Peter Kaldes, President and CEO, Next50, A Non-Profit to End Ageism

What If We Valued Aging?

I don’t know about you, but I cringe when I see people talking loudly to those who look older than themselves or when they say to one another, “Wow, you still look really good for your age.” It never ceases to amaze me just how ageist we are to one another and ourselves. 

And it’s not just how we talk to one another; age bias shows its ugly head in assumptions we make about people’s abilities, such as using technology. Everyone understands that technology is a basic need, yet we’re unable to accept that it also plays a central role in the lives of older adults. 

Ageism is also weaponized in headlines, particularly in unhelpful ways, such as in describing the housing crisis many are facing. Articles titled “Boomers aren’t moving” or “Empty nesters holding on to McMansions” lead with descriptions of how the cost of moving or owning a home is making it very difficult for everyone.

At Next50, a Denver-based national foundation, we know it’s expensive to age in this country. That is why we invest in innovative and equitable ideas that build capacity and change systems to create economic opportunities for marginalized older adults and the organizations that serve them. We work with our partners by focusing on three priority areas of economic opportunity: supporting aging in place, advancing digital equity and ending ageism. Our vision is to create a world that values aging.

We all deserve the luxury of aging affordably.

As we age, we want the resources, economic freedom and peace of mind to live where we feel most comfortable – whether that means at home or in our community. At least 77% of adults 50 and older want to age in a place where they are comfortable, according to one study, yet 70% of older adults will need financial and health care support to do so. In 2021, an all-time high of nearly 11.2 million older adults were “cost-burdened,” meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Next50’s home state of Colorado is the third most expensive state in which home health care supports aging. According to MarketWatch, only 14% of single people over 75 can afford a daily visit from a paid caregiver, and just 13% can afford to move to assisted living. The median monthly cost of assisted living in the U.S. is $4,500, while the average monthly social security check is just $1,700.

The evidence is clear – we need more affordable support services and systems that allow all of us to maintain autonomy and connections to our community as we age. Specifically, we need more affordable housing or homelessness prevention programs, creative solutions for in-home wrap-around services, and policies that support caregiver or direct care workforce support and services.

Colorado is using federal funds to substantially raise base wages for thousands of direct care workers providing a range of services to older adults. Next50 has invested in the Bell Policy Center, which designed and conducted a cost study of Colorado’s direct care ecosystem for older adults. The study examined the economic conditions for older adults, their families, and paid and unpaid caregivers. It identified state-level data gaps on direct care and provided tools for advocates looking to make systems and policy changes to benefit older adults.

We also support Housing Resources of Western Colorado, a non-profit that addresses the housing shortage in Mesa County, which is impacting young people and older adults. The organization is developing an intergenerational village that will provide homes for older adults at risk of homelessness and for youth transitioning out of the foster care system.

Access to tech is a human right. 

Just look at the data—only 64% of adults over 65 in the U.S. have an active broadband connection in their homes. The rest—some 22 million people—lack access to service and/or equipment. No wonder one in four U.S. adults over 65 don’t use the internet, and at least 43% of Americans 60 and older report feeling lonely.

If we invest in ensuring we all have equal access to innovative technology now, we will create technology that improves how we age in the future. But it must be accessible and affordable for all older adults and the organizations that serve them. While it’s true that Apple offers in-store training, not everyone knows about it or can afford Apple products.

We need more efforts to increase access to technology, programs promoting age-inclusive design and aging-in-place technologies, and policy and advocacy efforts to increase affordable internet access. Thankfully, some non-profit organizations and governments are making important efforts to meet these needs.

You can teach an old dog new tricks. 

Ageism is stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups based on their age. Studies have shown that 82% of older adults experience ageism every day. We develop ageist attitudes as early as three years old. And unless we do something about ending ageism, it may get worse for all of us because we’re an aging society. According to the Census, by 2029, we will have more people over 65 than under 18. 

From schools celebrating the first 100 days by requiring children to wear costumes as if they’re 100 years old to universities denying access to life-long learning opportunities, if we valued aging, our education system would prepare us for getting older, not mock it. Imagine universities that prepare leaders for the demographic shift with courses such as “The Economics of Aging” or “National Security and Aging.”

As adults, we get wrinkles and tell ourselves we need to reverse the signs of aging or we’re too old to wear certain things. If we valued aging, we would be less “youth-obsessed” and more “life-obsessed.” Studies show that all these negative views of aging double the risk of cardiovascular events and increase the likelihood of dementia. But with a positive view of aging, we live nearly eight years longer. 

Imagine if we stopped saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Because, actually, you can. Studies show that older dogs focus and concentrate better than puppies. Older adults are better at behavior change because of a lifetime of committing to reaching goals.

Next50 is investing in ending ageism. We’ve supported the study of ageism at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, invested in a University of Iowa project training employers how to be more age-inclusive in hiring, and helped accelerate Changing the Narrative, a Colorado-based campaign working to end ageism nationally.

I’m optimistic that we’re all becoming more aware of age bias in everything we do. We’re seeing creative, collaborative solutions that are helping to make aging in this country less expensive. Creating more access to housing and services, ending the digital divide and making the case for why we should treat everyone fairly as we age are just some ways Next50 is deploying its resources. We all could be doing more to get society to value all our future selves.

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