Every May, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month (OAM). This year’s theme, Powered by Connection, recognizes the profound impact that meaningful relationships and social connections have on our health and well-being. 

Connectedness holds a vital role in supporting us to remain in our communities as we age. Social isolation and loneliness can have a serious impact on mental, physical, and emotional well-being. The stronger social ties we have, the less vulnerable we are to the negative impacts of social isolation.

Here in King County, the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) invests in a range of strategies and programs that build and strengthen opportunities for people to be connected to our communities as we age. From essential services, such as funding that increases access to home-delivered meals, to community-based wellness programs, the VSHSL is designed to meet the diverse needs of our aging population. Last year, during the renewal process of the VSHSL, feedback gathered from community engagement events, listening sessions, and open houses helped shape the investments in the renewed VSHSL. This collaborative approach ensures investments in the renewed levy align with the needs of our diverse communities.

Three upcoming VSHSL investments to support seniors and their caregivers, informed by community feedback, aim to build upon past successes and address emerging challenges facing older adults in King County.

Senior Villages

The Senior Villages investment, expected to open for applications in June 2024, continues funding from the previous VSHSL Senior Virtual Villages strategy. Senior Villages will support seniors to remain stably housed in their communities, aging in place, through the support of members of our diverse communities, or senior villages.

The previous VSHSL demonstrated the effectiveness of the senior village model, which encourages neighbors to help neighbors in creating a network for social connections, supports, and extensive intergenerational volunteer opportunities that allow King County residents to remain in our communities and homes, even if we live alone. The village concept was redefined as a housing stability strategy rather than categorizing it as a social engagement strategy, to reflect the benefits of King County residents aging in place and remaining among our communities as we age. This model enables older adults to receive informal, care and support from neighbors and fellow village members, helping people stay connected, active, and living where they choose, potentially delaying or preventing institutional care or displacement from communities.

Senior villages can also organize programs that look like senior centers without walls, which means the kinds of activities senior centers provide without the requirement of a physical location. Senior villages provide the tools and resources needed for older adults to navigate the system of public agencies and community-based organizations that administer senior services and supports. Villages help create connections of mutual support among older adults and other community members. Villages also offer culturally responsive services including food access, health and wellness supports, lifelong education, or social services, tailored to the needs of the community.

Community feedback underscored the importance of villages in supporting older adults to age in place and remain in their communities.

Senior Health Promotion

The Senior Health Promotion investment, expected to open for applications in summer 2024, will fund services that provide access to healthy aging programs in King County.

Seventy percent of older adults in King County have one or more chronic conditions – such as diabetes, arthritis, or hypertension. Significant disparities exist in the prevalence of these conditions based on race, ethnicity, and geography.

A portion of this investment is intended for the City of Seattle to implement the Program to Encourage Active Rewarding Lives (PEARLS) program. Participation in the PEARLS program allows seniors to engage in depression intervention and counseling that has proven benefits in reducing symptoms of depression.

This investment builds on the success of the 2018-2023 VSHSL health promotion programming, which served more than half the strategies’ participants in programming that is rooted in self-defined wellness and health promotion programming that works within a particular community. Examples of the programming from the previous VSHSL include fitness classes based on a culture’s traditional dances, engaging elders in culturally unique activities led by trusted community members, and delivering culturally significant food to seniors as part of a program to promote healthy lifestyles.

Caregiver Connections and Support

The Caregiver Connections and Support investment, expected to open for applications later in 2024, consolidates and continues two social engagement strategies from the prior levy, Caregiver Community Building and Caregiver Respite Supports. This new strategy will fund entities to support family caregivers of seniors and persons with disabilities.

Family caregivers, often spouses, partners, or adult children, provide the bulk of support both for older adults and for persons with disabilities who want to remain in their own home but need assistance in their daily activities. In other cases, the caregivers themselves are older adults, in particular parents of adults with developmental disabilities. These supportive relationships are essential but require difficult work that often comes at a high cost, with adverse economic, physical, mental, and emotional effects.

Community feedback highlighted the importance of investments focusing on supports for caregivers separate from investments serving seniors and persons with disabilities.

Caregiver support programs and respite gives caregivers a break from caregiving so they can focus on self-care, such as a visit to the doctor or meeting up with a friend. Self-care improves well-being and enables caregivers to remain in their caregiving role over a longer duration, delaying the need for more expensive forms of care.

Learn more about the 2024-2029 VSHSL investments in the Implementation Plan. For a funding opportunity timeline visit our webpage.

Older Americans Month 

King County Executive Dow Constantine issued a proclamation acknowledging the important role older adults play in our community and the responsibility we have to ensure the continued health, happiness, and engagement of older adults in King County. Executive Constantine proclaimed the month of May 2024 to be Older Americans Month.