When I started as a program intern with Archstone Foundation in June, I was unfamiliar with the field of aging. As an undergraduate at New York University studying public policy, I had explored different policy fields from healthcare to climate change to education.
Other than my experience with my own grandparents and seeing AARP commercials on TV, I could not tell you much about aging. What I learned during my internship this summer was surprising. Aging is a field that considers the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of older people. It is an area for research, policy, education and training, and direct service, not just a single discipline. It is a way of understanding the world differently.
Coming to Archstone Foundation, my assumption was that aging would be like every other field. There would be new terms, new experts, and new issues of focus. While all of this was true, aging is far more than just another policy field. Aging is about people, it’s about a growing population in our state and our country, and how that population interacts with every other pressing concern.
And I learned the importance of seeing each issue through the perspective of older adults. Why? Because older adults matter. They are a huge part of our communities even when our policymakers fail to see them. Archstone Foundation recognizes this. In each project, write-up, presentation, and report I prepared for the Foundation, I followed this belief as my personal mission statement. With each project, I asked myself: “How does this issue affect the lives and well-being of older people differently?”
How Aging Intersects with Other Policies
On my second day at the Foundation, I applied this at a meeting with key stakeholders from Meals on Wheels California. In reviewing the meeting, summarizing the takeaways, and following up on important questions, I learned how food insecurity can differ for older people. It can result from a lack of income, functional impairment, or greater dietary restrictions due to medical conditions. In my research, I identified a strong correlation between regular meal delivery and reduced hospital stays. Further, I was able to identify how the delivery of medically tailored meals had a greater impact than standard meal delivery.
The policy intersections with the field of aging apply beyond food insecurity. For example, in thinking about healthcare, I researched and reported on the successes and challenges of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in treating older adults. Additionally, in thinking about enabling older people to remain in their communities, I examined past grant requests to identify potential gaps in state and federal budgets designated for older adults.
Each project brought me new insights into the physical, mental and emotional, and social needs of older people and the communities they call home. I saw how every policy intersects with the field of aging.
My major contribution this summer addressed one of the largest policy intersections – climate change. I had the opportunity to research and present my report, “Disaster Philanthropy: An Opportunity for Archstone Foundation,” to the Proposal Review Committee. After weeks of extensive research and attending the Southern California Grantmakers’ presentation on Disaster Philanthropy, I delivered my thesis on the issue: Climate change is making disasters more frequent and more deadly, and older adults need our help to survive the threat. Archstone Foundation, now equipped with this research and presentation, can bring its insight and network of organizations serving older people to the table in preparation for future disasters.
At the heart of my experience at Archstone Foundation is a newfound appreciation of how policy intersects and affects communities differently. The Foundation’s work to support older people is exemplary in this respect. As an undergraduate policy student, my contribution to their work was tied to my fresh perspective on the field of aging. I’m happy to know that my work had, and will continue to have, an impact.
I want to thank my wonderful colleagues—President and CEO Chris Langston, Vice President Mary Ellen Kullman, and the entire staff, whom I’ve grown to know and admire—for this unique opportunity. It was more than I could have ever expected out of a summer internship.
