Friday, December 15, 2023
Legislative Aide Advocacy 101
On December 6th, AgeGuide hosted its annual Legislative Aide Kickoff for all of the legislative aides and staffers in the Northeastern Illinois Region. While connecting with legislators is critical to our advocacy work, we recognize the importance of building relationships with staffers, aides and anyone else who works face-to-face with older adults.
Our annual Aide Kickoff is one way that we build these critical relationships. This event has become an anticipated start to the new legislative session, for both new and seasoned aides, drawing legislative offices from across the region and sparking new relationships that lead to improved advocacy.
Besides building relationships, the Kickoff helps legislative staffers and aides find and access resources, and to get an update on aging services in the region.
A Dedicated Focus on Caregivers
For the Aide Kickoff this year, we wanted to place a spotlight on caregivers. During the presentation, AgeGuide provided overviews on aging and caregiver resources, caregiver data from our 8-county region, and advocacy opportunities.
Currently, there are 40 million unpaid caregivers in the United States. Throughout this session, we stressed the importance of investing in aging and caregiving services. The connections we build with legislative offices, especially during the Aide Kickoff, will help foster conversations between area agencies on aging and legislators to help support caregivers. The resources we shared will help more people get connected to resources to help them in their caregiving role.
We highlighted our caregiver assessment tool, TCARE and encouraged legislative staffers to share this resource.
Advocacy Resources
