At the start of this new year, we at RRF Foundation for Aging (RRF) would like to take a moment to reflect on our grantee partners’ impressive strides during 2023 and our collective efforts to improve the quality of life of older people. We applaud everyone’s accomplishments within RRF priority areas and celebrate the dedicated work of our 106 current grantee partners in these highlights from 2023.
Click on the highlights below for details.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Point-in-Time Count on Homelessness data includes older adults for the first time. This addition will provide a better understanding of the extent of the problem and give policymakers new data for informed solutions. Advocacy efforts by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Justice in Aging, and others contributed to making a case for the importance of understanding this population—the fastest-growing demographic facing homelessness.
With early funding from RRF, Rush University System for Health has embraced “caring for the caregiver” – C4C – as an essential component of quality healthcare. C4C focuses on what matters to caregivers by assisting in developing a plan for their physical and emotional health and well-being while incorporating the care needs and preferences of the older care recipients. With co-funding from our philanthropic partner, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the C4C model is now spreading to other age-friendly healthcare systems throughout the U.S.
The Elder Index, developed by the University of Massachusetts Boston, includes measures specific to age, household size, location, and health status, creating benchmarks of income adequacy that reflect regional and local variations in the cost of living. Its effectiveness in identifying needs is far greater than Federal Poverty Line data, which does not account for these variables. The National Council on Aging leads the Equity in Aging Collaborative of 25 organizations that advocate using the Elder Index.
In 2023, news articles reaching millions of readers reported on America’s changing demographics. Through Columbia University’s Age Boom Academy, forums for journalists fueled increased media attention, including an editorial series and call to action featured in The New York Times, on how the growing number of older adults will affect every aspect of society.
The 2023 Accelerating Innovation in Aging program at MATTER focused on supporting family caregivers. Six startup companies presented their technology-based ideas for caregiving innovations. Onward, a comprehensive healthcare transportation solution for older adult communities, hospitals, and health plans, and Zinnia, a therapeutic dementia care platform, each received support to develop their ideas further.
In 2023, CoGenerate began work on this next iteration of its CoGen Challenge series that will selectively vet and invite ten social innovators into a fellowship aimed at solutions bringing older and younger people together to alleviate isolation and loneliness — through social enterprises, commercial ventures, and policy ideas. Each entrepreneur will receive support to develop or expand their solution and prepare a presentation for taking this work to scale. The initiative solves problems at the ground level while showcasing innovations capable of catalyzing others and generating growth investment.
These are only a few examples of our grantees’ impressive work. The outcomes and impact of RRF’s partnerships and collaborations encourage us daily. We remain steadfast, focused, and committed to grantmaking that influences positive change in the lives of older people. And we welcome new opportunities that enhance RRF’s practice of proactive grantmaking.
In 2024, we reaffirm RRF’s mission, vision, and values, believing that all older people should be respected as total participants and contributors in community life. We will continue to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion by bringing an equity-focused and race-conscious lens to all aspects of our work, and we will reduce ageism by encouraging age inclusivity and exposing age bias wherever we see it. Please join us in our resolve to do so.
With hope for peace, healing, and genuine connection, we salute your work and dedication in the New Year!
Mary and the RRF team
