+ Which tools are useful for my work? Some guidance:

When local providers interact with older adults whom they suspect or know lack engAgement, what are common sources of their loneliness?

Answering this question will require either (1) making use of existing statewide surveys or focus groups of various aging providers. Surveys about social isolation are more common than those about loneliness (because it is more complex to measure), and though they are distinct problems, this information can be a useful starting point.

If such research tools are not in place, state change-makers may (2) implement less resource-intensive ways of gauging local concerns. This may include cooperating with or forming a smaller committee of local voices who can help to set priorities. Ensure these committees include non-traditional "aging providers" like local organizations and business owners.

The answers to this research, if not comprehensive, will be extremely helpful in prioritizing the most pressing state-level change that must happen to engAge at the community level.

Which identities and social conditions are common to specific local areas which you will serve?

Consider income trends, rural or urban living conditions, relative multi-generation Mainer or New Mainer population distribution, etc. Some suggested tools are more relevant to certain social groups and conditions.

Nevertheless, ensure local proivders that state-wide efforts will support take the lead on choosing tools which work for them, because their needs are generally informed by the older adults who will be impacted.

What kind systemic change do you aim to provide?

Within each source of loneliness, you'll find some tools are suggest changes applicable to healthcare systems, social services, housing, educational institutions, businesses, etc. Look for the set of tools most applicable to state-level change your office, group, or post can contribute to.

How can you complement local efforts?

Look over the local toolkit to get a sense of how local strategies might combine with systemic changes for highest impact.

As stated above, when speaking with local providers, incorporate discussions of where older adult loneliness is often stemming from locally with coversations about what solutions are working and still needed in their view.

+ Little say in where home is.

➤ Incentivize local affordable housing construction for aging in place, requiring intentional design plus programming to promote security & community-building.

➤ Inform local resources about reverse mortgages, which leverage assets for the cash poor.

+ Memberships, transport, even basic needs unaffordable.

➤ Allocate greater state & ideally federal funds for income-inclusive elder recreation, events & transport

➤ Increase state-supported transportation access not just through big changes in public transport availability, but small changes in route times, driver training to be more attentive to older adult passenger needs

+ Continued need to work.

➤ Advocate for livable wages & comprehensive benefits for minimum-wage industries to offer timely retirement.

➤ Focus on labor and agricultural sectors for these efforts, in partnership with unions as possible.

➤ Expand funding for older adult, especially New Mainer, education & job training to increase incomes.

+ Physically difficult to go & join in.

➤ Apply for state & federal grants for physically-accessible local transportation.

➤ Improve public transit drivers and other staff capacity to ease a physically-impaired person's journey, using simple recommendations offered in resource-efficient trainings.

➤ Emphasize in healthcare provider education the importance of physical ability & how to recommend available community resources to patients.

➤ Expand the number of and access to (especially geographically and financially) Adult Day Centers, for both those with cognitive conditions and other needs, encouraging older adult and caregiver membership on planning committees.

+ Mind is changing, bringing frustration, shame.

➤ Increase visibility of public information campaigns about signs, causes, challenges & opportunities for those with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other cognitive conditions.

➤ Focus these campaigns on youth audiences by increasing grant funding for school visits on behalf of education and advocacy organizations focusing on dementia, Alzheimer’s, & other cognitive conditions.

➤ Expand the number of and access to (especially geographically and financially) Adult Day Centers, for both those with cognitive conditions and other needs, encouraging older adult and caregiver membership on planning committees.

+ Unaided caregivers also isolated.

➤ Expand MaineCare (or other statewidE) & Medicare health insurance coverage for in-home professional & family caregivers to assist older adults in this role

➤ Allocate greater funding for caregiver support groups, reprieve time, and related social service supports.

➤ Expand the number of and access to (especially geographically and financially) Adult Day Centers, for both those with cognitive conditions and other needs, encouraging older adult and caregiver membership on planning committees.

+ Disconnect from occupation & roles.

➤ Build on existing job programs priotizing older adult candidates and skills. Share these programs with local AAA's and other community resources.

➤ Expand volunteer programs like SeniorsCorps, especially in areas with few inroads. Likewise, improve dissemination and recruiting for these events.

+ Struggle to find meaning & purpose.

➤ Like interventions in disconnect from occupation and roles: Expand volunteer programs like SeniorsCorps, especially in areas with few inroads. Likewise, improve dissemination and recruiting for these events.

➤ Facilitate coalitions between smaller faith-based organizations promoting volunteerism, as well as relationships between smaller organizations and large ones (like Catholic Charities in Maine)

+ Independence, shyness makes reaching out hard.

➤ Partner with mental health professionals to communicate differences betweeen shyness and social anxiety to patients and public.

➤ Develop strong relationships between suicide prevention and loneliness campaigns especially with attention to older white men.

➤ Encourage outreach in rural areas where this demographic is more common.

+ Loss of partner, of intimacy.

➤ Integrate campaigns about dangers of toxic masculinity with efforts to normalize emotions and grief, increasing awareness not just among young men silencing their feelings, but elders, too.

➤ Use state-wide surveying to detect barriers to professional and group counselling and support (be it by gender, race, income, national origin, health status).

