Spotlight on Innovations and Achievements: Region IV Area Agency on Aging Offers Creative Programming to Help Reimagine Aging
Interested in providing more opportunities for engagement in your community? Check out the Region IV AAA in southwest Michigan’s Campus for Creative Aging program, which was developed to help older adults in southwest Michigan be creative, embrace new experiences and prevent social isolation.
We're proud to highlight the award-winning work of the 2019 winners of n4a's Aging Innovations and Achievement Awards in this weekly spotlight feature. This week, we are focusing on Region IV Area Agency on Aging's Campus for Creative Aging program. The agency was a 2019 Aging Innovations Award winner in the Healthy Aging category.
The Campus for Creative Aging program was developed by the Region IV Area Agency on Aging team with the goal of helping older adults in southwest Michigan be creative, embrace new experiences and prevent social isolation. It began with two programs. The first was a fee-based Aging Mastery classes that rotated throughout the region. The second was a state-of-the-art, fee-based Computer Learning Center run by a team of older adult volunteers. The team at Region IV has some more exciting programs in the works including a Sounds Good Choir and 10 Campus for Creative Aging kiosks located at partner organizations.
The Campus for Creative Aging program has been a definite success for the more than 740 older adults who have participated. Through this creative programming, older adults have been given the chance to truly engage with their community and reimagine what aging looks like.
And for their part, the Region IV team has enabled this new outlook for the older adults—with more and more people noticing this every day. Older adults, employers, community planners, business and the general public are increasingly seeing older adults as a vital community asset with wisdom, talent and expertise that should be valued by all. The team is helping others shed the idea that older adults are solely in need of services and supports, in favor of the concept that older adults have value they can offer the community.
The Region IV team has been able to reframe the conversation from one that focuses on the challenges the growing of the older demographic might present to a conversation that presents older adults as vital community assets and, in the process shifting public discourse. Older adults are advancing social causes, finding new purpose in volunteer efforts, hobbies, careers or new interests and launching business ventures decades past what was once considered traditional retirement age. Campus for Creative Aging programming supports, fosters and advances those efforts in concert with organizational partners.
For organizations interested in starting a similar program in their community, the Region IV team has a few suggestions. They want other Aging Network organizations to know that although the Campus is a partnership and a physical space, it is most importantly a movement and can represent a significant shift in community mindsets. It is crucial to reframing the conversation from needs-based aging to strength-based. Services and supports can be presented as a way to meet needs as they arise, while allowing for maximum engagement in life across the lifespan—as dictated and desired by the individual. The first step is to shift the conversation on aging and establish a clear vision for what aging could look like in your community. From there, the possibilities are endless.
“You make me feel like I still have value. And now I feel like the greater community values me—and other older adults—too. Thank you!” - A participant of the Campus for Creative Aging program
To learn more about Region IV Area Agency on Aging's Campus for Creative Aging program, contact Lynn Kellogg, CEO at lynnkellogg@areaagencyonaging.org.
For more information about the 2019 winners, read our press release and check out our book of winners to learn how your organization can implement this or similar programs in your community!
We're proud to highlight the award-winning work of the 2019 winners of n4a's Aging Innovations and Achievement Awards in this weekly spotlight feature. This week, we are focusing on Region IV Area Agency on Aging's Campus for Creative Aging program. The agency was a 2019 Aging Innovations Award winner in the Healthy Aging category.
The Campus for Creative Aging program was developed by the Region IV Area Agency on Aging team with the goal of helping older adults in southwest Michigan be creative, embrace new experiences and prevent social isolation. It began with two programs. The first was a fee-based Aging Mastery classes that rotated throughout the region. The second was a state-of-the-art, fee-based Computer Learning Center run by a team of older adult volunteers. The team at Region IV has some more exciting programs in the works including a Sounds Good Choir and 10 Campus for Creative Aging kiosks located at partner organizations.
The Campus for Creative Aging program has been a definite success for the more than 740 older adults who have participated. Through this creative programming, older adults have been given the chance to truly engage with their community and reimagine what aging looks like.
And for their part, the Region IV team has enabled this new outlook for the older adults—with more and more people noticing this every day. Older adults, employers, community planners, business and the general public are increasingly seeing older adults as a vital community asset with wisdom, talent and expertise that should be valued by all. The team is helping others shed the idea that older adults are solely in need of services and supports, in favor of the concept that older adults have value they can offer the community.
The Region IV team has been able to reframe the conversation from one that focuses on the challenges the growing of the older demographic might present to a conversation that presents older adults as vital community assets and, in the process shifting public discourse. Older adults are advancing social causes, finding new purpose in volunteer efforts, hobbies, careers or new interests and launching business ventures decades past what was once considered traditional retirement age. Campus for Creative Aging programming supports, fosters and advances those efforts in concert with organizational partners.
For organizations interested in starting a similar program in their community, the Region IV team has a few suggestions. They want other Aging Network organizations to know that although the Campus is a partnership and a physical space, it is most importantly a movement and can represent a significant shift in community mindsets. It is crucial to reframing the conversation from needs-based aging to strength-based. Services and supports can be presented as a way to meet needs as they arise, while allowing for maximum engagement in life across the lifespan—as dictated and desired by the individual. The first step is to shift the conversation on aging and establish a clear vision for what aging could look like in your community. From there, the possibilities are endless.
“You make me feel like I still have value. And now I feel like the greater community values me—and other older adults—too. Thank you!” - A participant of the Campus for Creative Aging program
To learn more about Region IV Area Agency on Aging's Campus for Creative Aging program, contact Lynn Kellogg, CEO at lynnkellogg@areaagencyonaging.org.
For more information about the 2019 winners, read our press release and check out our book of winners to learn how your organization can implement this or similar programs in your community!