<DOC> [109 Senate Hearings] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access] [DOCID: f:28923.wais] S. Hrg. 109-560 INNOVATION IN THE AGING NETWORK: THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL SERVICES FOR OLDER AMERICANS ======================================================================= HEARING before the SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION __________ WASHINGTON, DC __________ MAY 3, 2006 __________ Serial No. 109-22 Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging _____ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 28-923 PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 _________________________________________________________________ For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING GORDON SMITH, Oregon, Chairman RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin SUSAN COLLINS, Maine JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri RON WYDEN, Oregon ELIZABETH DOLE, North Carolina BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas MEL MARTINEZ, Florida EVAN BAYH, Indiana LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania BILL NELSON, Florida CONRAD BURNS, Montana HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee KEN SALAZAR, Colorado JIM DEMINT, South Carolina Catherine Finley, Staff Director Julie Cohen, Ranking Member Staff Director (ii) C O N T E N T S ---------- Page Opening Statement of Senator Gordon Smith........................ 1 Prepared Statement of Senator Herb Kohl.......................... 403 Prepared Statement of Senator Ken Salazar........................ 403 Panel I Neal E. Lane, director, New York State Office for the Aging, Albany, NY..................................................... 4 Gayla S. Woody, director, Aging Program Administrator, Centralina Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging, Charlotte, NC..... 376 Pamela B. Smith, director, Aging and Independence Services, San Diego County, San Diego, CA.................................... 389 APPENDIX Questions from Senator Kohl for Gayla S. Woody................... 405 Questions from Senator Kohl for Pamela B. Smith.................. 406 (iii) INNOVATION IN THE AGING NETWORK: THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL SERVICES FOR OLDER AMERICANS ------------ WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2006 U.S. Senate, Special Committee on Aging, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room SD-106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Gordon Smith (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Smith, Carper, and Salazar. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR GORDON SMITH, CHAIRMAN The Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you all to this hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and we appreciate all of your attendance, especially our witnesses. Senator Kohl, the ranking member, is detained in an Appropriations meeting that he cannot miss and will be joining us, we hope, before too long and when he does, we will turn to him for his statement and questions. But I propose, in the interest of time and out of respect for your schedules, that we will proceed. So I will begin with my statement and then we will go to our witnesses. Today's hearing will focus on the need for the Aging Network to prepare and evolve for the coming retirement of the baby boom generation. We will also explore the upcoming reauthorization of the Older Americans Act and the need to support efforts within the act that prepare social services for future older Americans. To meet the diverse needs of the growing numbers of older persons in the United States, the Older Americans Act of 1965 created the primary vehicle for organizing, coordinating and providing services to older Americans and their families. This system, now known as the National Aging Network, is a national network of Federal, state and local agencies created to plan and provide services that enable older adults to live independently in their homes and in their communities. Today this network includes 56 state units, 655 area agencies known as AAAs, and 243 Native American aging programs, over 29,000 service providers and thousands, truly thousands of volunteers. As we have discussed many times in this committee, the share of the population that is over the age of 65 is projected and it is an inescapable fact that it will increase significantly in the coming years. Due to the dramatic increases in life expectancy, the 77 million Americans born in the United States during the boom years of 1946 to 1964 can expect, on average, to live to the age of 83. However, many will live well into their 90's. Baby boomers represent the largest single sustained growth of the population in the history of the United States. Their mass alone has had an enormous impact on the national psyche, the political arena, and in our social fabric. From the youth culture, they created in the 1960's and 1970's to the dual- income households of the 1980's and the 1990's, this generation has reinterpreted each successive stage of life. As the oldest of the baby boomers approach later adulthood, they again are poised to redefine the next stage of life, which is retirement. This redefinition will pressure social services and the Aging Network into needed change. To prepare, many aging organizations are currently attempting to become more mobile, technologically advanced, and individualized. Other organizations are considering uprooting their centers for services strategy and creating livable communities for aging. This model hinges on engaging seniors on the community level and inspiring collaboratives to enhance civic engagement and create communities that help seniors stay independent, involved, and healthy. We must work to strengthen the Aging Network to maximize effectiveness through coordination. To do this, Federal, state and most importantly, local level aging service providers will need to begin to view themselves not as separate sectors that occasionally overlap but as integral parts of a unified approach to senior services. We also need to support efforts to enhance healthy aging with fewer health dollars. I applaud the Administration on Aging for initiating conversations about how this can be done. While funding concerns have been raised regarding the Choices for Independence proposal, I believe the Administration on Aging should be applauded for bringing this issue to the table. Baby boomers are more knowledgeable about health and health resources than prior generations. Baby boomers also have high expectations that they will remain healthy and have invested in nutritional plans and exercise programs. They also use the Internet to find information, to ensure they are up to date on the most recent health discoveries. To respond to these behaviors, the Aging Network may need to adjust, to provide services that are less focused on acute problems and more focussed on healthy aging and preventative services. Finally, we must promote civic engagement to benefit baby boomers, as well as their communities. Studies show that older volunteers live longer and healthier than those who are not so engaged with their communities. A Business Week report of June 27, 2005 found that with increased baby boomer interest in working longer, ``The financing problems of Social Security and Medicare will be easier to resolve. Increased productivity of older Americans and higher labor force participation could add 9 percent to the gross domestic product by 2045.'' Today we will hear from a director of a very large AAA whose has maximized the impact of her funds by providing opportunities for healthy older adults to contribute to their communities. It is important to note that seniors who are involved in civic engagement and activities often volunteer in Older Americans Act programs and also serve vulnerable populations in innovative ways. The reauthorization of the Older Americans Act represents an exciting opportunity to modernize the Aging Network for the baby boomer population and to create opportunities to integrate newer aging concepts, like civic engagement, into the Aging Network. I urge Congress to move forward in a timely fashion with the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. Again I thank all of our witnesses who are here. They are going to share with us some tremendous ideas and hopefully help Congress have a sufficient light to do right by the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. Our first witness is Mr. Neal Lane. He is the director of the New York State Office for the Aging. Neal joined the New York State Office