Blueprint for Investing in Women Age 60+

A “Voices from the Field” Report

Prepared for the New York Women’s Foundation

Susan Leicher

Thompson & Columbus, Inc.

November 2014

26th Annual Conference and Expo

VOICES FROM THE FIELD SERIES

The first of four Voices from the Field reports:

• Based on the first-hand views of leading experts

• Cover roles, challenges and best ways to support NYC’s low-income women and girls at four major developmental stages of their lives:

− 0 - 8

− 9 - 24

− 25 - 59

− 60+

OVERALL DEMOGRAPHICS

A very different senior population than in 1965

• Size, Scope and Gender Distribution: There Are a Lot of Us

- 1.4 million New Yorkers, 60+ (18% of the total population)

- Ratio of women to men: 3:2 at age 60; 2:1 at age 80

• Race, Ethnicity, and Role: The “New Face” of Aging:

- 40% identify as “non-white”

- 46% born in other countries from across the globe

- Major, irreplaceable family and community roles:

∙ 100,000 NYC children totally raised by their grandmothers;

∙ Thousands more virtually raised by their grandmothers;

∙ Thousands of dependent adult children supported by their older mothers

DEMOGRAPHICS, Cont:

• Economic Status: Social Security is Not Enough

- 31% of seniors at or below NYC Poverty Line

- Older women of color and immigrant older women most likely to be poor

• Health Issues: Medicare is Not Enough

- Older women of color have the city’s highest rates of diseases – like diabetes and heart disease – that are directly related to lifelong lack of access to culturally-appropriate services, exercise options and nutritious food

• Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation: By-Passed by all

- 50,000 – 100,000 gender-non-conforming older women - Inadequately served both by “establishment” aging service providers and

“establishment” LGBT providers

THE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO 50 YEARS OF CHANGE

• DFTA/aging service provider network has performed miracles to:

- Extend services

- Adapt services to reach new groups

- Add services to address emerging needs

• System as a whole continues to be limited by the original framework:

- Stagnant – or diminishing – funding streams

- Perception that only “aging service” providers should be concerned with this population.

CRITICAL ISSUES

• ECONOMIC SECURITY

• HEALTH

• SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS

• CAREGIVING

ECONOMIC SECURITY Promising Strategies

• Expanding access to entitlements

• Supporting financial literacy/bill management capacities

HEALTH Promising Strategies

• Health education programs in which the agendas set by older women themselves

• Fitness programs tailored to older women’s interests

• Nutrition programs – core and innovative

SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS Promising Strategies

• Senior Centers – including innovative programs that reach and engage more underserved groups

• Programs in which older women are vital volunteers

CAREGIVINGPromising Strategies

• Older Women As Caregivers

- Grandmothers raising grandchildren

- Older mothers supporting dependent adult children

• Older Women As Care Recipients

- Supporting unpaid caregivers

- Supporting paid caregivers

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Continue building effective programs – both core and cutting-edge, e.g.:

- Article 20 Housing, senior centers, nutrition and fitness programs, caregiver support programs, senior-driven volunteer programs, entitlement enrollment efforts

• Promote collaboration across sectors, cultures, and generations, e.g.:

- Aging and youth/supportive service collaboration in support of caregiving older women

- Immigrant and senior center service providers to better engage immigrant older women

• Encourage community providers to tailor their “general population” programs to better reach older community members

• Tap the skills, the energies, and the views of the older women themselves