Leadership Exchange on Ageism Commitments: Cohort 2 by Julia Brown

shooper30 — 2025-06-06 18:19:11 UTC

1: I commit to unlearning internalized ageism by noticing the language I use around aging and replacing it with curiosity, respect, and pride in the aging process. I will challenge assumptions that equate aging with decline. I will continue to show up as someone who embraces aging as a privilege in how I travel, work, and connect.

2: Wherever I work or contribute, I will advocate for age inclusivity. This includes doing my best to speak up when I see ageist stereotypes or practices, encouraging intergenerational collaboration, and creating space for older voices to be valued and visible. I will question myself and other leadership when I see policies that are ageist.

3: I commit to using my personal and professional platforms, including my writing, healing work, and policy advocacy, to elevate conversations around age equity. I will work to normalize aging as a powerful and evolving part of life. I want to be part of a movement that redefines what aging looks and feels like.

2025-06-06 18:22:11 UTC

Creating pathways to fill the gap in oral health.

2025-06-06 18:22:53 UTC

Develop volunteer roles to engage older adults' gifts

Develop allies

Bring in training the help the entire agency understand and address ageism

2025-06-06 18:23:38 UTC

I will add the explicit goal of eliminating ageism to the program goals of OSPO Aging Better Together.

We will develop volunteer roles in Aging Better Together to engage more older adults in sharing their abilities and gifts.

Why: As I get to know myself as an older adult, I don't want to be invisible or seen as lacking abilities. I want to open doors for older adults to play important roles in our communities.

Focus on building generational connections throughout the community. This can benefit, empower and build both people and organizations in many aspects.

2025-06-06 18:28:38 UTC

markjmcmahon — 2025-06-06 18:30:07 UTC

I will speak with the Exec Dir of an organization where I am on the board and share this program and how we can build in a module / session on including agism-content into our other explicitly addressed DEI efforts. My goal is to build on awareness other ask a series of operational questions around how we could more effectively address challenges faced by older people.

I have learned through this program to see agism not through a lens of helping others, but also as a way to influence my own future world, since Ageism is an more unique -ism that affects us ALL regardless of our backgrounds.

Committing to education

2025-06-06 18:31:35 UTC

I commit to focusing on educating around this area by leading a series of learning sessions with my team focused on reframing aging as a strength in the workplace, as well as engaging in biweekly reflection practices to track how my own thinking and behaviors around aging evolve with the aim of identifying at least two concrete ways I've shifted my engagement with colleagues and decisions as a result.

why this matters

2025-06-06 18:39:58 UTC

Respect, Dignity, Humanity

I will focus my words and actions on vitality and what we can do.

I am

2025-06-06 18:40:21 UTC

I am committed to:

in the next two weeks to bring out the conversation about how we can create even more focused inclusivity to our older adults community.

DEIB breakfast opportunity: reach out to have a speaker join our full staff, community partners to speak on aging and inclusivity/ flipping the script on the narrative.
Create focus groups, feedback loops for our tiny home village in Salem. We want to ensure people have valuable opportunity to be involved in the creation, implementation of this essential program!

2025-06-06 18:41:25 UTC

Continue to dismantle interpersonal/internalized ageism by:

Growing and learning just as I did in my 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Reduce minimizing my own aging self.
Stop coloring my hair 😉

Systemically

"walk the talk" by taking conversation to VPs in HR and Talent Acquistion manager.
host AgePlus in a hybrid presentation on "Age positivity." (Please let me know if you would like to be invited. email me at williamsmurphy@careoregon.org if you would like to attend
write a blog article for my own department and an organization-wide article that describes what I learned and advertise the next LEA opportunities (need dates).
Seek volunteer opportunities that support aging communities
review data on intersectionality of ageism and other "isms" to dismantle dual oppressions.

2025-06-06 18:43:20 UTC

I will recommend to add Ageism training to our OSU Extension DEI trainings. I also will be working on figuring out how to bring this type of training in Spanish to Latino/Hispanic communities.

2025-06-06 18:47:31 UTC

Be an advocate to make sure elders of color are included in the discussions and decision making concerning issues of addressing ageism in our communities.

I am

2025-06-06 18:52:07 UTC

Visible, loveable, joyful in this chapter, and in modeling this I call others in to the place of growth, about loss and love, and to build a strength based and happy plan for the future. The need for an awareness of the positive and to unwind the ism's that are intersectional with aging.

Commitments!

2025-06-06 18:54:15 UTC

Why? Because this is my future!

What? I'm going to catch, check, and change the situations I'm in. This is about supporting myself and others, and being a more conscious connector.