ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on several issues that can be addressed best by coalitions. It presents the examples drawn from several coalitions with which the author has been associated in New York City. A coalition of all or most agencies serving the elderly in any given community can do better than any one agency in relation to advocacy, visibility, funding and planning. Groups with the same or similar interests may coexist in a community without knowing about each other and without knowing how they affect one another. The Alter Budget Coalition is working on the issue of home care. The Alter Budget Coalition meets bi-monthly with both the New York City Department for the Aging and the Human Resources Administration. The Washington Heights-Inwood Council on Aging was able, however, to convince Presbyterian Hospital to establish five primary- care group practices in the area, to compensate for the steady loss of private practitioners in the Washington Heights community.
