Older Adult Services 2025 Year End Report

Older Adult Services is part of the city's Housing & Human Services Department. We offer all adults 60 and over a safe and welcoming environment. Our programs and services are delivered in Age Well Centers that honor the needs and desires of older adults. We are committed to supporting an age-inclusive community through our work on anti-ageism, Lifelong Boulder, mitigating social isolation and encouraging community engagement. Older Adult Services staff provide a continuum of services from fitness and wellness to lifelong learning, case management and a variety of supportive services.

2025 was a busy year. Following city guidelines, Older Adult Services (OAS) followed technology practices that aligned with HB21-1110 for digital accessibility. This included changing the format for our online Program Guide to meet requirements. In addition, we began using our new registration software, SmartRec by Amilia. This required dozens of hours from staff to ensure a smooth transition. Citywide, the Planning & Development Services Department began their update of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. OAS staff were part of that effort in ensuring that the needs of older adults were represented. In terms of programming, we signed a contract with Senior Planet to enhance our technology programs. By partnering with Senior Planet, our tech offerings are more robust and designed to meet the changing technology needs of older adults in our community.

As always, I am incredibly impressed with the OAS staff in their dedication to serving older adults in our community. They truly embrace and exemplify our mission which is to inspire and empower older adults to age well through community connection, learning and play.

In gratitude,

Eden Bailey

Older Adult Services Division Manager

Older Adult Services has a robust array of services and programs delivered by professional and caring staff:

• Customer Service Representatives provide the first point of contact for older adults and assist in registering for classes.

• Fitness & Wellness programs provide a variety of classes and services that offer information about mental, physical, and emotional health and well-being as well as health supportive programs such as therapeutic massage, foot care, and hearing screenings.
• Lifelong Learning programs offer classes in technology, education and discussion on a variety of topics, creative pursuits, and social connection including special interest groups that include writing, book clubs, photography, biking, table tennis and more. Offerings also include trips and meet ups.
• Case Managers assist City of Boulder community members 60+ and their caregivers with referrals to community resources, counseling on available options, short-term case management, and financial support for eligible clients. Services include coordination of support groups on a variety of topics as well as aging in place programs.
• The Let’s Age Well Program Guide, available in print and online, as well as our weekly e-newsletter, and other marketing materials keep community members informed about our programs, services, and events.
• The Age Well Centers maintain high standards of safety and service ensuring that customers and staff work in a welcoming and supportive environment.

Partnering with other organizations is essential in providing a wide range of services to our older adult community. In 2025, our local and county partners included the Regional Aging Network; Justice Coalition for All - Ending Abuse in Later Life; Eldercare Network; Adult Protection Review Team; and Boulder County Area Agency on Aging. Through our partnership with Meals on Wheels Boulder, the Eat Well Café offered lunch to all community members five days per week at the West Age Well Center. In 2025 the Eat Well Café served 13,349 meals.

Case Management Services

Case managers provide a continuum of service from information & assistance to short-term case management, which includes financial assistance to eligible older adults. In 2025 we saw the following:

• 633 clients were served
• 928 direct services were logged
• 63 home visits were completed
• 903 drop-in services at the West Age Well Center were provided with financial assistance, help with benefits applications and renewals, document support, and information & assistance as the most requested services.
• 12 clients participated in the Choices@Home program with 13 clients on the waitlist. Choices@Home is a county-funded personal care and home-making service.
• The average age of case management clients was 74 years old
• For clients who reported gender:
  • 67% female
  • 32% male
  • 1% other
• $18,970 was the average household income for clients who reported income
• Case managers provided assistance to clients in the top three zip codes:
  • 80304
  • 80301
  • 80302
• The most common areas for local referrals for services were:
  • General financial assistance
  • Legal services
  • Healthcare
  • Housing
• 22 one-time programs and 3 ongoing programs were offered to provide older adults with information to successfully age in place. Some examples included Language, Symbols, and Meaning at the End of Life, Common Scams and Frauds, and Stress Management for Caregivers.

Financial Assistance

Case managers provided 268 instances of financial assistance to 156 unduplicated clients:

• $ 95,677 for assistance with basic needs which includes food/rent/transportation/utilities/healthcare, etc.
• $12,119 for eye exams and glasses through the Hynd Trust for the Blind (countywide)
• $786 in program scholarships
• $13,182 in external funding (funds that required case managers to apply for or arrange assistance through other organizations)

Older Adult Services is grateful for funds from the following organizations and entities:

• Boulder County Area Agency on Aging
• Hynd Trust for the Blind
• American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds
• Community donations

Programs

Our programs included onsite and online program options to support fitness and wellness, lifelong learning, social connections, and successfully aging in place. In 2025 we had:

• 10,120 enrollments
• 1,491 program offerings
  • 1,458 onsite programs
  • 33 online programs
  • 15,092 times older adults dropped in for a variety of fitness classes at the East Age Well Center through our partnership with Boulder Parks & Recreation.
• The average age of a program participant was 76 years old

• 74% of program participants were female
• 25% of program participants were male
• 1% other
• Of program participants who filled out an evaluation, 88% agreed or strongly agreed that the program met their expectations
• 1,988 people subscribed to the Age Well e-newsletter
• Registrations for programs were from the top three zip codes:
  • 80304
  • 80303
  • 80305

We would not be able to provide such a wide array of diverse and creative programs without our community partners. We would like to thank the following agencies and organizations for collaborating with Older Adult Services:

Boulder Community Health, Visiting Nurses Association, Alzheimer’s Association, AARP, Boulder County Area Agency on Aging, Active Minds sponsored by The Pearl at Boulder Creek and Brookdale Meridian, Groundworks Art Lab Boulder, Boulder Universal Multi-District Online School, Family Hearing, Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF), Via Mobility, 3rd Law Dance/Theater, Integrative Physiology of Aging (IPA) Lab - CU Boulder, Boulder Library District, Intermountain Health, Rocky Mountain Technical Solutions, Colorado Sweet Arts Glass, Bohemia Art, Boulder County District Attorney’s Office – Community Protection Division, TRU Community Care, Boulder Housing Partners, Mobility For All, Building Healthy Communities of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Senior Planet from AARP, Boulder Philharmonic, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts (BMOCA), VIVA Theater, Local Theater Company, Boulder Ensemble Theater Company (BETC,) Boulder County CSU Extension, Boulder County Open Space Mountain Parks, One Dojo, Colorado Ballet, Boulder Opera, Cultivate, Boulder County Public Health, Susan Marie Frontczak, Treasure Box Tours, SmARTee Tours, San Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Louisville History Museum.

