Mission and Vision

Mission

To bring together faculty, students, and community partners to develop creative solutions for diverse aging populations through education and research.

Vision

To serve as a leader in community engagement, workforce development, and applied research to address disparities and promote quality of life in aging in Long Beach and beyond.  

The center will serve as the one-stop shop of expertise and service for all things aging on campus and the surrounding area, with an emphasis on three interrelated cores:
 

Interdisciplinary Applied Research 

The Center is working collaboratively with community partners and faculty throughout the university to:

  1. Design scalable interventions in key areas of faculty expertise and community interests that will enable older adults to remain engaged and active in their communities.
  2. Serve as a resource for promoting faculty success in grant writing through collaboration and a supportive environment (through collaborations with other centers, connecting faculty to training, to each other, etc.).

Research focus will be driven by faculty and community strengths and interests which fall into two main areas:

  1. Age-Friendly Communities
  • Social connectivity
  • Transportation solutions
  • Lifelong learning
  1. Reducing disparities/promoting well-being
  • Social isolation
  • Care navigation
  • Fall prevention
  • Family caregiving

Community Engagement

The Center will serve as a community resource for the latest research on aging and wellbeing, including:

  • Workforce development
  • Caregiving resources
  • Research and evaluation of community initiatives on aging
  • Service-learning opportunities
  • Partnership in the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based programs (e.g. co-housing, adult daycare, intergenerational learning centers)

Workforce Development

The Center is working towards preparing today and tomorrow’s workforce to meet the needs of a growing and culturally diverse population of older adults by:

  1. Providing awareness and skills on aging across to a diverse workforce to ensure the quality of life of older populations through:
  • Inter-Professional gerontological education
  • Cultural competence
  • Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to prepare the existing workforce
  • Expansion of certificate program
  1. Building on community-engaged research to enhance educational experiences
  2. Disseminating innovative teaching in aging