AGEnda for Action: Building a Movement for Elder Women's Advocacy
California's aging population is rapidly increasing in number and diversity, and is expected to double in size by 2030. The ongoing recession and state budget crisis continue to cripple California’s economy and the state’s ability to fund essential safety net programs relied upon by elders. Elder women are further vulnerable in terms of health and economic security due to their roles as caregivers and wage earners.
Recognizing the magnitude of these issues and the untapped potential of elder women’s leadership, the Women's Foundation of California launched the Elder Women’s Initiative in 2008 with our partners: The California Endowment, Insight Center for Community Economic Development, New America Media and UCSF Institute for Health & Aging. We brought together diverse elder women and their allies, women with courage, to advocate for policies that allow all Californians to age with well-being, dignity and economic and health security. We held a series of community listening sessions called Women Speak Out and interviewed policy leaders to assess the political will in California to advance elder women’s issues.
This report presents the Initiative’s findings and provides recommendations for how funders, policymakers, and advocates can ensure all Californians age with well-being, dignity and economic security. As part of this vision, the Women’s Foundation of California is proud to present the Executive Summary of this report as a free download in five languages: Simplified Chinese, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, and Spanish.
download AGEnda for Action report
click here to see Women Speak Out video
Exciting Progress and Next Steps:
The Elder Women's Initiative has engaged in the following activities to build upon past relationships and continue moving the work forward:
- Connecting California 2010 Statewide Convening: our statewide conference for grant partners, donor activists and community leaders will provide an incredible opportunity to be part of strengthening and improving a broad-based, multi-issue, intergenerational social justice movement in California. A Pre-Convening Track for Elder Women’s Initiative will bring together key partners for a deeper discussion on the Initiative’s findings and recommendations for how funders, policymakers and advocates can partner to advance elder women’s policies.
- The Women’s Policy Institute Elder Issues Team is going on year two. The Women’s Policy Institute piloted the Elder Issues team in 2008 to increase the role elder women play in advocating for public policies that improve the quality of life for elder women in California. The team’s bill, AB 324 (Beall, D – San Jose) ‘Elder Economic Dignity Act of 2009’ reached the Governor’s desk with bipartisan support and the support of over 100 organizations statewide. Although the bill was ultimately vetoed, advocates are still fighting to ensure the economic security for families and seniors in California. Institute’s current elder issues team is in the process of identifying their bill for next legislative year
- The Foundation is thrilled to announce the receipt of a two-year, $900,000 grant from Atlantic Philanthropies to support the national replication of the Women’s Policy Institute. The Foundation will replicate the Institute by working with locally-based organizations and women’s funds to build Institutes for elder women advocates and their allies in three key regions of the US. In year one, the Foundation will develop criteria for selecting sites and organizations that are interested in replicating an Elder Women’s Policy Institute. In year two, the Foundation will work with selected organizations to launch Institutes that allow elder women, primarily from low-income communities and communities of color, to build skills to advocate for policy goals and mobilize constituencies that allow all women to age with dignity, economic security and access to affordable health care where they choose.
To learn more about the Elder Women's Initiative please contact Program Officer Karla Rodriguez at karlar@womensfoundca.org.
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