for the Aging as executive deputy director in May of 2001 and was appointed director in May of 2005. Mr. Lane has been working for the past several years on an initiative in New York called Project 2015. This project is New York's primary planning tool used to prepare New York's aging services for the baby boomer generation. Next, after him, we will hear from Miss Gayla Woody, who is the aging program administrator for the Centralina Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging in North Carolina. Miss Woody's testimony will focus on the projects she oversees that are preparing nine counties in North Carolina for retirement of the baby boomers and her work with a small county to adapt services to reflect boomer preferences. Finally, we will hear from Miss Pam Smith. She is the director of the Aging and Independence Services in San Diego County, CA. Miss Smith is not my sister, I do not think, but we are all related somehow. She is going to discuss civic engagement opportunities for seniors. She has created approximately 20 civic engagement programs, which complement many Older Americans Act programs and involve other government and private entities. I also understand, Pam, that you are the mother of Alex Smith. Alex Smith was an All-American quarterback at the University of Utah, who is now the quarterback of the San Francisco Forty-Niners. I was glad to see Alex go to the pro level because he beat my alma mater, BYU, pretty much every time he played them. But he is a terrific young man and it is exciting to be able to root for him more enthusiastically. So Mr. Lane, we will start with you. Tell us about New York. STATEMENT OF NEAL E. LANE, DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE OFFICE FOR THE AGING, ALBANY, NY Mr. Lane. Thank you, Chairman Smith. I do want to begin by saying that the Special Committee has had a phenomenal impact on the quality of life for older Americans throughout its life and I must say that you continue in that honorable tradition and I thank you for that. My name is Neal Lane. I am director of the New York State Office for the Aging and I have spent some nearly 40 years in various capacities in the field of aging and I must say, saying that out loud is a bit startling to me. I am particularly pleased to be here to talk about the aging of the baby boomers. There are, as you noted, 78 million baby boomers in the United States. Twenty-one million of them have now reached early retirement age. This year the oldest boomer turns 60 and that would be me. In 18 years, by the year 2024, the entire boomer cohort will reach the age of 60 or over. I was recently on Long Island, where I was reminded that several of our communities in New York State, a number of them, in fact, already have populations that exceed 40 percent aged 60 or over cohorts. The boomers will change the face of old age. We need to take a close look at who this population is because of their characteristics and their numbers. We need to look at this population differently. We have to take a look at our communities differently. This is our bonus generation. This group should be taking a leadership role in our community and I am here to tell you today about the innovative and successful approach led by Governor Pataki that we took in New York State to begin to set this in motion. This approach is called Project 2015. It is a future-based strategic planning process to prepare for the impact of dynamic population change. I found this approach a transforming experience for me personally and for the Aging Network. It is changing the way we look at aging issues and how we consider the place of our older people within our communities. Think about who we traditionally invite to tackling issues of aging. Do we regularly invite the business community, the transportation community, the homeland security network, the arts community, and many other nonaging disciplines that have a stake, whether they know it or not, in the challenges and the opportunities presented by the upcoming group of older people? Or do we typically turn only to the experts in the aging world, both to identify and define the problems and the issues and then how to address those issues? We then ask the other disciplines to adapt and accept our view of the world. We typically think about the older population as they exist separately and apart from the rest of the community. In Project 2015 we made a paradigm shift and we did this in two ways. First, we expanded what we looked at. We did this by saying yes, we do need to look at the impact of increasing numbers of elders, the increasing longevity of elders, and the proportional shift between elders and the younger populations, but we expanded our analysis in New York to include several other major demographic trends that are profoundly shaping the diverse nature of our communities and that part having a significant impact on all of our residents. Most notably, these trends are immigration and migration patterns, our changing family structures, increasing numbers of people with disabilities and an increasing racially and ethnically diverse population. Looking at the impact of the aging of the baby boomers together with the increasing elements of diversity reflects the complexity and the powerful population changes that are under way. This impact is interactive, it is dynamic, and it has an overall effect on our families across all age groups, across all population groups, across all community sectors and ultimately, the effect on the global well-being of our communities. For our second paradigm shift we expanded who would be involved in doing this looking, who was brought to the table to understand and plan for the impact of these changes. Project 2015 went beyond convening the human service agencies but was used to bring 36 very diverse state cabinet-level agencies together and, as a cohesive entity, go through this future- oriented process to prepare for both the aging and the increasing aspects of diversity that is characterizing our communities. Project 2015 resulted in tangible outcomes. One major result was that each of these state agencies concluded and asserted that they will need to optimize the fit between the goods and services provided by government and the diverse set of consumers who use those goods and services and they identified the steps to do this. Project 2015 has resulted in modifications to existing services and products, as well as the development of responsive programs. I will conclude by simply saying this has been an effort led by the Aging Network and we find ourselves with a unique opportunity at this time to bring others to the table, to think about our communities, to think about our populations, and I would conclude by saying Project 2015 again has been transforming. It is all about how we think about our families, how we think of our elders as a vital community resource, and how we respond to all our residents across all our community sectors. This is a direct result of Project 2015 and I am convinced this change would not have happened had we not taken the approach we did. Thank you for inviting me here today and I will look forward to any questions you might have. 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Chairman. Thank you very much, Neal. I am curious. You mentioned you reached out to the arts community and others. Have they had some good ideas to be helpful in the quality of life for seniors? Mr. Lane. Absolutely. It is important to frame this a bit because we in the first instance worked with the cabinet agencies and the arts are clearly included in that--parks and taxation, state education, and the like. The approach we took was not to say you need to do this per se and you need to do it this way. The Governor told each of his cabinet agencies this demographic, this profound demographic shift is upon us and you need to tell me how this will affect your business, your business. So each one of those has developed a plan to look at how their business will change and how they will be part of building vital communities in New York State, using the elder resource. The Chairman. You talked about the diversity of the baby boom generation. I am wondering whether they are Hispanic, African-American, ethnic in some way or different groups. Mr. Lane. Yes. The Chairman. What are the commonalities that they have, regardless of their hyphenation, and what are the differences because of their hyphenations? Mr. Lane. That is a very difficult question, because of the diversity. But if I may risk or hazard an opinion, that would be that--and I think it is borne out by some studies--I think a large percentage