OATS

United States – October 22, 2026 -- OATS, the organization behind the Senior Planet programs, has published a five-part theory of change built on tens of thousands of classes taught to older adults who want to work, communicate, get around and care for themselves.

OATS builds its framework on classroom observation across America

The organization says the model comes from working in classrooms and community centers across the country, alongside older adults as they learn, share and create. It combines its mission and framework with the energy of its members to engineer new systems it says are shaping the future of aging.

Five assumptions link individual action to societal outcomes

First, change begins with the individual. OATS points to a developmental spark in each Senior Planet participant and a refusal to accept marginalization or premature dependency.

United States – October 21, 2026 -- OATS and Senior Planet, drawing on fifteen years of work with seniors and technology, say the United States is failing to prepare for a rapidly growing older population because of invisibility, negativity and disempowerment of older adults.

Organizations list structural failures in US elder care and employment

The organizations say the US underinvests in geriatricians and overinvests in nursing homes. They also say workers are pushed out of the workforce while still willing and able to contribute.

They describe an age-segregated society in which older and younger people rarely socialize, collaborate or create together. Public policies and social practices, they argue, have not been modernized despite what they call unprecedented growth in the share of the population that is old.