Let’s Power Up Our Connections to End Ageism!

May is Older Americans Month, a tradition started by President Kennedy’s administration in 1963 to honor the contributions that older adults have made to our communities.

This year, the theme is Powered by Connection, which the Administration for Community Living selected to recognize “the profound impact that meaningful relationships and social connections have on our health and well-being.” 

So, I’m all for meaningful relationships and social connection. AND—as an anti-ageism activist, I recognize the profound impact that rampant ageism has not only on the health and well-being, but also on the financial security of us all. 

Call to Action

So, with that in mind, here’s my Call to Action for the month: 

Let’s use the power of our connections to make real change in ageist policies, practices, media communications and more!

Here are five concrete actions we can take:

• CONNECT with Businesses and Brands to let them know that you’d like to see them become more age-friendly. This can mean actively including age as part of their recruiting and hiring practices, and ensuring that people of all ages are included in their marketing and advertising.
• CONNECT with Media outlets to let them know your objections when they issue ageist stories and headlines that diminish and mock older adults. Suggest that they read Changing the Narrative’s Guidelines to Age-Inclusive Communications, and feel free to send the guidelines along to offenders.

• CONNECT with Congress to let your representatives know that you support the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) and that you would like to see move it out of committee and vote on it. You can learn more about why this legislation is so important, as well as how to contact your representative and some sample messages here.
• CONNECT with your local federally-funded American Job Center to let them know you’d like to see more programming to upskill and reskill older workers who want and need to stay in the workforce. In too many centers, older workers and jobseekers are ignored. Here’s where to find your center.
• CONNECT with The Encore Network, a coalition of individuals and organizations who champion the social, civic and economic contributions of people age 50+. You’ll find community, and lots of great programs to help people navigate encore careers, encore entrepreneurship, intergenerational programs and more.

Let’s not wait to power up our connections to create a world in which people of all ages are valued. And please connect with me as well, on LinkedIn and by signing up for our mailing list.

Together, we can end ageism!