Jun 5, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Housing, News
Many of you know all too well how the housing crisis is affecting vulnerable, low-income older adults in your communities.
Homelessness among older adults is expected to nearly triple by 2030, according to the authors of the study, Emerging-Crisis-of-Aged-Homelessness.pdf
One thing we can do is increase our knowledge of state-wide housing advocacy, such as the Older Adult Bridge Subsidy Campaign, sponsored by the MA Coalition for the Homeless, which supports the expansion of the bridge subsidy program.
The short-term housing bridge subsidy program, currently being piloted in Somerville, helps extremely-low-income older adult renters maintain their housing stability by providing them with rent assistance while they wait for placement in permanent, subsidized housing.
MCOA is supporting An Act Promoting Housing Stability for Older Adults across the Commonwealth (H.4025/S.475) please give this short bill a read and consider reaching out to your state legislators to voice your support and ask them to co-sponsor the bill.
May 8, 2025 | Age & Dementia Friendly
Did you know that June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month? Check out the special resources created by the Alzheimer’s Association!
May 6, 2025 | Digital Equity, Economic Security & Outreach Blog, News
Low cost access to high speed internet is the main building block of digital equity. Are you observing older adult community members who are lacking access to essential services due to lack of access to the internet? Please consider sharing your experiences in written testimony!
Low Cost Internet Bill H.3527 & S. 2318, Virtual Hearing Tuesday, May 6th at 11am
Written testimony can be submitted via email to Benjamin Minerva at Ben.Minerva@masenate.gov and Caleb Oakes at Caleb.Oakes@mahouse.gov. The deadline to submit written testimony is Tuesday, May 13 by 5:00 p.m., go HERE for formatting details.
MA Healthy Aging Collaborative’s Executive Director, James Fuccione, provides these useful information points, should you choose to provide written testimony:
Potential Talking Points You Can Use to Draft Your Testimony
Tell the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy why you and your organization are taking time to testify and what is your unique lens/experience on this topic.
- This bill does not ask the legislature to spend money, but instead proposes a private-based solution.
- Internet access is no longer a luxury.
- With services and staffing being cut due to federal funding cuts, more programs and contacts will be moved online, making it imperative that people be able to access the internet if phone or in-person availability is no longer an option.
- In a recent survey, 50% of MA respondents found it difficult to pay their internet bill.
- About 368,000 MA households (14%) received help from ACP before it ran out of funds. In some areas, 25% of households were enrolled in ACP.
- Nearly 1 in 10 MA households don’t have high-speed internet at home.
- High internet costs are the biggest barrier to residents having broadband at home.
- Rural communities across the commonwealth are stuck in a monopoly with their options for Internet companies – in all other instances, the government steps in and ensures that there is equitable access to the internet.
- The Supreme Court said that states can regulate the Internet. This is a new opportunity to ask internet service providers, who will also benefit from new customers, to pay their fair share in provide equitable, affordable internet.
- Ensuring Adequate & Equitable Service: Establishing a “minimum download speeds standard to 100 Mbps” ensures that the low-cost option provides genuinely usable high-speed internet, not outdated or insufficient service.
- Hidden Costs Disproportionately & Negatively Affects Low-Income Subscribers: Flat rate with taxes and fees included, ensures transparency and prevents hidden costs from burdening low-income users.
- Access to the Internet is now a necessity for everyday activities and essential for education, employment, leisure, business, public services, civic participation, and healthcare.
- 70,000 western Mass residents relied on ACP as their affordable Internet.
- There are parts of the state that have insufficient infrastructure and the costs have not been equally distributed. This evens the playing field for communities.
- ACCESS to the Internet is NOT an affordable internet.
May 2, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, News
Wealth Gaps in the Golden Years: Economic Insecurity for Older Adults in a High-Cost State
By Kelly Harrington, Luc Schuster Boston Indicators. Laura D. Quinby, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
May 1, 2025
Across the nation, many older adults struggle to make ends meet: the Elder Index from UMass Boston’s Gerontology Institute shows about 30 percent of older households lack the income needed to cover basic expenses and remain in their homes. Whether Massachusetts fares better or worse is unclear—while the state is relatively wealthy, its high cost of living and entrenched inequality leave low-income and older residents of color especially vulnerable. To shed light on these dynamics, this mixed-methods report by Boston Indicators in collaboration with Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research pairs a quantitative assessment—detailing income and wealth sources, the share of older households below Elder Index thresholds, and racial gaps in retirement security—with a qualitative study of structured interviews that reveal how low-income, low-wealth seniors stretch limited resources to make ends meet.
