Program:
Social Services
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Gays/Lesbians
-
Male Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
-
Female Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Program Description:
SAGE’s Social Services Program currently offers counseling, case management, and other services to both LGBT adults 60+ (50+ for those living with HIV) and their caregivers. Because LGBT older adults are far less likely to reach out to mainstream providers, SAGE has developed a comprehensive net of concrete service, caregiving, and psychodynamic approaches that are LGBT- and aging-specific. Utilizing an asset-based approach that seeks to maximize the independence of its constituents, SAGE’s Social Services engage the full range of its New York City constituency, from underserved elderly people dealing with late life issues (e.g., SAGE’s Telephonic Support Program for homebound older adults) to boomers planning for their future care.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>To provide social serices for elderly LGBT individuals, who have been a traditionally underserved part of the overall elderly population.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
As part of SAGE’s new Business Plan, SAGE developed Success Criteria that provides eight different metrics to measure SAGE performance and outcomes: The eight metrics of the SAGE Success Criteria include:
<ol type="A">
<ol type="1"><li>Impact – The result is new services to new LGBT older adults</li><li>Relevance – SAGE is the “go to” organization</li><li>Ripple Effect – SAGE will be able to create more opportunities for LGBT older adults nationwide</li><li>Playing Field Broadens – The playing field for LGBT older adults expands in public and private policy and perceptions</li><li>Return on Investment – The difference SAGE makes justifies the investment</li><li>Recognition – SAGE is recognized and supported as the leader in the LGBT aging field</li><li>Mission Driven – SAGE stays authentic to its mission</li><li>Manageable Risk – The action is doable with limited risk to SAGE’s operations, reputation and sustainability</li></ol></ol>
Program Success Examples:
<div>In 2009:</div>
<ul><li>More than 2,000 LGBT older adults throughout New York City took advantage of SAGE’s comprehensive spectrum of activities, groups and other community services.</li><li>More than 500 LGBT older people in New York City reached out to SAGE to draw on the supports offered through SAGE’s broad range of programs. Among others, these programs include counseling and application assistance with public benefits such as Social Security and Medicare, crisis intervention, counseling, caregiver respite, services for homebound LGBT older adults, and a wide range of services for LGBT older people with HIV.</li><li>In conjunction with National Healthcare Decisions Day, SAGE coordinated a series of life planning clinics for LGBT older adults in New York City, providing free assistance on issues such as life planning, estate planning, domestic partnership, landlord/ tenant issues and more. More than 30 representatives from eight of New York City’s top law firms volunteered their time for these clinics, supporting approximately 120 LGBT elders. “I was overwhelmed by the number of members of the legal community who selflessly donated their time, knowledge and experience to SAGE constituents,” said Tom Sciacca, Esq, Caraway & Sciacca LLP.</li></ul>
Program:
Community Services
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Gays/Lesbians
-
Male Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
-
Female Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Program Description:
SAGE’s Community Services program currently provides a wide variety of life enrichment and social activities for LGBT older adults, ranging from arts and culture programming to social and wellness activities. SAGE’s holistic program model places particular emphasis on peer interaction to maximize constituent engagement, combat isolation, and enhance support networks. SAGE encourages constituent engagement at all levels; most of SAGE’s Community Services programs are facilitated or led by volunteers or by the participants themselves.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>Improve the quality of living for the program's targets by increasing peer interaction, aid in combating isolation, and enhancing their social networks. </div>
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
As part of SAGE’s new Business Plan, SAGE developed Success Criteria that provides eight different metrics to measure SAGE performance and outcomes: The eight metrics of the SAGE Success Criteria include:
<ol type="A">
<ol type="1"><li>Impact – The result is new services to new LGBT older adults</li><li>Relevance – SAGE is the “go to” organization</li><li>Ripple Effect – SAGE will be able to create more opportunities for LGBT older adults nationwide</li><li>Playing Field Broadens – The playing field for LGBT older adults expands in public and private policy and perceptions</li><li>Return on Investment – The difference SAGE makes justifies the investment</li><li>Recognition – SAGE is recognized and supported as the leader in the LGBT aging field</li><li>Mission Driven – SAGE stays authentic to its mission</li><li>Manageable Risk – The action is doable with limited risk to SAGE’s operations, reputation and sustainability</li></ol></ol>