of this bonus generation, the baby boom generation, has a tremendous interest in giving back to the community and doing things beyond what they have done in the past to be supportive of their communities and engage in their communities. I think the trick is, of course, that it would be different what I will want to do than what Gayla or Pam will want to do and we do not have any real mechanisms to have Neal help to figure that out or help Gayla figure that out. Second, the not-for-profit sector and the other sectors that exist where the bonus generation could be well used is really not ready or has not made the transition yet, as has the workplace, to really understand how they can benefit and utilize this. It is really just not acceptable to offer elders the opportunity to lick envelopes and take names. It has to be considerably more than that. The Chairman. Yes. The planning New York is doing is commendable. Do you find other states looking to your model? Are you cooperating with other states? Mr. Lane. Yes, indeed. We have had a large number of inquiries and to that end, we have begun to form a national collaborative to look at taking Project 2015-like planning to other states who have an interest and we have 19 national partners that are going to meet in May in Albany to look at how we can take this to a national scale. The Chairman. Very good. We applaud you and commend you and encourage you to keep it up. Mr. Lane. Thank you, sir, and indeed I will. The Chairman. Gayla, take it away. STATEMENT OF GAYLA S. WOODY, DIRECTOR, AGING PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR, CENTRALINA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS AREA AGENCY ON AGING, CHARLOTTE, NC Ms. Woody. Good morning, Chairman Smith. Thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about how our community is planning for the demographic changes facing the nation. I am Gayla Woody and I am the aging program administrator of Centralina Area Agency on Aging. My region covers nine counties in North Carolina. This is the largest region and includes the city of Charlotte. While the counties in my region range from a large metropolitan area to a very small rural county, they share at least one characteristic--the aging of our nation's older adults; in particular, the demographic cohort known as baby boomers and the fastest growing population in the country. While the first wave of baby boomers turns 60 this year, we cannot afford to sit still and wait. To ensure that America's communities are prepared to meet the needs of today's and tomorrow's older adults, preparation and planning must start now. I am very proud to report that Mecklenburg County, which includes the city of Charlotte, has refused to just sit and wait and see how the aging of the baby boomers will impact the community. In order to plan accordingly, we convened a broad- based group to examine the critical issues and launch the Status of Seniors Initiative to develop strategies to assist the community in responding. After 4 years of data-gathering, research, analysis and strategic planning, Status of Seniors has completed three reports looking at the impact of the aging of the baby bombers on our community. Our vision is a senior-friendly community that values dignity and independence for all older adults. We have several projects under way and like North Carolina, we have tried to go outside that traditional framework. One of the projects is a partnership with the Charlotte Police Department to implement a training program for new police officers called First Responders. We are partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, a local builders association, the Charlotte Planning Commission and a metropolitan planning organization to engage in discussions to address the physical environment in our community, like sidewalks, housing, transportation. Our community college and the local Council on Aging are co-hosting a conference this month entitled ``Can Businesses Boom as Boomers Retire?'' While I was writing these remarks, our local government television channel ran a 30-minute program about the Status of Seniors Report and what we can expect from the aging of the boomers. It is important to note that other than a will and community volunteers, we have very little in the way of funds for this initiative. Senator Dole's home county of Rowan is also one of my counties. In 2003 we began working together with a project called Rowan LIFE, Life Improvement for Everyone. Rowan LIFE has completed their first report and they have a few things under way, also. Partnering with the United Way, they are looking at a 211 countywide information and referral system. Their second project is a collaborative to look at a uniform and seamless service delivery system. Because of the planning that they have done with Rowan LIFE, they have positioned their community for a large, rural health grant that will bring a couple of hundred thousand dollars toward that project. Another part of that project is to help manage chronic illness for improved quality of life for older adults, and one of the things that we are going to be doing with that project is partnering some of our health and wellness programs, again to try to merge with that management of chronic illness. One of the smallest counties in my region, Lincoln County, was the only county in North Carolina that did not have a congregate meal program. So out of a conversation about the preferences of baby boomers, the restaurant voucher program was born. The program provides a variety of opportunities for participants to attend programs on healthy living where they receive meal vouchers to use in participating local restaurants. Boomers like to have choice. One of our other small counties, Cabarrus, has a pilot project for consumer-directed care. Again for baby boomers, choice is the important word. The program allows participants to customize services to their individual needs. I would urge Congress to consider adding resources to the Older Americans Act to, encourage and support AAAs to take on this community planning role. In the long run, this is the most cost-effective and rational way to brace ourselves for the boomers and their effect on our nation, and this was ranked tenth by the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. North Carolina's State Unit on Aging has also identified community planning as a high priority and with limited resources, we are trying to identify strategies for our Aging Network to adopt. Aging impacts all parts of life. It is critical that we educate our communities, collaborate, work with nontraditional players and aggressively plan to meet the challenges it will bring with it. The Older Americans Act must be modernized to help communities prepare for the boomers. Too much is at stake to ignore the age wave and too much will be lost if we delay. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. [The prepared statement of Ms. Woody follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.370 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.371 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.372 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.373 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.374 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.375 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.376 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.377 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.378 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.379 The Chairman. I assume you find that most of the communities, they are aware of the aging population, they are anxious to provide these senior-friendly or retirement-friendly communities. Do you find any that are unaware of this? Ms. Woody. No, but it is like Mr. Lane was saying, that the Aging Network, those of us that are in the network, we know, but one of the challenges that we have had in Mecklenburg County is figuring out how to get that message to those outside the aging network. It took us 4 years to get the Chamber of Commerce to recognize that the boomers were going to impact how they do business and what it meant to them. It has taken us a while. We have had a big meeting a couple of months ago with the builders and again it is just that whole education. You know, people hear you and say, ``Yeah, yeah, yeah'' but it is those nontraditional players that do not quite understand it the impact it is going to have on their own individual businesses and their particular disciplines and issues. The Chairman. How about your Meals on Wheels programs? What do you think needs to be changed on the Federal