EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Page 1

AGING ACTION INITIATIVE

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

April 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Page 2

Executive Summary

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Aging Action Initiative (AAI) could not have been launched without the hard work and dedication of

many people in our community. Some had the foresight to highlight the need and organize resources, some

helped frame and facilitate the process and many others took time out of their already very busy workday to

participate and lend their expertise and voice to the planning process. Over 85 individuals in more than 45

organizations participated in 21 planning sessions over the past six months.

We hope that the increased attention and focus on aging in Marin will continue to grow throughout the first

year’s implementation process, laying the groundwork for further collective action and greater impact.

AGING IN MARIN – 33% BY 2030

The wave of older adult baby boomers is already coming ashore. We are currently the oldest county in the

Bay Area and we’re aging more than one-and-a-half times as fast as that of the rest of the state. By 2030 more

than 33% of our citizens will be over 60 years old and about 14% of all citizens will be over 75. Soon, for the

first time in history, there will be more people on this planet over the age of 65 than under the age of 5.

PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS

So, how are we as a county adequately addressing this changing landscape and the current and future needs

of our older adults in Marin? – This is the question, asked in 2013 by County Supervisors, which inspired the

development of the Aging Action Initiative. After recognizing the need for more action, the Supervisors set-

aside start-up implementation funds to catalyze county-wide coordinated action and the staff in the office of

Aging and Adult Services went to work. In 2014 the County conducted a review of studies, interviewed a

number of key aging service providers, and launched into the first phase of the initiative by choosing four

key issues areas to focus on: Care Coordination, Mental Health, Dementia and Cognitive Impairment, and

Food and Nutrition. After a short intense six months of planning, nine Action Teams are off and running.

ACTION PLAN HIGHLIGHTS

Out of the four initial workgroups emerged the following nine Action Teams:

Resource Referral and Information Assistance Coalition

Nutrition Education Cooking Class Congregate Dining Assessment Mental Health & Dementia Early Intervention

Workshop

SSI/CalFresh Legislative Action Mobile Farmers’ Market Van Dementia Field Tool Mental Health Field Tool Safety Net & Elder Economic Index Gaps

LOOKING AHEAD

By starting with doable year-one actions and building on success, our hope is that the communication and

relationships that unfold through this initial collaboration will build momentum for enhanced and expanded

collective impact. In addition to AAI, there are several other age related initiatives beginning to emerge in

the county. Knitted together, these efforts have the potential to truly make a difference in the lives of Marin’s

older adults and the communities in which they live.

AGING IN MARIN

Page 2

Aging in Marin

Aging is a unique and complex issue for us both personally and as a society. Unlike many other social service

matters, aging is an equal opportunity issue – it happens to everyone regardless of gender, race, income or

sexual orientation, and no one gets out alive.

It is also a very complex issue in that it touches on every aspect of our lives, from housing and

transportation to health and emotional wellness. As we age, our food requirements change, our social lives

shift, our perspectives are different, and our brains often begin to play unwelcome tricks on us. And while

we all share a need for shelter, food and community we each experience aging differently. Today more than

ever, there is no “typical 65 year old” and yet our socio-political policies and service delivery systems are

still predominantly based on fifty year old models of ‘averages’ and norms calculated for the economics of

social security.

From 2009-2014, more than a dozen community assessments addressing aging were conducted in Marin.

Here are a few of the key highlights from those reports (click here to see the full list of reports):

Marin is the oldest county in the Bay Area

Services: High cost of living + increase in demand for elder support services = gap in service

availability (service workers can’t afford to live in Marin)

Transportation: Low-density, suburban, hilly topography limits transportation alternatives for older

adults

Housing: 30% of Marin’s 65+ population live alone

Poverty: About 21% of older adults

live within the “elder eligibility gap”

(see below)

Not only is Marin County home to more older

adults—as a percentage of the population—

than any other county in the state, those over

85 years make up the fastest growing

segment of that population.

“This projected trend is even more

remarkable when compared to the

population growth of Marin County overall.

