Project Visibility
Presented at the OLOC Gathering 2006
By Emily Lewis, 65
Seven years ago Boulder County Aging
Services Division (BCASD) recognized that one
under-served segment of the older adult population
in Boulder County Colorado was the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT)
older adult.
First, there was a need to acknowledge
the existence of older LGBTs from service
providers. At that time, LGBT older adults were
virtually “invisible” in the county. Secondly,
there was a need to provide training to cultivate
a more sensitive and aware aging services
system in the county.
Project Visibility as a training program
grew out of these needs. Project Visibility puts
a “face” on aging as an LGBT, and subsequently
brings a new awareness of how to provide
culturally-competent care to the older LGBT.
The training is comprised of a 20-minute
locally produced documentary film that
showcases the lives of older LGBTs. (A number
of OLOC members in the Colorado area
were interviewed in the film.)The PowerPoint
presentation, manual and tool-kit provide
research data, tips, and other materials to
further educate the provider.
The history of Project Visibility can be
traced back to September 2000 when BCASD
along with Longmont Senior Services jointly
established the first Colorado publicly-funded
support group for the LGBT Elder Community
in Boulder County. When the group, now
known as the Rainbow Elders, first met only
two persons attended. It has now grown to
over 100 members sponsoring activities and
events designed for older LGBT adults.
Teresa De Anni, then the Aging Services
Nutrition and Wellness Coordinator, sought to
identify the needs of the older LGBT community
in Boulder County. She established a task force,
AGLE (Advocates of GLBT Elders). This was an
advisory board to BCASD whose mission was to
identify and plan programs to meet the needs
of Older LGBTs in Boulder County. I became a
volunteer member
of the AGLE advisory
board.
It was out of
AGLE that the need
for a sensitivity
training like Project
Visibility was identified.
To find out what
LGBT elders in our
community needed, focus groups were held
around the county. Those LGBT elders who
participated were not certain where to turn
if they should need services. They expressed
a concern about the level of sensitivity and
awareness of staff at facilities and agencies.
There was a general hesitancy to reach out for
help. If they did accept help or enter a facility
to live, they often chose not to speak about
their lives for fear of discrimination, neglect,
and/or violence.
In response to these expressed needs the
first edition of Silver Lining, A Resource Guide
for Boulder County Elder LGBT Community
was published in 2003. Although happy with
the product, BCASD wanted to be sure that
those entities listed really did understand how
to provide service to this population. Hence,
the development of Project Visibility began.
BCASD continues to offer the trainings and
manuals to participants free of charge. Funding
for the video and trainings came from local
foundations, including the Open Door Fund, a
fund of the Boulder Community Foundation;
the Theodore and Chandos Rice Charitable
Foundation (local to Boulder County); the
Aging Services Foundation of Boulder County,
the charitable arm of Boulder County Aging
Services Division plus numerous private donors.
The film was unveiled in August of 2004
and the first general training took place in
October of 2004. I came on board Aging
Services on a part time hourly basis as the
Project Visibility Trainer in October of 2004.
Since that time Project Visibility Trainings have been held throughout Boulder County,
the State of Colorado and the US. Project
Visibility has also been taken to a number
of conferences including the 2005 National
Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform,
the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance
and the American Society on Aging
2006 conference.
In our recent outcomes measurement
survey over 90% of respondents indicated that
they had recommended the training to others.
About 75% responded that the training had
raised their awareness of LGBT elder issues
and at least two-thirds had changed their
agency policies and personal interactions with
older adults based on what they had learned
in a Project Visibility training.
In 2007 Project
Visibility will remain one of the components
of Boulder County’s Aging Service’s Wellness
Services for older adults.
While there are a number of other LGBT
sensitivity training programs around the
country Project Visibility is the first and only
one, so far, developed by a government
agency. Most recently Project Visibility was
the winner of two national awards. It received
the 2006 n4a (National Association of Area
Agencies on Aging) Aging Innovation Award
for Ethnic and Cultural Diversity and the
2006 NACo (National Association of counties)
Innovation Achievement Award.
You
can learn more about these awards, Project
Visibility trainings and how to purchase the
video by visiting the Project Visibility web
site: www.projectvisibility.org.
In 2006 Project
Visibility was a recipient of a Gill matching
grant. The Gill Foundation will match dollar
for dollar every contribution. To donate to this
fund you can send a check made out to the
Aging Services Foundation of Boulder. In the
memo line write glbt or gill grant donation.
Send checks to Aging Services Foundation,
PO Box 471, Boulder CO 80306.
If you have
any other questions you can direct them
to elewis@bouldercounty.org.