FIND FULL REPORT ONLINE HERE
Apr 11, 2025 | Education & Training, Events, Healthy Aging
Mar 31, 2025 | Age & Dementia Friendly
Feb 24, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Resource finding
There’s a reason that state legislators and Governor Healy sent letters to the MA Department of Public Utilities (DPU) earlier this month: MA residents are seeing significant increases on their natural gas bills, a situation that is caused by several factors including an unusually cold winter and rate changes that went into effect November 2024. Typical bills have risen 23-30 percent, according to The Boston Globe. The DPU has told the gas utility companies that they must reduce gas bills by at least 5% in March and April.
Now’s the time of year that COAs are actively assisting residents in applying for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP, also referred to as Fuel Assistance).
The application window is November 1-April 30, so there’s still some time for income-eligible residents (they don’t need to be homeowners) to apply. First time and repeat applicants can apply on-line. To find the web portal for your community, go HERE.
The FY2025 Income Eligibility Guidelines:
| Household Size |
Maximum Income Level |
| 1 |
$49,196 |
| 2 |
$64,333 |
| 3 |
$79,470 |
Feb 3, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog
MA residents who are 65 or older by Dec. 31 of the 2024 tax year who meet income eligibility guidelines may be able to receive a maximum of $2,730 through this state-level program. Both homeowners and renters who are MA residents may apply. Eligible applicants whose calculated CB Tax Credit exceeds the total tax payable for the year will receive a refund check.
Income eligibility guidelines for the 2024 tax year:
- $72,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household
- $91,000 for a head of household
- $109,000 for married couples filing a joint return
The filing deadline is April 15, 2025.
Eligibility guidelines are clearly described on the Mass.gov MA Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit webpage.
This webpage also has clear and readable flyer to hang in your Center.
Applicants must file a Schedule CB with their MA personal income tax return—income-eligible people who generally do not file their MA state income taxes should be encouraged to do so! Applicants may also be able to receive up to three prior years’ worth of tax credits, so this process is worth the effort! Find prior year forms and instructions here.
AARP Tax-Aide volunteers are equipped to help clients with the Schedule CB paperwork. Sites offering the Tax-Aide program, many of them MA senior centers, can be found using their locator tool.
Applicants can also use MassTaxConnect to file for free.
Jan 22, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Resource finding
In the event that you are called upon to help people in your community find a place for emergency shelter or a warming center, I have compiled a current list. This is not a comprehensive list, but it covers all regions of the state.
Boston Emergency Shelters and other services for people experiencing homelessness
Berkshire County’s Servicenet Shelters
Cape Cod: Barnstable warming stations are available at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center, 8 AM-8 PM, Mon-Fri, and Barnstable Adult Community Center, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, Tue-Fri.
Central MA: The Worcester Senior Center and the Worcester Public Library are warming centers. Open Sky Community Services operates a winter shelter. Families experiencing homelessness can contact Catholic Charities Worcester County for emergency shelter.
Martha’s Vineyard has daytime warming centers and emergency shelters.
Metrowest: Common Ground Resources, run by SMOC, runs three emergency shelters. Metrowest Care Connection provides a comprehensive list of shelters with phone numbers, addresses, and other details.
Nantucket: The Warming Place
Northshore: Mystic Valley Elder Services as compiled a list of overnight warming centers. Lifebridge Northshore provides shelter at several sites.
Southeast MA: South Shore Elder Services compiled a list of emergency shelters. The Acushnet Community Senior Center operates a warming center.
Western MA (Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties): The Western MA Network to End Homeless has created a newly updated directory of shelter and warming sites across the four western counties here.
Warming center guidance from the state can be found here. Is your Senior Center also a warming center? It’s never a bad idea to review the best practices and take the time to get the word out to your community.