Marin is the slowest growing county in the

Bay Area [with projected growth at 8.6%

from 2005 to 2035]. However, within this

same time period, the percentage of

residents over age 60 is expected to rise

dramatically. Senior Mobility Action &

Implementation Plan – Existing Conditions

Report 2010

AGING IN MARIN

Page 3

Due to the high cost of living in Marin, especially for housing, over 9,000 older adults live below the Elder

Economic Index. And because 7,000 of them are above the Federal Poverty line, they are not eligible for

many forms of public assistance.

PLANNING FOR ACTION

Page 4

Planning for Action

So, What Can We Do Together to Build an Age Friendly Marin?

Building on the large body of knowledge already assembled in numerous community assessment reports,

the Aging Action Initiative was designed around two themes:

Action & Collective Effort

The overriding concept was to rapidly launch collective actions that:

Were doable within a year,

Met important, well known needs, and

Coordinated, complemented and/or leveraged existing programs and services

Putting all these elements together, the intention was to not only enhance services to the community but

also provide agencies with a sense of momentum and success in working together so as to strengthen inter-

agency relationships and in doing so weave together a stronger overall safety net for older adults in Marin.

[For more information about the overall process and context see the Fact Sheet in Appendix A]

PLANNING FOR ACTION

Page 5

In launching the initiative, the County’s Aging & Adult Services Department did a scan of recent reports and

conducted interviews with key stakeholders [click here to see the full report]. With this information it was

decided to focus the process on four issue areas that were not already being addressed by other county

efforts, such as the Marin Community Foundation’s support for affordable housing solutions and Marin

Transit’s Marin Mobility Management program. A Steering Committee was formed to identify project

participants and to provide feedback on the best path forward.

The four workgroups that were assembled were:

Food & Nutrition

Mental Health & Wellness

Dementia & Cognitive Impairment

Care Coordination

Within these four workgroups, over 65 participants attended five workgroup meetings and two large

convenings. Over six months, from November 2014 to March 2015, the process moved from cultivating a

shared understanding of an issue’s context to actionable project plans. At the mid-point and at the end, the

workgroups came together in large convenings to learn from each other, cross-pollinate ideas, and expand

the relationship network.

Each meeting’s agenda built on the prior meeting’s

outcomes and every session started with a brief

overview of the process up to that point. Extensive use

of graphic recording helped participants “see” each

other’s ideas, allowed the group to collectively

recognize patterns of information, and facilitated

consensus building.

Context Maping Brainstorming Prioritizing Action Planing

ACTION PLANS

Page 6

Action Plans

Out of the four workgroups emerged the following nine Action Plans:

No Wrong Door: Strengthening our Network Through Shared Information Sharing knowledge and improving access to resource referral and information assistance

Lifelong Learning: Nutrition Education Cooking Class

Eating Together: Leveraging Our Successes in Congregate Dining

Legislative Action: Improving the SSI/SSP – CalFresh Interrelationship Advocate for changes to SSI/SSP as it relates to government funded food assistance programs

Mobile Markets: Replacing Food Deserts with Farm Fresh Nutrition

Early Intervention Training Workshop Sensitivity, awareness & referral assistance for

cognitive impairment and behavior issues in older

adults

Responding with Compassion: Dementia

& Memory Loss Field Tool Sensitivity, awareness & referral assistance at “Point

of Service” encounters

Responding with Compassion: Mental Health/Wellness Field Tool Sensitivity, awareness & referral assistance at “Point of Service” encounters

Access to Services: Gaps & Cracks in our Older Adult Safety Net

For more information about each workgroup issue area and each action item, please visit

see the Fact Sheet in Appendix A, or view each Action Plan in Appendix B.

in Year-One.

APPENDIX A – AGING ACTION INITIATIVE FACT SHEET

Page 7

Appendix A – Aging Action Initiative Fact Sheet

APPENDIX A – AGING ACTION INITIATIVE FACT SHEET

Page 8