CPOA -

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Boston Partnership for
Older Adults

Address
		c/o (ABCD) Elder Services Department
		178 Tremont Street
		Boston, MA
		02111
Web site
		www.bostonolderadults.org
Contact
		Emily Shea
		617.348.6340

The partnership, comprised of over 150 individuals from 70 organizations, has reached out to traditionally under-served populations through such organizations as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Aging Project; the Multicultural Coalition on Aging, the Boston Chinese Golden Age Center; La Alianza Hispana, and the Office for Immigrants and Refugees. The Partnership was convened in May 2000 under the leadership of the City Commission on the Affairs of the Elderly with many partners coming to the table due to funding cutbacks in aging services .and the growth of poverty among older adults coping with the region’s high cost of living.

Successes:

Creation of a ground-breaking report, 100,000 Voices on Growing Older in Boston: Understanding the Experiences and Needs of Boston’s Older Adults, which received both national and local media coverage.
Development of the first elder-friendly business district in Boston – and the nation – that includes repaired sidewalks, better timed crosswalks, more appropriate pedestrian lighting and better snow removal. The Mayor has committed to extending the districts to all 16 city neighborhoods.
Working with several local geriatric specialists, the Partnership created a function-focused geriatric assessment tool that physicians can use to assess issues important to the health and well-being of older adults, and a companion patient survey tool.
To combat elder abuse and neglect, several conferences have been organized. Training on Elder Abuse has been imbedded in the Police Academy to promote recognition and reporting of abuse; over 400 police officers have been trained so far.

We encourage the reproduction of this material and ask that you credit Community Partnerships for Older Adults Community Partnerships for Older Adults is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation within the University of Southern Maine
© 2007 Community Partnerships for Older Adults

Strategic Planning - Strategic planning will help you create a bold vision for the future, strengthen new partnerships, forge creative and innovative linkages between stakeholders, and ultimately better address the needs of older adults in your community. A community-wide strategic planning process will benefit from the wisdom of a diverse array of participants and ensure greater likelihood of success.

Inclusion & Diversity - Including older adults and caregivers is crucial to growing and sustaining successful community partnerships. It is especially important to seek participation from traditionally excluded groups such as those defined by race and ethnicity, low income, lack of English language proficiency, and sexual orientation. While many factors can challenge a partnership’s efforts to embrace diversity and build productive relationships, receiving input from a broad array of community members helps to ensure equality in decision making and leads to long term care and supportive services that are more responsive to a community’s diverse needs.

Fiscal Strategies - Developing a fiscal strategy is an important and challenging part of improving the system of long term care and supportive services for older adults in your community. The array of funding options requires that community partnerships be strategic in their aims. This area of the Resource Center reviews relevant funding sources and provides resources to help you make the most of them.

Communications - Have you ever thought about how many times a day someone tries to influence you to think a certain way, to buy a certain product, to support a cause or to change your behavior? These days there are so many ways to reach you—from cell phones and Palm Pilots to instant messaging, cable TV and customized publications—that a reasonable reaction is to simply tune everything out. It’s a world of sound and fury.

Evaluation - While the success of a community partnership may seem self-evident, a systematic evaluation holds members to a higher standard, revealing more than what we see with the naked eye. This section offers an introduction to evaluation. It covers the basic principles of evaluation design and implementation, as well as some topics likely to be important for community partnerships working to improve long term care and supportive services.

Partnership Evolution - A partnership generally consists of multiple organizations and individuals working together under a common vision. Who will be in the partnership varies from community to community, yet the purpose is universal: to create a mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship to sustain results that are not possible alone.