Jan 9, 2025 | Age & Dementia Friendly
Living Well After the Diagnosis
- Friday, January 31, 2025
- 9:30 am – 12:00 pm ET
- Live Virtual Program
Designed for individuals living with early stage dementia & their care partners
All are welcome to attend
The Alzheimer’s Association, New England Chapters, will offer a special half-day program, Living Well After the Diagnosis, for individuals living with early-stage dementia and their care partners. The program will feature a panel discussion of individuals living with memory loss. Panelists will discuss coping with a diagnosis and combating the stigma associated with the disease. They will also talk about the importance of disease education, social engagement, and having a voice in your own care. In addition, Dr. Julie Brody Magid will present Living Well with Cognitive Challenges: Tips and Strategies, featuring cognitive strategies to help manage common difficulties encountered in daily life to improve feelings of well-being and self-reliance.
This program is sponsored by Lorenzo’s House and Jewish Family & Children Services.
Learn more and REGISTER HERE
Nov 22, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly
The Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter is offering two presentations designed to help caregivers through some of the stresses the holiday season can bring. Consider hosting a watch party and please share this opportunity with your participants!
DECEMBER 5, 2024
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Live Virtual
Click here to register
DECEMBER 11, 2024
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Live Virtual
Click here to register
Nov 22, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly
Person-Centered Dementia Care: Understanding Behaviors and Effective Communication
Thursday, December 12, 2024
12:00-1:30 PM
Zoom
As people living with dementia progress in their journey, their ability to communicate also changes. Professionals must discover new ways to communicate effectively for all stages of the disease. Behavior is a powerful form of communication and is one of the primary ways for people with dementia to communicate their needs and feelings as the ability to use verbal communication diminishes. Join us to learn how dementia affects communication, how person-centered approaches can improve communication, how to decode behavioral messages, identify common behavior triggers, and learn strategies to help intervene with some of the most common behavioral challenges of Alzheimer’s disease.
Free CEUs for social workers and nurses
Nov 22, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Public Health
I have a friend who is an audiologist, so when I recently saw an advertisement for using the Apple AirPod Pro 2 as a hearing aid, I decided to ask her if she knew anything about its performance, since it seems to be a cost-effective option ($259 at the time of this writing). She tested the product, wrote the following summary of her experience, and gave me permission to share it.
I’ve fooled around with my AirPods to test this out. I programmed a mild high-frequency hearing loss in, and then evaluated the sound that the AirPods were outputting, and they actually did a pretty good job! I was surprised. There are some downsides:
- You’ll get the best results by having an actual hearing evaluation so you know that the numbers you are giving the AirPods are correct (they ask for input from a hearing test). If someone hasn’t had their hearing tested, there are free apps that Apple recommends, but I think the jury is out on how accurate those “over the phone” tests actually are.
- Comfort. You have to have a good fit with the earbuds, or it just won’t work.
- You have to be technically savvy enough to figure it out. I am technically savvy, and I had to do a lot of messing around to figure out how to make it work.
- Your ears are completely plugged up by the AirPods. There’s no air-flow in or out of the canal. They do a pretty good job about not making your voice sound like it’s bottled up in your head, but other body sounds are magnified. When I’m walking with my AirPods in, I hear the loud thump, thump, thump of my feet hitting the ground. It’s a little weird, but I’m sure you’d get used to it.
- The battery life is not great. You get maybe 4 hours out of them. So they are really only good for situational use. Like… I’m going out to dinner and I won’t be able to hear. Definitely not putting them on in the morning and having corrected hearing all day long.
- You will look to the rest of the world like you don’t want to interface with them because you have your AirPods in.
All that being said, they seemed to do a good job, and for someone who is looking for situational help with mild hearing loss, I think they are by far the best option on the market, and the price is right!
Review by Dr. Sarah Moore, AUD
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 programs and funders that might be a fit for your ideas (each title is a link):
Categories of SIG grants are subject to change, but the FY25 categories most relevant to DFM work were for Memory Cafés, Age-and Dementia-Friendly initiatives, and Caregiver Respite. The link takes you to an overview of the FY25 grant timeline (starting in spring 2024), which will be similar for FY26.
