The Older Americans Act established the primary vehicle for organizing and delivering community-based serviced through a coordinated system at the state level. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Older Americans Act into law on July 14, 1965. In addition to creating the Administration on Aging, it authorized grants to states for community planning and services programs, as well as for research, demonstration and training projects in the field of aging.
Later amendments to this Act added grants to the Area Agencies on Aging for local needs identification, planning, and funding of services, including but not limited to
- Nutrition programs in the community as well as for those who are homebound;
- Programs which serve Native American elders;
- Services targeted at low-income minority elders;
- Health promotion and disease prevention activities;
- In-home services for frail elders
- Those services which protect the rights of older persons such as the long term care ombudsman program.
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