By 2035, the number of adults age 65 and older is projected to outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history. Today, there are over 1 million LGBTQ seniors, a number that will double by 2030. What are some of the top concerns of older LGBTQ adults about their long-term care needs? What groups are at greater risk for social isolation? What can communities and the housing and health-care industries do now to prepare for an aging LGBTQ population? This roundtable will give you story ideas on some of the most important and urgent aging-related issues unique to LGBTQ audiences.
Moderator: Lisa Middleton
Panelists: Nii-Quartelai Quartey, Jason Resendez
Sponsored by:
LISA MIDDLETON was elected to the Palm Springs City Council in November 2017. Representing Palm Springs, she serves on the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the Sunline Board of Directors and the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. Also representing Palm Springs, she serves on the following Coachella Valley Association of Governments Committees: Transportation, Energy & Environment and Conservation. Prior to her election, Middleton served as a member of the Palm Springs Planning Commission and as Chairwoman of the Organized Neighborhoods of Palm Springs (ONE-PS). She is a member of the boards of directors of Neighborhoods USA, the Equality California Institute and the Desert LGBTQ Center. In 2014, she was the Center’s interim executive director. Middleton retired after serving 36 years with the State Compensation Insurance Fund of the State of California. At her retirement, she was the senior vice president of internal affairs with executive responsibility for Internal Audit, Fraud Investigation, Public Records and Governance. She was a member of California’s Fraud Assessment Commission. In 2010, she chaired the commission. Middleton is a graduate of University of California Los Angeles and University of Southern California, receiving her Master in Public Administration degree from USC. She has also completed the UCLA LGBT Leadership Institute. Middleton is the first transgender person elected to a nonjudicial office in the state of California. After 13 years together, Middleton and her wife Cheryl were married in July 2013. She is the proud parent of two accomplished educators.
NII-QUARTELAI QUARTEY is senior adviser and national LGBT liaison at AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C. As strategic adviser in multicultural leadership at AARP, he is charged with deepening community engagement with LGBT organizations to better meet the needs of AARP’s LGBT members. Prior to joining AARP, he was at the American Heart Association leading an innovative national childhood obesity initiative in collaboration with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Quartey is a past board president of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and a current National Foster Youth Institute board member. A native of California, he received his doctor of education from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
JASON RESENDEZ is chief of staff of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and executive director of the LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s Coalition. He directs UsAgainstAlzheimer’s coalition building, strategic convening and patient advocacy in the Latino community. He has nearly a decade of experience developing social impact strategies and campaigns for national multicultural organizations like the League of United Latin American Citizens, UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.