Point32Health Foundation has an equity in aging focus. It supports programs that acknowledge and seek to remedy systemic barriers to better health. If your program idea would help meet needs of high-risk people within your community of older adults, it might be eligible for support. Inquiry forms are accepted at any time.
Community Foundations in Massachusetts are regional nonprofits that span the state and have various means of doing philanthropic work in their communities, either by giving grants directly or directing donors to organizations and programs that they endorse. Find out about the one close to you: if they give grants, and if your program ideas might be eligible.
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
The Boston Foundation
Brookline Community Foundation
Cambridge Community Foundation
Cape Cod Foundation
Community Foundation of Nantucket
Community Foundation of North Central MA
Community Foundation of Western MA
Essex County Community Foundation
Foundation for MetroWest
Greater Lowell Community Foundation
Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation
South Coast Community Foundation
Watertown Community Foundation
LCC funds could support musicians and artists featured at Memory Cafés! Every municipality has an LCC that distributes MA Cultural Council money. Usually COAs partner with an artist who will write the grant and be the direct recipient of funds.
Providing small grants ($1,000-$20,000) to nonprofits and government entities for a broad array of programs or operating support. November 12 is the next deadline. Learn more on their FAQ page; they have not defined specific funding priorities.
We are keeping a growing list of these on the DFM website’s Resources page.
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 build a society that is livable for older adults that are brilliantly worthy of our attention. They encourage us to slow down and take the time to grow our compassion through the extraordinary experiences of others.
A couple programs of this nature came to my attention in the past week: Gold Coats and the living experiment that inspired the Human Forever documentary film (2024).
Gold Coats
The Gold Coat program, based at the California Men’s Colony State Prison in San Luis Obispo, trains inmates to provide a high standard of care for their fellow inmates who are living with dementia and other cognitive disorders. Testimony from the Gold Coats provides extremely moving insight about the power of caring for others in the most trying circumstances.
Human Forever
Teun Toebes, a 25-year-old Dutch nursing student and now an international spokesperson on dementia and healthcare innovation, lived in a closed ward memory care unit in a Dutch nursing home for three years. He wrote a book about that experience and then toured the world with independent filmmaker Jonathan de Jong to learn about international models of care and to create the film Human Forever (2024).
Teun Toebes’ book about his experiences: The Housemates: Everything One Young Student Learnt about Love, Care and Dementia from Living in a Nursing Home
Go ahead—give yourself permission to learn a little bit about creative and innovative ways to provide care and special experiences for people living with dementia.
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 community-based agencies—including COAs—and health care organizations. Their trainings cover topics that either are directly related to MassHealth or are adjacent.
The MHCTF website hosts webinar videos and slide shows from past presentations such as:
- How to Apply for Long Term Care
- MassHealth 2023-24 Redeterminations and Renewals
- Understanding the Medicare Savings Program
- Understanding Immigration Requirements and Application Completion for Health Insurance Coverage in MA
There are opportunities to register for their live, virtual meetings. October’s offerings that could be useful to Outreach Coordinators and SHINE Counselors are:
- MassHealth & Health Safety Net Updates
- Medicare in 2025
- Disability Evaluation Services Overview & MassHealth
Click here to register for the MTF meetings
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 connectivity of isolated older adults. Another synergy that some COAs in MA are already utilizing is connecting young people—teens or college-age young adults—with older adults to provide tutorials in tech skills.
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly in Boston is doing just that in public senior housing complexes. In their words, “LBFE Boston helps prevent social isolation by offering free, intergenerational, digital equity, and arts programs to older adults in public/affordable senior housing and community centers.” Tech access and training provides benefits such as mental stimulation, reduced isolation, empowerment, and skills needed for the job market, transportation, navigating medical appointments & records, and more.
Their Digital Dividends program offers instruction in Zoom, Google Maps, Uber/Lyft, AI tools, G-Suite (including Gmail), and Microsoft Office applications. Classes are held once a week for an hour, Monday through Friday, typically between 12 PM and 5 PM. Each older adult receives a free laptop and reliable internet access. With the support of younger participants, they build and expand their tech knowledge. In 2023 alone, Digital Dividends conducted more than 222 digital literacy training sessions in both English and Spanish. For a closer look, check out this recent story about one of their programs in South Boston.