➤ Chanel recommendations to local mental health organizations and grief support groups, etc.

➤ Increase public awareness and provider trainings surrounding romance, intimacy, and sexuality in older adulthood.

+ Loss, separation, or conflict with family, friends, even pets.

➤ Support politicians in favor of immigration reform, particularly with a focus on uniting families, making processes more transparent & accessible.

➤ Support public awareness and activism about the roles of racism and fear of outsiders in current immigration policies and attitudes.

➤ Expand mediation, counselling, and other conflict-resolution and grief-oriented programs.

+ Unease or fear of dying alone.

➤ Bolster funding for hospice and palliative care services to expand access to care for minority and rural-dwelling groups in particular.

➤ Enable hospice and palliative care interventions which provide consulations early with hospise social workers, in stages well prior to end-of-life stage.

➤ Form a state-wide committee of spiritual and faith-based organization to deliberate on how to miitigate fear in this stage and invite acceptance and resolution.

+ Conversation & news go online.

➤ Maintain support for print media outlets, especially those with high older adult readership.

➤ Expand funding for technology classes, at AAA's as well as libraries and other sites with established visitor groups and strong relationships between staff and vistitor groups.

➤ Offer programs and benefits for purchasing devices and internet, particularly in rural areas.

+ Living alone, without kids.

➤ Pay or better incentivize family caregivers to keep them nearby

➤ Make rural areas attractive to young people & families through childcare benefits, public transportation, etc.

➤ Improve workforce readiness in rural areas & create economic incentives for businesses to headquarter & remain north of Portland (or other major city)

➤ Recommend school cirriculum additions related to cultural expectations for family living, emphasizing openness to multiple backgrounds, and discussing new trends.

➤ Drastically increase state aging-in-place initiatives to make it practical to delay moves to independent living & nursing homes, where older adults live apart. Particuarly with emphasis on affordable multigenerational communal living settings.

➤ Develop public awareness campaigns about the generational divide with focus on storytelling about the bonds between older & younger people.

+ Unseen or unheard due to age, plus race, gender, citizenship, sexuality.

➤ Drastically increase state & national aging-in-place initiatives to make it practical to delay moves to independent living and nursing homes, where older adults live apart and a generational divide persists.

➤ Develop public awareness campaigns about the generational divide with focus on storytelling about the bonds between older and younger people.

➤ Recommend school cirriculum additions which better incorporate the relationship between ageism and other forms of discrimination. Invite both students and older adults to be part of this.

➤ Especially in rural or other areas where advocacy and events for a minority elder group are scarce, coordinate younger and older New Mainers to get together to talk about common experiences with discrimintation, and also open these events to white Mainers or other citizens less aware of these challenges. Scenarios and examples make learnings most lasting. Emphasize older adult leadership and organizing to bring these meetings, lecture series, art installations, etc. together.

➤ Harness the power of art to collect stories, dances, photography, theater on the topics of oppression, discrimination, overcoming, and collective action, especially with a focus on elder experiences. Organize and grant funding to local galleries, museums, performing arts spaces (in Lewiston, L/A Arts, Museum L/A, The Public Theater, The Franco Center ), encouraging invite elders of varied identities to contribute to planning. Likewise use innovative pilot programs and partnerships with local gathering sites, including coffee shops, restaurants, parks, etc., plan arts collaborations, likewise organized with elder leadership.

➤ To assist older adults treated unfairly due to sexual preferences and/or gender identity, integrate suggestions relevant to your area from SAGE, a national organization serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders, which has a Maine-specific branch: SAGE Maine, supporting their offerings and parternships with local groups.

➤ Incorporate resources and information on advocacy efforts on behalf of minority-group elders offered by the Diverse Elders Coalition website, which then links to group-specific efforts doing national and local work, like the National Hispanic Coalition for Older Adults and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging.

➤ See Social Identity & Purpose Tested tools below for more ideas which help with overcoming discrimination of many forms.

+ Few reachable places to pursue interests.

➤ Allocate greater funds for AAA on aging budgets toward creative and intellectual offerings.

➤ Expand auditing and undergraduate degree enrollment options at public universities.

➤ Offer grants to other community sites to start older adult education activities, promoting older adult leadership as part of award.

➤ Expand older adult and provider discretion over whether a patient or client requires transportation to an event to encompass non-medical visits as well.

+ Unaware, intimidated by goings on.

➤ Expand AAA outreach budgets, with particular focus on outreach to culturally- and socioeconomically-diverse groups often missing from current programming.

➤ Create model for surveying participants, recording responses, and implementing feedback into Coordinator and Committee deliberations about what kinds of programming to offer.

+ Limited language & topics of interest.

➤ To tackle language barriers, continue the work of state-wide care coordination services (like EIM in Maine) which are better equipped to offer interpreter services, home visits, and other immigrant-specific resources.

➤ Facilitate and incentivize partnerships between local immigrant resource organizations and initiatives with local AAA's to increase both referrals among sites, and to co-facilitate programming.

➤ Bolster funding for AAA's to offer more programming hours, coordinator, and instructor positions to better cater toward participant interests.