Oct 29, 2025 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, News
Local Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) agencies are accepting applications for the 2025-2026 winter season for first-time applicants and applicants renewing/recertifying from the previous year. Please continue to encourage your community members to apply and please continue to offer your assistance.
However, beginning November 1st, HEAP will have limited funding for heating emergencies only. Awarding HEAP benefits that are NOT emergencies will be otherwise paused until the federal government reopens and approves new funding for the Home Energy Assistance Program.
Heating-related emergencies include:
- No heat.
- A termination notice from a utility.
- Less than 1/8 of a tank of oil.
- Less than three days’ supply of other deliverable fuels.
*Emergencies for delivered fuels will be authorized by a phone call with a follow-up voucher for each emergency order. *
Because this is a federally funded program and the federal government shut down on October 1, applicants should anticipate experiencing delays in application processing and payments.
Additionally, low-income members of your community may be eligible for shut-off protection via the Winter Moratorium.
The Winter Moratorium has been put into effect early this season and extended. The Moratorium begins 10/27/2025 and ends 4/1/2026. This means low-income customers will have their utility protected from termination, provided they have submitted verification of financial hardship to the utility company: Financial Hardship Forms. Each utility company has its own version:
The Winter Moratorium helps protect most low-income utility customers from having their services shut off, but this does not happen automatically.
The Department of Public Utilities No Shut Off List
The DPU No Shut Off List provides another means of shut-off protection. Please access information on this program on the state’s website for eligibility details.
Your state legislators are aware that this protection is critical for many seniors, and they are willing to advocate for them. They can work with the DPU and the Attorney General’s team to ensure people get on this list if they qualify.
Please be aware that some gas heating systems require electricity to run. Gas consumers are protected from having their gas shut off as their primary heating source, but their electricity can still be shut off, so getting all the protections possible—for more than one utility connected to a heating system–is essential.
Sep 25, 2025 | 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 5, 2025 | Healthy Aging, News
There’s more to being well than eating right and exercising! Wellness wheels showcase several aspects contributing to an individual’s health and fulfilling life.
National Wellness Month emphasizes the need to slow down and focus on small yet impactful lifestyle changes that lead to long-term wellbeing. Wellness should be an ongoing priority without being overwhelming. While August lasts for only 31 days, the habits and practices developed during National Wellness Month can lead to lifelong improvements.
Ways to Celebrate National Wellness Month
- Prioritize self-care – Engage in activities that you enjoy! They should make you feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
- Improve your diet – Add more whole foods, fruits, and vegetables into your meals to prevent disease and enhance energy levels.
- Increase physical activity – Whether it’s a daily walk, yoga, or a fitness class, staying active is crucial for a healthy body and mind.
- Stay hydrated – Drinking enough fluids daily is essential for digestion, circulation, and other bodily functions.
- Practice mindfulness and stress management – Deep breathing exercises, journaling, and meditation help manage stress and improve mental clarity.
- Get adequate sleep – Prioritizing quality sleep enhances mood, cognitive function, and physical well-being.
- Connect with others – Social interactions and meaningful relationships are vital for emotional health. Spend time with family, friends, or support groups to stay connected.
- Set wellness goals – Establish realistic goals. Track your progress to stay motivated throughout the month.
Setting wellness goals is an effective way to prioritize your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. No matter what you want to improve, establishing clear goals can keep you motivated and focused. By taking small, manageable steps toward better health, you can create sustainable routines supporting year-round wellbeing.
10 Ways to Set Wellness Goals
- Define your wellness priorities – Identify areas of wellness to focus on.
- Set SMART goals – Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound to track progress effectively.
- Start small and build gradually – Begin with manageable changes and increase over time.
- Create a wellness plan – Outlining the steps will help you reach your goals. Include deadlines and action items.
- Track your progress – Use journals, apps or trackers to monitor your achievements. Adjust along the way, if needed!
- Stay accountable – Share your goals with someone or join a group and check in regularly.
- Incorporate mindfulness – Meditation, deep breathing or gratitude journaling supports mental and emotional wellness.
- Adapt to challenges – Be flexible and willing to adjust your goals if circumstances change. Be kind to yourself.
- Reward yourself – Celebrate small milestones with rewards that encourage your progress.
- Make wellness a lifestyle – Integrate healthy habits slowly so they become a long-term part of your life. Consistency is key.
Finally, consider a wellness wheel’s shape as well its dimensions. As a circle, there’s no starting point. It’s ongoing. As is in life, it’s never too late to start. Hop on that wheel and roll into wellness. Create your own path with that wheel. Wellness is a journey, not a destination. Cue more wellness puns and clichés . . .