Digital Dividends has been supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the state, administered through the Digital Equity Partnerships Program. Funds from this grant paid for Chromebooks and mobile hotspots for the older adult participants in these classes.
The need for programs like this is even more acute now that the federally funded Affordable Connectivity Program has come to an end (April 2024). COA staff serve people who lack personal access to high speed internet, and they see the disadvantages that come with that. A leader in this arena is the MA Healthy Aging Collaborative, which offers quarterly meetings on the topic of older adults and technology access, to which COA staff members are welcome.
Sign up for their newsletter to stay tuned for meeting dates, and check out the MHAC blog, which regularly offers pieces on digital equity and technology access for older adults. If you want to grow your understanding of this issue and what’s currently being done in Massachusetts to help older adults gain affordable broadband access and other important connectivity resources, read the Community Resources Guide: Technology Access and Programming for Older Adults (Sept. 2021).
Is your COA working on enhancing digital equity for older adults in your community? Are you harnessing the power of young people for this work? We’d love to learn about your creative efforts on MCOA’s InfoHub Forum!
Note: Photo used with the permission of LBFE Boston.
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 Aging with limited budgets.
The application deadline for Mass Cultural Council’s Local Cultural Council Grants is October 16.
If this is news to you and you’re interested in learning more about the kinds of programs that these grants support, you can look up any community’s LCC on the MCC website and see the list of recent grant recipients, the titles of their projects, and the amount they received. If you or the artist you’re working with are interested in offering a program to residents of more than one city or town, the applicant (usually the artist devising the program) may submit applications to more than one LCC.
Each LCC has its own set of funding priorities, so be sure to read up on your particular community’s LCC profile, which will also provide local contact information.
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 order to see a reduction—based on what they earned—in their property tax bills. The maximum abatement defined in the state law for people 60 and older is $2,000, and the maximum abatement for Veterans, as defined in the state law for that program, is $1,500.
Often, COA Directors or other COA staff members and Town/ City Assessors work in partnership to organize these programs and spread the word to residents. Together they create a system for applications, eligibility screening, and the matching of qualified residents with jobs that have been determined by municipal department heads ahead of time. Municipalities determine their own income eligibility guidelines.
The best programs offer several job opportunities in various departments—and ideally the jobs will draw upon diverse skill sets, maximizing appeal to the public.
If you are already involved with this program, you’ve probably started asking for job descriptions from your municipal colleagues (my experience has led me to believe that you can’t start too early). If your municipality does not have either program yet and you want to start one, consult with your Town Manager/Town Administrator/Mayor. These programs are voted in by City Councils, Select Boards, and other authorizing officials.
It’s easy to find model program guidelines all over the state—and they do differ from community to community. Just Google “Senior Tax Work Off MA” (or “Veterans Tax Work Off MA”) and many communities’ program guidelines will come up.
These programs are an effective way of creating lasting, positive relationships with community participants. They can be the means of getting some help that your budget may not allow, such as Memory Café leadership, Age- and Dementia-Friendly Action Team leaders, meal deliverers, receptionists, greeters, etc. If you can dream it up, it’s possible!
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 eviction prevention for people living with hoarding disorder. The initiative will involve people with lived experience and other stakeholders and professionals working in housing, aging, behavioral health, human services, public safety and code enforcement, and academic researchers. They will collaborate and craft strategies for broad environmental and systemic change, working towards nuanced community responses to assisting MA residents whose housing is at risk.
The MAMH has created a webpage with a blog about the project, and they welcome ideas and information about relevant resources that you might know about.
The MAMH project coordinator for this is Cassie Cramer, who is also the project director of the Older Adult Behavioral Health Network.
For our September 12 Outreach Zoom Meeting, Cassie will conduct a listening session, seeking insights from COA staff members about assisting older residents whose accumulated belongings pose a danger and could lead to eviction or their homes being deemed uninhabitable.
