Creating Local Multisector Plans for Aging in Rural Communities
July 9 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am PDT
Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Start time: 9 AM Pacific | 12 PM Eastern
End time: 10 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern
Join this interactive session focused on developing local Multisector Plans for Aging (MPAs) in rural communities. Insights from The SCAN Foundation’s Rural MPA Initiative will be shared, highlighting successful strategies for engaging diverse stakeholders, creating a shared learning community, soliciting diverse community input, and forming effective workgroups. Learn about developing inclusive policies, cross-sector partnerships, and the “Rural MPA Toolkit,” designed to guide rural leaders nationwide. Participants will discuss practical steps for creating actionable MPAs, and will have the opportunity to brainstorm, network, and collaborate with peers to enhance the quality of life for older adults in their communities.
Presenters:
Megan R. Burke, LCSW, is a director for California Health and Aging Policy at The SCAN Foundation. In this role, she executes the Foundation’s public policy strategies and grantmaking to advance state and federal solutions that improve the lives of older adults, people with complex care needs, and their family caregivers. Burke has extensive experience in policy analysis, communications, and coalition building, as well as direct service in aging, family caregiving, health, and long-term services and supports. Previously, she served as senior analyst for The SCAN Foundation, prior to which she was a policy analyst for Paraquad (a Center for Independent Living in Missouri), and for the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council.
Pauline DeLange Martinez, PhD, is a researcher and community-engagement expert specializing in program and policy evaluation, cross-sector partnerships, and capacity-building to enhance the quality of life for older adults and caregivers. She leads evaluation projects at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing’s Family Caregiving Institute. In this role, she consults with the California Department of Aging on the Local Aging and Disability Action Planning grant program, providing evaluation and technical assistance to 20 counties and 12 cities statewide. Supported by The SCAN Foundation, she is developing a toolkit to help rural leaders create local MPAs, building on her previous work (2022–2023) aiding seven rural counties in California with their MPA development.