By Sarah Smith, Age Strong Staff
Week 2 of Age Strong’s 2024 Senior Civic Academy (October 11) focused on an introduction to City government with a panel discussion on Human Services Overview & Programming. Guests included Chief of Human Services José Massó, Age Strong Commissioner Emily Shea, and Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF) Commissioner Marta Rivera.
Chief Masso explained the mission of Boston’s Human Services cabinet, and all three shared their vision for increasing the amount and types of programming for Boston’s older residents, including
decreasing barriers for residents by providing more accessible service. The session ended with a Q&A, generating many questions from the audience who were able to share concerns and offer suggestions.
Week 2 continued with a skill-building workshop with Age Strong Communications Director Ami Bennitt on effective communication and drafting an “elevator pitch.” Each Academy participant is invited to work on a specific aging issue that they hope to change, through advocacy.
An elevator pitch is the idea that you’re in an elevator with someone you want to pitch your issue to, but only have a minute in to do so. Bennitt invited participants to share their aging issues with the group, which included “less red tape when filling out benefit applications,” “more job opportunities for older adults in Boston,” and “creating an LGBTQ+ senior center in Boston.”
Attendees mapped out their elevator pitches with an exercise in who they needed to pitch, what their issue is, why it needs changing, and what help they were asking for. They also need to consider potential roadblocks to getting stakeholders to help, who/what may be in opposition, and how to keep the conversation going past the elevator pitch.
Age Strong’s Senior Civic Academy offers professional development and training for 24 Boston older adults over 6 weeks who want to learn to use their voices to affect change. To learn more about Civic Academy, click here.
