Illinois Aging Together is a campaign for aging equity in Illinois. This campaign is working to have Illinois government develop and adopt a long-term Strategic Action Plan for Aging. The campaign also seeks to reframe aging in its positive context and counteract ageism by promoting the value, meaning, and purpose of life that older adults should be able to enjoy with their families and communities.

We are excited to share our bill, HB1237: Aging Equity Act, sponsored by Representative Kam Buckner. We invite you to read more about the bill here and, if you have not already, to sign on as a supporter of the Illinois Aging Together campaign. Both organizations and individuals are welcome to sign on in support of aging equity in our state and we encourage you to share our bill number widely.

Join us in this statewide movement for aging equity, where we are working to both shift the narrative about aging and have Illinois government address demographic change with a long-term Strategic Action Plan for Aging Equity, as has been successfully developed in other states, such as California and Colorado.

Ageism is prejudice or discrimination based on age and the tendency to structure society based on an assumption that everyone is young, thereby failing to respond appropriately to the real needs of older persons.

Ageism operates alongside other systems of inequity and oppression––racism, classism, genderism, ableism, and many others––to cause health inequities. It will take building a statewide movement made up of individuals and organizations to begin to both counteract ageism and to develop solutions that support equitable aging well throughout life. We won’t have aging equity without justice across all other areas of people’s lives. Further, aging equity will only happen if we develop solutions that span across all sectors––housing, education, healthcare, public health, transportation, and more. HB1237 is an important step Illinois can take to work towards aging equity.

Again, please sign on here to express support for the Illinois Aging Together campaign for a Strategic Action Plan for Aging Equity in Illinois and share with others.

 

The Illinois Aging Together campaign is convened and managed by Health & Medicine Policy Research Group (Health & Medicine).

Health & Medicine is a nonprofit policy center with a mission to build power and momentum for social justice and health equity in Illinois. Health & Medicine is an independent policy center that conducts research, educates, and collaborates with other groups to advocate policies and impact health systems to improve the health status of all people. Learn more here.

If you have questions or comments about the campaign, or want to have a presentation for a group, please contact our campaign staff.

Brigitte Dietz, Health and Aging Policy Analyst
bdietz@hmprg.org

Alizandra Medina, Health and Aging Organizer
amedina@hmprg.org

Wesley Epplin, Policy Director
wepplin@hmprg.org

Thank you to our generous funders for supporting Illinois Aging Together!