Groundwork: Mission Critical
Just in case you haven’t noticed, America is getting older fast. Every day, about 11,400 people turn 65. In less than five years, all Baby Boomers will be 65 or older. By 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history, according to the Census Bureau.
Yet the share of philanthropic dollars directed toward aging services has barely shifted in two decades. Less than 2 percent of U.S. foundation giving, by most estimates, goes to aging services. And although one-fifth of Americans are 65 or older, only about 6 percent of U.S. nonprofits primarily serve seniors.
The lack of investment is not only a budget issue, but it also reflects how society assigns value. Youth is treated as promise. Aging is treated as obligation. When donors make choices, causes that support young people are usually prioritized over causes that support older adults.
As the senior population grows faster than the resources available to support it, a crisis is unfolding. Across Memphis and the country, older adults live on fixed incomes while the cost of home repair costs climbs. Many are Black homeowners in neighborhoods once redlined. As these neighborhoods gentrify, rising property taxes and deferred repairs are pushing out residents who held their communities together.
Leah Wooten, founder of Reaching Back, sees the reality up close. Her organization helps seniors age with dignity, confidence and safety through compassionate care, home repair help, food support and chances to connect.
“I have been in real estate 35 years and what I kept finding when I walked into seniors’ homes is that they were choosing between taking care of repairs and buying medicine,” she said.
Food insecurity deepens the strain. Since 2001, food insecurity among seniors has doubled, according to Feeding America. The nonprofit response is still a patchwork of church ministries, volunteer teams and seasonal drives because sustainable funding is limited.
“We often see more seniors in need than we have resources to help,” Wooten said. “Each day, we meet elders who want to remain in the homes they built their lives in but can’t afford the repairs to do so safely.”
Organizations like Reaching Back operate as quiet extensions of the public health system. They patch roofs to stop leaks, deliver groceries to avert malnutrition and complete tasks that delay nursing home placements. They save public dollars by doing relational work that the government can’t or won’t do — but they do it with small staffs and modest budgets.
In a society focused on equity and inclusion, aging is too often left out of the conversation. In grant language, “underserved populations” tends to refer to youth, women or families. Yet aging is the one demographic people will eventually join.
“Seniors don’t just need help; they need respect, connection and the chance to stay in the homes where they raised families,” Wooten said. “A simple repair or simply showing up can restore safety, dignity, confidence and hope.”
Restoring dignity will require more than scattered funding. It will require innovation in how we think about programs and how we measure impact. What if innovation included maintaining what already works, like neighborhood-based aging support that prevents displacement? What if impact included measuring dignity, stability and years lived at home?
Wooten believes equity is the place to start — ensuring seniors are fully seen and supported with the same urgency given to younger populations.
“Small things matter like fixing a leaky roof that harms health or repairing a broken handrail that makes a senior fear falling, or consistent companionship to prevent loneliness and the feeling of being forgotten,” she said. “Innovative investments can support this and preserve history, strengthen families and allow seniors to age in place.”
Could one pathway to equity involve intergenerational solutions? What if senior-serving and youth-serving nonprofits collaborated to support both generations through shared programs? Young people could learn to make minor repairs, offer tech help and provide companionship, while seniors offer mentorship, grounding and wisdom. Funders could then invest in single programs that serve both ends of the age spectrum, creating a more equitable and sustainable model for closing funding gaps.
America’s future will depend, in part, on whether nonprofits can innovate to support a rapidly growing aging population. Failing to act will leave us all affected by our own neglect.
But for now, there are organizations like Reaching Back that understand senior equity is not about sympathy. “They’re showing us how equity really looks — resilient, resourceful and wanting to be fully seen,” Wooten said. “We are making that possible for seniors by ensuring they can walk safely up their own steps again and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a warm, dry home.”
This work is more than repairing houses or distributing food. It is a collective commitment to honor every person’s right to age with dignity on their own terms in a community that refuses to let them disappear. True equity demands that we create the conditions for older adults to live with safety, purpose and belonging. In doing so, we uphold their humanity and safeguard the kind of future we want to inherit.
For information about Reaching Back, visit: https://reachingbackinc.org.
