Short Over View of the Older American's Act (OAA)

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The Older Americans Act was originally signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Want to see an actual copy of the law? if this link does not load, cut and past it into your browser.  http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/us/2006/olderamericanact1965.pdf

bulletPurpose of the OAA-  To provide services to seniors that will  enable them to remain independently living in the community and to prevent premature institutionalization.

Later amendments to the Act added grants to Area Agencies on Aging  http://www.n4a.org/about-n4a/

for local needs identification, planning, and funding of services, including but not limited to nutrition programs in the community as well as for those who are homebound; programs which serve Native American elders; services targeted at low-income minority elders; health promotion and disease prevention activities; in-home services for frail elders, and those services which protect the rights of older persons such as the long term care ombudsman program.
 

bulletHow funds distributed: Each state has a unit on aging (in California its the Department of Aging).
bulletEach unit on aging created Area Agencies on Aging (see the handout for how California is divided up).
bulletArea Agencies conduct needs assessments in their area to determine what services are unique for that community (this is why each community offers such different services). For example a rural community may need more funds for transportation than a city community that has a comprehensive  public transportation system
bulletMoney is distributed to the state from the Federal Government, states distribute funds to the Area Agencies and then the Area Agencies distribute funds to community programs.


In addition to creating the Administration on Aging, the Act  authorized grants to states for community planning and services programs, as well as for research, and demonstration and training projects in the field of aging.