Aging Affinity Group
The Aging Affinity Group is generously supported by the Fairfield County Community Foundation, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the Foundation for Community Health, Connecticut Community Foundation, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, United Way and the Grantmakers in Aging EngAGEment Initiative.
Grantmakers working together through a partnership between Grantmakers in Aging (GIA) and the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy on a program called the EngAGEment Initiative, compose the Aging Affinity Group.
The goals of EngAGEment are:
- Increasing awareness of the dramatic growth in our aging population – from global to local levels – and how it will impact all of us
- Encouraging funders to take an active interest in aging issues and help build communities for all ages
- Sharing a balanced picture so that older adults in our state are also seen as community assets
- Using funders' influence and knowledge to find and disseminate creative, viable solutions
Connecticut funders are encouraged to participate in the Aging Affinity Group by:
- Attending programs sponsored by the EngAGEment Initiative
- Using resource materials developed by EngAGEment and Grantmakers in Aging
- Sharing examples of effective and innovative work in aging
- Joining the Aging Affinity Group to receive key updates
The Connecticut EngAGEment Initiative is guided by an Aging Leadership Team of foundation representatives with the Council acting as facilitator. In addition to the founding group of team members, new participants with a special interest in the aging area are included.
Aging Leadership Team:
- Penny Canny, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
- Jackie Downing, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
- Deborah Stein, Connecticut Community Foundation
- Nancy von Euler, Fairfield County Community Foundation
- Nancy Heaton, The Foundation for Community Health
- Gertrude O’Sullivan, The Foundation for Community Health
- Maria Mojica, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
- Sharon O'Meara, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
- Rick Porth, United Way of Connecticut
- Elizabeth Goehring, United Way of Western Connecticut
- Michael Johnston, Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford
- June Renzulli, Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation
For more information, to join the Aging Affinity Group or to share your own work in aging, contact Deborah Werner, Director of Member Services.
Program Resources
- Snapshots: Connecticut Grantmakers Support Older Adults
As part of the EngAGEment Initiative, the Council is compiling examples of the many ways in which Connecticut grantmakers provide funding and leadership in aging and help build communities for all ages. - Aging Matters
The monthly publication from our EngAGEment Initiative partner, Grantmakers in Aging. - Resource Materials From Aging Program November 28, 2012
Older Adults as Community Resources - Resource Materials From Aging Program November 30, 2011
Aging Ready Communities - Challenges, Opportunities, National and Local Models - Resource Materials From Aging Program July 20, 2011
Nonprofit Organizations Serving Older Adults: Are we prepared to meet the changing needs of this growing population? - Resource Materials From Aging Program April 27, 2011
Connecticut's Aging Population, State and Federal Perspectives
General Resources
- Creating Communities for a Lifetime: An Overview for Municipal leaders
The goal of this guide is to help city and town leaders determine how they can consider aging friendly places for their communities. - Connecticut - Growing Older
The Council's report on the impact of our aging population and what funders need to know to make informed decisions on helping their communities. - Is This What Change Feels Like?
Several partners from Connecticut's EngAGEment initiative attended, The State of Aging in America: The 2012 Conference of Grantmakers in Aging in Cleveland, Ohio in October, 2012. Here is a summary of a few of the major topics. - Our Aging State: What Connecticut Funders Need to Know
Read a summary of the Council's Engagement interviews. Ten key members of Connecticut’s aging network were interviewed to explore important issues and their views on what the philanthropy community needs to know. Although the interviewees have varied roles and vantage points within aging services, similar concerns and priorities emerged repeatedly – along with a variety of ways for funders to become involved. - From Washington, D.C. to Connecticut: Take Away Messages from the American Society on Aging Annual Conference
Engagement Consultant Debbie Stein summarizes a couple of ideas, models and reminders that she took home from the April 2012 American Society on Aging Annual Conference.
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Links
- Livable Communities for All Ages Forum
Resources from a joint forum of the Commissions on Aging and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities held on January 14, 2013. - Growing Senior Population Is Challenge for CT Workforce - Connecticut by the Numbers
November 13, 2012 (HARTFORD, CT) As recently as 2010, 14 percent of Connecticut’s population was age 65 or older. By 2025, that percentage will increase to 20 percent, and will continue to climb. The implications of a larger, older population on the state’s economy and a range of services present both challenges and opportunities for the state. - Changing the conversation: How Americans talk, think and feel about aging
Dr. Bruce Chernof, President of the SCAN Foundation, cuts through the jargon and makes the case for older people as people who are looking for choice and dignity as they age. - Community Experience Partnership
Information on how community foundations around the country, in partnership with Atlantic Philanthropies, helped to develop a range of innovative community projects to tap into the experience and talents of boomers and other older adults. - "For All Ages": The GIA Guide to Funding Across the Lifespan
For grantmakers interested in health, community development, the arts, and more, aging offers a natural extension of your programs. For All Ages: The GIA Guide to Funding Across the Lifespan is an invaluable resource for funders exploring the possibility of expanding their funding to encompass aging.
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