Legacy Doc ID# 38010601

A majority of senior residential communities depend on state or federal funding to maintain their operating expenses and deliver quality programming to their residents. In addition, all senior facilities and community based service programs are subject to state and federal regulations including licensure, fair housing and safety oversight. New York state and federal legislators are the decision makers on funding, oversight and policy development for senior housing and community services.

Legislators have to make decisions on how to allocate limited resources from hundreds of competing causes. While associations including the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (NYAHSA), the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), and the American Association of Service Coordinators (AASC) work hard to represent their members on senior issues, we are competing with thousands of other groups for legislators’ attention and funding. NYAHSA’s Center for Senior Living and Community Services (The Center) has developed a technical assistance guide entitled Developing a Grassroots Advocacy Plan in a Senior Residential Community about empowering seniors, the people that work for them, their families and supporters, to advocate for funding and legislation that will improve senior housing and supportive services.

The guide provides Center members with the tools to develop a grassroots advocacy program. The guide describes ten steps to coordinate advocacy within your facility / program in conjunction with NYAHSA, AAHSA, other associations, your community and similar providers.

As a provider that works with seniors, you’re in a great position to develop a grassroots advocacy program to influence and educate elected officials and policies that impact senior housing and service programs.  Legislators on both the state and federal level consider thousands of bills each legislative session.  In New York, more than ten thousand separate bills are introduced each year to enact or change a law and/or to provide funding for a cause.

The goal of The Center’s grassroots advocacy initiative is to have a majority of NYAHSA’s members - including residents, staff, board members and community agencies involved in advocacy to provide a strong voice in Albany and Washington. These efforts help to ensure adequate resources and funding for senior housing and supportive services.

To view the guide Developing a Grassroots Advocacy Plan in a Senior Residential Community, go to NYAHSA’s Web site at: http://www.nyahsa.org/documents/pdf_files/38009601.pdf.

The Center will continue to discuss and share member experiences with their grassroots advocacy efforts and provide additional guidance and information at regional meetings, lobby days, conferences, Issue Forums and Center events.

If you have any questions on developing a grassroots advocacy program in your residential community or supportive services program, contact Ken Harris at 518-449-2707, extension 139, or by e-mail at kharris@nyahsa.org; or Elizabeth Briand at 518-449-2707, extension 155; or by e-mail at ebriand@nyahsa.org.