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California has shown explosive growth in its senior population since 2010, an increase across the state of more than 40% according to the 2020 U.S. Census. San Benito County has seen an even greater increase—67%—the third-highest growth rate in the state.
Established by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2019 executive order to create a “Master Plan for Aging,” the just-issued Local Playbook, developed by the Seniors Council of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties, seeks to address what Newsom termed “an ongoing public health crisis.”
According to Seniors Council Executive Director Clay Kemp, the order is the result of a commitment made in 2018 by then-gubernatorial candidates Newsom and John H. Cox before the election. The framework of the state’s plan is based on five goals:
- Housing for all ages and stages: Housing in communities that are age-, disability- and dementia-friendly and climate- and disaster-ready.
- Health reimagined: Access to the services needed to live at home and to optimize health and quality of life.
- Inclusion and Equity, not isolation: Lifelong opportunities for work, volunteering, engagement, and leadership.
- Caregiving that works: Preparation and support for the challenges of caring for aging loved ones.
- Affording aging: Assuring economic security for the life of a senior.
Kemp said the Seniors Council held a series of solutions summits and workgroups to “take the bull by the horns” and coordinate local efforts to meet the state’s goals, drawing on dozens of local service organizations, including the Community Foundation of San Benito County.
“The idea was to make the state plan real to this community,” he said. “The only way the state is going to succeed is if there’s local action to make things happen. So we pulled as many community movers and shakers as we could together to brainstorm.”
Kemp said the county’s playbook was intentionally kept to around 30 pages—in contrast to some that range up to 170 pages—to keep the document “usable and action-focused.” Broken into the state’s five main objectives, listed above, each section outlines goals and challenges, local strategic ideas, existing community projects and strategic ideas for the future.
Some of the goals that came out of the consensus include:
- Launching a public awareness campaign around age-friendly housing.
- Advocating for the creation of an official Senior Housing Coordinator position within the County.
- Exploring zoning reforms to incentivize intergenerational and senior-specific housing models.
- Developing a toolkit for cities and developers focused on inclusive design and senior housing best practices.
- Creating a Technology Ambassador Program pairing students with older adults.
Kemp said the idea of the local plan was to recognize that all parts of the state have different service gaps, different projects underway, and different resources, and that the needs of San Benito County are “not the same as those in Los Angeles County.”
“Size is a huge factor,” he said. “I think our local officials are very engaged, but they don’t have the money to throw around that other communities have. And that’s why our players in this must be other nonprofits like us.”
Seniors Council Director of Special Projects Britt Bassoni said that the focus was on identifying local issues and what barriers exist in providing services to those who need it the most.
“What can we all do to address those needs in a way that makes sense?” he said. “Who do we need to have as a partner? What can we do that would result in some measurable progress to get more older adults utilizing these services?”
Most of those nonprofit service organizations, according to Bassoni, are staffed by volunteers and, without them, he said, “we have nowhere near the bandwidth we need to meet individual needs in a community.”
Seniors Council Community Coordinator Corey Shaffer recently launched San Benito Connect, a website devoted to matching service organizations to people who may want to volunteer or share their skills with the community.
“Sometimes people don’t know how to get involved,” she said, “Or they just think there’s just nothing they can do to help. But when they see the opportunities, they think, ‘Yeah, I could do that. I could go and help somebody do a tax return.’”
Shaffer said that since the focus of the plan is inclusion, equity and reducing isolation, encouraging seniors to volunteer has a dual purpose: to increase outreach and services as well as provide meaningful activities for seniors.
“It gives seniors something to do to get out of the house,” Shaffer said, “and a chance to be with other people. It’s a feel-good solution. You’re helping people, and people are helping you.”
To volunteer, visit the San Benito County Volunteers website, call 831-975-2596 (ext 204) or email coreys@sbcvolunteers.org
Master Plan for Aging Playbook. Courtesy of the Seniors Council of San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties.
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