WASHINGTON DC CENTER ON AGING 15-YEAR REPORT
1994-2009
This report covers the first 15 years of activities the Washington DC Center on Aging since its incorporation as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation in 1994. Activities reflect those described in the Center’s Functional
Statement which follows:
Areas of Interest
The Washington DC Center on Aging is a nonprofit corporation-a 501(c)(3) organization-founded in 1994. Its major areas of focus include the following:
- Functioning as a program without walls, the center is involving a national and international network of colleagues in the area of aging. The center coordinates targeted think tank approaches to creative program planning and problem solving in the area of aging, working with a range of groups-including national associations and scientific societies, universities, art organizations, foundations, family groups, and governmental (federal, state, local) agencies, as well as others.
- The center participates in and helps coordinate an international network of interested scientists and service providers working together to scout out de facto demonstrations that appear to be incipient innovations. Efforts are made to link up researchers to evaluate what is potentially most innovative or promising in the programs identified. The goal is to help speed the development and dissemination of innovation in the Field of Aging and to contribute to a more informed approach to public policies on aging.
- The center is involved in innovative projects of an intergenerational nature. These include initiatives that involve older people as a national resource in working with children and young adults. Such intergenerational projects range from efforts aimed at involving older adults to improve the science education of children to efforts where older persons assume the role of key members of the informal support system in helping address health problems in their extended families or in their communities, to improving the education of children about aging.
- Creativity in aging is a major area of focus, with attention to examining the nature, potential, development, and application of creativity with aging. Areas of interest include the role and relevance of creativity to older adults; creative contributions of older persons to society as a whole; creative collaborative intergenerational relationships; creative approaches to developing programs that promote health and intervene with illness in later life, and approaches to evaluating Washington DC Center on Aging 15-Year Report Page 1these programs for the purpose of improving their quality and viability.
- Efforts to promote public education about aging are of major concern at the center, with the goal of diminishing negative stereotypes and negative myths about aging among all age groups, while advancing understanding of human potential in the second half of life.
- Coordinating and conducting research on aging, including descriptive investigations, program evaluations, and applied studies, are important in the center’s work.
What follows is a chronology of activities during the Center’s first 15 years. They represent a series of public education endeavors, education about aging presentations, technical assistance consultations, dissemination of information efforts, collaborative research and development efforts, and innovative model program development in the area of aging and intergenerational initiatives.
1994: Establishment of Infrastructure of Center
1995:
- Collaboration with Science Service, Inc., the organization that administers the National and International Science Fairs for high school students; as a result of our collaboration, Science Service introduced Gerontology as a track at these major Fairs.
- Educational and technical assistance meetings through staff training about aging with the Department of Labor.
- Educational and technical assistance meetings with Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Four Winds Hospital in New York.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with Baylor University in Houston, Texas.
1996:
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with AARP.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Stanford Research Institute.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with “Excerpta Washington DC Center on Aging 15-Year Report Page 2Medica”.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with California State University.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the State of Delaware.
1997:
- Received a Grant from AARP to plan a national educational program on aging, with particular attention to creativity and aging. The project culminated with a one-hour film on PBS’ “Author/Author” series, focusing on the book “The Creative Age” by Center Director Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
- Center Director Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. chaired a workgroup of the Alliance for Aging Research to develop a publication on the myths of the cost of the last year of life in relation to the elderly. The publication was produced and was titled “Seven Deadly Myths: Uncovering the Facts About the High Cost of the Last Year of Life”; the publication was accompanied by a press conference and media campaign involving Center Director Cohen.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions on national continuing education efforts in Aging with the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (GRECC) Program of the VA.
1998
- Received a grant from the Bayer Corporation to further the planning effort for a national educational program on aging.
- Provided technical assistance in the planning of a national “Futures” conference on aging; Center Director Cohen chaired the conference sponsored by Pfizer, followed by a national publication on the proceedings.
1999
- Provided technical assistance to the Museum of Science in Boston to launch their national traveling museum exhibit on the “Secrets of Aging”.
- Provided technical assistance in launching the “Creativity Discovery Corps” in Washington, DC, a program which could become a national model with the focus on identifying older persons (particularly the homebound and undeserved) whose creative work or ideas have been Washington DC Center on Aging 15-Year Report Page 3undiscovered and providing visibility for their contributions.
2000
- Provided technical assistance and dissemination of information for an AARP launched effort on a major new creativity and aging initiative, coupling national workshops and a website and contributing resource materials to the website (http://www.aarp.org/creativity/resources.hyml).
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Mather Foundation in Chicago with a focus future collaborative projects.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the “Creativity Discovery Corps”.
2001
- Enabling pilot research and development for the “Transitional Keys” project through support of the Florence V. Burden Foundation in New York City; this project focused on the creative use of techniques that fostered smooth transitions for older adults moving into various long-term care settings.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2002
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Cathedral Foundation in Jacksonville, Florida with preliminary discussion on developing a national conference on creativity and aging.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2003
- Further enabling of the “Transitional Keys” project through support form
the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation of Maryland. - Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2004
- Support for the dissemination of educational materials on aging from The Small-Alper Family Foundation, Inc.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Minneapolis VA GRECC Program.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2005
- Further enabling of the “Transitional Keys” project through support form the Jewish Home and Hospital of New York
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2006
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Minnesota Creative Arts & Aging Network.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the Council of State Governors.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with Posit Science in San Francisco.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with AARP.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the AARP Museum.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2007
- Enabled grant to the Institute on Aging in San Francisco for a fellow in policy issues is Arts and Aging.
- Received first half of a small grant from the National Endowment for he Arts to develop of a technical assistance research toolkit for those in the arts and aging with no or minimal research experience, to assist them in evaluating their projects.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2008
- Received second half of a small grant from the National Endowment for he Arts to develop of a technical assistance research toolkit for those in the arts and aging with no or minimal research experience, to assist them in evaluating their projects.
- Educational and technical assistance discussions with the national Center for Creative Aging.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
2009
- Presentation of 5 educational webinars on aging by Center Director Cohen for the National Center for Creative Aging.
- Ongoing technical assistance support to the Creativity Discovery Corps.
