Library: Policy

340:105-10-42. Designation of community focal points

Issued 11-29-93

(a) Policy. The Area Agency shall designate, where feasible, a focal point for comprehensive service delivery in each community in the planning and service area, giving special consideration to designating multipurpose senior centers as such focal points. These focal points shall be established to encourage the maximum collocation and coordination of services for older persons. The Area Agency must undertake all necessary efforts to assure that services financed under the Older Americans Act, as amended, in, or on behalf of, each community will be either based at, linked to or coordinated with the designated focal point.

(b) Authority. The authority for OAC 340:105-10-42 is Section 306(a)(3) of the Older Americans Act, as amended, and 45 CFR Part 1321.53(c).

(c) Procedures. The Area Agency will designate and implement community focal points by carrying out the following activities:

(1) The Area Agency, with the approval of the State Agency, will define "community" for the purposes of this Section. Factors to be considered in the definition must include:

(A) The delivery pattern of services funded under the Older Americans Act and funded from other sources;

(B) The geographic boundaries of communities and neighborhoods;

(D) The geographic areas with greatest economic and social need.

(2) The Area Agency, in consultation with local elected officials, will designate one or more focal points (facilities) in each defined community, giving special consideration to multipurpose senior centers. The following factors must be considered for such designation:

(A) The facility's ability, current or potential, to accommodate the collocation of various services in the community;

(B) The facility's geographic accessibility to older persons in the community; and

(C) The facility's physical accessibility for disabled persons according to Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

(3) The Area Agency will implement the collocation and coordination of services at each focal point via the following activities:

(A) The Area Agency will work with each identified focal point to develop a work plan for achieving full capacity for collocation of services;

(B) The Area Agency will develop a work plan for assuring that all services funded under the Older Americans Act, as amended, in, or on behalf of each community, are either based at, linked to, or coordinated with that community's focal point(s);

(C) The Area Agency will work with each community's leadership to negotiate written agreements with other agencies/organizations serving the elderly which will outline each agency/organization's intent to either base its service(s) in, link its service(s) to, or coordinate its service(s) with the community's identified focal point(s); and

(D) The Area Agency will work with each community's leadership to establish operating schedules for focal point services which are convenient for the older persons in the community.

(d) Cross references. See OAC 340:105-10-31(a)(8).