The New York Academy of Medicine Launches New Fund to Help Make NYC the Best Place to Grow Older

(New York, NY – December 12, 2017) – The New York Academy of Medicine is pleased to announce the launch of its Fund for an Age-friendly New York City (the Fund) with its first set of awards. The recipients of the first $125,000 grant are Brooklyn-based veteran, community-based organizations with a record of pioneering innovative approaches to keeping people healthy and active as they age.

United Neighborhood Houses (UNH), in partnership with United Community Centers (UCC) and St. Nicks Alliance (working together as one grantee), and Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) will share the first grant from the new Fund, which awards stimulus grants to organizations, institutions, and neighborhood groups to implement interventions that improve the health and well-being of older New Yorkers.

“The mission of the Fund is to catalyze age-friendly practices, policies, and programs, as well as to promote innovation, throughout the five boroughs,” said Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS, president of the Academy.

“As a proponent of building healthier communities for older adults, and as Secretariat for Age-friendly NYC, a long-standing partnership with the City Council and the Mayor’s Office, the Academy is delighted to announce these first two grants to organizations that were selected for their extensive expertise in aging, knowledge of the Brooklyn landscape, and record of successful community engagement,” Salerno added.

Building on their experience mobilizing older people to drive positive change in neighborhoods, UNH, UCC, and St. Nicks Alliance will invest their Fund grant in programs that bring together older and younger residents to address a range of challenges in Williamsburg and East New York. These multi-generational groups will work to make their communities more livable, increase access to healthy foods, and pair at-risk teens with older adult mentors who will help them realize their dreams.

Drawing on their expertise in technology, OATS will use the Fund grant to develop and implement a curriculum that will train and support approximately 200 older Brooklynites to use social media (such as Yelp and Facebook) effectively to raise awareness of age-friendly initiatives; for example, identifying and applauding age-friendly businesses and cultural environments, and calling attention to those that need to be improved. Additionally, OATS will launch a targeted digital and printed marketing and outreach campaign to draw attention to existing age-friendly initiatives and calls-to-action in public spaces such as libraries, senior centers, and senior housing developments.

“We look forward to working with the first beneficiaries of the Fund for an Age-friendly NYC to support local leaders in making their communities more welcoming and inclusive of older people and helping to prevent social isolation, which can result in poor physical and mental health. Having successfully piloted age-friendly initiatives across different neighborhoods, the Academy is thrilled to deploy additional resources to help spread, scale, and sustain Age-friendly NYC’s achievements over the past ten years,” said Lindsay Goldman, LMSW, director of healthy aging at the Academy.