level to make, whether it is a voucher-style system or something, how do we make that better? Isn't that a pretty central feature of services to seniors in terms of activity and nutrition? Ms. Woody. Oh, from so many different perspectives. Of course, we all know the impact of good nutrition on health and wellness. So it is a critical piece and it is very important that we have these programs in our communities. What we are seeing is that we have to be a lot more innovative in how we deliver that service. The restaurant voucher program is not going to be the answer for everybody but in some communities it is going to be a great opportunity. We have one of our other counties that has been doing what they call a wellness program and they have anywhere from 200 to 250 folks in their congregate program, but they have infused physical activities, a lot of different program, a lot more variety. One of our other nutrition sites in North Carolina has a salad bar and their congregate nutrition site is more like a restaurant that the seniors come to at the senior center. So it is just like we were saying before. With the baby boomers variety is the spice of life and because we are going to have so many diverse people, we have to have different ways of addressing these issues. The Chairman. Well, your fame down there precedes you, praises for all the good work you are doing. Ms. Woody. Thank you so much. The Chairman. We thank you for all of that. To all of you, as you see ideas, as we take up the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, if you have specific tweaks you need in the statutes, let us know. We are anxious to improve it. Pamela? Are there some seniors in San Diego? STATEMENT OF PAMELA B. SMITH, DIRECTOR, AGING AND INDEPENDENCE SERVICES, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, SAN DIEGO, CA Ms. Smith. There are. That weather attracts a lot of folks. As we consider what this country will look like with the aging of the population, I guess my message today is it really is not the bad news. It is the good news that we are all living longer. There can be no doubt of the many gifts that came out of the 20th Century and the wonders in medicine and communication and transportation. Truly the greatest gift is that the average American is going to have an additional 30 years of life. While some folks always lived into old age, what we have done now is figure out how to get almost everyone into old age, but we just do not know what to do with everybody now that we have them there. I think that it is a very exciting opportunity. As you referenced, never before in the history of the world, really, have we had this many people with this much to offer. And the possibilities of harnessing this enormous talent for public good are really endless and exciting. At retirement, most folks want a break from that early alarm, the traffic, long work hours, but many wake up 6 months or a year after they do retire and think, ``Well, now what am I going to do for 20 to 30 years?'' The average American really will spend maybe 25 percent of their life in retirement, and that is a very new phenomenon. When you think about it, retirement itself is a new phenomenon. A hundred years ago when we lived mostly on the farm and in small towns, you did not wake up one day and draw a line in the sand and say, ``I'm not going to milk the cows anymore.'' You really stayed part of the farm, of the family, of the community, of your business and your role maybe changed, but you still were there. But that really has changed today and very rapidly. We are now mostly an urban society, mobile. The family often lives many miles away. We have long work hours now and hectic lives and then, for the most part, that just ends abruptly at retirement. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as you would think for people to be successful in this new phase of life. We really know that for vital aging we have to stay physically fit, we need to stay intellectually fit, but what we are really learning and what is maybe the most important is we have to continue to have meaning and purpose in life. Many older adults want to get involved in their community and when they do decide they want to, unfortunately they are often given meaningless tasks, as opposed to meaningful tasks. There is too much envelope-stuffing that is out there and part of it is our mental model. For some reason, you know, we are a youth-focussed society and older adults, we do not embrace the talents and the things that they bring to the table. But understandably, many do not stay long at the envelope- stuffing job. They end up going home and sadly, many of them sit and watch too much television, become inactive, and start disappearing. Obesity, type 2 diabetes and depression are growing problems among the older adult population. Sadly, older adults are one of the segments of the population that has the highest suicide rate. I did a ride-along a few years ago with our public administrator's office and an elderly senior had passed away and no family or friends, so we stepped in to manage the estate. This woman had been dead for several days and her house was a filthy, cluttered mess, literally a rat's nest. Her last years had not been pleasant ones and it broke my heart to think that we had just lost her. What was additionally sad is as we were going through her papers, we discovered this woman had been a teacher. She had a tremendous amount to give; if we had stayed connected and valued her, think of the difference she could have made even in this phase in a child's life and in our community. It becomes both a taxpayer burden but, more importantly, a real human loss. No one wants to be put out to pasture but it is hard to stay excited about being physically active if you have no meaningful purpose. So we need to do better about how we are doing that, and that is what I want to mention, a few programs we are doing in San Diego County. We have about 3 million people, large urban area, small towns, rural, and we decided that if you look at maybe what is America's only growing natural resource, our older adults, we need to tap into that. One of the areas that we tapped into was the area of intergenerational, working with kids. We have a lot of single parents, we have families where mom and dad work multiple jobs, and consequently, less time to spend with their kids, yet we have all of these seniors that have the great gift of time to give. So one of our programs we did is we tapped seniors into helping our families come off of welfare, helping families. They mentored four to five families, mentored the whole family, came at this job with a passion, helped these families do the things that were critically important to not only get off of welfare but stay off of welfare, because many of them did not have a good support system to help them. We have a residential high school for foster kids in San Diego County, San Pasqual Academy. These are kids that are not going to be reunified with their family, they are not going to be adopted, they are bouncing around the system. So we created this high school to really help them get the high school diploma. Nationally, 50 percent of foster kids do not graduate from high school. After we were up and running a couple of years we moved older adults on campus. We took 10 houses and we offered them reduced rent in exchange for volunteering with the kids, and their job description was to ``care about these kids''. I will tell you it was like magic from day one. The relationships that were formed, they did all the things that caring, loving grandparents do in a child's life. They garden. They cook. They have poetry slams. We had an eight-man football team there, but now we have somebody on the sidelines to cheer for those kids. Our high school graduation rate at San Pasqual Academy is 90 percent. Now as kids go off to college, those kids have gone off and when they have a holiday break, they come back and stay with the seniors because those are the relationships that they formed. Additionally, one of the programs that we did that has been very successful is First Five. In California we have a special tobacco tax that helps kids zero to five be school-ready. So we have many programs in our community that are working on that. Well, if you add seniors to the mix, and we did and for a small stipend, seniors come in and start working with these kids to help them be school-ready. What a perfect fit this was, this army of older adults out there who came in. We know the importance in early childhood development, brain development, of both nurturing but that brain development is there. We