[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12238]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION OF AMENDMENT TO THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SUSAN A. DAVIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 20, 2006

  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation giving America's seniors a new opportunity to benefit from 
culturally competent multigenerational programs with our young people. 
Specifically, many older Americans have limited English proficiency and 
can face difficulties finding younger individuals with whom to 
communicate because of language barriers. In addition, multilingual 
young people can act as a valuable communication resource to help 
increase awareness for seniors on a range of issues.
  I became aware of this issue recently while visiting a site for a 
supportive senior housing project in my district in San Diego. This 
supportive housing includes affordable housing for low-income seniors, 
nutrition services, social services, and mental healthcare. The program 
is in a culturally diverse neighborhood, and therefore, the people whom 
this program benefits come from a wide variety of backgrounds and speak 
many languages. The program staff wants to ensure that the seniors in 
the neighborhood are aware of the programs available to them, and feel 
comfortable coming to the senior center to receive those services.
  But there are major language and cultural barriers to overcome. In 
this case, young people in the neighborhood, who speak English and 
another language, could go out into the community to help increase 
awareness about the programs, and help seniors navigate the programs--
the eligibility requirements, the enrollment process, and other vital 
information.
  Mr. Speaker, not only is it important that we do what we can to give 
older Americans the opportunity to share their wisdom and experiences 
with younger generations, it is also important that we give young 
people the opportunity to work with and help seniors. We know about the 
joy our seniors experience from visiting with younger folks. We must 
ensure that all segments of our older population have this opportunity 
and multigenerational programs are an excellent way for seniors and 
young people to benefit from each other.
  My legislation would amend the Older Americans Act, OAA, to encourage 
and facilitate regular interaction between seniors with limited English 
proficiency and students with multilingual skills across the United 
States. Now that we are on the verge of reauthorizing the OAA, I 
encourage my colleagues to support action to give all of our seniors 
the gift of multigenerational activities.

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