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Advocacy and Aging in Challenging Times

  • Normandale Hylands United Methodist Church 9920 Normandale Boulevard Bloomington, MN (map)

Class summary

All around us, people are stepping up for older adults. Neighbors, volunteers, advocates, and yes, this little organization called START. Even in the middle of a historic shake-up in health care and senior living, ordinary people are doing the extraordinary: showing up when someone’s lost, scared, or slipping through the cracks.

This class is about what that looks like up close. We’ll talk about the policy changes you’ve seen in the headlines, and the quiet ones you probably haven’t, and how they’re shaping the lives of real people right now. We’ll share the heartbreaking truths, but also the Holy Moments that keep breaking through. Because while the systems keep shifting, the fight for dignity, safety, and compassion is still alive. And we’d love for you to be part of it.

What You’ll Learn

  • Where hope is breaking through: everyday people creating extraordinary moments of care

  • How START is aligning with others to respond to a historic shift in aging and health care

  • Why Medicare Advantage changes (including broker payment cuts) matter to every older adult

  • How assisted living settings are being asked to carry more than they can safely handle

  • What’s driving a rise in senior housing evictions, and what families can do

  • The truth about Medicare and long-term care: what it really pays for (and doesn’t)

  • Why affordable housing is more than a “senior issue”, it’s everyone’s issue

  • The growing wave of financial exploitation, even within families, and how to recognize it

  • Why START reached its annual service targets by June, and what that tells us about need

Register Here
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December 3

Homemade Cookies and Heartfelt Connections 2025