The Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (MABVI) and Boston University Innovate@BU have announced a partnership to develop a challenge open to BU students and alumni to solve community transit problems that will benefit society at large–and particularly for older adults and the blind and low vision community. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Access/Equity/Inclusion
First-of-its-Kind Rural Policy Plan for Massachusetts Includes Age-Friendly in Recommendations
The state’s Rural Policy Advisory Commission engaged in a comprehensive program of research and outreach over a two-year period, including listening sessions at ten locations across the Commonwealth in late 2018 and continuing in 2019 with over 20 focused stakeholder meetings to refine the information and develop the recommendations in
this first of its kind Rural Policy Plan for Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative is excited that the Commission accepted its recommendations along with input from cities, towns and stakeholders in MHAC’s network to encourage rural communities to join the Age-Friendly movement – specifically pursuing the Age- and Dementia Friendly Community Compact Program.
The Community Compact is a best practice initiative for municipalities and regions established by the Baker Administration. This program has the potential for funding support and technical assistance. One of the choices among the best practices is Age-and Dementia Friendly.
The inclusion of Age-Friendly in this report also speaks to the state’s Age-Friendly Action Plan, which endeavors to embed “aging in all policies” across agencies and initiatives.
Age-Friendly Grant Opportunity: Mass. Census Equity Fund 2020
The Massachusetts Census Equity Fund 2020 is a statewide funding initiative with the mission to increase participation in the 2020 census in communities that are at significant risk of being undercounted.
Through this statewide grant program, the aim is to support community based organizations to educate, organize and empower residents in hard-to-count communities to respond to the 2020 Census. The 2020 Census will face additional challenges and barriers reaching those in historically undercounted communities.
City of Boston Announces Age Strong Public Awareness Campaign
The City of Boston is pleased to announce that they are launching the Age Strong public awareness campaign to dispel stereotypes about older adults and promote more positive messaging around aging. Continue reading
Boston Celebrates Age-Friendly Bench Program
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission, Public Works, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, AARP, Tufts Health Plan Foundation and WalkBoston celebrated the Age-Friendly Bench program in Grove Hall. The program expands the number of benches across the city, with a particular focus on raising the availability of resting locations for older adults. Continue reading
Innovative Stable Housing Initiative Hosting ‘Idea Incubator’ Event
The Innovative Stable Housing Initiative (ISHI) is a pilot project funded by Boston Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Determination of Need Community Health Initiative. The ISHI Upstream Fund resources support ideas that will make lasting changes in policies or systems to help residents find safe and healthy housing and help residents at risk of losing their home/apartment/housing.
Join Health Resources in Action in shaping a process that will give out almost $900,000 in grants to support housing policy and systems change in Boston.
CDC Releases Spanish Language Infographics on Caregiving and Subjective Cognitive Decline
In concert with National Hispanic Heritage Month, CDC has released Spanish Language versions of Caregiving and Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) Infographics using 2015–2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data.
The Spanish language infographics are available for national estimates and specifically for Hispanic adults. Continue reading
Upcoming Webinar on Celebrating Diversity Hosted by Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging
The Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging, which covers the northern New England states, is hosting a webinar titled “Celebrating Diversity: Promoting community inclusion and access to community supports and health services.” Continue reading
Age- and Dementia Friendly Funding Alert: DoN Community Health Funds
The Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds (the Funds) are committed to disrupting and removing barriers to health – structural and institutional racism, poverty, and deep power imbalances – through community-centered policy, systems, and environmental change approaches. Continue reading
New Bedford Chosen for NCOA Nutrition Assistance Program
New Bedford is helping to lead the way for Age- and Dementia Friendly Community efforts in Massachusetts and will soon be benefiting from a partnership between the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and Health eVillages, a non-profit organization that provides free, state-of-the-art medical mobile technology to underserved areas.
This collaboration will help reduce food insecurity by enabling local volunteers in nine states to conduct home visits and outreach events using mobile tablets for SNAP eligibility assessments and applications. Continue reading