Embracing Aging is a long-term initiative that focuses on culture change and how people experience aging in York County. Its purpose is to make York County a great place to age by expanding understanding and caring about the needs and perspectives of older adults and reducing barriers to aging well.
It launched in fall 2013 with the release of a report, commissioned by YCCF, that identified areas of opportunity for York County to become more age-friendly. We developed strategies to address the issues of attitudes around aging, community engagement, housing, health and wellbeing, and transportation and walkability.
Embracing Aging was one of four communities chosen to testify at the May 17, 2017 U.S. Senate Special Committee of Aging Hearing – Aging with Community: Building Connections that Last a Lifetime.
Embracing Aging was one of six communities chosen to participate in the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging’s (n4a) Livable Communities Collaborative in fall 2013 through fall 2014, and was featured in n4a’s national report, Making Your Community Work for All Ages: What’s Working released in May 2015.
Outcomes We Strive For
- Increased high quality and forward thinking options to help older individuals live as they choose in their community.
- Improved attitudes around one’s own aging and senior adults as a group to create a community that is a safe, welcoming, appropriate, and adaptable place to age.
Safe
- Deliberately accessible and inclusive to people of all abilities and mobility.
Welcoming
- Free of misconceptions about aging and increasing the appreciation of the wisdom, experience, social influence, and economic impact of older adults.
Appropriate
- Refraining from “one size fits all” solutions and having options that are based on function rather than a person’s age.
Adaptable
- Creativity and flexibility are applied to products, goods, services, events, and opportunities to best meet the life needs of older adults.
Hahn Home Fund for Embracing Aging
York County Community Foundation’s Hahn Home Fund supports Embracing Aging.
Created in 2007, the fund is the result of the vision of Anna Gardner, who upon her passing in 1913, gifted her estate to help care for older women. Today, her legacy to create a community where people age with dignity continues through Embracing Aging.
Embracing Aging Committees
Embracing Aging Advisory Committee
The Embracing Aging Advisory Committee is comprised of ten community representatives with expertise in specific aging areas. The committee meets six times per year and helps advise the work of the initiative.
Hahn Home Fund for Embracing Aging Distribution Committee
The Hahn Home Fund for Embracing Aging Distribution Committee is comprised of community representatives, many who are age 50+, with expertise in grant writing and reading. This committee helps in the development of large grants to create systemic change in EA’s focus areas, as well as reads/scores the competitive grant applications. The committee meets four times a year.
Hahn Home Fund Board
The Hahn Home Fund supports the Embracing Aging initiative. The Hahn Home Board created an endowment at YCCF and in 2012, the board voted to expand on Anna Gardner’s legacy to launch the Embracing Aging initiative. It continues to meet to coordinate the care of the last two women it supported through the estate.
