| Five Reasons to Attend the National Council on Aging’s Conference This Year

| Age+Action is approaching. Taking place May 26-29 in Arlington VA, the event brings together about 800 practitioners, policymakers, and advocates working on behalf of older adults across the country. Here are five reasons to sign up.

1. Urgent demographic context demands informed action. The aging of America is accelerating. According to the Census Bureau, eleven states have already crossed the threshold of having more residents over 65 than under 18. “The demographics are facing us and we need to talk about this stuff,” says Jean Van Ryzin, NCOA’s senior director of communications, “but also take action on how to make things better for all of us as we age, because we’re all aging.” Sessions will cover healthy aging, economic well-being, senior center modernization, and the workforce. 

2. Access to federal agency leadership and policy insights. Van Ryzin emphasizes the urgency of working at the systems level to improve the health and lives of older Americans. Keynotes from Shari M. Ling, M.D., Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and Mary Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator, U.S. Administration for Community Living will provide the national context necessary for conceptualizing systems change.

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3. Practical sessions on AI, workforce, and financial security. The conference includes main-stage panels on artificial intelligence in aging services, the direct care workforce pipeline, caregiver support, brain health, financial scams targeting older adults, and vaccines. The new workforce track addresses a documented crisis: as demand for home-based care grows, the pipeline of direct care workers is not keeping pace. Exposure to strategies being tested at the state and community level will help us anticipate and address this gap. Van Ryzin describes Age+Action as an opportunity to consider the underlying question of “How do we make that profession attractive and something that people want to go into, that they see they will be valued, they will be paid well, there’s a career path for them?”

Learn about NCOA’s Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center
and Job Training for Older Adults

4. Direct advocacy experience. The day before the main conference, NCOA hosts Hill Day, with more than 200 participants meeting with members of Congress to share stories about the services they provide and the funding needs they see on the ground. “We bring people up to meet with their members of Congress,” says Van Ryzin, “not necessarily even to lobby for a particular bill, but just to share their stories of these services that they’re providing to older adults, the need that they’re seeing in the community, and why funding for these programs is so critical.” 

5. Continuing education credits and peer learning in a focused setting. The conference offers continuing education credits for social workers, dieticians, and Certified Health Education Specialists. The combination of structured learning and peer networking makes attendance a high-value professional development investment.

Do you have any impressions of Age+Action? Share them in the comments!