Since 2018, Office for Ageing Well has been partnering with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI) in the Positive Ageing Fellowship Grants fellowship and mentoring program.

The program is available to recipients of the annual Positive Ageing Fellowship Grants, with TACSI’s coaching, mentoring and support enabling them to shape their projects to achieve sustainable, long-term outcomes that support older South Australians to age well.

Since the establishment of the fellowship and mentoring program, 27 teams across a diversity of projects have participated, expressing appreciation for the chance to work with TACSI, supported by Office for Ageing Well.

TACSI’s Brugh O’Brien, Principal – Future of Home, says TACSI values the opportunity to work with a range of community organisations in South Australia.

“They were exploring new ways for older people to connect with different generations, deepen friendships and make their voices heard on how community places and spaces were utilised,” says Brugh.

“We learnt a huge amount from the grant recipients in the fellowship and mentoring program for the 2021-22 grant round, which ended in May this year:

“Adelaide Mosque Islamic Society of Australia Inc taught TACSI about the power of storytelling and how to find ways to engage youth and connect them to the elders in their community.

“From Careship Coorong, we uncovered the challenges of rural towns and saw how they walked alongside people to surface the amazing strengths and assets of their community.

“Housing Choices South Australia showed TACSI how you can activate a group of people to transform empty rooms with blank walls into a vibrant, buzzing community space.

“Neighbourhood Node created a new verb, to ‘neighbourhood’, and we witnessed how local residents can step into leadership roles to connect and teach other locals new skills.

“Unifying Neighbourhood Intergenerational Interactions Together with You, or UNIITY for short, explored how you can support older people to go from occasional participation in activities to being a regular volunteer who’s making key decisions about the program.

“We loved walking alongside each of the grant recipients and their projects, exploring ways for the organisations to try different ideas to support older participants to have greater decision-making power in their projects,” says Brugh.

The Positive Ageing Fellowship Grants (2022-23) projects kicked off in June with five teams currently participating in the TACSI fellowship and mentoring program.

Positive Ageing Fellowship Grants are part of Office for Ageing Well Community Grants for Ageing Well program. The 2023-24 round is now open for applications from non-profit community organisations for projects that will support older South Australians, including those from diverse communities and backgrounds, to age well and be recognised for their valued contributions across their lifetime. Click here for more information