Speakers
Jillian Racoosin
Deputy Executive Director,
Coalition To End Social Isolation And Loneliness (CESIL)
Vivian Nava Chellinger
Director, National & Community
Partnerships,
National Council On Aging
S. Orlene Grant
President,
Juanita C. Grant Foundation, INC
Moderator
S. Orlene Grant, RN, MSN, is the President, Founder and CEO of the Juanita C. Grant Foundation Ms. Grant is a dynamic leader in the aging field engaging with the community to convert ideas into community-based solutions. Ms. Grant is known for building partnerships with government entities and national organizations in building depth and capacity of the Foundation. She works collaboratively with community organizations, higher education, and local non-profit partners delivering programs and services to older adults. Ms. Grant is a frequent speaker and panelist at professional conferences, virtual town halls presenting at the 2020 NCOA Age + Action Conference. She has been a guest on WHUR shows the Daily Drum and Taking It To the Street as well as WUSA9 Morning Show speaking on the topics of workforce training, and scams targeting older adults. Ms. Grant received her Nursing undergraduate degree and Master’s in Community Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing from Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a graduate of the American Society on Aging 2021 Leadership Class Certificate Program and was appointed the inaugural chair of the Fairfax County Virginia Health Department’s Long Term Care Coordinating Council’s Equity in Aging and Disabilities Committee. In 2022 Ms. Grant was elected to the Alliance of Nonprofits Insurance Board of Directors. Currently, Ms. Grant is completing the Georgetown University’s Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership McCourt School of Public Policy Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program.
Jillian Racoosin
Deputy Executive Director,
Coalition To End Social Isolation
And Loneliness ( CESIL )
Jillian Racoosin, MPH (she/her) is the Deputy Executive Director of the Foundation for Social Connection and the Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness. These organizations were founded to combat the nationwide crisis of connection through advocacy, communications, research, and innovation. In her role, Jillian is responsible for leading the direction of the Coalition and the Foundation’s strategy, operations, and programs. Previously, Jillian spearheaded enterprise strategy for Force Therapeutics, a leading healthcare technology company and care management platform.
Focused on improving health outcomes, Jillian has partnered with several high-profile organizations including leading healthcare systems such as Geisinger, Mass General Brigham, Scripps Health, Health Plans including UHC and Humana, and Federal Agencies inclusive of the CDC, Administration for Community Living, and Office of the Surgeon General.
Her passion for health promotion began at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and continued to flourish at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health where she received her Masters degree. Jillian is passionate about projects that foster healthy behaviors within communities and broader populations. She envisions a more inclusive future with universal access to the support necessary to be socially engaged in society.
Vivian Nava Chellinger
Director, National & Community
Partnerships,
National Council On Aging
Vivian Nava-Schellinger, leads the National Council on Aging’s ecosystem of national and community partnerships, external engagement of NCOA’s policy priorities, and programs focused on vulnerable populations of older adults. For over a decade, Nava-Schellinger has used equity as a baseline principle of her work - whether working on large scale reimbursement programs focused on Medicare/Medicaid populations, securing funding for health literacy programs to drive Affordable Care Act (ACA) outreach in vulnerable communities, and advocating for greater health and economic security across the lifespan for underrepresented populations.
A proud Tejana, born and raised along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, Nava-Schellinger has utilized her cultural assets and legal training to efficiently and successfully merge business strategy, development, organizational management, and health equity to ensure that all communities have access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare and financial well-being. Vivian led the strategy, implementation, and rapid response work around NCOA’s COVID 19 Community Response Fund, where in summer 2020, numerous micro-grants were given to community-based organizations across the country for supplies, PPE, and food to support communities hit hardest by the pandemic. Nava-Schellinger also spearheaded the initial operational strategy around the need for a market analysis for the former NCOA National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), rendering the need for a more modernized approach to providing programs, resources, and networking opportunities to our nation’s 11,000 senior centers.
Before her tenure at the National Council on Aging (NCOA), Nava-Schellinger worked in partnership and fund development at Enroll America, an organization aimed at reaching the hard-to-reach and connecting them to health insurance under the ACA. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso (B.A. Political Science, M.S. National Security Studies), and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University (J.D.).
After nearly six years in the Washington, DC area, Vivian now resides in Phoenix, AZ, with her husband Jake, and their dogs – Fernando, Phil-Chepito, Nacho, and Domingo.
Sydney Langer
Program Officer,
Nextfifty Initiative
Sydney Langer currently works as a Program Officer at the NextFifty Initiative, a private foundation in Colorado that funds organizations and programs that support the nation’s aging population and their caregivers. As an informal caregiver herself, she advocates for supporting older adults at all stages of aging and ensuring older adults live with dignity and respect.
She has had various experiences in the non-profit sector in Denver, working in direct service, grant management, fundraising, and volunteer management.
Sydney has her B.A. in International Affairs and Spanish from University of Colorado–Boulder and a Master’s in Public Administration from University of Colorado- Denver. She serves on the boards of Latina Safehouse and Dress for Success – Denver. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering, traveling, and spending time with her family.
Resource Links
NCOA
In Spring of 2022, the NCOA Center for Benefits Access conducted a series of training workshops on the importance of our
Equity Promise, the utilization of the
BenefitsCheckUp®, a free, accessible way to search for hundreds of benefits that older adults may be eligible for, and discussions around messaging best practices and connecting to older adults in culturally responsive and innovative ways. More pilot programs, national advocacy efforts, and innovations continue to include our Equity in Aging Collaborative, Modernizing Senior Center’s Resource Center, and NCOA’s Age Well Planner. Learn more at
ncoa.org.