Brooke Hollister PhD,  led this work session about how to effectively communicate aging issues at the policy level. Brooke is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Health & Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. Thank you Brooke for an engaging evening – here is to political activism and the research which supports it! Check out the Newsletter of the Community Living Campaign in San Francisco for ideas where to engage locally.

THE TAKEAWAY:

Political Activism

• Every cause is political. Every group can be a political action group.
• Politics is more accessible than you think.
• Start at the local level
• Sign up for listservs and newsletters from the groups you respect to get your news.
• It is all about building relationships also with people you are not aligned with.
• Know the political structure.
• Concise message is key
• Persistence is essential

Current Health and Aging

• Health and Housing might become linked in the future.
• Dual eligibility is handled differently in every county and an experiment.
• Only by increasing the revenue stream can we tackle aging issues.
• Older American’s Act has been reauthorized but is lacking ‘tooth’.
• Pulling on heartstrings does not work for aging issues anymore – it is about cost saving and/or revenue streams.
• AARP is starting to act more local – that is where the action is.