Welcome to the new CIP website! Take a look and see how we can help you.

Hi! We’re the CIP, and we’re so glad you’re here with us.

Who We Are

A passionate grassroots team working hard to make in-home care better for everyone

The Caregiver Incentive Project (CIP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Marquette, MI. We’re a small organization with a BIG heart and an even bigger mission!

We exist for a simple reason: the caregiving industry is broken. And it needs to be fixed now.

Why? Because everyone deserves the chance to live a full life in the comfort of their own home. Because people with different physical or mental capabilities are no less and no more than anyone else. Because caregivers need support, too, and deserve to be treated with dignity and to earn a living wage.

Because caregiving will touch ALL of our lives one day. It’s not if, it’s when.

The CIP’s core team is made up of people who know caregiving, who live it day in and day out in their own homes. We’re also advised by and partnered with experts in caregiving, as well as people who receive care—giving us a holistic perspective on the problem and the solution.

Welcome to the CIP and thank you for being with us.

CIP group at presentation
Kaylee and Dorothy smiling
Bergh family
Where We Work

We support caregivers and care recipients across Marquette and the Upper Peninsula

The CIP is based out of Marquette, MI, and serves the entire Upper Peninsula. If you call the UP home like we do, then we’re here to help you! We offer free caregiver training, downloadable resources on caregiving and care receiving, and one-on-one assistance finding caregivers.

We’re proud to be local and are working at the grassroots level to improve caregiving in the UP. We also strive to invest our donations and grants into the communities from which they came.

We plan to expand across Michigan and then the country—so stay tuned!

CIP Upper Michigan map
Our Story

The CIP story starts at home

Like so many caregiving experiences, the CIP’s story starts at home—specifically in the Paad family home. Eric Paad, the founder of the CIP, is a proud dad to Dorothy, a beautiful and accomplished woman living with cerebral palsy.

Out of the Paad family’s personal experiences navigating a broken caregiving system, the CIP was born. Eric, Dorothy, and the rest of the CIP team are working hard to fix a system that not only affects them but also millions of people nationwide.

Read our story and see how you fit in.

Paad family and Kaylee
Our Approach

We’re creating a multi-faceted solution to a failing industry

1 Inform

Educate the public and raise awareness of the national shortage of caregivers and the effect on us all.

2 Train

Establish a higher standard of training and certification for entry-level in-home caregivers.

3 Incentivize

Provide scholarships and grants to encourage more people to become caregivers.

There’s a difference between living and existing, and the CIP is here to bridge that gap. We’re working for a world where everyone can live with dignity, including both caregivers and the cared for.

Better Together

A big thanks to our partners & sponsors