Collaborations with the City of Boulder departments/divisions included Boulder Fire-Rescue, Utility Billing, Climate Initiatives, Open Space and Mountain Parks, Transportation & Mobility, and Parks and Recreation.

We always appreciate customer feedback on our programs! Here are some great comments from a few of our 2025 classes.

Older Adult Services often hosts special events throughout the year.

Coffee with a Cop

Coffee with a Cop is an annual event held at the West Age Well Center. This event is designed to break down the barriers between police officers and the community members they serve. Coffee with a Cop creates a space to ask questions, voice concerns, and get to know the officers in the community.

Assistive Technology Fair

Held at the East Age Well Center, the Assistive Technology Fair connected older adults with information on assistive technology resources and services in the community. With 15 vendors present at the event, featured resources included assistive technology related to mobility, language/speech, hearing, vision, and age-related challenges. Participants left with information on items, equipment, and software programs to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities.

We couldn’t do all that we do without the help of our valued volunteers. In 2025, Older Adult Services benefited from 1,776.5 volunteer hours from 69 volunteers for a value of $61,804. Volunteers contributed time and skill in a wide variety of areas including but not limited to the Age Well Advisory Committee, creative expression such as art, photography, and memoir writing, as well as book clubs and other discussion groups. Other volunteers led games, activities, and sport groups including mahjong, cribbage, bridge, canasta, Texas Hold ‘Em, table tennis, bike riding, and trips and meet up escorts. In addition, volunteers also offered their time and expertise with a technology assistance program. All of our special interest groups are volunteer-led and contribute to Older Adult Services’ commitment to providing an opportunity for social connection with peers. Our volunteers are essential in supporting Older Adult Services’ mission of inspiring and empowering older adults to age well through community connection, learning, and play. The City of Boulder’s Volunteer Cooperative supports our staff efforts in working with and celebrating our volunteers.

The Age Well Advisory Committee provided 86.5 hours of volunteer activity for feedback and insight into various city-led projects and initiatives. Activities included learning more about the city’s Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Services Program, providing feedback on a presentation on middle income housing options, providing feedback on the city’s Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update, specifically about housing, and they were the “beta testers” for the Understanding Ageism training PowerPoint.

Anti-Ageism Initiative

Older Adult Services works with the belief that ageism in any form is unacceptable. In 2025 OAS delivered 12 Understanding Ageism trainings to city staff, volunteers, and local nonprofits with over 150 participants. Understanding Ageism looks at the various aspects of ageism from institutional to internalized ageism and offers suggestions on how to challenge and reverse those beliefs.

As part of the Housing and Human Services Department, Older Adult Services supports our department’s vision of supporting our community members by:

• Building relationships with those we serve
• Fostering collaborative partnerships
• Addressing systemic inequities
• Investing in and implementing effective, sustainable and solution-based policies and programs
• Creating and preserving a diversity of affordable housing options

As we look to the future, we know that the older adult population in Boulder County is increasing. According to the Colorado State Demography Office, 2023 marked the first time in Colorado’s history where adults 60+ outnumbered children and youth under 18 years of age. In 2026, Older Adult Services will focus on developing an Age-Inclusive Community Strategic Plan with a focus on older adults. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions made by older adults in our community including participation in the workforce, volunteerism, caregiving, intergenerational exchange, and their contributions to the local economy as consumers and investors. It will also provide a look at the challenges for successful aging in community including living on a fixed-income, housing, transportation, elder abuse, chronic illness, ageism, social isolation, functional limitations associated with aging, and healthcare and long-term care needs.

The awareness of the need to plan for this significant increase in the older adult population has been acknowledged at the federal level with the publication in May 2024, of Aging in the United States: A Framework for a National Plan on Aging and at the state level in 2025, with the publication of the Colorado Department of Human Services’ Colorado Multi-Sector Plan on Aging. This awareness has influenced Older Adult Services’ goals for 2026.

2026 Goals

• Creating a municipal age-inclusive strategic plan for a growing demographic
• Supporting older adults in experiencing positive health, wellbeing, and socialization
• Supporting older adults with lower incomes in meeting their basic needs to successfully age in place

• Emma Gooding-Lord, Senior Case Manager
• Ashley Fowler, Case Manager
• Wade Branstetter, Case Manager
• Maureen Dobson, Senior Program Manager
• Hales Brown, Program Manager
• Cody Carlough, Facilities Operations Specialist
• Lorna McClanahan, Program Coordinator
• Karen Maye, Older Adult Services Representative - East Age Well Center
• Brooke Crocker, Older Adult Services Representative -East Age Well Center
• Melody Salazar-Halterman, Older Adult Services Representative – West Age Well Center
• Jessika Hardin, Older Adult Services Representative – West Age Well Center
• Suzanne Michot, Substitute Older Adult Services Representative
• Belen Carmichael, Substitute Older Adult Services Representative
• Stephen Topping, Substitute Older Adult Services Representative