Austin LGBT Coalition on Aging
February 2021 Special Announcement
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More information on the Coalition is on our website at algbtcoa.org. |
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LGBTQ+ Quality of Life Survey
The City of Austin is conducting a Quality of Life study for the LGBTQ community – similar to those previously done for the African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American communities. That study includes a community survey intended to document both the demographics of our community (how many of us are there, what ages, what parts of the community do we live in, etc.) and the factors that impact our quality of life (our health status, home ownership, earnings, issues of discrimination, etc.). The survey has been available online for about three weeks and, as anticipated, we have not gotten a good response from the senior community and are trying to determine why.
PLEASE COMPLETE THE SURVEY NOW
(There is a meeting on Feb 8, we'd like to be like to report at.)
To help us do that we are asking as many seniors as possible to go online and either complete the survey or at least look through the survey (you can stop at any point in the survey and access it later as long as you use the same browser). After you have done that please share your observations on any concerns that you might have with the survey or aspects you think might discourage others from completing the survey by email to the Coalition on Aging contact@algbtcoa.org.
Your observations will remain anonymous and they will help us make whatever adjustments are necessary and tailor our strategies for reaching as many LGBTQ seniors as possible. One issue that we have already identified is that the online survey is not formatted for printing for those who prefer submitting a paper copy for confidentiality reasons and we are working on solutions to resolve that.
Finally, if you know of seniors that don’t have access to technology we are working on strategies for reaching them. You can use the email address above to provide either their contact information or your own if you are willing to assist them. You can also use them for questions, to report problems with completing the survey or to make suggestions on increasing participation.
(There's more background about the Quality of Life Commission further down in this Special edition of the Newsletter.)
The Quality of Life Study is something that our community has waited on for a long time. It is our opportunity to voice an opinion on what our community needs, what barriers and challenges we have experienced, and what needs to be done so that Austin’s LGBT community can enjoy the same quality of life as our peers.
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February 2021 Meeting
Virtual Meeting
Thursday, February 18, 2021, 2 PM
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The Coalition on Aging Steering Committee Meetings are open to all. Members of the Coalition and ALL recipients of this email announcement are invited—and urged—to attend.
To continue the work of the Coalition, public participation is needed. Email contact@algbtcoa.org for more info.
OR to get a link to the meeting.
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Steering Committee Membership
Membership is open to all regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, or gender identification. Meetings are open to all. The Steering Committee meets monthly, almost always less than two hours. Currently those meetings are held virtually so there is no time spent in traffic. It’s a great opportunity to be more involved in the direction of the Coalition and get better acquainted with folks like yourself who are interested in improving the lives of LGBT seniors in Austin
If you would like to have more information about serving on the Steering Committee, please contact us at contact@algbtcoa.org
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We have posted a page on the algbtcoa.org website for information about the Covid Vaccine distribution in Austin.
And we invite you to post your experiences—good and bad—about finding the vaccine in Central Texas on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/algbtcoa
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More about the Quality of Life Study & Survey
The City of Austin has completed three previous Quality of Life Studies. The first was for the African-American community, the second for the Hispanic community and the third for the Asian-American community. The FY20 budget included funding for a Quality of Life study for the LGBTQ community; the FY21 budget includes funding for a study focused on peoples with disabilities.
The broad purpose of these Quality of Life Studies is to determine how a particular community’s quality of life differs from the community as a whole (positive and negative), what barriers exist for that community and what role the City can play in erasing those barriers. One component of these studies is the development of demographic information about specific communities such as population size, residence, economic and health information. The expectation is that the completed study will, for the first time, put a number on the Austin LGBTQ population and describe that population in terms of how old we are, what areas of the city we live in, how well off we are (or aren’t), etc.
The City’s intent in completing these Quality of Life Studies is to have the information on which to make future resource allocation and policy decisions impacting specific communities. In some cases information is developed during the course of the study that has resulted in immediate attention to specific problems. As an example of this as the Asian-American Q of L Study was being done it became apparent that there were significant health disparities resulting from language barriers and the Health Department was directed to develop solutions.
The LGBTQ Quality of Life Study is being conducted under a contract with a consulting firm. The LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission was tasked with developing the contract specifications for the study which then went through the City’s purchasing process and a consulting firm was selected. The Commission is provided monthly updates on the project and will be tasked with reviewing the final product and making a recommendation to City Council on it’s adoption.
The consultants have also selected an Advisory Board from a pool of applicants to review each phase of the project. Last month the consultants conducted two Town Hall meetings (virtual) to hear from the LGBTQ community. The next phase of the study will be to conduct a Quality of Life Survey which is scheduled to be rolled out this month and be available through the end of April. The consultants also have access to the information previously collected in the Qwell survey. In addition to the surveys the consultants may also conduct some focus groups to obtain input from segments of the community that appear to be underrepresented in the information collected in the town halls and the survey.
Here’s a link to a story on KXAN TV about the LGBTQ+ Survey: https://www.kxan.com/news/local/what-are-the-needs-of-austins-lgbtqia-community-the-city-wants-to-know/
For those of us who are interested in following the progress of the LGBTQ Quality of Life Study the City has created an online Dashboard which is supposed to be updated with status reports, information on meetings, etc.
The Dashboard can be found by going to
http://austintexas.gov/page/lgbtqia-quality-life-study
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