Emerging Ideas & Solutions

Our creative ideation process led to a long list of ideas and considerations, along with four potential solutions which were identified as high potential and prioritised for testing and further development. These emerging ideas are outlined below and in more detail in the report, Ideation: Starting to explore solutions.

Community Catalyst Card

This idea emerged from exploration of the question: ‘how might we power-up Community Catalysts’

The idea involves providing those people who informally play a key role in connecting others (‘Community Catalysts’) with a card or other ‘identifier’ which would enable them to access:

• A pool of resources, support and training they can choose from to support them in their work

• A supportive network of other ‘Community Catalysts’ for support, encouragement and dieas.

• Recognition for their work

Early testing for this concept was very positive with strong support for opportunities to connect with peers across diverse communities, raise awareness of existing opportunities, and increase access to training and resources which would reduce the cost and time burden on Community Catalysts, who tend to be volunteers performing this important connector role in their own time. The card concept (as a form of ID) was also seen as a good way to support the safety and confidence of vulnerable people who might be receiving support.

Our next test for this idea is how we might make this work without bringing too much administration, structure and formality and impinging on the ability of Community Catalysts to do what they know works for their communities.

Connected Living

This idea emerged from exploration of the question: ‘how might we have housing that connects, not isolates, older people?’

This idea takes the ‘Community Catalyst’ role which occurs naturally in many communities and explores how an adapted and deliberate version could work in a range of housing situations. It could involve:

• Recruiting, ‘Community Connectors’ to play a connection role in their neighbourhood. This might be an older person, volunteer, staff member or someone else with the skills, interest and passion to take on the role.

• Resourcing and supporting them as appropriate in that context e.g. in an aged care setting they would likely be resourced by the organisation running the facility.

• Providing ongoing support, while empowering the Connector to perform their role in a way which is tailored to the specific needs of that community.

Early testing for this concept was positive, indicating that people in a range of settings saw value in and would be willing to take on this role. Testers liked the flexibility of the approach but wondered about how we would ensure that older people would feel safe to open their door, wouldn’t feel their privacy was being invaded, and how access, language and cultural barriers might be overcome. These are questions we intend to explore in a variety of contexts as a next step.

Senior Skills Transfer

This idea brings together themes and ideas which emerged from the exploration of two questions: ‘how might we create work that welcomes older people?’ and, ‘how might we elevate the visibility of older people?’

This idea connected older people who want to offer their skills, with those who would benefit from learning those skills. Similar to a traditional master / apprentice model, it could draw on a wide range of skills and operate in various contexts. Features include

• A mechanism to connect older people offering skills with those who want to develop those skills

• A supported matching and connection process

• Ongoing, supported skill transfer as appropriate to the context (e.g. supervised by an employer, school, community organisation or training institution.)

Although early testing of this idea was positive, there is much still to be worked out in this concept. Our testers felt strongly that this must be a reciprocal skill transfer which meets a real need on both sides. At the same time there was a strong desire to explore what a paid role might look like for older people sharing their skills. We would also want to explore how this concept might fit with existing aligned offerings e.g. maker spaces, men’s sheds, pianos in libraries.