Supporting the Needs of Immigrant Older Adults

Supporting the Needs of Immigrant Older Adults Testimony - February 2024 Supporting the Needs of Immigrant Older Adults In this testimony before the NYC Council Committee on Aging and Committee on Immigration, CUF Data Researcher Rachel Neches details the need to support the rapidly growing older immigrant population in New York. [...] A decade ago, the Center for an Urban Future published The New Face of New York’s Seniors, the first comprehensive report to document the fast-growing population of older immigrants across the five boroughs. [...] We’ve since published several other reports about the city’s rapidly aging population, the troubling prevalence of poverty among the city’s older adults, the continuing challenges facing older immigrants, and opportunities to tap the many strengths of older New Yorkers—as workers, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more. [...] About a month before the start of the pandemic in 2020, we published a blueprint for expanding and improving older adult services in the city, with 63 policy recommendations for how city and state policymakers can meet the needs of New York’s fast-growing older adult population. [...] Our other recommendations for city policymakers include launching a major new initiative to reduce poverty among older New Yorkers, undertaking a citywide campaign to enroll older New Yorkers in federal, state, and local benefits programs for which they are eligible, and increasing city funding for older adult services to keep pace with the growth of this population and the rise in unmet needs.