Tight Knit is a content series about the many ways people are working to build stronger relationships and communities. This season explores the complexity and joy inherent in providing care for an older family member, opening a door into the day to-day lives of caregivers in Western New York and Southeast Michigan through eight podcast episodes and two short documentaries.

While the stories provide different experiences, they are universal in recognizing the family caregiver as a vital and selfless part of every community, deserving our unlimited support, attention and advocacy.

Enid & Mami steps into the daily life of Enid Mojica-McGinnis – an educator, pastor, and caretaker to her mother, Emilia Roman. The short documentary provides a glimpse into the humor, honor, and at times challenge, of the primary caregiver role, as well as the special bond that exists between a mother and her daughter

Today Was A Good Day tells the stories of three Detroit residents all caring for their aging parents. The short documentary shares their experiences while providing a glimpse into a life stage that will likely become familiar to many of us.

Two families approach their roles as caregivers with a combination of tech, ingenuity, love--and in one case, a very smart little dog.

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Detroit’s Angelena Taylor was only 28 when she became her father’s main caregiver after he had a stroke. This millennial daughter, educator, and former Ms. Black Michigan is focused on her dad while also setting goals for herself: to travel, do fulfilling work, and have her own family.

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Aging in place can be harder in rural communities, where resources and trained help can be scarce or far away. But in Chautauqua County, New York, we meet one woman who’s making a huge difference for countless isolated caregivers.

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You might become a parent’s caregiver out of love, or a wish to give back. But that’s much harder for children who were abused by the parent who needs them.

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Meet two women who moved across the country to look after their respective sets of aging parents, even though their elders, who came to the U.S. from India, had trouble accepting them: both individually, when they came out as lesbians, and as a married couple.

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Four generations of the Roberts family live in one house in central Michigan. They use the house itself, off-the-shelf technology, and other creative ways to help look after a family member with dementia, even training their very cute Bichon Frise to be a service dog.

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A neurologist found himself entirely unprepared, emotionally and professionally, for his father’s Alzheimer’s Disease. But over time, Alzheimer’s revealed a side of his father that changed the son’s view of his dad--and of the brain--forever.

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Many people in the U.S. are getting older without a close family member who can take care of them. A Buffalo organization is one of a growing number of global “villages” that draw on volunteers to help otherwise isolated people with all aspects of caregiving.

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