Hilary Appelman

AARP is working to educate caregivers about the state’s paid family medical leave program, which has been increasing by double-digit percentages each year since 2021. It is also pushing for a comprehensive caregiver bill that would create a tax credit for family caregivers, expand respite care vouchers for middle-income families and ensure that people who leave jobs to care for family members can collect unemployment.

The new Longevity Ready Maryland multisector strategy is a 10-year plan that aims to identify and address the needs of the state's aging population. The plan emphasizes cooperation and resource sharing across government agencies, businesses and nonprofits.

AARP is urging lawmakers to pass state and federal tax credits that would help family caregivers with out-of-pockets costs.

Detroit is among the newest Michigan members of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. The city offers free memberships for residents 60 and over to its 12 recreation centers. The city of Clawson also joined the network in 2024

The Missouri Property Tax Credit provides up to $1,100 annually to homeowners and up to $750 to renters. But those amounts haven’t changed since 2008—despite rising inflation, property taxes and rent.

Ten entities in New York won AARP Community Challenge grants, totaling $96,000. The grants are part of AARP’s Livable Communities initiative; they fund quick-turnaround projects aimed at making areas more livable for people of all ages.

AARP is making a post-pandemic push to combat loneliness and social isolation by hosting a series of in-person events, including a trip to the New England Botanic Garden, ice cream socials and an outing to the Cambridge Jazz Festival. A 2023 advisory from the U.S. surgeon general declared increasing loneliness, isolation and lack of connection to be a public health crisis.

AARP Arizona’s top legislative priority this year is pushing for improvements to the state’s long-term care system. AARP is looking for volunteers to help advocate at the Legislature, as well as for Arizonans willing to share their experiences with the state’s nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

For the first time since AARP began publishing the Scorecard in 2011, more than half of Medicaid long-term care dollars nationwide for older adults and people with physical disabilities went to home- and community-based services instead of nursing homes and other institutions.

The need for family caregivers continues to rise in Washington, as the state contends with an aging population and a shortage of home care workers.