Community-Based Seniors’ Services Sector Summit 2024

Claiming our Space, Naming our Future

June 2-5, 2024 • Ottawa, ON

Introducing the Community-Based Seniors’ Services Sector

As the global population ages, there is an urgent need to remove barriers that prevent older persons from leading healthy and dignified lives. Isolation, poverty, ageism, financial insecurity, and abuse are some of the most pressing social issues that impede the respect, dignity, and agency older people deserve.

Community-based seniors’ services (CBSS) organizations have been foundational in responding to aging Canadians’ needs for decades. However, their work is still largely unrecognized in social policy. By addressing gaps in financial and political support, CBSS organizations have the potential to create a much larger impact together than any one organization can generate alone.

HelpAge Canada is hosting the first ever CBSS Sector Summit, where organizations from across the country are invited to come together and create a unified vision for the CBSS sector in Canada.

Making a difference, together

This summit will gather stakeholders to share knowledge, resources, and expertise. It will serve as an entry point for grassroots organizations in Canada to connect with new opportunities for partnerships and growth.

Creating a vision of a common future

As leaders and innovators in the CBSS sector, we have seen first-hand the value older Canadians bring to their communities. The CBSS sector is essential in creating a society where all older adults are included, empowered, and treated with dignity.

Establishing the sector’s needs and priorities

The CBSS sector faces unique challenges from coast-to-coast. Drawing from individual experiences, the 2024 summit is an intentional, dedicated space to establish the needs and amplify the priorities of the sector as a whole.

Declaring the sector’s role and identity

The CBSS sector plays a crucial role in supporting older Canadians. This summit is the opportunity to set the tone for our relationship with government bodies, other sectors, and with older adults for years to come.

Organizations in the CBSS sector are uniquely positioned to identify and respond to the specific needs of older people within their communities.

Community-based organizations provide older adults with access to a range of programs and services that successfully support older people to remain in their homes and engage deeply with their communities. Some examples of these types of programs are:

Nutritional supports and education

Accessible and affordable housing

Health and wellness activities

Physical activities that are adapted

Social, educational, and creative programs

Information, referral and personal advocacy

Adapted and subsidized transportation

Support groups to enhance psychological and emotional well being

Despite the essential role they play in Canadian society, these organizations are chronically underfunded and under-recognized.

What kind of organizations are part of the CBSS sector? 

The community-based seniors’ services sector is comprised of a variety of not-for-profit organizations and municipal agencies, including:

  • Seniors Centres
  • Community Centres
  • Group Care Homes
  • Community Coalitions
  • Ethno-Cultural Organizations
  • Multi-Service Agencies
    .
  • Intermediary Organizations, such as not-for-profit organizations
  • Municipal, Provincial, and Federal Governments
  • Foundations, like the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Richmond Cares, and Healthy, Aging CORE

 

Support Us

HelpAge Canada serves as an information hub for CBSS organizations and other partners to gain expertise, get involved, and stay informed about what’s happening in the sector. We offer resources, relationships, and programs that help local organizations to support older people in their communities.

We appreciate the support of our generous donors in helping us create a world in which all older persons lead secure, healthy, active and dignified lived.