Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined information and referral programs serving elderly populations funded by the Older Americans Act of 1965.
GAO found that: (1) officials at 8 of the 12 programs considered hiring or contracting for minority staff necessary to interact with members of their target populations; (2) the programs studied used various mass media, printed materials, and personal contact to advertise information and referral services; (3) 5 of the 12 programs used automated systems to maintain and update resource files, which information and referral workers could use to access information on services and providers; (4) 6 of the 12 programs indicated that they provided services at places where the elderly lived or frequently visited; (5) some programs' data were inaccurate and data collection was inconsistent among the programs; (6) the Administration on Aging (AOA) did not routinely ask for data on potentially successful initiatives or formally disseminate information about promising practices among programs; (6) AOA lacked adequate resources to perform many of the missions and responsibilities assigned to it under the act; and (7) data limitations precluded evaluating the success of the 12 programs, but according to program directors the initiatives had succeeded in providing increased information and referral to target populations.
