Waving the Rainbow Flag at the White House Conference on Aging

After much hard work by SAGE and our allies, in 2005 SAGE became the very first openly GLBT organization to be represented with a delegate at the diennial White House Conference on Aging. The Conference sets the guidelines for federal policy on aging for the decade ahead. Thanks to fierce advocacy by SAGE, the Task Force, and our "diversity in aging" coalition, the final Conference report includes important recommendations about GLBT aging issues. Click here to read the final report.

"Aging in Place"

One of the most innovative new concepts in public policy for seniors is "naturally occurring retirement communities" (NORCs), which allow seniors to grow older in their own communities by bringing supportive services to buildings or neighborhoods where they live. SAGE convinced New York City to become the first in the country to grant NORC funding to a support program for GLBT seniors. SAGE's program for GLBT seniors in Harlem is recognized as a NORC of a different sort: a community based on cultural affinity (GLBT identity) rather than where seniors live. Click here to read the Harlem NORC article in SAGE Matters.

Making Area Agencies on Aging GLBT-friendly

Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) across the country are responsible for making many important decisions about programs for seniors in their jurisdictions. SAGE worked in partnership with other advocacy organizations to convince New York State's Office for the Aging to issue special guidance to all AAAs in the state to ensure that they include GLBT issues in their training materials and include GLBT representatives on their local advisory committees.