Melinda Perez-Porter

Melinda Perez-Porter is the director of the Brookdale Foundation Group’s Relatives As Parents Program (RAPP). The Brookdale Foundation Group provides seed grants to nonprofit organizations across the country to create or expand support groups and supportive services for grandparents and other relatives raising children. The RAPP Network addresses the issues faced by this population at the local, state, and national levels and, through community collaborations, identifies gaps in services and collaborates with key stakeholders to address those needs. Prior to joining the Brookdale Foundation Group, Melinda focused on the issues faced by this population of caregivers at the Grandparent Caregiver Law Center at the Samuel Sadin Institute on Law of the Brookdale Center on Aging.