Administration on Aging Grant for Community Innovations in Aging in Place

Since the passage of the Older Americans Act in 1965, the Aging Network has grown to encompass an array of state, local and community organizations and entities responsible for promoting the development of a comprehensive and coordinated system of home and community based services for older people and, most recently, family caregivers. The Network consists of 56 State Units on Aging, 629 Area Agencies on Aging, 246 Tribal organizations, nearly 20,000 community services provider organizations and 500,000 volunteers. The Network reaches into every community and plays a key role in delivering services and supporting consumer-centered systems of care to some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Reauthorizations of the Older Americans Act in 2000 and 2006 took significant steps towards positioning AoA and the Aging Services Network to be a leader in the provision of long-term care home and community based services. These steps have realized the following:
 The establishment/expansion of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs);
 The incorporation of evidence-based disease and disability prevention programs into the array of programs and services currently provided by the Aging Services Network; and
 The launch of consumer-directed nursing home diversion programs targeted to individuals before they spend down to Medicaid.

AoA Funded Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities

In addition to these important efforts, AoA has provided funding to various community organizations to develop innovative ways of supporting seniors as they age in place in various settings such as, apartment buildings and neighborhoods with a large percentage of households headed by older adults. For Federal fiscal years 2003 through 2008 more than $22 million in federal funds and match exceeding $7 million has been used to establish more than 40 supportive service programs for older adults living independently in geographically defined residential areas and building complexes. An additional $1.5 million has been allocated for similar programs in FY-2009. Labeled “NORC’s or ‘Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities,’ these programs serve more than 20,000 participants over the age of 75 and many are 85 and older. The accomplishments of the AoA funded NORCs include:

• Enhancing the ability of older adults living in a residential community to continue living independently
• Increasing healthy aging behaviors through exercise, recreation, socialization, educational and culturally appropriate activities
• Identifying needs of at risk residents, facilitating access to existing community and government resources and create gap filling supportive services

For purposes of this grant program, a ‘Naturally Occurring Retirement Community’ (NORC) is defined as a community with a concentrated population of older individuals, which may include a residential building, a housing complex, an area (including a rural area) of single family residences, or a neighborhood composed of age-integrated housing—
(A) where—
(i) 40 percent of the heads of households are older individuals; or
(ii) a critical mass of older individuals exists, based on local factors that, taken in total, allow an organization to achieve efficiencies in the provision of health and social services to older individuals living in the community; and
(B) that is not an institutional care or assisted living setting.

AoA Awards to Livable Communities

Livable Communities are places where people of all ages can live comfortably. In 2005 the Administration on Aging (AoA) sponsored a competition to honor some of the country’s most livable places. For the competition, AoA defined livable communities as cities and counties that have successfully taken specific actions to make significant improvements in the following six key areas:

• affordable/accessible housing;
• affordable/accessible transportation;
• accessible built environments;
• work, education and volunteer opportunities;
• access to health and supportive services; and
• citizen participation in civic and cultural activities.

In addition to honoring the efforts of seven communities, the competition served to help answer the questions ‘What makes a community “livable” for people across the life span?’ and ‘How can communities meet the needs of residents who have invested a lifetime in a place and want to grow older in their own homes?’

The goal of the Community Innovations for Aging In Place (CIAIP) grant project will be to build on the success of AoA funded NORCs and AoA Livable Communities award winners, while integrating additional innovative models that support aging in place.