| Support independent journalism on aging

| May 2026 is Older Americans Month. It’s a time to recognize the value of lived expertise and to recommit to the ongoing work of making aging well possible. At Aging in America News, we think one of the best ways to honor this month is to strengthen the journalism that covers it. If you agree, we hope you’ll consider making a donation in our support.

We tend to talk about older Americans in the language of cost and burden — Medicare expenditures, Social Security solvency, the strain on caregiving systems. These are real issues and they deserve serious coverage. But there’s also wisdom, imagination, and generosity, just waiting to be activated. Our aging nation represents an opportunity.

As Theodore Roszak wrote in The Making of an Elder Culture (2009): “There is no such thing as the stand-alone individual. We are family, clan, tribe, city, society, nation, world. Help is the invisible web that makes us members one of another. It’s time to tell the truth. Let’s stop shaming those who have no way to disguise their need for help. Let’s proclaim a declaration of mutual dependence.”

Another word for help is care. And it starts with seeing each other.

My limited personal experience in this field comes from the years my brother and I spent managing the care of our mother, Laurel Swartz (1942–2023). The dedicated professionals who looked after her — mostly women, mostly immigrants, all underpaid — showed me what aging in America looks like for families with the resources to pay for care. Most don’t.

A new vision for care needs advocates, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and educators — the people who are actively shaping what aging in America looks like, right now and in the decades ahead. And those people need a place to think together, challenge assumptions, and share new ideas.

That’s what Aging in America News exists to do.

Independent journalism is rare in any field. In the field of aging, it is nearly nonexistent. Most coverage is either too academic for curious non-specialists, or too superficial to reward their interest. We occupy a different space: serious, accessible, and genuinely committed to the people changing how America ages.

This is exactly the kind of journalism Older Americans Month was made for. Let’s engage with one of the great questions of our time, together.

With gratitude,

Mark Swartz
Publisher, Aging in America News

P.S. I’d be grateful for your support today, at whatever level feels right. Every contribution helps us publish more, reach further, and do the work that this moment demands.