Diversity in Higher Education Programs for Older Adults

Kali Lightfoot, Executive Director of the National Resource Center for OLLIs, looks at the challenges of diversifying OLLI programs and recommends strategies to include the broader community in her essay, The Diversity Dilemma: OLLIs, Outreach, and the Underserved, available on the ACE website.

When OSHER Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLIs) began to spring up on college campuses in the early part of the decade, they were seen as a place where adults over the age of 50 could come together and learn by developing their own curricula to meet their varied interests and needs. Today, with 119 member-run OLLIs spread across 48 states and boasting a total membership of about 70,000, that vision is being realized. Yet, of those 70,000 members, most are white, financially comfortable, and college-educated.

How can a member-driven organization reach out to the older adults from different ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds?

What obstacles to diversity have you observed in your own programs?  What strategies have you developed to overcome them? We'd like to hear your point of view!
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