AARP Asian American & Pacific Islander Media Luncheon

Article by Wun Kuen Ng

American Association for Retired Persons or AARP hosted a luncheon for over ten Asian media organizations at The Capital Grille on October 28, 2014. AARP, a United States-based non-governmental and non-partisan organization, for people who are age 50 or older, with 37 million members nation-wide is doing a community outreach to the Asian American Pacific Islander population in New York City. Making aging an active process, AARP is also an organization which has one of the strongest lobby groups in Washington D.C.

“There is a gap in our knowledge about older APPIs,” said Daphne Kwok, AARP Vice President of Multicultural Markets and Engagement for the Asian America and Pacific Islander Audience. “The demand for disaggregated data about AAPI sub-groups is critical in identifying the needs of AAPIs so that organizations like AARP, other community-based non-profits, and policymakers can address the concerns of a booming segment of our community.”

Angela Houghton, Senior Research Advisor, Multicultural Research, AARP Research, presented some statistics from a sample of 305 Asian Americans, conducted in five different languages in New York City. In her findings, the 50+ voters feel the top priority for the elected officials is to make the city age-friendly, protect consumers from fraud, support older workers, and support family caregivers. A good percentage, 47% of 50-64 year olds are somewhat likely to leave New York City upon retirement or as they age. Only thirty-seven percent feel very confident about their retirement plans. In terms of housing and utilities affordability concerns, fifty-nine percent of the renters are very concerned about being able to afford their rent in the future. Forty-four percent feel the lack of affordable housing is a major problem. Fifty-four percent are extremely concerned about their future ability to afford utilities.

With the many concerns of the aging population of the Asian American & Pacific Islander community, AARP hopes to ease the transition of retirement by getting members involved and engaged with its many programs and services.

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