January 7, 2021

Governor Newsom released the California Master Plan for Aging this week. The purpose of the Master Plan for Aging is to build a California for All Ages by 2030. The release was the culmination of more than a year of stakeholder input and recommendation development led by the California Health and Human Services Agency and California Department of Aging. Throughout the process, CSAC, counties, and county affiliates actively engaged in a variety of ways including participation on advisory committees, submission of written comments, and presentations at committee meetings. CSAC appreciates the Administration’s leadership in developing this Master Plan and looks forward to partnering on the numerous opportunities for improving the health and well-being of older Californians.

The Master Plan is organized around five broad goals:

1. Housing for All Ages and Stages
2. Health Reimagined
3. Inclusion and Equity, Not Isolation
4. Caregiving that Works
5. Affordable Aging

Each of these broad goals includes a target, local model, and identification of strategies. Several of the local models are county examples including Age Well San Diego, Purposeful Aging Los Angeles, and San Francisco’s Project Homekey and meals expansion during COVID-19.

While a ten-year plan, the Master Plan identifies 132 actionable initiatives for the first two years. For each of these initiatives, there is a state agency or department identified as the lead. Many of these initiatives are specific to county aging programs or otherwise related to policy areas where counties play a key role including housing, transportation, emergency preparedness, and broadband. Listed below are five specific recommendations closely tied to county aging programs.

• Initiative #95 – Assess Adult Protective Services capacity, age of people served, and services provided, especially for complex cases, given growing and changing needs.
• Initiative #96 – Assess needs and capacities of local Public Guardians, Public Conservators and Public Advocates, given growing and changing needs.
• Initiative #101 – Revisit California’s Area Agency on Aging local leadership structures – including local area map, funding formulas, and designations – via California’s Federal Older Americans Act State Plan 2021-2024, to meet growing and changing needs and continue to advance equity.
• Initiative #118 – Expand older homelessness programs, such as Home Safe (APS) and Housing and Disability Advocacy Program (HDAP/SSI), to meet needs as funds allow.
• Initiative #130 – Map and identify opportunities – at federal, state, and local level – to address older Californians’ needs for nutrition.

The above five initiatives and several others align with county priorities and advocacy, and reflect ongoing efforts to serve our aging population. CSAC will actively engage on these action steps that have been identified for 2021-22. Specifically on the local leadership structure initiative, CSAC appreciates the outreach from the Department of Aging and will continue our engagement to ensure that county input is considered within any structure and funding modifications and to partner as this initiative moves toward implementation.

Finally, to assist with achieving these goals, the Master Plan includes a local playbook and data dashboard. The local playbook is designed to assist the state, local governments, communities, and partner organizations on implementation and includes several links and references to the role of counties. The data dashboard outlines the set of indicators that will be used to track progress.