As the Foundation steps into 2026, we do so with deepened resolve and clarity of purpose, committed to creating a world in which every older adult thrives as they age. Indeed, this remains our central calling.
2025 was an extraordinary year of uncertainty, volatility, and stress for those of us who care about older adults and communities that face challenges in accessing care. These unprecedented 12 months, including dislocating changes to funding policies and formulas and threats to DEI initiatives across the country, have spurred us to take a critical look at our strategic direction and the role we can play. The result: a bold new vision and strategic direction, which will guide us through 2030.
To develop the strategy, we began by meeting with and listening to our partners and did careful analysis of the evolving funding and political landscape. We convened a task force of staff members, Board members, and community leaders to think deeply about how we could—and should— respond most effectively to this rapidly changing environment. Core to our approach, we gathered feedback and insights directly from older adults.
This process, over several months, led us to new ways to amplify our impact and better support the communities we are committed to serving. Our belief is that these new aims, described below, will help make our communities more resilient in the face of today’s many challenges and more in charge of their own futures.
These new ideas are central to our plans ahead. They are coupled with, and enriched by, the Foundation’s enduring commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and a continued commitment to improving the health and social care for all older adults in California.
What’s New?
First, we will do more to mobilize the communities we serve and amplify the voices of older adults. This means helping build their understanding of their own political influence, supporting them to cultivate their leadership, and repelling misinformation that can perpetuate disparities. It means bolstering grassroots organizing of campaigns and gatherings that press for better systems of care. And it means supporting older adults, partnering with communities, and removing structural barriers so older adults can use current communications and data tools to access resources and advocate for themselves.
Second, we will do more to build the strength and adaptability of organizations serving older adults. This means providing flexible funds to a diverse collection of community-based organizations so they can react as they see fit to emerging needs, especially in partnership with other like-minded groups. It means helping organizations build their own infrastructure and skills to change, grow, and engage their communities. It means helping these groups enhance their own advocacy, increase their communications, and improve service delivery. And it means building diverse coalitions that can advocate for the critical needs of their communities to bolster the overall ecosystem of services.
Both of these aims will work hand in hand to catalyze equitable change in health and social care systems.
Funding to Build Power, and More
We will award most of our grants with an eye toward power-building. In a time when federal government support for older people is at its weakest in five decades, we believe the best way to respond is to help communities grow stronger, more engaged, more vocal, and therefore more powerful. And we believe the best approach is to help foster multi-year partnerships with groups engaged in narrative change work at scale and organizing collectives of older people who can advocate forcefully and persuasively for their own needs – and compel the public and policymakers to have their backs again.
Our most recent grants, announced in the fall, begin to reflect the type of grantmaking we imagine in the future, such as:
- We awarded Justice in Aging $100,000 to grow their work in California to fight against harmful federal policy changes. Part of this grant supports their Equity Advisory Council, a diverse group that ensures perspectives from such older populations as immigrants and LGBTQ+ people inform the organization’s litigation and advocacy.
- Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates of Southern California (KIWA) received $50,000 to strengthen its communications infrastructure and outreach to older adults in immigrant communities. As a long-standing advocacy organization with deep community trust, KIWA plays an important role in mobilizing older adults around labor, immigration, and economic justice issues.
- We also granted the National Hispanic Council on Aging $60,000 to fuel a partnership with the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation and St. Barnabas Senior Services. This collaboration has since created a readily replicable bilingual media campaign to help older Spanish speakers in Los Angeles become better-informed decisionmakers about changes in benefits, access to care, and public health safety alerts.
People Shaping a Better Future
Operating and program grants will not be our only tools for positioning older people and organizations struggling in the current environment to shape the future.
The Foundation remains eager to engage in new thought partnerships, knowledge exchanges, and learning collaboratives. We will continue to conduct deep and meaningful conversations with elected and appointed state and local officials, prominent academics, and leaders of community-based organizations who can help us refine and implement our strategy. We will continue to support convenings and community education. We will continue to help community-based organizations build their capacity to deliver services and engage those they serve. And we will continue to speak out on behalf of all older people, especially those in marginalized communities.
Our ultimate goal is to help create communities that are ready, willing, and able to take the lead in creating the change in health care and social services necessary for the equitable and just systems we all need. That is because we are confident that sustainable, scalable improvement must be created by the people who will benefit. All of this work will shift Archstone Foundation toward becoming true partners with the older people and organizations we exist to serve, collaborating with them so their priorities become their realities.
We invite you to partner with us in building this vision of a more hopeful future, where our health and social care systems are structured carefully, centering our needs as we age.
Learn More on February 12!
Join us on February 12 at 11am PT to learn about our new goal and two aims: 1) mobilizing communities and amplifying older adult voices, and 2) building the adaptability of organizations serving older adults. We’ll introduce the approach of our learning journey co-design concept, which will guide implementation, reflection, and adaptation over time. We will also share information about upcoming community engagement events and how to get involved and join us in this movement.
To read more from Rigo Saborio, please see these Point of View blogs and our 2025 Annual Report:
- Standing Firm in Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, February 6, 2025
- An Open Letter to Our Grantees, Partners, and Stakeholders, March 10, 2025
- It’s Not Reform — It’s a Betrayal of Older Adults and Caregivers, April 1, 2025
- I Know What Fear Feels Like: Standing with My Fellow Immigrant Families in California, June 11, 2025
- Working With Communities, Not Only For Them, November 19, 2025
