Diverse Elders Coalition

Founded in 2010, the Diverse Elders Coalition (DEC) advocates for policies and programs that improve aging in our communities as racially and ethnically diverse people; American Indians and Alaska Natives; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) people. In the decades to come, the communities represented by the DEC will collectively form the majority of older adults in the United States. The DEC is working to strengthen policies and programs to enhance the health and wellbeing of diverse elders, educating and connecting diverse older adults and their loved ones to key policy debates on aging, and increasing public support for issues that affect our communities. Our member organizations — National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), National Caucus and Center on Black Aging (NCBA), National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA), National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA), SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders), and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) — are influential players in the federal advocacy arena and experts in the distinctive needs of the racial, ethnic, and cultural communities they represent. Together, we have an unusual degree of access to our communities in rural areas, cities and regions throughout the U.S. This translates into advocacy efforts that are informed by: 1. Authentic expertise on the challenges diverse elders face 2. The credibility to mobilize diverse elder communities on issues that affect them; and 3. The skills to advance a federal agenda that promotes the health, economic security, dignity, and well-being of older adults across many different communities, thereby improving outcomes for all older people. By leveraging the overlapping interests and complementary expertise of our member organizations, we are ideally positioned to deal with one of the pivotal issues of our time.