General Recommendations
- Raise or increase the authorized funding for all titles of the OAA. Additionally, any new programs added to the Act should be given specific authorization levels. With the population of older individuals expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, the Aging Network faces incredible challenges associated with the influx of older individuals into OAA programs. The scope of the OAA is vast and expanding to cover additional populations while the investment in its mission has been severely, and consistently, underfunded.
- The Aging Network should be considered the focal point for aging related matters at all levels of government. Amend the OAA to explicitly recognize the principal role that State Agencies on Aging have in planning for the social and physical needs of older adults at the state level, and Area Agencies on Aging at the local level.
- Where possible in the OAA, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults should be included as a vulnerable population with greatest social need as a result of a lifetime of bigotry, stigma and discrimination.
- The underserved, vulnerable communities of all racial and ethnic groups, as well as, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults should be explicitly addressed in the OAA in ways that account for their unique family structures and collective experiences. Terms such as “adult care,” “family,” “family caregiver,” “spouse,” “underserved area,” “vulnerable elder,” and “family violence” should be defined to account for the variety of family and care structures of all racial and ethnic communities, and LGBT communities, which include partners and families of choices, as well as spouses and biological families.
- Where appropriate and practical in the OAA, data collection, project assessments and reporting requirements should ensure that racial groups, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults, are studied and appropriately served.
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