Age Friendly Innovation Center: Building Services and Support Networks

We welcome Christine Happel, the assistant director of the Age Friendly Innovation Center, to discuss the vital services and resources available to seniors in Central Ohio.

Christine elaborates on the Senior Services Roundtable, a platform that connects seniors with essential resources and services in the community. The Roundtable's effectiveness is in promoting collaboration, networking, and resource sharing.

Christine sheds light on the deep impact of the Roundtable, showcasing how it has facilitated communication and sharing of over 6,000 emails from 550 organizations over a 10-year period, leading to fruitful connections and resource sharing.

The Roundtable, under the Age Friendly Innovation Center, serves as a crucial platform for information sharing, collaboration, and advocacy, with over 750 engaged members. It fosters a low-stakes environment where members can contribute as they are able and when needed. The Roundtable serves as a clearinghouse of information and ideas to enable older adults to age in place, positively impacting the community.

The episode delves into the Roundtable's evolution, emphasizing its seamless transition to virtual formats during the pandemic, highlighting the efficiency of Zoom programming and the vital role of organizations in meeting the needs of older adults during challenging times. Despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic, the community rallied together to ensure the care and well-being of older adults in Franklin County.

An essential aspect of the Roundtable's mission is to champion resources, networking, and collaboration while offering opportunities for evolution and experimentation. Notably, the organization plans to continue implementing member requests and recommendations, with a forthcoming focus on providing free CEU opportunities in 2024.

The Age-Friendly Innovation Center's successful initiative in Columbus is recognized as a model that could be replicated in other Ohio regions, leveraging networking groups to provide unique advantages for the roundtable model. The success of the Roundtable in Columbus is attributed to the collaborative efforts of community leaders, the support of the mayor, and local organizations.

The importance of promoting and sharing information about programs and resources, such as libraries, to support the existing work, is emphasized. Additionally, the Roundtable actively supports and promotes the library as a valuable and friendly resource. However there are challenges in communicating and disseminating information to older adults, and there are ongoing efforts to understand how older adults obtain trusted information and to improve communication in the community.

"Communication is something that is ever-changing and access to communication tools like technology is not equitable across our community."

— Christine Happel

We also talk about the challenges in technology access and digital equity for older adults, focusing on the Age Friendly Innovation Center's initiatives to address the needs of older residents in the community. Word-of-mouth is still an important communication tool as well as in-person interactions.

Christine discusses the significant challenges related to housing and transportation needs for older adults and the collective efforts of the aging network to address these issues through discussions, advocacy, and initiatives.

Key Takeaways

1. The Senior Services Roundtable, under the Age Friendly Innovation Center, serves as a vital communication pipeline in Columbus, Ohio, connecting seniors with valuable resources and services, with a focus on information sharing and collaboration within the aging network.

2. The roundtable has over 750 engaged members and aims to be inclusive to all individuals interested in aging-related work, providing a unique platform for networking, resource sharing, and advocacy for older adults in the community.

3. The roundtable's informal and low-stakes nature allows members to contribute as they are able, leading to collaborative efforts and an emphasis on action-oriented opportunities to facilitate aging in place and meet the needs of older adults within the community.

4. Through the use of an email list server, the roundtable facilitates connections and resource sharing, with over 6,000 emails exchanged from 550 organizations over 10 years, demonstrating the power of information dissemination within the aging network.

5. The roundtable, a successful aging program, aims to address significant issues such as housing and transportation needs for older adults through discussions, advocacy, and collective initiatives within the aging network.

Memorable Moments

04:14 Senior Services Roundtable promotes aging resource collaboration.

09:52 Age Friendly fosters new efforts, and admin support.

16:39 Age Friendly Innovation Center focuses on communication.

19:17 Digital equity coalition works to bridge gaps.

22:01 The aging network faces housing and transportation challenges.

26:04 Collaboration in non-profits aiding older adults' employment.

Past Looking Forward Our Way episodes we mention in the episode.

Christine Happel is a dedicated social worker who has made an impact in her community through her various roles. After completing her field placement for her master's of social work at the Clintonville Beach Weld Community Resources Center in 2013, she was offered a position as an outreach worker in the senior supportive services program. Within a year, she became the founding director of Village in the Ville and the Greater Columbus Network of Villages. After a decade at the CRC, Christine transitioned to the Age Friendly Innovation Center in 2022. Before her impressive career in social work, she lived and worked in a co-working community as a caregiver for a young woman with autism, which solidified her belief in the importance of building communities to meet a wide range of needs. Christine's dedication to creating supportive and inclusive communities has made a lasting impact on those she has worked with.

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Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle 270 Media® Podcast Consultants.

Copyright 2026 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson