With the support of Durham County and Durham City leadership, Aging Well Durham was formed by a diverse group of community volunteers and representatives from social service, public health and health care organizations in 2021. 

We were created to:

• Ensure that the Durham Comprehensive Aging Plan is kept up to date and reflects the priorities of aging adults and their families
• Coordinate implementation of the Durham Comprehensive Aging Plan
• Work in partnership with older adults, adults with disabilities, family caregivers, community-based organizations, faith-based communities, the City and County’s departments to make Durham more age-friendly, more livable, and more equitable.

Our History

Aging Well Durham is a new nonprofit with deep roots in this community. Our parent organizations are the Durham Partnership for Seniors and the Durham Partnership for Seniors and More.  

Durham Partnership for Seniors

The Durham Partnership for Seniors (DPfS) was a long-standing coalition of healthcare, public health and social service providers along with community volunteers. DPfS focused on improving the lives of older adults in Durham through advocacy, strengthening collaborations and identifying opportunities to improve quality of life. 

The Durham Partnership for Seniors served as the advisory committee for Durham County’s Home and Community Care Block Grant (HCCBG). In that role, the Partnership functioned as a resource to the Durham County Department of Social Services, by obtaining input and building consensus among older adults, care partners and providers on how to allocate HCCBG funds.

The Durham Partnership for Seniors hosted Durham’s Aging Summits. In 2019, with endorsement of Durham City and County leadership, Durham joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. The Partnership also led the effort to create this community’s first Aging Plan.

Durham Partnership for Seniors and More 

The Durham Partnership for Seniors and More (DPfS+More) was most active in 2020. Its membership included additional nonprofits and representatives from Durham’s academic institutions. The group met regularly to coordinate community efforts around telephone reassurance calls, volunteer deployment and COVID-19 information-sharing. The DPfS+More co-sponsored a successful COVID-19 education and prevention initiative that supported and deployed 25 Community Health Promoters (CHPs). This cohort of CHPs was multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-ethnic and the learning sessions were conducted simultaneously in English and Spanish. 

Emergence of Aging Well Durham 

Around the same time as the CHP COVID-19 response initiative, community-level discussion began about how Durham should move the goals of the 2019 Aging Plan forward. Through consensus, it was decided that Durham needed a new independent nonprofit that would manage the Aging Plan. Over several months, a dedicated group of individuals met to recruit board members. The volunteers also advocated to the County and City of Durham about funding the new nonprofit. 

In March 2022, Aging Well Durham’s Board of Directors under the leadership of Joyce Briggs approved the organization’s bylaws. In January 2023, Aging Well Durham hired Shelisa Howard-Martinez as the organization’s inaugural Executive Director.