The San Antonio Area Foundation created the Successfully Aging and Living in San Antonio (SALSA) Program to increase leadership, collaboration and funding to ensure older adults have access to necessary services, information and support systems. 

SALSA partners and workgroups continue to improve the lives of older adults in our community by their work in the areas of caregiving, housing, transportation and the Reframing Aging project. 

The partnership between the 50 nonprofit organizations and 100+ individuals that make up the SALSA network forms the foundation for developing future projects that continue to support our vision of a community where older adults are respected, thrive and enjoy connected lives.

As we close out 2023, we reflect on SALSA’s many accomplishments. Here are some highlights:

Caregiver Workgroup

The recent passing of Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter draws to mind her beautiful quote: “There are only four kinds of people in the world – those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.” The SALSA Caregiver group successfully issued a revamped Caregiver’s Toolkit in September. 

Housing

In early fall, the Area Foundation’s Jane Paccione, Managing Director of Collective Impact, and City of San Antonio Housing Director Mark Carmona hosted a Reframing Affordable Housing Training for 30 of the area’s leaders in the housing field. The two-day workshop was delivered by the Frameworks Institute and focused on movement to change our society’s attitudes and approaches to affordable housing. This new cohort of Reframing Housing Advocates will be meeting on a quarterly basis throughout 2024.

Transportation

National trends tell us that the U.S. population is aging. By 2034, there will be more older adults than younger people for the first time in our history. A recent survey among older adults found that most people outlive their driving ability by seven to 10 years. With this in mind, SALSA’s largest undertaking of the year was in the transportation arena. SALSA partner Ride Connect Texas has contracted with the University of North Texas to conduct a ridership survey of older adults and persons with disabilities in Bexar County regarding their transportation needs. 

Your survey response is the first step! The survey responses will help us assess the San Antonio community readiness for a 1-call-1-click transportation program. 

This program would provide a single point of entry for information and referral that would allow everyone to access comprehensive and complete information on mobility services. 

This system would help to improve accessibility for users and, through data collection and sharing, would help providers and planners reduce service gaps and inform advocacy efforts. 

Want to contribute? Click here to fill out the survey. Thank you!

Jo Ann Tobias-Molina serves as Coordinator with the San Antonio Area Foundation’s Successfully Aging and Living in San Antonio (SALSA) Program.