Watch the board briefing here.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on March 20 approved the Department of County Human Services’ 2025-2029 Area Plan on Aging.
The plan — mandated by the Older Americans Act as a requirement for federal funding — must be prepared every four years by the department’s Aging, Disability and Veterans Services Division, which serves as an Area Agency on Aging. Area Agencies on Aging are federally designated entities that help organize, coordinate and offer services that help older adults.
“This plan is a standard part of the work to make sure that these service areas are considered and given long-range planning," said Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
“These plans are developed with the active involvement of our advisory councils before they come to this Board,” said Vega Pederson. “The department also goes through a process to solicit public input and engagement throughout a needs assessment survey, targeted focus groups and community listening sessions.”
Irma Jimenez, the division’s director, said that work took over eight months.
“It’s a very lengthy process. I want to take a minute to thank our staff and advisory board members for all the work that they’ve done.”
Work supported or overseen by the Aging, Disability and Veterans Services Division includes:
- In-home and residential care
- Long-term services and supports
- Adult protective services
- Public guardians and conservators
- Community services
The plan in particular pertains to community services, said Alex Garcia Lugo, project manager for the division, who led much of the presentation.
Work covered by the plan is funded through the Older Americans Act, Garcia Lugo said. The division passes those funds to 16 community organizations, who are all, at a minimum, culturally responsive, and some culturally specific. Overall, the Division and the plan serve about 160,000 people who qualify.
The plan, which will be updated annually, requires the Division to conduct a population analysis with Portland State University and research any gaps in services as part of a full review of what services are currently available. The division also received more than 2400 responses for a needs-assessment survey, double its goal.
“We also did three community listening sessions,” Garcia Lugo said. “We were required to do two, but we’re overachievers.” The sessions reached 225 participants who spoke languages including Korean and Somali or who needed ASL interpretation.
Key demographic data included:
- 158,000 people in Multnomah County, about 19.6% of the population, are 60 or older; that’s a 4.5% increase from the previous four-year plan.
- Over 102,000 adults in Multnomah County report a disability. About half are 60 or older, and the share of people 85 and older with a disability also increased.
- The County’s population of people 60 and older continues to become more racially, linguistically and ethnically diverse.
“We expect that trend to continue," said Garcia Lugo.
The division created a 64-question survey that it advertised on social media, through the County’s website, and with the Library and other community partners, Garcia Lugo said.
“We offered it in 14 languages,” she said, noting that 356 of the survey’s 2,410 respondents “took the survey in languages other than English.”
Among survey respondents:
- 89% are 50 or older
- 30% identified as people of color
- 47% identified as women
- 44% identified as having a disability
- 15% are veterans
- 3% are experiencing homelessness
People identified the following needs:
- More free and healthy food
- Reliable transportation
- Help learning about available services
- Affordable health resources
- Caregiver supports
- Services offered in the languages they speak
“One of the key takeaways we had was that many people do not know how to access Multnomah County services,” Garcia Lugo said. “They might know that it exists but they don’t know who to call or how to get to this service.”
Oregon, separate from the federal government, requires the division to cover several focus areas:
1. Information and referral
2. Nutrition
3. Health promotion
4. Family caregivers
5. Legal assistance and elder rights
6. Transportation
7. Native American elders
8. Care for transgender, nonbinary, and two-spirit elders
9. Veterans services
10. Data, Program Evaluation, & Research
Four of the areas were created by the Division itself, beyond what the state required.
“We’re overachievers, and we like the work and our clients, so we added four focus areas including Transportation; Care for Transgender, Nonbinary, and Two Spirit Elders, Veterans Services and an overarching goal of Data, Program Evaluation, & Research that supports all the other goals,” said Garcia Lugo.
To address survey participants’ feedback about how to access specific services — including the Aging and Disability Resource Connection Helpline — the division has set new goals for how to better inform potential clients.
Garcia Lugo said the new plan included more involvement from the Disability Services Advisory Council and the Aging Services Advisory Council “early and often,” alongside additional community outreach.
Next is submitting the plan to the state of Oregon for approval, said Garcia Lugo, noting “yearly updates will be provided on the progress of the goals.”
BOARD COMMENTS
“Glad to see that we’re focused on data analysis and looking forward to supporting the work ..,” said Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon.
“I want to thank the Chair for putting this on the agenda. I think it’s good for new commissioners but also existing ones — but also the broader community,” said Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards.
“I want to appreciate outreach as well as the language and giving us the breakdown. Not often do I see the inclusion of ASL and closed captions,” said Commissioner Shannon Singleton.
“I want to highlight that I thought the number of people experiencing homelessness was low considering that the population is aging at such a significant rate. We talked about some opportunities to leverage other engagements in homeless services with seniors to understand their needs.”
“One other piece I want to lift up is that key takeaway that people don’t know how to access services in Multnomah County. That’s a theme I hear across programs. I hope we’ll take up an effort to engage cultural communities and trusted neighbors and community messengers.”
Commissioner Meghan Moyer said the Older Americans Act is not the Medicaid population. The Act provides support for those who don't qualify for Medicaid but need help living in their communities. She noted that even with pensions, many people still require assistance and may not be able to afford meals and care.
“The intentionality that Multnomah County puts into making sure we are reaching all parts of our community, being culturally responsive and culturally specific is not commotion practice and is something to be really proud of.
“There is a level of thought in this plan that I don’t think is happening in other places and I appreciate that.”
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