Age-Friendly Ecosystem Summit
October 8, 15, 22, and 29th, 2026
The George Washington University's Center for Aging, Health and Humanities will host the 2026 Age-Friendly Ecosystem Summit virtually this fall. This free, regional, collaborative event will be held in partnership with Age-Friendly Alexandria, Arlington, DC, Howard County, Hyattsville, Montgomery County, Orange County NC, AARP NC Coastal Region, and the Georgetown Center for Healthy Aging.
Day 1
The Invisible Workforce: Care Partners in Crisis and the Path Forward
October 8th, 1-3PM ET
Family caregivers provide an estimated $600 billion in unpaid labor annually - a number that grows each year as the oldest Boomers enter their 80s and the demand for care quietly outpaces the systems designed to support it. Yet caregiving remains largely invisible: uncompensated, undervalued, and unevenly distributed across generations, genders, and communities. This session examines the full caregiving continuum - from family and informal caregiving to the paid workforce - and asks what it will take to sustain it. Paid leave, respite care, caregiver tax credits, and direct pay models are all live policy debates in 2026, and speakers will tackle them alongside the workforce shortages, intergenerational dynamics, and community-based innovations reshaping how we think about care in America. Longevity planning cannot rest with individuals or financial institutions alone - building a care system equal to the challenge ahead requires a collective response spanning health care, employers, government, and community.
Day 2
From Age-Friendly Initiatives to Longevity-Readiness: Strategies to Navigate Challenges
October 15th, 1-3PM ET
Age-friendly initiatives - long focused on adapting environments and services for older adults - are increasingly intertwined with a broader longevity-readiness movement that asks a longer question: how do we design communities, financial systems, and health ecosystems that support people across an entire lifespan? This session takes stock of where the age-friendly movement stands, including candid updates on what's working, what hasn't, and what remains unfinished. Speakers will examine Multisector Plans for Aging - the state-led blueprints coordinating age-friendly housing, transportation, healthcare, workforce and more - now underway in more than half of U.S. states, and the real-world challenges of sustaining momentum through changing administrations, shifting priorities, and the imperative to remain nonpartisan. From demographic trends and health promotion strategies to the policy levers and innovations driving progress, this session offers both a clear-eyed assessment of the current landscape and a forward-looking blueprint for communities ready to meet the longevity challenge head-on.
Day 3
More Than Shelter: Housing, Loneliness, and Social Connection
October 22nd, 1-3PM ET
The U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic and the evidence is unambiguous: social isolation is linked to dementia, cardiovascular disease, and early death. Housing is a powerful but underutilized lever in addressing social isolation. Where we live shapes who we interact with, how often, and whether we feel embedded in community or cut off from it. This session explores the intersection of housing and loneliness across generations, examining how retrofit and prospective design, home sharing programs, and intergenerational housing models can rebuild the social fabric - while also confronting the harder edges of the crisis, including the mental health toll of isolation and the structural barriers that leave unhoused older adults with few pathways into stable, connected living. Speakers will bring research, lived experience, and on-the-ground innovation to a conversation about what communities, health systems, and policymakers must do to treat housing not just as shelter, but as infrastructure for belonging.
Day 4
Mind Matters: Prioritizing Brain Health Across the Age-Friendly Ecosystem
October 29th, 1-3PM ET
Dementia affects nearly 7 million Americans and that number is rising. Yet the conversation around brain health is expanding well beyond diagnosis and caregiving into prevention, early detection, and what it means to live well after a diagnosis. This session reflects that full picture, exploring the latest research on cognitive wellness alongside the growing movement to build dementia-friendly environments across businesses, hospitals, housing, and communities. Speakers will examine the powerful and still-underutilized connections between age-friendly and dementia-friendly initiatives, challenge persistent myths and stereotypes about cognitive decline, and elevate practical, evidence-based approaches to protecting brain health across the lifespan. This session will address what a multidisciplinary, society-wide response to prioritizing brain health looks like in policy and what it looks like in practice - from community programs combining physical activity and social engagement to the systemic changes needed to ensure that no one navigating dementia does so without support or dignity.