About the Project

Award winners took part in a two-day recognition and training event at the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Oakland, California on February 23rd and 24th, 2007. In addition to participating in interactive sessions on healthy aging, media advocacy, fundraising and influencing policy, the senior leaders engaged in networking sessions during which they shared and learned from each other‚s wealth of experience. Participants are also linked with graduate students in the School of Public Health, who will check in with them regularly over the next 12 months, learning from their experiences and stories, and arranging technical assistance, as needed, on their community building, healthy aging, and advocacy projects. "The intergenerational component of the project is one of its biggest assets," according to Project Director and doctoral student Marty Martinson. "Listening to and learning from the experiences of these older adults is essential for building strong communities that respect people of all ages and recognize the invaluable roles of older adults in our lives."

The senior leaders will continue to stay connected and share ideas with each other and with previous cohorts through regional reunions and the Senior Networker newsletter. UC Professor Meredith Minkler, who founded the project in 2002, points out that the California Senior Leaders Program is solidly based in research. "Not only have seniors been called our only expanding natural resource,"she says, "but we now have strong scientific studies showing that active engagement with life is one of the most important contributors to a healthy old age. A project like this one can both honor seniors for their invaluable contributions, celebrate the communities in which they live, and, by supporting them in this work, contribute to their own healthy aging as well."