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Area agencies on aging face a brave new world as their mission endures to provide local, responsive, and coordinated services in the community for elders.
ore than 600 area agencies on aging (AAA) provide locally responsive, coordinated services for older adults living in every commu- nity in the United States. These organizations are working in a very different world from the one that existed when the Older Americans Act (OAA) was enacted in 1965. The original OAA legislation and subsequent amendments estab- lished a local-to-federal infrastructure (includ- ing AAAs) to plan and coordinate services to enhance the ability of older adults to live inde- pendent and healthy lives in their communities for as long as possible.
The OAA continues to provide the shared mission and organizational foundation of the aging services network. The services provided under the auspices of the Act remain essential for targeted groups of older adults. However, the resources available directly through the OAA were never intended to meet all of the service needs for older adults living at home; they were designed to leverage other federal and non- federal funding sources in meeting those needs (O'Shaughnessy, 2011).
Area agencies on aging are increasingly focused on this leveraging and coordination role. In addition, they remain uniquely positioned within their local areas as long-standing focal points for the coordination of community-based services and supports. But they face more com- petition for resources and steeper increases in numbers of constituents than ever before. AAAs are addressing these challenges by expanding the types of consumer groups they serve, working with a wider range of partner organiza- tions, establishing new connections with medical communities, creating business plans, and implementing new strategies for financial sustainability.
Using data from national surveys of AAAs, this article describes the evolution of these organizations and their network. Informa- tion in this article comes from several waves of the National Aging Network Survey of Area Agencies on Aging (2007-2013), as well as a smaller survey focused on the connections between aging services and the medical commu- nity. With a grant from the Administration on Community Living, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging partnered with Scripps Gerontology Center of Excellence to conduct this research in order to track the scope...