Dinah Stephens, the Age Friendly Program Manager at Seattle Human Services, is spearheading an initiative to make the city more accommodating for its senior citizens. According to a Seattle Human Services Department interview, Stephens has been with the Aging and Disability Services (ADS) division for two years, and her role involves preparing for a demographic shift where the number of older people is expected to outnumber children for the first time in US history by 2034.
Stephens, who has spent her career advocating for various human services, became interested in aging issues through a gender equity lens and it was through this interest in how systemic injustices compound over a lifetime that she sought her current role, to improve the lives of older adults while also broadening her knowledge of local government operations. "We all deserve to live in an environment where we can age with dignity and joy," Stephens told the Seattle Human Services Department’s blog.
The initiative, Age Friendly Seattle, is geared towards addressing the broad spectrum of health, economic, and social needs that come with an increasingly aging population. With the Puget Sound region expecting older adults to make up 18% of the total population by 2030 Stephens's work is not just a preemptive strike but a necessary evolution for the city's infrastructure.
Before joining the ADS division, Dinah Stephens's resume included over a decade in reproductive health care advocacy and several years consulting with non-profits aiming at political, legislative, and cultural change; she told the Seattle Human Services Department’s blog, her move to HSD was fueled by a desire to focus on supporting a demographic that's often overlooked yet integral to our social fabric these older adults.
