The Center for Dementia Respite Innovation (CDRI) is funded by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) under the direction of Sam Fazio, Ph.D., at the Alzheimer’s Association. The grant aims to fund local respite care providers to increase the availability and improve the delivery of person-centered dementia care with a focus on innovation, collaboration, impact, accessibility, affordability and sustainability. The CDRI grant and the sub-grants it will generate will result in developing and piloting cost-efficient, effective, strengths-based, person-centered, innovative models of dementia-specific respite care.
CDRI objectives
- Build upon national partnerships to establish a steering committee and at least four subcommittees to oversee the strategic direction of this five-year initiative.
- Provide program development and enhancement grants ($4 million annually) through one-year competitive pilot projects and one-year competitive continuation awards.
- Support grantees through marketing assistance, community listening sessions, two technical assistants (overseeing project and data collection progress), and the offering of webinars, peer-to-peer mentoring and staff training.
- Offer existing and new, free tools and resources to persons interested in respite care, including providers and families.
- Independently evaluate this project, including the impact of dementia-specific respite services on quality of life and the overall success of the CDRI.
- Disseminate project findings, new interventions, and best practices through national partnerships and steering committee organizations, newsletters, a highlight publication, tip sheets, presentations at conferences and articles in academic journals.
Leadership
Sam Fazio, Ph.D. Vice president, care & support programs and research Alzheimer’s Association
Joseph Gaugler, Ph.D. Professor and director, Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation, School of Public Health University of Minnesota
Sandy Markwood CEO USAging
Alzheimer's Association:
- Isabella Marini
CDRI staff lead, associate director, Center for Dementia Respite Innovation - Lauren Stratton
Ph.D., director, psychosocial research and program evaluation - Lorna Prophater
M.S., senior director, care professional services
USAging:
- Deborah Stone-Walls
Staff lead, chief, programs and services - Sara Maloney
Staff lead, program director - Katie Ballard
Program manager - Natalie Turnbull
Program manager - Laura Jane Ward-Strunin
Program manager
University of Minnesota:
- Robyn Birkeland
Staff lead, study interventionist
University of Utah:
- Rebecca Utz
Staff lead, director, evaluation - Catherine Sparks
Staff lead, research coordinator and program manager
Press releases
- Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation Awards More Than $4 Million in New Round of Grants to Improve Respite Care for People Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers, June 2025
- Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation Awards More Than $4 Million in New Round of Grants to Improve Respite Care for People Living With Dementia and Their Caregiver, July 2024
- Alzheimer’s Association Awarded $25 Million Grant to Enhance Respite Care for Dementia Caregivers, February 2024
Contact us
For more details about the CDRI and its grant application process, view our Frequently Asked Questions (PDF). Email any additional questions to cdri@alz.org.