Southwestern Pennsylvania has a great untapped resource. By 2030, the region will experience a 40% increase in the number of people over 65. By 2045, it will see a further 75% increase in people over 85. Older adults bring significant economic, psychological, and social benefits to a community. Nevertheless, biases against older people have taken hold in the United States – and tend to be worse in areas with lower levels of overall community engagement, and where older adults have less access to care.
Henry L. Hillman Foundation recognizes promoting healthy aging doesn’t just impact those among us who are currently older. It is an investment that ripples across generations, promoting greater community cohesion now and ensuring better health and wellbeing in the future. We all age – which means we all benefit from a world in which older adults thrive.
The Healthy Aging Challenge will grant a total of $2 million to four transformative, feasible, equitable, and scalable proposals to improve the lives of older adults in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Proposals are welcome from eligible organizations based anywhere in the United States. Projects must be geographically located in southwestern Pennsylvania and include members of communities that will benefit from the solution – such as an older adult or a caregiver – on their project team. They must also be able to show some evidence of results within a twelve-month period. Projects may focus on, but are not limited to:
- Age-friendly community development, including aging in place
- Age-friendly economic development
- Civic participation and volunteerism for older adults
- Intergenerational programming
- Reducing ageism and social isolation
- Skill-building and employment for professional caregivers
- Technology for caregivers
- Technology for older adults
To further promote learning and exchange around this crucial topic, applicants will participate in Peer to Peer review, and the final four awardees will form a learning cohort during the grant period.
Strong solutions will be transformative, feasible, equitable, and scalable. Please see the scoring rubric for more information on how proposals will be assessed.
Awards Details: Awardees who will receive a $500,000 grant and become part of a yearlong collaborative learning cohort.
Institutional Limit: Eligible organizations may only submit one application each. However, they may also serve as partners on another organization’s proposal.
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_HealthyAging_2022) no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Letter (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- PI name, departmental affiliations(s) and contact information
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description That includes:
- Project Title (10 words) Provide the title of your project. Choose a name that easily identifies and distinguishes your project.
- Project Description (25 words) Provide a one-sentence description of your project.
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Executive Summary (150 words) Write a one-paragraph overview of your project that answers the following three questions:
- What is a brief description of the problem that you are trying to solve?
- How will you solve it?
- What are your intended outcomes? How will your project address the lives of the people you wish to serve, including historically marginalized people within that population?
- Your Executive Summary should be a stand-alone statement of the problem you will solve, and your project. It should not require any other context to clearly explain what you are seeking to accomplish. Avoid using jargon, abbreviations, or language that a layperson may not understand.
- Partner organizations (200 words) name each partner and describe the relationship between the parties.
- Why your team (250 words) describing the changemakers on your team and explain how collectively you are uniquely positioned to deliver results.
- Challenge Statement (250 words) describing the specific challenge that you will address
- Project Overview (250 words) describing what your project is or does, and how it meaningfully contributes to solving the problem.
3. 2-page CV's of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
The Office of Foundation Relations is available to consult on proposal narrative elements and answer other foundation-related questions. University Park applicants should please contact Sophie Penney Leach (swp12@psu.edu), Director, Foundation Relations or Penn State College of Medicine applicants should please contact Jess Kiely, Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, (jkiely1@pennstatehealth.psu.edu) for additional support.