had a terrific outcome of the first year of how these kids exceeded all of the other kids in the programs in their behavioral skills, in their social skills, in their verbal skills. Teachers, 100 percent of teachers said these kids were more ready to learn, having to do with seniors, having seniors there. I have a picture up there I would like to leave with you, give you, and it is Grandpa Chuck, who is a retired State Department employee, who retired. Six months into retirement his wife says, ``You've got to get out of the house and go find something to do.'' He became one of our volunteers and this picture, as you can see, is worth 1,000 words. He tells me one of the greatest joys of his life is working with these kids that all come out of a domestic violence shelter and in transitional housing. As we start looking at this, and I think the issue here is it is not just nice and cute to have older adults be part of civic engagement; they can truly be part of our community and helping us solve critical community problems. We have moved their involvement with foster kids not just at San Pasqual now but out into our neighborhoods. They mentor foster kids. They support foster families. They liaison with foster families and schools to help kids do better. These programs have been amazingly successful. One last individual I would like to tell you about is at Helix High School, which is a big, comprehensive high school in San Diego County and they have 22 percent older adults in their community, which in my mind is a gold mine that you are living in the middle of. But the high school had never met the senior center a half a mile apart. You know, these parallel lines in our communities never crossed. As we got together and said what could we start doing, the senior center said, ``Well, Bill, World War II veteran who is twice widowed, no longer drives, is always looking for somebody to play chess. Would there be any high school kids that would want to play chess with Bill?'' So what they decided is Bill would go down and they have a tutorial program for ninth-graders were all ninth-grade kids make sure they are current with their homework and up to date and up to speed. On the first day, as an incentive for those kids in finishing their homework, they could go play chess with Bill but the question was would anybody want to go play chess with this old guy? On the first day 50 kids scrambled to get their homework done to go out and play chess. Immediately Bill started going every day from 6:45 until noon. He played 12 games at a time in an old trailer out back, but he taught chess etiquette, he taught manners. It was another caring adult checking in with these kids. How are you doing? How is your life? They are checking in with Bill. Bill died recently but his last 2 years of life, as contrasted to the teacher that we found, were filled with joy and happiness. His son sent us a letter and I would just like to read a couple of sentences. The son lived out of town. ``Our father used to share his personal stories and experiences at Helix High, as well as his utter delight in forming and shaping the students through the game of chess. He was very proud of his students and the progress they were making in chess and in their lives.'' We have a tremendous opportunity here if we can tap this enormous talent. Of course, everybody wins. The kids thrive, families thrive, but the seniors have a reason to get up. As one of the San Pasqual seniors told me, I have to be at my best because those kids need me. So it is an absolute win for all. In closing, the one last comment I would like to say is just that when the University of Utah did get to be the first nonBCS team to go to the BCS bowl, they took $17 million to the Mountain West Conference, so BYU got a share of that, which was about $1.5-2 million. The Chairman. That is the best thing we ever got out of Alex Smith. I will tell you that. He is a tremendous player and you are justly very proud of your son. Ms. Smith. Thank you for the opportunity to comment today. [The prepared statement of Ms. Smith follows:] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.380 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.381 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.382 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.383 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.384 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 28923.385 The Chairman. Pamela, I have some questions for you but we have been joined by my colleague, Senator Carper of Delaware. He is formerly a great Governor of that State. I am sure he has all the answers. So why don't we turn to you for your statement or questions? Senator Carper. We are going to introduce our clean air bill that you and I have been discussing and we are going to have a press conference to announce it in 18 minutes. My staff said, ``You can go to the hearing and you can stay 5 minutes and then you need to come back.'' So I am going to slip out for a little bit but I will be back. I just want to thank our witnesses for being here and thank our chairman for convening us and again I would like to enter my statement for the record. The Chairman. You know, Pam, as I hear your stories about these individuals and you start putting names and faces on successes and tragedies, I think of the teacher you described who died alone and obviously not in a happy place. I do not want to in any way suggest that choice should not be central to a senior's retirement. They should be able to choose whether they want to do something or not. But hearing you describe the chess club and these other ideas, I guess it is really a question or comment to all of you. I wonder if much attention has been given to many of these programs for youth that could really benefit by the mentoring of retired teachers, retired professionals. I wonder if there has been any outreach to recruit scoutmasters for the Boy Scouts or den leaders for the Club Scouts or I do not know what the Girl Scouts call their leaders but Girl Scouts is a great program. My wife is involved in a program in Oregon called Smart and what it is is adults reading to children and helping them to get attached to books. I can think of 1,000 organizations that if senior programs could hook them up with these different youth things, it would just be a tremendous thing. I was a Boy Scout, so that comes to my mind as something that would be very, very helpful to that organization, to recruit great scoutmasters. I wonder if there is much outreach to the church communities, the various denominations. They all have great programs that involve people. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is there any organized way to get volunteer organizations together with seniors with tremendous talents and skills? Ms. Smith. Really what I think you are talking about is crossing those parallel lines and getting those sectors together and it used to happen a little more naturally in our communities in the way that we lived and I think now we have to jump-start it. I think you have hit on the very issue. What we have is this enormous talent and this tremendous gift of time that they have and they do want to be involved, but how do they connect? What I find in our community and I think is true of many is that entities deal with seniors or they deal with kids; they do not deal with both, and people just do not cross. That's why we try to tackle more serious issues, as opposed to lighter issues. It's not just gee, that is nice, but it is really critical, and we try to get as much publicity as possible. We try to talk about it as much as possible. Frankly, we really are trying to change the way people think because again, a lot of moms--back 20 or 40 years ago there were not as many working women, they were the volunteers in the schools and as we changed and more people are working and again single households, well, who can fill that void? Obviously older adults are a prime resource. So I think the outreach needs to be there. We have done a lot of brainstorming on how to do outreach. There are a lot of retired teachers associations, retired county employees that were social workers and things, and trying to highlight it. What we find is we are able to reach the individuals. The lag has been in the community, the structural lag in that they really are asking them to do meaningful things. Everybody looks at seniors and says oh, great, free help, but I will tell you they traditionally have given them the low-hanging fruit of the organization that people really do not want to do. If we can start changing that and showing the difference that they are making and highlight that and also, I think, find ways to help organizations. One of the things we did a few years ago was put out a request for proposal, $10,000 grants in our community to people that would start intergenerational programs, to organizations, and we were going to give five of those. We had so many beautiful requests come in that I went back to my peers in county government and said we have to fund more than that, and we were able to actually--that year we had more money than other years--fund 25 of them. These were wonderful programs, just like that, through every kind of ethnic group. We had Africa Corps and Jewish Family Services and Operation Samahan and all these programs that came. It is not rocket science to think we have to pull these two generations together but it is just not happening. A little bit of startup, a little bit of coordination really makes it happen. Helix High School now has an intergenerational coordinator. Once they saw the value of Bill and once those teachers saw that Bill coming on campus was helping kids stay connected and do better, they have an intergenerational coordinator now and they have seniors on campus teaching cooking and sewing and knitting and all kinds of programs to work with kids. The Chairman. I love the words intergenerational coordinator. I think we are going to need that. I wonder, is that something you think we ought to put in, incentivize in the Older Americans Act? Ms. Smith. I clearly think in updating the act for today's world and where we are and this potential, it could be huge if public policy could be out there and have that, incentivized in a way to tap into this. Again it is choice. It may not be for everyone, but I will tell you this. We have done a whole lot of programs along these veins and you think well, will seniors want to come and work? It is one thing about kids zero to five; they are kind of cute and cuddly. But how about teenage foster kids? They are not quite as cute; teenagers in general are not as cute. The Chairman. That is for sure. Ms. Smith. Every opportunity we have built, they have come. We have waiting lists for seniors to move to San Pasqual to work with these kids. We have waiting lists for seniors to participate in these programs. So if we could figure out a way to really--and we are seeing it being institutionalized. Our First Five, which has money coming in now, gives extra points for when they do requests for proposals, no matter what they are doing, even if it is helping families access health care or clean up the environment or whatever we are doing, extra credit is given with an intergenerational approach. So if you put it into your system and people are really thinking about attaching this and infusing it into the way you do business. I am a big believer that stipends are very powerful for attracting seniors, too. There is a cost of volunteering, literally getting there, gas, all of that. Some of our programs, we are able to put a little bit of stipend in. Any time you are working with kids you have to do background checks, you know, and somebody needs to coordinate it. But it is a very small investment for a huge return. Mr. Lane. If I may? The Chairman. Yes. Mr. Lane. Maybe I will start with a story because it is a personal story. My dad retired at age 67 from the Wharton School. He was a Wharton School graduate, businessman all his life and a very, very smart man. When he retired, of course he played golf and read books for 6 months, just like everybody else and then looked around. What am I going to do with my life? He wanted to give back to his community, so he looked around for those volunteer opportunities. He went to--well, I will not name the organization. He went to an organization and what they did was sit him outside a room and he took names for 3 or 4 hours every day. Well, a Wharton School graduate, they are only going to do that a few times. He spent the next 3 years the most unhappy years of his life and it was a very sad thing for our family. Finally, by luck basically, he hit on the county historical society, who was developing a museum. Well, here is a man with tremendous business skills who was, for the next 15 years, the business manager, if you will, for this initiative that created this wonderful, wonderful museum, and he was never happier. But there was no way for him to figure out where his talents could be used and what it was that created meaningful life for him. He had to kind of just luck into it after a very painful period of time. So I think it is not only readying institutions; it is also helping people who it is not immediately apparent to them where they want to engage. So I think that is part of it. I think there is one other part. It goes back to the Project 2015 initiative. That is engaging all sectors to look at themselves in the context of the changing environment because it becomes pretty apparent to those sectors how these resources can be used after they really engage and think about it. So it is not just intergenerational. It is about serving elders, elders serving elders. It is about a variety of opportunities that I think we can create if we do it thoughtfully and engage at various levels. Ms. Smith. Senator, could I add? Serving each generation, we have a program, part of the Older Americans Act caregiver money. We use a little bit of our local money and we pair a senior with a teenage foster youth in the community and each of them get a small stipend. What they do is go visit a frail elderly, giving that caregiver a break. In fact, this program is called the Breakers. So we have the senior who is more mobile and able to get out is mentoring this foster youth, encouraging them to think about a field, a career in health care, social work, or any of those, but they are doing community service and the target is we are really benefiting the caregiver, who gets a break, and they are visiting that person. So the same dollar that is coming down for a stipend is serving four, not to mention that the foster family is getting a bit of a respite by knowing that the foster youth is with a caring adult. The Chairman. Very good. Ms. Woody. We do need opportunities to educate our community. Just recently some of our ombudsmen went into a local high school to do a workshop and a class on older adults and at the end of that class, the youth had a different appreciation for what it meant to be an older person. I think we have to do some of that because there is some ageism going on in our country. The other thing that I think we have to do is generate new opportunities. It is just limited by our own creativity. You know, Pam has talked about a lot of different programs. Look at the planning initiative. In North Carolina we have a number of older adult volunteers who are doing walkability studies in their own communities to survey and evaluate where there are no appropriate walking opportunities, identify areas that are not quite safe and changes need to be made, there may need to be longer lights at crosswalks in order for pedestrians to actually walk across the street. There are just so many things but sometimes there need to be a few folks to help brainstorm some of these ideas and perhaps, as Pam said, open the doors to make some of these kinds of things happen, some of the things that you all were talking about in New York. The Chairman. It has been very, very helpful to me to hear these ideas. Again I would invite you to give us specific changes you would like to see in the Older Americans law because we are in a place where we will be making those changes and there is nothing like experience to tell us where we can do better. Pamela, what is the retirement age for an NFL football player? Ms. Smith. Well, that is a fairly short career, so you have to have something else. We hope it is quite long. The Chairman. Yes. Well, we hope he is a starter next year and---- Ms. Smith. He is. He is the guy. The Chairman. We wish him every success. There is a vote scheduled for 11 and we have arrived at that hour. I suspect what has happened to Senator Kohl is he is very anxiously engaged in a pretty heated hearing and he would love to have been here. We will include his statement in the record and leave the record open in case he has any questions, which I believe he had for some of you. [The prepared statement of Senator Kohl follows:] Prepared Statement of Senator Herb Kohl Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today's hearing is a fitting topic for Older Americans Month. We face an unprecedented tsunami of retirees. In 2011, the oldest of the approximately 77 million Baby Boomers will turn 65, and by 2024, all Boomers will be over the age of 60. They are the largest, healthiest, most energetic and best educated generation in history. The Boomers are certain to redefine aging. And our nation's ``aging network''--the people and organizations who provide support for seniors--must redefine themselves too. Boomers expect to make positive contributions to the nation and their communities. Many would like to continue working, either to stay active and productive or to save for a more secure retirement. That is why I introduced the Older Worker Opportunity Act, which makes it easier for older workers to stay on the job and continue to provide expertise to our nation's businesses. Other Boomers will look to mix work and leisure with community service. Older Americans bring a wealth of talent and experience to their communities, and many are eager to make a meaningful contribution. We look forward to hearing today about innovative ways Boomers are engaging in the community issues, and how the aging network is adapting to these new volunteers. Whether working, volunteering, or just relaxing, many of the coming retirees will rely on some services provided through the Older Americans Act. Scheduled for reauthorization this year, the OAA provides important services for seniors, including Meals on Wheels, elder abuse prevention, and caregiver support. The reauthorization will occur at the same time OAA programs are weakened by chronic under funding--a trend the President's budget would continue. The budget proposal actually cuts OAA programs at the Administration on Aging by $28 million. Older Americans Month is an excellent time to plan ahead for the changes the retiring Boomers will bring. Again, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. The Chairman. Senator Salazar, we were just closing up. Welcome. The stage is yours. We have just had some tremendous testimony, Senator, on what they are doing in New York and North Carolina and California on retirement activities and ideas for improving the Older Americans Act and we were just gaveling out but if you have a statement or a question for any of these folks, you are welcome. Senator Salazar. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much and thank you for holding this important hearing and continuing to lead this committee. I have a statement for the record that I will submit for the record. [The prepared statement of Senator Salazar follows:] Prepared Statement of Senator Ken Salazar I would like to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Kohl for holding this important hearing. Today's hearing provides a wonderful opportunity for Members of this Committee to learn about the innovative strategies percolating throughout our country. While preparing for the demographic shifts is a formidable task, I am confident that states and local communities will find ways to both respond to our elder's unique needs and capitalize on their strengths and interest in giving back to their communities. There is a vibrant and dynamic aging network in Colorado comprised of the Colorado Commission on the Aging, 16 Area Agencies on Aging, our county departments of social services, dozens of community-based organizations, and other private industry partners. Many of these service providers have endured tough budget years. But they have survived and even thrived in the tight fiscal climate by developing effective and efficient programs that coordinate their services and build partnerships. While I applaud their efforts, I believe that the federal government cannot turn our back on our elders. This year, the Bush Administration has proposed cuts to critical funding for seniors' programs at the Administration on Aging. I hope that Congress can find a way to maintain funding for these important programs. Last month, I joined with Senators Collins and Clinton in a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging the restoration of this critical funding. I am eager to hear from today's witnesses about the creative strategies employed in New York, North Carolina, and San Diego, It is my hope that we can use your ideas to strengthen the Older Americans Act during reauthorization. In particular, I am interested in hearing about how your communities have embraced the growing interest in civic engagement. As with previous generations, today's retirees have a wealth of experiences and skills that can benefit communities. Just last week I met with two wonderful Colorado Seniors, Moisey and Sofiya Sandler, who are giving back to the Denver community. Former professors at the University of Moscow, the Sandlers are volunteers with Senior Companion Program operated out of Seniors Inc. They use their knowledge of the Russian to translate for seniors who need help navigating the health care and social service system. They have also served as translators for large international conferences that have come to Colorado. Most notably, they assisted the Russian delegation that traveled to Denver for the Summit of the 8. The Sandlers are not alone. There are many seniors who have so much to offer their communities--as the Baby Boomers begin to retire, we will see a rise in seniors looking for service opportunities. Their volunteer work provides benefits communities and keeps them active and healthy. We must work to support and cultivate networks that are responding to their needs. Again, I thank the Chairman and Ranking member for holding this hearing. Senator Salazar. I will make two quick comments. One, the agencies that deal with the aging population in my state, there are 16 of those organizations and they do a tremendous job in Colorado. I have worked with them on issues ranging from financial exploitation of the elderly and preventing that financial exploitation from occurring to other kinds of social issues that our elderly are facing in their homes in our state and I very much appreciate the great work that those networks do on behalf of the citizens of my state. The second comment I would make is that it is obviously and I am sure it was described in your comments, a very big issue for our times because as this bulge of the baby boom population comes into senior status we are facing some enormous pressures and issues at the national level that we just need to be ahead of. So this hearing is a very timely and a very important one and I appreciate Senator Smith's leadership of this committee. I thank the witnesses for giving us your information on how we might be able to address some of the challenges that we face. Thank you very much. The Chairman. Again our thanks to you. You have added measurably to our Senate record and we will look forward to working with you. Remember, our doors are open and our minds are open and our hearts are certainly especially open to the causes that you are serving. Senator Salazar and I are part of the baby boom generation, so we are counting on you to be there for us. Thank you and with that, we are adjourned. [Whereupon, at 11 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] A P P E N D I X ---------- Questions from Senator Kohl for Gayla S. Woody Question. What two or three ideas or changes do you think we should consider as we reauthorize the Older Americans Act? Answer. Provide funding for Area Agencies on Aging to do Community Planning. With my experiences in both Rowan and Mecklenburg Counties, I believe having time to work with my local counties will do several things: Enable us to have a comprehensive community Plan for all agencies to be involved. Help coordinate community efforts from various agencies toward implementation of the Plan. Position the community to leverage additional funds from grants and other sources in support of the coordinated community implementation of the Plan. Implement and Fund Aging and Disability Resource Centers. The single most often repeated complaint I hear from caregivers and consumers is: ``I don't know what services and resources are available''. In Mecklenburg County the children's network has successfully implemented a Child Resource Center that has provided a community visibility for children's services. That type of resource center for aging and disability would be very useful in helping older adults and their families coordinate their own services. Question. What perspective did the business community provide in your planning, and how do you think businesses will change to target this new market of senior consumers? Answer. In my early experiences with our planning and trying to target the business community, it was more from the perspective of what we can do for them rather than what they can do for us. Our key example is