As the Foundation moves forward with our new grantmaking strategy, we are continuing a blog series that highlights how our grantee partners are bringing this work to life in communities across California. Through their voices, we will explore what it looks like to catalyze equitable change in health and social care systems and hear directly from older adults about the impact these efforts are having on their lives.
Not long ago, a nursing home aide shared something simple but profound with our SAGE team. After completing SAGECare training, she began wearing a name badge that included her pronouns. It was a small change for her, but for many residents it quietly signaled safety and opened conversations they had never felt comfortable having before.
One resident told her he had always wanted to talk openly about their life but never knew if it was safe. That small gesture, just a few additional words on a name badge, became an invitation. Without either of them saying it out loud, it communicated something powerful: you do not have to hide here.
After more than 18 years at SAGE, I have learned that inclusive aging work often shows exactly like this.
Small acts + small signals = big impact.
Thanks to partners who share this commitment to equity in aging, including Archstone Foundation, more older adults are experiencing that sense of safety, dignity, and affirmation every day.
The Quiet Power of Feeling Safe
Another moment that has stayed with me came from an older adult living in a community in California that participated in SAGECare training. She shared:
“At this community, I was never asked how many children I have, or why I’m not married. Those questions have always made me feel sad, helpless, and vulnerable. No one here asked me why. It took time to realize it must be a policy. That insight allowed me to lower my defenses and be better cared for.”
Her words say everything. For many LGBTQ+ older people, aging is layered with vigilance. A lifetime of navigating assumptions about family, identity, and relationships can make well-intentioned questions feel nerve wracking.
What moved her wasn’t a rainbow flag or a Pride campaign. It was the absence of assumptions. The quiet, thoughtful respect embedded in everyday interactions and organizational choices.
That is what inclusive care feels like.
“We require all our employees to complete SAGECare training before they have contact with any clients,” noted Jennifer Dawson, Co-Founder and CEO, Pallas Care. Pallas Care is a 3-year SAGECare Platinum Provider located in Los Angeles-CA. “While the importance of this training is obvious for our LGBTQ+ clients, we believe that the training helps build empathy, understanding, and caring for all the diverse clients and stakeholders an employee may encounter in their work.”
“The management training is excellent,” Dawson added. “I have been working within the LGBTQ+ community for over a decade, and I still learned from the training! Both my co-founder and I were moved to tears by the stories of our elders' resilience through tough times.”
This is what inclusive care looks like when leadership sets the tone.
What SAGECare Brings to Caregivers and Communities
SAGECare exists to help communities and caregivers do what they already want to do: provide excellent care to every older adult. Our LGBTQ+ cultural competency training and national credentialing program give staff and leadership practical tools for creating environments where all residents feel welcome.
Our training focuses on:
- Everyday communication that honors identity and experience
- The history that shapes LGBTQ+ elders’ perspectives and concerns
- Practical strategies for reducing assumptions and building trust
- Policies that reinforce safety and dignity across the organization
- Clear steps toward earning a SAGECare credential that signals inclusion
Across the country, SAGECare has trained more than 338,000 professionals and credentialed over 1,123 organizations, including many providers here in California, where expectations around LGBTQ+ inclusive care continue to strengthen due to state law. In California alone, 640 providers have completed SAGECare training, helping build a statewide network committed to person-centered care.
Inclusive care improves health outcomes and strengthens connection and safety for older adults and staff. And families, whether you’re a queer adult child, a nonbinary grandchild, or any loved one who wants to be welcomed when you walk through the door, deserve to feel that same sense of belonging.
Supporting the Work, Strengthening the Impact
We’re fortunate to partner with organizations that share our belief that every older person deserves affirming, culturally informed care. Support from the Archstone Foundation allows SAGE to expand our SAGECare LGBTQ+ cultural competency training, strengthen tools for caregivers, and advance systemic change that improves daily experiences for older adults.
Archstone Foundation has long championed older adults, caregivers, and healthier communities. Their commitment to innovation and equity makes them natural partners in this work. With the Foundation’s support, we are able to:
- Expand LGBTQ+ cultural competency training across California
- Deliver customized training tailored to providers’ needs
- Help organizations meet state LGBTQ+ requirements
- Reach rural, suburban, and urban communities
- Build more welcoming, affirming environments for LGBTQ+ older adults statewide
Through this partnership, more caregivers feel confident, prepared, and proud to support the people in their care, and more older adults experience dignity, safety, and belonging. Together, SAGE and Archstone Foundation are turning shared values into meaningful, measurable impact via SAGECare.
An Invitation…
If I’ve learned anything in nearly two decades at SAGE, it’s that inclusive care is built in the small daily choices we make: the questions we don’t ask, the assumptions we set aside, the signals we send that say: “You are safe here.”
To caregivers: thank you for showing up every day with compassion, curiosity, and endurance.
To leaders: your choices shape cultures where people thrive.
To our partners: your shared commitment strengthens the field for everyone.
To the LGBTQ+ community: you deserve care that sees and honors every part of who you are.
Together, we’re creating spaces where older people don’t have to wonder whether it’s safe to be themselves.
They’ll know.
About SAGE and SAGECare
SAGE is a national advocacy and services organization that’s been looking out for LGBTQ+ elders since 1978. SAGECare offers LGBTQ+ cultural competency training and consulting to aging service providers.
