The Mass Broadband Institute is promoting the Lead for America American Connection Corp, which is the nation’s largest service fellowship advancing economic prosperity, with an explicit focus on bridging the digital divide. The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative is further encouraging stakeholders advancing age- and dementia friendly communities to consider applying to address digital equity among older adults. Continue reading
EducationSuperHighway has released LearnACP, a new training course and certification for states, cities, and community-based organizations working to increase awareness and adoption of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The new training is offered for free by the national non-profit and is designed to prepare individuals who support potential beneficiaries to determine if they qualify for the program, complete the application, and enroll in an affordable internet plan.
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative encourages age- and dementia friendly community stakeholders to promote this opportunity to connect older adults in internet access.
The Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech (MeHI) is seeking digital health startups to compete in the Massachusetts Digital Health Sandbox Challenge Program. The first Challenge is aimed at finding unique digital health solutions that improve the lives of older adults and help them remain active, productive, independent, and socially connected.
Challenge finalists will compete for prizes worth $200,000 Continue reading
The Mass Broadband Institute (MBI) has announced the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program to enable municipalities, or other local bodies of government, to engage in planning activities related to digital equity and bridging the digital divide.
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative encourages communities working to become age- and dementia friendly, councils on aging, and other local stakeholders engaged in promoting inclusive healthy aging activities to work with their municipal government on this program. Continue reading
During Digital Inclusion Week (Oct. 3-7), which aims to raise awareness of solutions addressing digital equity, Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) from AARP released a report, “Fly Like an Eagle: Measuring Transformational Social Outcomes Among Seniors Using Technology.” The report details how access to technology devices and innovative training programs can yield transformational social outcomes for older adults and provides a blueprint for cities and communities looking to implement their own digital inclusion programs. Continue reading
With a new data dashboard, advocates and stakeholders working to advance digital equity can see state and local stats on where and how $14.2 billion in federal funding is being spent via the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which was designed to help American households pay for the monthly cost of their Internet subscription.
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative encourages communities working to become more age- and dementia friendly to use the data to promote local engagement of older adults who may be eligible for the program promoting digital access. Continue reading
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative is pleased to promote the following funding opportunities that advance inclusive age- and dementia friendly communities: Continue reading
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative contributed a blog post on Technology as a Social Determinant of Health for the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems initiative run by Trust for America’s Health. In the process, MHAC highlighted the great work being done by several partners in the statewide healthy aging network. Continue reading
New findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging suggest many people in their 50s, 60s and 70s need to do more to modify their homes or plan for services they may need if they want to avoid or delay needing to move.
In all, 88% of people between the ages of 50 and 80 said it was very or somewhat important to them that they live in their homes as long as possible. But only 15% said they’ve given a lot of consideration to how their home may need to be modified as they age, while 47% have given it little or no thought. Continue reading
Building on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households $30 per month off their internet bills, the White House announced that they negotiated voluntary commitments from 20 internet providers to offer high speed internet services at no cost to ACP beneficiaries. Continue reading