Partners in Innovation

A livable community recognizes and reinforces the social and intellectual capital of its residents; highlighting these assets rather than needs strengthens people’s confidence in their own capacities and builds alliances rather than dependencies.

The aim of this multi-year initiative is to identify the formal and informal assets that exist in the 43 municipalities throughout the county. Doing so will help create Livable Communities not only for older people, but for all generations. Local and national resources including the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, Partners for a Livable Community and AARP will be instrumental in creating countywide community visioning forums, community asset mapping and training sessions. By working closely with educational institutions, houses of worship, and civic organizations, this project directs the PPP’s energies, and the myriad capabilities and talents of our older population, to partner, plan, and progress toward our most rewarding common ground — a livable community.

New York Southern Area Aging Network (NY-SAAN)
Partners in Innovation

NY-SAAN is one of PPP’s newest initiatives, a work in progress focused on older persons and the workforce serving them locally and regionally. Assembled in 2006, NY-SAAN is an unparalleled consortium of various stakeholders in aging services operating under one umbrella. It first convened to advocate and educate for the development of policies, programs, actions, legislation and resources in response to the workforce shortage and many other crises affecting seniors and their families’ quality of life.

The consortium represents eight area agencies on aging from Dutchess, Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester, and Ulster counties and New York City; the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services; the New York City Department for the Aging (NYC DFTA); and more than 30 long term care (LTC) facilities, non-profit community-based organizations (CBO’s) and educational institutions. Collectively the consortium will focus its efforts on two major projects; workforce census and the annual regional education conferences. The results will help the aging service community to be better prepared to meet the challenges of the burgeoning senior population.

SPEAK-UP
Student Participants Embrace Aging Issues of Key Concern
Partners in Innovation

The Partnership’s award-winning, intergenerational SPEAK-UP program, which gives young people a better understanding of an aging society and how it impacts them, won another prestigious prize in 2006: the National Association of Counties Award for stellar achievement. This past year SPEAK-UP focused on a particularly exciting event, “Bring your Grandparents to School/Work Week,” in which college and university students hosted older adults at their academic institutions for a day of learning, fun and dialogue.

Healthcare screenings were provided by students in allied health services and offered to the seniors, while the older set brought their impressive talents and resources, among them singing, storytelling, and oral histories, to the students. As part of the program grandparents raising grandchildren were given a special treat when the Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester hosted a breakfast for them along with a seminar on healthy eating, disease prevention and relaxation techniques.

It is through such projects, planned with the input of students, faculty and seniors, that members of academic communities and youth organizations learn how to live in, interact with, and advocate for an aging population.

The Westchester Alliance of Academic Institutions for Aging Related Studies and Workforce Development
Partners in Innovation

The Hudson Valley region’s population of people more than 60 years old is nearly twice as large as the national average. Institutions of higher education have not augmented their curricula to adequately respond to the immediate and anticipated needs of a population that is living longer.

Present and looming workforce shortages in aging services precipitated the development of the Westchester Alliance. Its purpose is to educate students and faculty about the much talked about demographic shift and find ways to incorporate this valuable information into courses across the disciplines.

Fordham’s Ravazzin Center on Aging is the research arm of the program; with its help we have collected vital information from participants. A survey of student participants in a Westchester Alliance project showed that 40% have an increased interest in the field of aging. This confirms that we’re on the right track The Westchester Alliance receives additional funding from the United Way of Westchester and Putnam and the Helen Andrus Benedict Foundation