The SCAN Foundation is an independent public charity dedicated to creating a society where older adults can access health and supportive services of their choosing to meet their needs, and equitable aging for all.
The California Health Care Foundation is an independent, nonprofit philanthropy that works to improve the health care system so that all Californians have the care they need, particularly those who have traditionally faced the greatest barriers to care.
Metta Fund is a private foundation dedicated to advancing the health and wellbeing of San Francisco’s growing older adult population, applying grantmaking and community partnerships to areas where systemic change is needed to address health inequities.
Geography
California
Aging offers us the deepest look in the mirror of our society. And what we see today is how inequity compounds over generations. Older adults from underserved communities face persistent disparities in health outcomes and access to essential services.
The Advancing Health Equity in Aging Initiative seeks to build a movement which bridges these gaps. By bringing together older adults, aging and disability advocates, and racial equity and social justice champions, the project is establishing a sustained focus on improving the lives of older adults from historically and presently disinvested groups.
Through a collaboration with The SCAN Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, and Metta Fund, our team conducted community-engaged research to identify the drivers of health inequities as people age, as well as opportunities for systemic change.
What follows in this case study is more information about our process, our project deliverables, and the impact our work had on our clients, their communities, and our team.
Project Outputs
Our final report, Stories of a Movement: Lived Experience Matters includes three essential themes and nine opportunity areas for how cross-sector leaders and advocates might transform the state of health equity in aging.
Additionally, five lanes of change include tactics and inspiration from existing initiatives as starting points for advancing systemic change.
It just feels so good to help another senior in need, Amen. Thanks so much again for all y’all do for [us]. We feel so special, not invisible anymore.
Harry
To illustrate essential themes around health equity in aging, we created a series of five video portraits featuring older adults, caregivers, and community leaders.
Client & Community Outcomes
To introduce the Health Equity in Aging initiative, The SCAN Foundation produced a video which highlights their what, why, and how for this work. They played the video at the Summit and have continued to use it as a powerful introduction to their strategy.
Following the Summit, The SCAN Foundation, in collaboration with the California Health Care Foundation and Metta Fund, issued a Request for Proposals which attracted over 70 applicants statewide. The initiative awarded $900,000 in grant funds to four organizations to form Equity Community Organizing (ECO) Groups. The purpose of the ECO Groups is to identify and prioritize the key drivers of inequities, as identified through our report, which reflect their communities’ experiences, then to codesign solutions.
The SCAN Foundation continues to coordinate and invest in national, cross-sector movement work to advance outcomes around health equity in aging. This includes an initiative called Harnessing Momentum, which provides resources and facilitates a series of virtual community-building opportunities toward health equity for older adults. TSF is also organizing regional coalitions and developing cross-sector funding to advance health equity in aging solutions.
Beyond our project engagement, this work was intended as a starting point to bring together older adults and intergenerational communities, aging and disability sectors, and racial equity and social justice movements in a shared, long-run effort to advance health equity in aging. Building on the foundational framework, themes, opportunity areas, and key materials developed, the Advancing Health Equity in Aging Initiative has continued onward, with the next annual Summit planned for September 2024.
Team & Studio Impact
We aspire to affect positive change through our work; frequently the work changes us in turn. From an innumerable count of conversations, we were reminded of the gift of connecting with people, of hearing their stories and witnessing their being. This not only funneled into the highlighted themes, opportunity areas, and the final report, but helped us trace and deepen our personal connections with the concept of health equity in aging. Across sectors, movements, and identities, we are all connected with the experience of aging, and we all have a reason to care.
This project laid the foundation for work that will take place over many years.
Kate Meyers
Throughout this process, many people expressed gratitude to our team for listening, and for reminding them of the power of their own voice. In turn, this reminds us not only of the power of listening, but the responsibility that comes with it—to continue transforming peoples’ stories into real, systemic change. Over 100 people have entrusted us with their stories, and for each person who encounters this work, their stories are now entrusted with you too. These are the people we, and this movement, are accountable to.
