Imagining Future Possibilities for the Marin Aging & Disability Institute

The growing aging and disability populations of Marin County, California, will soon have access to a host of integrated resources thanks to two leading nonprofits. Vivalon and Marin Center for Independent Living will establish an aging and disability advocacy and service coordination collective for Marin County. This new organization, called MADI (The Marin Aging and Disability Institute), will soon occupy and manage a campus of multiple nonprofit office spaces while simultaneously bridging communities of aging and disability services and advocacy groups and organizations. MADI will improve health and human services systems, identify and address service and advocacy gaps, and advance and accelerate existing programs and initiatives.  

Collaborative Consulting is proud to be part of this initiative in its planning stages and beyond. We worked closely with MADI to ensure the organization starts on a sound, strategic footing. Collaborative Consulting completed a discovery phase involving key stakeholder interviews, demographic and public health research, and an environmental scan of needs assessments and strategic plans involving older adults and people living with disabilities in Marin county. We’ve also helped the MADI leadership team learn from the successes of similar collaboratives, nonprofit centers, centers of excellence, nonprofit accelerators, and advocacy hubs by profiling models and best practices.

We then developed a strategic planning and prioritization tool for MADI, a Planning Matrix, which mapped and categorized dozens of identified unmet challenges in the community with MADI’s potential solutions, structures, and services. As an output of this work, we developed and presented MADI with a range of Scenarios for the Future. The scenarios showcased possibilities that MADI could deploy to connect seniors and individuals with disabilities with solutions, infrastructure, and services, either through MADI or the existing network of organizations serving older adults and people with disabilities. A version of Scenarios for the Future is embedded below and more information about our research can be found here on MADI’s website.

MADI is currently preparing to adopt and formalize what promises to be an enhanced aging and disability advocacy initiative. The goal is to expand its role and reach greater advocacy for older adults and people with disabilities in Marin.

If you are interested in how Collaborative Consulting can help your organization plan for your future, identify and act upon high potential new initiatives, and enhance your impact, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.