Findings Among AAA stakeholders in NC there is a consensus that AAA's should be involved in ensuring quality services and collaborating to identify unmet needs and stimulate solutions. The responses from the stakeholders' and AAA Directors' respective surveys follow. Conclusions Broad mandates of the Older Americans Act make it difficult for AAA's to identify and focus on a reasonable number of annual goals. Administrative tasks demand a large percentage of AAA Directors' time. Best practices are not an end in themselves but suggest processes that lead to good outcomes.
More useful planning is indicated and possible.
Mandates vs. Capacities. However, the broad mandates of OAA has led to relatively small AAA staffs that are spread thinly over a large number of programs and issues which make it difficult for AAA's to identify and focus on a reasonable number of annual goals. As a result, AAA's have expanded in several different directions at once without a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve or capable of achieving. Advocacy vs. Administration. AAA Directors expressed a strong desire to be doing advocacy and program development, but spend most of their time performing administrative tasks.