Vermont's Area Agencies on Aging Leverage Resources through the Vermont Aging Network Consortium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Vermont's Area Agencies on Aging Leverage Resources through the Vermont Aging Network Consortium

January 16, 2024- Vermont’s five Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) announce their new affiliation, called the Vermont Aging Network Consortium (VANC). Boards of directors from each of the AAAs have approved the affiliation.

This new consortium will positively impact the overall cost of health care by leveraging economies of scale, combining resources, and reducing duplication within the community-provider network of home- and community-based services. A focus on establishing future contracts with payers and healthcare systems is expected to further enhance financial sustainability for aging services as they evolve.

The Vermont Aging Network Consortium will be a separate nonprofit entity within which the individual AAAs will remain active and independent nonprofits as they continue to serve clients in their communities. It will help the AAAs create a sustainable financial model of service by leveraging their strengths, their buying power, and their high-quality systems of service. The AAAs trade association, the Vermont Association of Agencies on Aging (V4A) will continue to separately serve as the lobbying, advocacy, and educational organization for the AAAs.

“We are coming together as AAAs to ensure we are prudent financial stewards for our future, which is the central focus of all of our strategic plans. Our mission is to serve more clients in the future, with a sustainable operations model at each agency, and this is a way to help us create an efficient and integrated system to help each other do just that,” says Susan Gordon, Vermont Aging Network Consortium’s Board President.

This initiative will support the Vermont area agencies on aging as a unified entity providing a high standard of services throughout the state. It will promote the pursuit of best practices within our case management, nutrition, and caregiver support programs, to list just a few, and will strengthen the role of the AAAs as community partners in delivering critical services that reach a growing population of older Vermonters.

The leaders of the five AAAs have been diligently collaborating with their respective boards of directors to conclude agreements for the establishment of the consortium. This includes finalizing the governance structure through the formation of a new ten-member board of directors and overseeing the recruitment process for the new VANC executive.

To quote AAA Executives on their support of the new consortium:

· “In Vermont, with the second highest median age in the nation, the aging consortium squarely embraces the importance of this growing demographic sector in our state. Raising the bar on our statewide service delivery system through this affiliation is the right thing to do,” says Mark Boutwell, Executive Director of Senior Solutions, the area agency on aging for Southeastern Vermont.

· “The consortium will provide a way for the Area Agencies on Aging to build on the robust services and better meet the needs of elders in our state together. As more people are aging, the consortium will build the necessary infrastructure to further develop the goal of Vermont being the

best place to grow old with dignity and respect,” says Meg Burmeister, Executive Director of Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging.

· Jane Catton, CEO of Age Well, says, “This new entity is an exciting path forward for our agencies. We know that our ability to be the strongest possible network of service for older Vermonters is to ensure that we work closely together and leverage our strengths and our numbers, with quality service at the core of our mission.”

· “This is such an opportunity for our collective agencies to increase and enhance services to Vermont’s aging population. Twenty-four percent of Vermont’s residents are expected to be over the age of 65 by 2030, and this is an opportunity to prepare for the need so that our residents can maintain living in the setting of their choice with independence and dignity,” says Rosemary Greene, Executive Director of Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging.

· John Mandeville, Executive Director at Central Vermont Council on Aging, says: “The creation of the Vermont Aging Network Consortium will allow its constituent members to better serve older Vermonters throughout the state. By conserving financial resources, we will be able to continue to provide our clients with high-quality services and assistance and even expand them beyond what we already offer. As Vermont's aging population is second, only to Maine it is clear that there will be even greater demands for our help in the years ahead. The consortium will help us to meet that increased demand.”

Vermont Area Agencies on Aging Media Contacts:

Age Well: Tracey Shamberger, Director of Business Development & Communications.
Phone: 802-662-5271 email: [email protected]

Central Vermont Council on Aging: Leanne Hoppe, Philanthropy and Communications Director.
Phone: 802-476-2662 email: [email protected]

Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging: Mary Ellen Reis, Director of Communications and Development. Phone: 802-748-5182 email: [email protected]

Senior Solutions: Renee Woliver, Communications and Outreach Director. Phone: 802-308-3733 email: [email protected]

Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging: Joy Mortelliti, Development and Communications Coordinator. Phone: 802-772-7824 email: [email protected]

To learn more about the Vermont Area Agencies on Aging visit:

Age Well: www.agewellvt.org

Central Vermont Council on Aging: www.cvcoa.org

Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging: www.nekcouncil.org

Senior Solutions: www.seniorsolutionsvt.org

Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging: www.svcoa.org

Vermont Association of Area Agencies on Aging: www.vermont4a.org