A family caregiver is a person who provides unpaid care for relatives and loved ones.

New York City Family Caregiver Coalition (NYCFCC) is a program of Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City, Inc., created to bring together caregivers of all ages, circumstances and relationships. NYCFCC was established when Gail Gibson Hunt, the founder and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving, contacted CSCS Executive Director Igal Jellinek after her organization had received a generous grant from the Pfizer Corporation to establish caregiver coalitions throughout the United States.

Igal called upon CSCS Board member Rev. Gregory L. Johnson, Assistant Director of Protocol for Caregiver Programs and Community Based Activities for HIP Health Plan of New York, who had co-authored a publication with Gail for the White House Conference on Aging, Care for the Family Caregiver: A Place to Start. HIP Health Plan agreed to host the first meeting for interested agencies and individuals, a tradition and patronage that continues. The New York City Family Caregiver Coalition (NYCFCC) was born.

Mission
The mission of NYCFCC is to create strength out of diversity and build a united forum that will lead to targeted action including advocacy, education, information and public awareness.

The Coalition is in its early stages of development and provides an organizing body for activities and services for family caregivers. The caregivers served include grandparents raising grandchildren, adults caring for aging parents, spousal caregivers, gay and lesbian caregivers and caregivers from multi-cultural backgrounds.

Members
The member agencies serve over 400,000 people each year and include social service agencies, research and advocacy organizations, elder law attorneys, non-profits, arts organizations serving caregivers, hospitals and others. It is made up of volunteer members.

Funding
Funding is currently provided by volunteer in-kind contributions of time as well as donations from member organizations, corporations and non-profit members and individuals.

Governance
Governance NYCFCC has formed four committees that have met, created action plans and reported on their progress. These committees are Advocacy, Education, Information and Public Awareness.

Activities

• Held official kickoff event on November 14, 2006 with 221 attendees
• Published a membership directory that was distributed to all attendees
• Established itself as a valuable vehicle for communication of relevant news to member organizations