program—funded through the New York State Department of Health*—offers the residents of Assisted Care Facilities (ACF) money to improve their quality of life, and residents decide how the money is spent. 
The Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled (CIAD) is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering ACF residents in NYC. CIAD helps residents gain autonomy, improve conditions in their homes, and lead more independent lives integrated into their communities. To do this, CIAD supports residents in organizing Resident Councils, which are resident-run organizations within each home. The EQUAL program puts real power in the hands of Resident Councils by making them responsible for identifying how residents want to use their EQUAL funds and signing off on the application. 
The problem is that throughout this process residents deal with a lack of information about how the EQUAL Program actually works. It's also a challenge to manage dynamics with their facility operators, who have to be involved. Both of these combined make it difficult for residents to fully participate and hold their facility operators accountable to a fair process. 
<h2>What did we make?</h2>
CIAD collaborated with CUP and designer+illustrator Anna Pelavin to create Get EQUAL!, a booklet that breaks down the steps of the EQUAL process, and shows how residents can get organized and come together to identify their needs and hold their facility operators accountable to a fair process. 

<h2>How did we make it?</h2>

We spoke to Resident Council members to learn about their experience with EQUAL. We learned that there are two main barriers that make EQUAL difficult to navigate. One barrier is procedural. The EQUAL application requires a lot of back-and-forth between the New York State Department of Health, ACF operators, and Resident Councils, who all play different roles, and come into play at different times. The New York State Department of Health only communicates directly with ACF operators, so Resident Councils only know as much as ACF operators share with them. Residents need to know the process and everyone’s responsibilities so they can hold their ACF operators accountable to a fair and collaborative process. 
Another barrier is relational. Resident Councils are responsible for deciding amongst themselves how to spend EQUAL money. Working together to identify priorities for how to use their EQUAL funding can be hard. It can be especially challenging when ACF operators have their own ideas about how the money should be spent. Residents need to know how to navigate these interpersonal dynamics in a way that strengthens their relationships with each other and with their ACF operators, while also asserting boundaries that protect their right to decide what they want for themselves.

We created two versions of the project, and worked with Resident Council presidents to understand which would be more effective at supporting their members to participate in EQUAL. The team felt that showing examples of group facilitation and talking with facility operators would be helpful. So we drafted one version of the project as a screenplay: mostly dialogue. To test this idea, we drafted a second version of the project that was the opposite: written in direct, informative sentences.
We brought both versions to a second community session, and read them out loud as a group. The Resident Council presidents helped us understand that both versions were useful for different reasons. Dialogue was more effective at showing examples of navigating the different relationships involved, and direct information was more effective at explaining the EQUAL process. So we took the best of both to make the final booklet.

The first two spreads of the booklet introduce EQUAL and explain the process using direct, informative sentences and spot illustrations. The next two spreads are written in dialogue, and take place in a Resident Council meeting. Readers can see how residents work together to decide what they want for themselves and for their facility, and how they consider the ACF operator’s ideas while asserting boundaries.

Check Out the Project

Get Equal

CUP
<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/agustín-cepeda">Agustín Cepeda</a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/pilar-finuccio"> </a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/pilar-finuccio">Pilar Finuccio</a>

Community Partner<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/coalition-of-institutionalized-aged-and-disabled"> Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled (CIAD)</a>

Designer<a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/sean-suchara"></a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/anna-pelavin"> </a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/anna-pelavin">Anna Pelavin</a>

Project Collaborators

<h4>Special Thanks </h4>


Deborah Berger, Beverly Brown, Shauntey Brown, Denise Burke, Michael Callaghan, JK Canepa, Ermelindo Echevarria, Nate Farley, Kenneth Garrett, Marie Gonzalez, Valerie Hall, Vashti Hawkins, Tyrria Higgins, Deborah Hunter, Glenda King T., Michael McAdams, Harriett McBride, Carmela Miele, Robert Mitchell, Raphael Nathan &amp; Honey Child, Larry Ortiz, Juan Reyes, Mark Riddick, Milton Rivera, Gilbert Rivera, Ruberto Rodriguez, Dorothy Rutowski, Jay Schlosburg, Danny Vargas Sr., Diana Vila, Vivian Walston, Joel Young
<h4>Product Details</h4>
PAD: 5.5″ x 8.5″ color booklet 
<h4>Funding Support </h4>


Support for this project was provided, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

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The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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A guide for residents of Assisted Care Facilities that explains how they can get money to improve their quality of life—and decide how the money is…

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