MHAC is excited and proud to pass along a TEDx Talk presentation from one of our partners and Advisory Council members, Beth Soltzberg who directs the Alzheimer’s/Related Disorders Family Support Program at Jewish Family & Children’s Service in Waltham. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Access/Equity/Inclusion
Age-Friendly Funding Alert: Community Health Fund Portal is Live
The Massachusetts Community Health Fund (Community Health Fund) is an opportunity to reduce health inequities in communities across Massachusetts. The Community Health Fund is both a grantmaking and capacity-building resource to assist organizations and communities in addressing the root causes of health inequities, specifically, institutional and structural racism.
The portal to submit an application for the Community Health Improvement Planning (CHIP) Processes funding opportunity is now live! Please visit the How to Apply page to learn more about submitting your idea and to access the online portal. Continue reading
WebMD/JAHF Surveys Older Adults and Their Caregivers Highlights Opportunity of Community Collaboration
A new survey of more than 2,700 older patients and caregivers from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and WebMD assesses opinions on Age-Friendly Health Care, which require attention to what matters to the older person and their caregivers in order to ensure high-value care resulting in consumer satisfaction.
The good news is that 87% of the more than 2,700 respondents to the Driving Towards Age-Friendly Care for the Future survey of older adults and family caregivers report satisfaction with the care they have received in the past 12 months. This high satisfaction, however, has some caveats. Continue reading
New Report Shows Widening Housing Inequality Among Older Adults
Housing inequality is becoming increasingly evident among older Americans as the number of older households climbs to unprecedented levels, according to Housing America’s Older Adults 2019, a new report being released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
MABVI and Innovate@BU Announce $10k Community Transportation Challenge
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
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.