Program Success Examples:
<div>In 2009:</div>
<ul><li>SAGE Harlem opened its own space in Harlem’s historic Theresa Hotel (a New York City landmark), strengthening SAGE’s responsiveness to communities of color by ensuring that LGBT elders of color in Harlem can benefit from culturally and linguistically appropriate services. With support from local and state elected officials, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and partnerships across various community-based groups in Harlem, SAGE Harlem provided services and held programs for approximately 750 English speaking and Spanish-speaking LGBT elders throughout the community.</li><li>SAGE significantly broadened its programming for older women, adding more than 13 discussion groups, workshops and celebrations. Among SAGE offerings are a lesbian literature group, a Hispanic women’s group (held in both English and Spanish), a “baby boomers” group for women ages 40-60 to help address the generational aspects of aging, a “women’s salon” that provides arts and culture programming, and various social activities to bring older women together.</li></ul>
Program:
Training
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
- Population Served:
-
Gays/Lesbians
-
Female Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
-
Male Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Program Description:
SAGE’s extensive delivery of local services in New York City gives the organization an unparalleled degree of expertise, which it leverages to advance two goals: supporting the growth of programs for LGBT older adults and increasing LGBT cultural competency in senior-serving settings across the country. SAGE does this through training and technical assistance programs. Currently, SAGE offers a series of such programs that provide concrete information and tangible opportunities to shift agency and personal culture. The information and opportunities serve to improve the quality of service offered and change an agency’s environment so that LGBT older adults receive culturally competent and welcoming service delivery.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>The goal of this program is to provide education for other senior-serving organizations so that they may better tend to the needs of LGBT clients.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
As part of SAGE’s new Business Plan, SAGE developed Success Criteria that provides eight different metrics to measure SAGE performance and outcomes: The eight metrics of the SAGE Success Criteria include:
<ol type="A">
<ol type="1"><li>Impact – The result is new services to new LGBT older adults</li><li>Relevance – SAGE is the “go to” organization</li><li>Ripple Effect – SAGE will be able to create more opportunities for LGBT older adults nationwide</li><li>Playing Field Broadens – The playing field for LGBT older adults expands in public and private policy and perceptions</li><li>Return on Investment – The difference SAGE makes justifies the investment</li><li>Recognition – SAGE is recognized and supported as the leader in the LGBT aging field</li><li>Mission Driven – SAGE stays authentic to its mission</li><li>Manageable Risk – The action is doable with limited risk to SAGE’s operations, reputation and sustainability</li></ol></ol>
Program Success Examples:
<div>In 2009:</div>
<ul><li>SAGE led a partnership of 10 diverse organizations from across the country in submitting a joint proposal to establish the country’s first, federally-funded National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. This center will provide technical assistance, training, and a variety of online resources to support mainstream aging providers and LGBT organizations in effectively addressing the needs of LGBT elders. The center will also be a powerful resource of information for LGBT older people.</li></ul>
Program:
Advocacy
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
- Population Served:
-
Gays/Lesbians
-
Female Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
-
Male Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Program Description:
Many of the challenges unique to LGBT older adults can be remediated systematically through effective advocacy to achieve change in public policies on aging. At the federal, state and local level SAGE provides a leading voice to advocate for LGBT older adults and policies that positively impact the lives of all LGBT older adults. Providing leadership to SAGENet (SAGE’s network of 15 independent affiliates across the country) and the National LGBT Aging Roundtable, SAGE works to develop a national LGBT aging advocacy network.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>The advocacy program's goal is to enact change in public policy (at the local, state, and federal levels) to better address the specific needs and challenges of the LGBT elderly.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
<div>At the federal level, SAGE is currently advocating:</div>
<div><li>Inclusion of LGBT people as a "vulnerable senior constituency and identity" and those with "greatest social need" as states and area agencies on aging develop their planning and social service delivery systems, as mandated by the Older Americans Act.</li><li>Identifying federal funding opportunities that can be targeted to programs that specifically serve LGBT older people.</li><li>Including sexual orientation and gender identity categories as a designated and mandated component of federally funded aging research and data collection.</li><li>Allowing for Medicaid exemptions to apply to same-sex partners.</li><li>Expanding social security to include LGBT same sex partners in accessing survivor benefits and spousal enhancement benefits </li></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
Program Success Monitored by:
As part of SAGE’s new Business Plan, SAGE developed Success Criteria that provides eight different metrics to measure SAGE performance and outcomes: The eight metrics of the SAGE Success Criteria include:
<ol type="A">
<ol type="1"><li>Impact – The result is new services to new LGBT older adults</li><li>Relevance – SAGE is the “go to” organization</li><li>Ripple Effect – SAGE will be able to create more opportunities for LGBT older adults nationwide</li><li>Playing Field Broadens – The playing field for LGBT older adults expands in public and private policy and perceptions</li><li>Return on Investment – The difference SAGE makes justifies the investment</li><li>Recognition – SAGE is recognized and supported as the leader in the LGBT aging field</li><li>Mission Driven – SAGE stays authentic to its mission</li><li>Manageable Risk – The action is doable with limited risk to SAGE’s operations, reputation and sustainability</li></ol></ol>
Program Success Examples:
<ul><li> SAGE expanded its SAGENet program from 9 to 15 SAGE affiliates, significantly strengthening our national landscape of organizational advocates.</li><li> As part of its SAGE Advocates program to build the capacity of LGBT older adults to act as change agents, SAGE convened 14 LGBT elders from across New York City, developing their advocacy skills and engaging them in the policy process at the city and state levels.</li><li>SAGE worked with its affiliates throughout New York State, and through its role as co-chair for the Senior Issues Committee (for the New York State LGBT Health and Human Services Network, facilitated by the Empire State Pride Agenda), to secure letters of support for funding a statewide training initiative that would support mainstream service providers in better addressing hundreds of thousands of LGBT older adults across the state.</li></ul>
Program:
SAGE CAP (Caring and Preparing)
- Budget:
-
--
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Gays/Lesbians
-
Female Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
-
Male Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Program Description:
SAGE CAP (Caring and Preparing) is a multi-component caregiver program that provides education, assistance, support, and aging planning to the growing numbers of LGBT caregivers and those caring for LGBT older adults. This multi-staged program will not only aid caregivers in the provision of care (respite, counseling), but also utilize education and programming to assist them in planning for their own aging. The program, partially funded by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, will be available locally in New York City and nationally through an online LGBT Caregiver Support Center. The SAGE CAP program is the first of several SAGE programs aimed at the developing needs of the Baby Boomer generation.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>The goal of this program is to provide education and aid to LGBT caregivers and those caring for LGBT older adults.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
As part of SAGE’s new Business Plan, SAGE developed Success Criteria that provides eight different metrics to measure SAGE performance and outcomes: The eight metrics of the SAGE Success Criteria include:
<p> </p>
<ol type="A">
<ol type="1"><li>Impact – The result is new services to new LGBT older adults</li><li>Relevance – SAGE is the “go to” organization</li><li>Ripple Effect – SAGE will be able to create more opportunities for LGBT older adults nationwide</li><li>Playing Field Broadens – The playing field for LGBT older adults expands in public and private policy and perceptions</li><li>Return on Investment – The difference SAGE makes justifies the investment</li><li>Recognition – SAGE is recognized and supported as the leader in the LGBT aging field</li><li>Mission Driven – SAGE stays authentic to its mission</li><li>Manageable Risk – The action is doable with limited risk to SAGE’s operations, reputation and sustainability</li></ol></ol>
Program Success Examples: