AgeWell Pittsburgh is an innovative multi-agency collaboration between the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish Family and Community Services and the Jewish Association on Aging, with planning support provided through the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. The goal of the collaboration is to provide seamless delivery of services to Pittsburgh’s older adults, providing support to live as independently as possible. In 2017, AgeWell Pittsburgh received the prestigious national Lodestar Foundation Collaboration prize. This national award is designed to highlight exceptional permanent models of collaboration among nonprofit organizations.
– Alexis Winsten Mancuso, Assistant Executive Director
AgeWell Pittsburgh has reduced duplication of services and confusion for consumers. Staff at every level are engaged with teams of their peers in operating the collaboration and there is shared responsibility for planning, budgeting, and fundraising for the collaborative. Through AgeWell Pittsburgh, the three agencies have been able to rethink both services and service delivery. In 2011, AgeWell Pittsburgh implemented an outcome measurement tool to collect data across all three agencies that is used to strengthen services. The focus on the community and on outcomes has reoriented the cultures of the three agencies. Today 96% of the 10,000 seniors enrolled in AgeWell Pittsburgh services maintain non-institutional status. These results have made AgeWell Pittsburgh a model that is being replicated in other communities with the same collaborative structure and spirit.
By signing on to NNSI's High-Impact Campaign, AgeWell Pittsburgh worked to identify a clear theory of change and expanded upon existing strategies of network management and data support to work collaboratively with key community stakeholders and replicate the AgeWell Pittsburgh model throughout the country.
