One of the founders of the Age-Friendly NJ alliance – Renie Rich Carniol – retired from her longtime post as director of the Grotta Fund for Older Adults last month, leaving behind a legacy of progress on aging issues at the local and state levels.
Carniol was instrumental in the birth of New Jersey’s age-friendly movement, joining with Julia Stoumbos, her counterpart at The Henry & Marilyn Taub Foundation, to organize a regional conference in 2015 that served as a launching pad for many northern New Jersey towns to form age-friendly community initiatives.
The Grotta Fund, under Carniol’s stewardship, funded individual community initiatives in its catchment area of Essex, Union, Morris, Sussex and Somerset counties while also partnering with Taub to underwrite conferences, meetings, training opportunities, research studies and other educational efforts aimed at persuading New Jersey’s leaders of the value of implementing age-friendly principles and practices.
“Grotta’s role in the initial funding of age-friendly communities came from a thoughtful decision by its Advisory Council members, following a review of research on the demographic changes occurring, opportunities to advance the work of AARP’s Age-Friendly movement, and advice from the Partners for Health Foundation,” Carniol said. “We saw funding age-friendly work as an opportunity to leverage the movement’s model at an opportune time to use Grotta’s philanthropic dollars to promote and advance this work.”
Stepping into Carniol’s former role is Rebecca Weisberg, who has more than three decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, much of it concentrated in resource development and organizational strategy. Weisberg’s career has evolved from fundraising and communications in the arts and education domains into philanthropic initiatives in the social service sector.
“I am thrilled to join the Grotta Fund to continue making a meaningful difference in the quality of life for older adults,” Weisberg said. “Grotta does more than provide financial resources – the Fund is committed to systemic change in our region, encouraging decision-makers throughout the state to view their programs and services through an age-friendly lens.”
Prior to joining the Grotta Fund, Carniol had a long career as a healthcare and non-profit consultant. She served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University in the Center for Public Service, teaching non-profit management and healthcare administration and policy courses, and later as director of two philanthropic funds at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey.
“My passion is to make this world better for people to live long, healthy and meaningful lives,” Carniol said. “This has driven me to look for ways to improve access to healthcare services- in my earlier years, and my later years, to promote efforts that support and enhance aging well in our homes and communities.”
Carniol and Stoumbos, who serves as Director of Health Aging for Taub, have worked in partnership for more than a decade to engage a diverse network of nonprofit leaders, academic researchers, health and social service providers, land-use experts, aging advocates and others as they helped form Age-Friendly NJ, an alliance that is also led by New Jersey Advocates for Aging Well and the Rutgers Hub for Collaboration on Aging.
Carniol said she is proud that these partnerships laid the groundwork for significant milestones, such as New Jersey becoming the 9th state to join the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities in 2021, the adoption of the NJ Age-Friendly Blueprint three years later, and the creation last year of a state grant program to fund new age-friendly initiatives and projects.
Most profoundly, age-friendly work has raised the visibility of older adults in New Jersey – who too often were an invisible population in their communities, Carniol said.
“We have enlightened many community and state leaders, helping them to understand the significance of the 60-and-older population now being the most rapidly growing demographic group,” Carniol said. “Our expanding age-friendly movement has not only raised awareness of key concerns but also has built teams of advocates whose mission is to make New Jersey a better state for its older residents.”
Carniol points to a long and varied list of achievements that have grown out of individual age-friendly initiatives in New Jersey: improved transportation options; better walkability; increased social engagement; new intergenerational programs; improved collaborations with libraries; expanded volunteer efforts; enhanced and more broadly publicized recreation programs; the adoption of new housing options such as accessory dwelling units; and the addition of new permanent municipal staff to address safety, social and mental health needs of older residents.
Still, she pointed out, “there is much more work to be done.”
The Age-Friendly NJ alliance and a host of other stakeholders and advocates are engaged in a new campaign called Lifelong Strong New Jersey to urge the new governor and administration to draft and implement a Multi-Sector Plan for Aging, a planning tool that could lead to better cooperation across state agencies and foster more engagement among county and local governments on population aging strategies.
Weisberg, who said she is drawn to this work because of its many opportunities for strategic partnership building, said she is excited to be passed the baton.
“I look forward to learning from our partners at AFNJ, including NJAAW and The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, and building on the incredible work that Renie Carniol has accomplished to strengthen the older adult community,” Weisberg said.