the work we are doing in the area of housing. We convened a large seminar with builders. What we have found is that many businesses have not yet realized the impact of aging on their business or that the Baby Boomers may well demand that they change the way they do business. One of the large tasks ahead of the Aging Network is to help bring Aging to the forefront for businesses. There are several areas of concern: Workforce. Have businesses considered the changing workforce? Have they considered how the retiring Baby Boomers will impact their business? Will they need to restructure jobs to allow for more part time work or job sharing? Will they need to find attractive ways to entice Baby Boomers with significant knowledge of their industry to stay involved in some way? Health Care. This is certainly a major issue for business. However, with individuals living longer and working longer, how will the whole health care environment change? Will companies be able to pay minimum wage if they simply provide health care? Or will Medicare for persons over 65 change the need for health care coverage provided by business? The Product. Depending on the product of the business, the Baby Boomers will have a variety of impacts. In our meeting with the Housing Industry, some of the implications are that Baby Boomers want more flexibility, more willing to downsize, want a home where they can Age in Place within walking distance of needed services, and universal design. In our southern communities, the suburbs have been the location for housing and the bigger the better. For seniors who could no longer maintain their home, there has been the move to the retirement communities. Baby Boomers don't necessarily seem inclined to move to retirement communities. We may see more NORCs or Naturally Occurring Residential Communities that consist of smaller, easy to maintain homes or condos in multi-use areas. In our community, we have found the most important first step is just to get businesses to recognize that the Age Wave is going to bring change to their business. Question. What other state and local sources of funding do you have and how can the federal government make more of an investment to leverage your other sources of funding? Answer. With both the Rowan and Mecklenburg planning initiatives, we have had no other funds to help with our process. In Mecklenburg we actually sold advertisements to businesses in order to generate funds to print our report. In Rowan, the hospital contributed funds to generate the report. Now that the first implementation strategies have been developed in both of these communities, they are looking for ways to implement the strategies. In this process with no funding, we are advocating for existing agencies to ``adopt'' some of our implementation strategies that fit within their Agency Mission. In Rowan we talked about how to activate groups of older adults to provide services through volunteer programs. Educating and advocating with local agencies and establishing volunteer programs take time and effort. For instance, in Rowan County one of the implementation strategies was to implement a county wide Information and Referral system that would operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Because of our collaboration with the Rowan County United Way, they have taken on this strategy as a mission of their organization. They are using their resources and revenues to implement the 211 system, but we used our ``manpower'' to advocate for the need for this service and for United Way to take leadership on implementation. In Mecklenburg County, the Board of County Commissioners will include money in their 2007 budget for Status of Seniors. But the funds will be used for staff to apply for grants, educate the community about aging issues, and solicit businesses and organizations to work in partnership with the Status of Seniors initiative. It will not be specifically used to ``pay for'' implementation of a specific strategy. But the funds from the Commissioners will enable us to leverage other sources, businesses, and other organizations in order to achieve our various goals. This is the way I can see the federal government making a significant investment that would allow us to leverage other community resources and grants. For both the Rowan and Mecklenburg projects, I have been a key ``staffer'' pushing the initiative and providing the ``glue'' to hold the projects together. But with my many other responsibilities, and two projects of this type, my ability to work on these projects has been limited and therefore our progress has been slow. I am proud to say these communities have moved forward relentlessly but the progress has been much slower than we hoped. Let me again thank you for the opportunity to share with you some of our experiences in North Carolina. ------ Questions from Senator Kohl for Pamela B. Smith Question. What two or three ideas or changes do you think we should consider as we reauthorize the Older Americans Act? Answer. Adding language and funding for Intergenerational Coordinators to the Older Americans Act, in particular to work with children in the Child Welfare System, would be an important step in placing emphasis on prevention--for both seniors and children. We know that both parties benefit-- studies show that children that come from dysfunctional families often can become successful adults if they have a caring adult in their life who doesn't want anything in return and seniors are healthier if they continue to have meaning and purpose in life. Allowing more flexibility in spending existing money in the Older Americans Act would be a huge benefit. It now comes so categorical it is difficult to be efficient or creative. We need more room to try new things as the boomers arrive--they are going to require us to be innovative. Of course, always the toughest issue is money. The funds from the Older Americans Act have simply not kept up with the growth of the aging population, nor increased costs to operate the program. Question. What advice do you have for social service organizations that are looking to utilize seniors as volunteers? Answer. The biggest mistake that organizations make is giving the menial jobs that no one else wants to the senior volunteers. Too many organizations have a ``one size fits all'' mentality when it comes to working with older adults. They use a generic volunteer job description rather than tailoring the talents of the senior to the needs of the organization. We have found much more success with working with the senior to find what talents, skills and experiences they bring to the table and match those to the needs of the organization. We have also found success in defining outcomes, not process, to the seniors. For instance, our senior mentors working with foster kids are told our goal is to help the kids graduate from high school. Then we ask how the senior can help us achieve that goal? Traditional volunteers are given a list of ``things'' to do--and usually not meaningful things. Personalizing the volunteer experience and valuing what the senior brings, along with valuing their opinion, is critically important. Question. What role do you believe the Federal government should play to best spur retiring boomers to service? Answer. Remove barriers and offer incentives: There are barriers that which need to be removed. Volunteer opportunities may offer small stipends to cover the cost of volunteering. Sometimes this is a small money amount (usually about $200 per month) or a card for gasoline and other transportation or even a grocery store voucher. But for many seniors who are on SSI, Section 8 Housing, Medicaid or some other government subsidized program, this stipend counts as income for their eligibility for those programs. The irony here is that these seniors often live in areas where we have the most needs, yet the local seniors often cannot participate for fear of losing their eligibility to these programs. There is language which authorizes the Foster Grandparent program (seniors volunteering with special need children) which excludes the small remuneration they receive from the program from countable income for other programs. Similar language is needed for seniors who receive any stipend related to working with children. Another way to encourage civic engagement (especially for seniors) volunteering with children in the child welfare system) would be to offer and incentive, such as a tax credit or other tax break. Small incentives go a long way to formalize and recognize the contribution that senior volunteers make. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. <all>