CSCS: Council of Senior Centers and Services of NYC, Inc.

Conference

CSCS 20th Annual Conference on Aging

On January 29, 2009 Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City, Inc. (CSCS) presented its 20th Annual Conference on Aging at the New York Hilton. Titled, The Power of Aging: Uncovering the Opportunities in Change, the Conference was attended by close to 600 people, representing over 180 senior service organizations.

The full day educational conference hosted a diverse array of 18 workshops covering issues such as evidence based programming, growing caseload management, the impact of financial constraints on individuals and agencies, elder poverty, web-based resources for caregivers, civic engagement, HIV/AIDS programming, cultural competencies, marketing strategies, collaborations and partnerships and geriatric mental health.

The morning plenary sessions started with greetings from incoming NYC Department for the Aging Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli. CSCS was proud and gratified to provide the first introduction of Ms. Barrios-Paoli to the aging network of NYC.

William C. Thompson, Comptroller of NYC, followed offering updates on aging issues at the city level, remarking on the recent CSCS advocacy successes at City Hall. Robert Blancato, President, Matz, Blancator & Associates, Inc. followed speaking about the state of aging issues and the future of the field at the federal level. The morning plenary session also offered humor thanks to Jim Lebenthal's presentation "Adding Laughter to Your Day."

At the lunchtime plenary, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn offered greetings and spoke of the collaboration between CSCS and City Council. Speaker Quinn applauded CSCS' successful advocacy campaign that generated over 20,000 letters from seniors throughout the city in less than three weeks, which called for and resulted in the withdrawal of the recent senior center RFP.

Following Speaker Quinn was Michael Burgess, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging, who updated participants on aging issues at the state level. In addition, EmblemHealth was represented by Ilene Margolin, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, who offered warm greetings to Conference participants. Daniel Tietz, Executive Director from ACRIA (AIDS Community Research Initiative of America) showed a short video clip to highlight the growing concern of HIV/AIDS in the aging community. The keynote address titled How will You Meet the Expectation to Serve More Older New Yorkers was delivered by Greg Newton of GregNewton Associates. Mr. Newton spoke about service delivery and the importance of marketing to the community and to seniors themselves.