| Loneliness Awareness Week is here! This annual, week-long campaign (June 12-18, 2023) brings international awareness to the importance of social connection. A message from RRF Foundation for Aging... "When the pandemic hit, many organizations rallied to provide opportunities for social connection. And while significant progress has been made, we continue to experience physical and emotional harm resulting from our society-wide lack of social engagement. Loneliness has now been deemed a public health emergency, and addressing it is a priority of the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who recently issued a public health advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. RRF Foundation for Aging recognizes what Dr. Murthy describes as “an opportunity and obligation” to address this issue. We know that isolation can affect older people significantly. And social connections are a kind of emotional lifeblood, nourishing us and playing a critical role in our health and well-being, especially as we age. So, RRF stands with a mix of grantee partners and other leaders in the field (such as CoGenerate, Commit to Connect, EngAGED, Healthy Places by Design, Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, the Foundation for Social Connection, and the Coalition to End Isolation & Loneliness), in finding ways to foster social and intergenerational connections. The matter of isolation and loneliness among older adults leaves RRF with questions we are looking for partners and innovations to help us answer: How do we get people to think about and build their social capital? How do we find those who are most in-need of meaningful connections and engage them? And, to achieve the most significant impact, what policies and programs do we need to consider at the individual, community, and societal levels? We started with an issue brief, Engaged and Thriving: Promoting Social and Intergenerational Connectedness, and continue to seek answers and opportunities to address this growing need." |
