Advocacy
By Susan Stein Kregar, Director of External Affairs A Year in Review and Looking at the Year Ahead virtually and in person. • A codification of nutrition delivery
who fought hard to include $2 million of continuing funding for the Area Agencies on Aging in this year’s budget. Looking forward As we look to next year, we know there is a lot of work to be done at both the state and federal level. Before the year’s end, we need your voice to urge Congress to increase funding levels for the Area Agencies on Aging! Visit advocate.pcoa.org to take action today. With the 2024 election wrapping up in November, we anticipate a large change in leadership at all levels of government. This means we need you more than ever before to use your voice and educate our elected officials about the needs of older adults in Pima County. The Gift of Advocacy As we embrace this season of giving, consider strengthening your commitment to advocacy by contributing to the W. Mark Clark Legacy Fund. This newly established fund plays a vital role in enhancing and expanding PCOA’s advocacy and policy initiatives. Your donation will significantly impact the quality of life for older adults, ensuring their voices are heard in the policy-making process. To make a donation, please visit wmclegacy.pcoa.org. Together, we can strengthen our advocacy efforts and enhance the quality of life for older adults.
programs that we know worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as grab ‘n’ go meals for older adults. We specifically worked with Senator Mark Kelly, who has been a bipartisan champion of all of these provisions in Congress. As the new year approaches, we look forward to turning our attention to the House of Representatives, where we hope to keep the provisions mentioned above and increase the overall reauthorization levels for the Older Americans Act. We also worked with our Members of Congress on passing an annual appropriations bill. In September, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running past the 2024 election, but the Continuing Resolution runs out in December. This means that we have serious advocacy work to do over the next two months to ensure that Congress understands the increased need for funds in our community. At the state level, we worked diligently with our partners at AZAging to advocate for continued funding from the Arizona Legislature. This year was particularly challenging because the State of Arizona was anticipating a looming funding deficit, which meant that funding was more scarce than usual. This year, we needed to obtain a continuation of $10 million in funding ($5 million for Area Agencies on Aging and $5 million for a pilot housing program launched in 2023). Though we were not successful in our goal of reaching $10 million, we are grateful for the advocacy and work of Representative Alma Hernandez and Senator Lela Alston,
During this season of reflection and gratitude, I want to take a moment to thank all of you. It is because of your successful advocacy that we’ve had another successful year in representing the rights and needs of older adults and those who care for them locally, across the state, and nationally. Looking Back At the Past Year The past year has been full of exciting advocacy and public policy activities. At the federal level, we’ve focused on both annual appropriations and the overall reauthorization of the Older Americans Act of 1965. In March, our President & CEO, W. Mark Clark visited Washington D.C. to advocate alongside his peers across the state and country for bipartisan investments and program changes to the Older Americans Act. With the Act being up for reauthorization (a process in which Congress reviews overall funding levels and the governing rules and language of the program) this year, we were able to communicate several key priorities that have been included in the Senate’s version of the bill. These key provisions include: • The ability of Area Agencies on Aging, like PCOA, to enter into contracts without approval from the State of Arizona, so long as the contracts are not using state/federal Older Americans Act funding. • The ability to offer evidence-informed programs in addition to evidence- based programs, making it easier for PCOA to offer helpful programming
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Pima Council on Aging
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