Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE): Paving the Way for Affinity-Based Senior Services

Abstract

In New York City in recent months, there has been much discussion about the modernization of senior services. The discussions have been heated and at times quite contentious, with service providers bringing various interpretations of what is wrong with our existing system, and what should (if anything) be changed. There are two facts, however that are incontrovertible: that as a city and as a society we are facing the largest wave of seniors in modern history with the graying of America; and that according to New York City records, the roughly 300 senior centers that are currently operational are being used by only 2% of the city's elderly population (Barbaro, 2008). These facts clearly speak to the issue that the existing model is not one that can be replicated to meet the needs of our aging population. Those of us who work in senior services have often heard from our colleagues (or our own parents) that they would never attend a senior center as it is currently designed. So how are we, as providers, going to design a new generation of service programs that will benefit our parents? Ourselves? With organizations beginning to consider program redesign and with a social service model that is moving toward a constituentdriven framework practitioners are looking to agencies that have already adopted this organizational culture. Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders (SAGE) is such an example. SAGE was incorporated 30 years ago by a group of community activists who, after witnessing the cultural transformation of the LGBT community during the Stonewall riots of 1969, were inspired to create an organization that would provide supportive services to older lesbians and gays that were not traditionally provided by the larger social service networks at that time. One of the founding members was motivated to begin an LGBT-focused senior program when visiting a New York City senior center. She described watching the center members interacting and speaking of their late spouses, or bragging about grandchildren, and realized that she would not feel welcome or able to be herself in such a venue. Since 1978, SAGE has grown from an all-volunteer group with an initial budget of $30,000 into a professional nonprofit organization of more than 30 employees with a current fiscal year budget of almost $4 million. While SAGE can point to its effective and cutting-edge programs and services as its main engines for growth, we have never lost the understanding that at the core of any successful person-centered service is the recognition that people need to feel a sense of belonging in order to connect with a program. From its creation, SAGE has understood that affinity and constituent-inspired programming is at the heart of what makes a successful model. THE NEED FOR LGBT-SPECIFIC SERVICES LGBT older people face a host of unique problems and barriers not faced by mainstream seniors. Research conducted for SAGE by the Brookdale Center at Hunter College (Brookdale Center on Aging, 1999) found that LGBT seniors have significantly diminished support networks when compared to the general senior population. In addition: * Up to 75% of LGBT seniors live alone (compared to 33% of the general population). * About 90% of today's LGBT senior-age population have no children (compared to greater than 20% of the general senior population). * Among LGBT seniors, 80% age as single persons, without a life partner or significant other (compared to greater than 40% of the general senior population). For LGBT older adults this translates into a lack of traditional support networks that often are not replaced by other close friendships, or by informal support networks within the LGBT community. In fact, 20% of LGBT older adults indicated that they have no one on whom to call in times of crisis. This percentage is 10 times higher than in the general senior population. …