Excellence Across the Lifespan Champions: A Partnership With the National Center to Reframe Aging

TL;DR

A program was created to promote age-friendly policies in a nursing college through education and mentorship.

Contribution

The program introduces a collaborative professional development framework to challenge ageist attitudes and promote inclusivity.

Findings

The program successfully cultivated faculty and staff champions to lead institutional culture change.

Peer-mentored group publications fostered collaboration and knowledge dissemination.

The initiative serves as a model for promoting age-friendly practices in organizations.

Abstract

To promote age-friendly policies within a College of Nursing, the “Excellence Across the Lifespan Champions” program was developed in partnership with the National Center to Reframe Aging. This initiative aimed to cultivate a cohort of faculty and staff champions to lead institutional culture change. The program utilized a professional development framework to incentivize participation. Champions received education and mentorship while conducting age-inclusivity mini-projects aligned with their roles. Peer-mentored group publications were encouraged to foster collaboration and knowledge dissemination. Program design involved collaborative meetings with the Center and institutional partners. A synchronous online format was chosen, limited to six faculty and six staff to ensure project diversity. Recruitment targeted staff leadership teams and faculty through a custom flyer and interest survey. The program included four online training sessions followed by a 3-month project implementation phase, with individualized feedback and mentorship throughout. This innovative partnership demonstrates a commitment to professional development that challenges ageist attitudes and hidden biases while promoting age-inclusive practices. The “Excellence Across the Lifespan Champions” program serves as a model for organizations seeking to reframe aging and foster an age-friendly ecosystem. This session will detail champion projects and their early impact.