Jul 28, 2025 | 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 list of best practices, but it’s easy to overlook some of the simple but important touches like easily read, large-font signage with hours and the posting of rules of use for visitors. This is a great opportunity to think about whether or not your current signage indicating where restrooms are (among other things) is effective for people living with dementia.
Here are some ways to help your guests seeking relief from the heat feel comfortable:
- Be ready to host visitors of all ages and be alert to the needs that can arise when children are in the building.
- Serve chilled water or make sure that guests know where your water fountain or bottle filling station is located.
- Bowls of water for pets are an especially welcoming touch.
- Offer a matinee: a darkened, air-conditioned room can be an extra treat if you’re screening a well-loved classic or other choice.
- Have extra chairs out.
- Encourage the playing of board games and create some game-friendly spaces.
- Print and distribute safety tips and ideas for reducing the risks of extreme heat.
- Advertise your Cooling Center in multiple languages and utilize your local media platforms so that the community is aware of your hours.
- Collaborate with other municipal departments and boards to adequately staff your Cooling Center.
- Be sure that your public safety colleagues are aware of the Cooling Center and know its hours of operation. Maybe one of them could do a presentation on staying safe in extreme heat!
- Deploy volunteers as Cooling Center hosts.
Does your Senior Center offer a Cooling Center? Do you have any tried and true tips to share with the COA community? We’d love to hear them: please post your best practices (or unforeseen challenges) to the InfoHub!
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 15, 2025 | News
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
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.
Nov 1, 2024 | Chronic Diseases, Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Fitness, Healthy Aging, Malnutrition, News, Nutrition
Important HIP News
Yes, it’s true. DTA announced it’s lowering the monthly HIP benefit for ALL SNAP households to $20 per month, starting December 1, 2024, so the program can run all year long. The program needs $25 million annually but was only funded at $15 million in the FY2025 budget. Learn how to maximize your SNAP benefits.
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative’s Campaign for HIP Funding released a call to action asking advocates to call the Governor’s office and legislative leadership (Speaker of the House Ron Mariano, HWM Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Senate President Karen Spilka, and SWM Chair Michael Rodrigues), asking them to urgently dedicate $10 million in supplemental funding for HIP and to stop the cut. Email Rebecca Miller, Policy Director at the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, at rebecca@mafoodsystem.org with any questions about this advocacy alert.
MCOA ActiveAgers runs all year long
Check out the (current) top ten statewide physical activity categories.
Even if you missed the September 15 deadline, you can still submit your data dating back to January 1. The more data we have, the more robust a picture we can share with the network. Even better, the second round of data covering September 1 – December 31 is eligible for prize drawings.
Review the MCOA ActiveAgers Toolkit or email tara@mcoaonline.org with questions.
Free Webinar Series
Prioritizing What Matters to Older Adults Living with Chronic Disease: This National Center for Equitable Care for Elders learning collaborative webinar series focuses on age-friendly approaches to encourage the development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors in older adults. Participants will discuss special considerations for chronic disease self-management in an aging population, including physiological changes and social risk factors. Upon application, you will receive the session 1 recording and slides– and join us live for sessions 2-4. Session Two: November 5; Session Three: November 19; Session Four: December 3, 2024. All sessions 2-3 p.m.
Older Adults Meal Funding is in Jeopardy (NANASP Updates)
- This is a crucial time for NANASP members to communicate with their Members of Congress, and share local data and stories from clients on the impact of funding challenges. Find your representatives here. In this current fiscal year, we have the first reduction in the Older Americans Act nutrition program in years with an $8 million overall cut. Neither the Senate nor the House proposal has restored this cut. This has to happen. Here’s what you can do:
- Your Voice Matters! Take our survey to share the impact of funding cuts on your program and clients. Your response is CRUCIAL for our advocacy efforts.
- Write to your Members of Congress to share with them how vital your program and services are for their older constituents. Make sure to share data and testimonies from your clients.
- NANASP and Meals on Wheels America, submitted a letter with 63 other national organizations to Congressional leadership advocating for $200 million in emergency (non-disaster) funding before the end of the year to address the growing waitlists for OAA senior nutrition programs. This funding would provide nearly 75 million additional meals and serve almost 650,000 more older adults. Congress is slated to return November 12th and has a lot on its plate. It has just one month to approve FY25 appropriations bills before the current Continuing Resolution expires on December 20th. The CR holds funding for all programs at FY24 levels and we are hoping for increased funding in the final FY25 bill.
- While we’re advocating for increased funding in FY25, there’s still money on the table your program may be eligible for. Pandemic-era State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will disappear on December 31 if not used! This was allocated to state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments to use in providing assistance to nonprofits and others. What you can do: Use the National Council of Nonprofits’ guide to secure remaining funds before the December 31 deadline! This is separate from OAA-specific ARPA funds disbursed by State Units on Aging, which we will have an update on in our next bulletin.
