Nov 8, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly, News
The 2024 Dementia Friendly Massachusetts (DFM) survey results indicated a strong interest in learning about grant funding opportunities. Several responses also pointed to a lack of financial support being a barrier to growing DFM initiatives. Here are some grant...
Oct 17, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly, News, Public Health
We all know what it’s like to be mired in the day-to-day demands that make it increasingly hard to see the forest for the trees and to maintain the vitality of our connection to the meaning of our work. But there are unique ideas and programs aiming to improve how we...
Oct 4, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance, Medicare, News
Chances are if you’re an Outreach Coordinator you’ve helped someone with a MassHealth application: a daunting task under any circumstance. The Massachusetts Health Care Training Forum provides regularly updated information via trainings to staff members of...
Sep 13, 2024 | Digital Equity, News
The digital divide experienced by many older adults in MA and the epidemic of loneliness have at least one relationship: access to one would alleviate the other. That is, the availability of low-cost, high-speed internet service would greatly increase human to human...
Sep 6, 2024 | Grants & Funding Resources, News, Resource finding, State
Many MA artists, performers, and other cultural program-creators routinely partner with senior centers to apply for Local Cultural Council grants. These grants, offered yearly, provide funds for arts programming that might otherwise be inaccessible to Councils on...
Aug 23, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Employment, Part Time
Many but not all communities in Massachusetts offer a tax-abatement option to homeowners: the Senior Citizen and Veterans Tax Work-Off programs, which provide opportunities for residents to perform a job for the municipality at minimum wage (currently $15/hour) in...
Aug 16, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing, Mental Health
Our behavioral health colleagues at the MA Association of Mental Health (MAMH) received a two-year grant from the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds that will enable the MA Hoarding Resource Network to focus on stabilizing housing and strengthening...
Aug 2, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Healthy Aging, News, Public Health
Many Senior Centers and other public buildings in Massachusetts are designated Cooling Centers. The Mass.gov website has a page devoted to the creation and implementation of Cooling Centers, which offers many good ideas. These ideas seem obvious when encountered in a...
Jul 19, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly, Housing, News
The mic-drop moment at the July 11 Outreach meeting was when the presenter, Tim O’Reilly, who manages building projects for Backyard ADUs, shared that Massachusetts’ Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP) will provide 0% interest loans of up to $50K to eligible...
Jul 5, 2024 | Housing, Mental Health, News, Resource finding
Some may remember that in March of this year the US Senate’s Special Committee on Aging distributed an RFI, seeking written testimony from people with lived experience and other stakeholders on the effects of hoarding. Committee members have finished their report, and...
Jun 21, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Stopping Driving, Transportation
It’s not unusual for senior center personnel to witness visitor driving that makes them question whether or not the driver should still be behind the wheel. Below are some resources that can bring this topic to the surface and support family members with ideas...
Jun 14, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Medicare, Prescription Drugs
More Medicare-enrollees than ever are now eligible for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP), which covers the monthly $174.70 Medicare Part B premium, eliminates some co-payments for outpatient services, and provides a program called Extra Help that significantly lowers...
Jun 7, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing
If you’re working with a client on a housing search or improving their housing stability because of a landlord conflict or other issue, staff members at Housing Consumer Education Centers might be able to assist. The regional centers are listed below; the best way to...
May 17, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing, PACE
Some PACE Centers in Massachusetts have special partnerships with housing entities, local housing authority- and privately owned properties that contain a variety of unit-styles, including rooms in congregate homes with shared amenities (such a kitchens, living rooms,...
May 10, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing
We all know that assisting clients with housing issues—seeking housing or stabilizing existing housing—is among the most demanding, stress-laden challenges we cope with. We also know that the landscape of affordable, low-income, and supportive housing options is...
May 3, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Resource finding
Since 2019, western Massachusetts has been served by 413CARES.org, a database of resources in several important categories including, but not limited to: food, housing, transportation, caregiver support, mental health, substance use, reentry, digital resources, and...
Apr 12, 2024 | Digital Equity, Economic Security & Outreach Blog
The Affordable Connectivity Program, a broadband internet discount program funded by Congress and administered by the FCC, is discontinuing. Many MA residents will know this program as the LifeLine Program. The program stopped accepting applications on February 7,...
Apr 5, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance, PACE
Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) are in sites spanning most of Massachusetts. They offer a strong opportunity for high-needs older adults to receive all the medical and social services they need in one place while continuing to live in their...
Apr 5, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Money Management
How many times have you worked with a client who is struggling to stay in their home in part because they are no longer paying bills? Sometimes other elements of maintaining a household are stable, but this lapse is putting the client at risk. I have never had a...
Apr 5, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Money Management
Money Management Programs, offered in several ASAPs in MA, have two levels of assistance: Bill Pay: The Bill Pay program utilizes trained and supervised volunteers to support older adults in their current living situations by assisting with paying bills and reviewing...
