We are all aging, all of the time, and virtually all of us care about—and many provide care to— older persons; so, we all have a vested interest in moving toward aging equity. Further, as our population gets older, to successfully provide services to all, every agency of our government and sector of our economy must grapple with both what that means for its work and how each can support this change in our population such that all Illinoisans live better, more fulfilling lives. Of course, people do not experience life through one sector nor does any single government agency provide for all of their public services. Rather, we rely upon many sectors and many government agencies to meet the full array of needs.
A multi-sector plan for aging equity will help Illinois agencies better serve older persons, caregivers, and all of us as we age. Such a plan will ultimately need to lead to material improvement in the aging and caregiving experiences of millions of Illinoisans and advance us toward aging equity.
The main audience for this guide is staff within the Illinois Department on Aging, including the Chief Planning Officer, members of the Interagency Task Force on the Multi-Sector Plan for Aging, and members of the Multi-Sector Plan for Aging Community Advisory Council. While each section has significant value, we believe the section that may provide the most support to the planning process may be Section 2.4, which provides a non-exhaustive list of issues that a multi-sector plan for aging likely will address. Health & Medicine looks forward to partnering with IDoA on implementation, and we offer this guide to help the planning process succeed.