Thrive with Pride Cafes Offer Crucial Support for LGBT+ Older Adults
AgeOptions has received a grant from The Chicago Community Trust to expand its Thrive with Pride Cafes, a unique and powerful program for LGBT+ older adults and caregivers. Many LGBT+ older adults are socially isolated, and the cafes will provide an opportunity for them and those who care for them to receive crucial social support and learn about resources and benefits that can positively impact their health and well-being and improve their access to care.
AgeOptions already has funding for five cafe sites and The Chicago Community Trust grant makes it possible to add at least four additional sites. To develop the cafe sites, AgeOptions works with trusted community organizations, including affirming faith communities, especially targeting low-income and minority areas. The agency works with local leadership at each site to develop the cafes as regular community gathering places.
"Historically, the LGBT+ population has been invisible and underserved - overlooked by senior service agencies and, for their own safety, often intentionally closeted," said Kate Spelman, AgeOptions Aging with Pride program specialist. "This has led to increased rates of social isolation, loneliness, economic disadvantages and worse health outcomes than their heterosexual peers. For generations of LGBT+ people, the most reliable source of health care information, including which providers can be trusted with potentially sensitive information, has been word of mouth within a peer network. Our project seeks to build on the strengths of this community, leveraging its resilience and creativity to care for a widening circle of older adults and caregivers and empowering local leadership to develop the programing and seek the resources that will best serve their communities."
As the Area Agency on Aging of Suburban Cook County, AgeOptions and its partner community agencies provide services and programs to enable older adults and people with disabilities to thrive as they age. A key aim is to build capacity for serving LGBT+ older adults and caregivers. A community needs assessment identified "high-quality, affordable, culturally responsive and comprehensive health care" and "support accessing quality human and government services" as high-priority needs for the Chicagoland LGBT+ community. With the Thrive with Pride Cafes, AgeOptions plans to engage LGBT+ older adults and caregivers in order to adapt resources and educational programming to address these needs. Cafe participants and leaders will guide implementation and evaluation at each site.
The Chicago Community Trust is a community foundation dedicated to strengthening the Chicago region and improving the lives of the people who call it home. For more than 100 years, the Trust has served as a trusted philanthropic partner, connecting the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to nonprofit organizations working to create lasting change. Following the creation of a new strategic plan in 2019, the Trust stands committed to addressing Chicago's legacy of systemic inequity and closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap, while continuing to respond to the critical needs of our most vulnerable residents. The Trust administers more than $360 million in annual grant making as part of its commitment to equity, opportunity and prosperity for the Chicago region. To learn more, visit cct.org.
AgeOptions and its network of community agencies are the principal source of information regarding senior services in suburban Cook County, Ill. A nonprofit organization located in Oak Park, AgeOptions has served the older adults of suburban Cook County and their caregivers as an Area Agency on Aging since 1974. For more information, please visit the Agency website at www.ageoptions.org, or our Facebook and YouTube sites:
AgeOptions connects adults age 60 and over with resources and service options so they can live their lives to the fullest and remain in their homes as long as possible. In 2019, with our partner community-based agencies, we served 172,077 individuals in 130 communities within 30 townships that have a diverse population of more than 480,000 older adults. AgeOptions advocates, plans, develops and funds programs and coordinates a network of community-based senior service agencies to ensure an effective and efficient system of service delivery. Support is provided through the Older Americans Act, Illinois General Revenue Funds, local funds and individual contributions.