SEOC - Serving Elders of Color

ASA Inaugurates Newest Diversity Initiative

by Audrey Jeung

Serving Elders of Color: A Training and Networking Initiative, ASA's latest diversity project, began operation in November 1996. Funded by the Retirement Research Foundation, this endeavor addresses the needs of aging service organizations in responding to challenges posed by the increasing diversity of the older population, particularly the growth of ethnic and cultural minority groups. The project provides a comprehensive training program and network to help organizations in the field of aging to render their services to people from a broader range of ethnicities and cultures.

As part of the project, ASA has established collaborative relationships with the following organizations representing service settings that are most likely to be affected by the increasing multicultural composition of the older adult population:

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aged
American Health Care Association
Assisted Living Federation of America
National Association for Home Care
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Program
The Senior Network

These organizations will participate on the project advisory committee along with other leaders in multicultural aging and representatives of national minority aging organizations.

The project activities include a diversity needs assessment conducted in the spring of 1997, development of a training curriculum and training sessions, and development of a network and newsletter.

A diversity needs assessment survey was developed and mailed to 4,800 aging services organizations across the country to determine major areas of need, to measure the progress of existing multicultural efforts, and to ascertain the degree of interest in diversity training programs and a multicultural aging network. These organizations included senior centers, nursing homes, and community-based healthcare, long-term-care and homecare programs as well as Area Agencies on Aging. The process also included 50 supplemental interviews conducted in-person and by telephone. The survey focused on four areas: governance, service delivery, organizational training needs and agency self-evaluation. Preliminary findings from the survey showed that most agencies are in the initial stages of implementing efforts to improve the make-up of their governing boards to include people from each of the major ethnic groups in their community, but very few have met their objectives at this point. Achieving a balanced representation on the board was the least developed area, while having a mission statement and goals reflecting diversity were the most highly developed.

Those surveyed were in almost unanimous agreement that "culturally competent" programs and services should be developed and implemented to enable minority elders to obtain the services they need. Based on survey results, a two-phased training program and curriculum were developed.

In the first phase, project staff and ASA leadership developed a curriculum to train a cadre of trainers, who would then provide training in various regions of the country. In the project's second phase, underway in May 1998, the regional trainers will each conduct ten training sessions for aging service providers. The core faculty for the project, recruited from the project's advisory committee, developed the training curriculum and conducted a four-day train-the-trainers session in San Francisco for 20 trainers from the sites selected for the 10 regional training programs, (two from each site). The project's core faculty are the following: Yolanda Sanchez, Ph.D., assistant professor, University of Nevada, Reno; E. Percil Stanford, Ph.D., director, San Diego State University Center on Aging; Laura Trejo, M.S.G., M.P.A., coordinator, Older Adult Services, Los Angeles County; and Donna Yee, Ph.D., director of policy and research, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, Seattle. From May through September, these 20 trainers will host free training programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Albuquerque, Houston, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, New York and Orlando for aging services organizations that wish to expand their diversity efforts. Specific information about the training programs will be available at a later date.

Another main part of the project is the newly established Network of Multicultural Aging, which will be instrumental in keeping multicultural aging issues at the forefront of service provision. Network membership will be open to any individual in the aging field who seeks to expand his or her organization's diversity efforts. The network will support these endeavors through training, technical assistance, information sharing and networking. A printed and online directory and bulletin board are planned to assist and support other agencies undertaking similar tasks. Other network activities will address areas of special interest identified by network members.

Diversity Currents, the network's quarterly newsletter will contain information about resources, activities and issues related to multicultural aging.

Audrey Jeung is the former coordinator of diversity programs and special projects at ASA.

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