Coalition Building for Social Connection

Editor’s Note: ASA RISE is a six-month, equity-centered leadership program for emerging leaders of color committed to reshaping the future of aging. The Archstone Foundation, a founding funder of ASA RISE, offers named fellowship slots to California-based program fellows in support of the Archstone JEDI in Aging series—amplifying thought leadership from a California aging sector lens through ASA’s Generations Now publication.

“Social connection is as essential to our health and well-being as food, water, or shelter. When we strengthen our relationships, we are not only investing in our own health but in the health of our communities.” 

—Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General

Are you lonely?

Such a simple question can stir up so many complicated emotions. For some, a straightforward answer may be hard to come by. The 2023 Surgeon General’s report highlighted a growing epidemic of loneliness in the United States, noting that “approximately half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness.”

The terms “social isolation and loneliness” are often lumped together, but they have distinct definitions. Social isolation is a quantifiable measure of the number of relationships with which you engage, while loneliness is a more subjective feeling that arises from dissatisfaction with existing social networks and relationships. Both remain a prominent concern for older adults; experiencing one or both can contribute to adverse health impacts such as dementia, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, functional impairment and even death. As the former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated, “Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health.”

What can be done to address this epidemic of loneliness, and how can we begin to build relationships and community? The Surgeon General’s report highlights six pillars to advance social connection: 1) Strengthen Social Infrastructure in Local Communities; 2) Enact Pro-Connection Public Policies; 3) Mobilize the Health Sector; 4) Reform Digital Environments; 5) Deepen our knowledge; and 6) Cultivate a Culture of Connection. The hope was that policy makers, healthcare workers, and community members across the country could actively work through these pillars to create a more connected society.

At the University of California–San Francisco’s Social Connections and Aging Lab, our research and community efforts seek to address numbers 1) strengthen social infrastructure in local community, 5) deepen our knowledge, and 6) build a culture of connection.

The research lab, housed in the Division of Geriatrics and headed by Drs. Carla Perissinotto and Ashwin Kotwal, conducts community-based research dedicated to improving outcomes related to social isolation and loneliness among older adults. Research projects with long-standing California-based partners (such as the Curry Senior Center, Front Porch, the Institute on Aging, and more) have demonstrated the effectiveness of existing community-based interventions to increase social connection among at-risk older adults. (Read about our collaboration with the Curry Senior Center’s Peer Program here.)

This natural partnership between academia and community organizations led to the founding in 2019 of the Northern California Coalition for Social Connection at UCSF. However, due to pandemic complications, coalition activities had been on pause. In 2023, I came on board to the Social Connections and Aging Lab team to revitalize coalition efforts and manage our community-based research projects. As a recent Master of Public Health graduate who studied community-level health interventions, this opportunity to bridge the gap between academia and the community excited me. I set about structuring our coalition, reaching out to make new community connections, and relaunching our work in 2024.

Today, our coalition has more than 60 member organizations and a wider collaborative network across Northern California, including local governments, nonprofits, grassroots community initiatives, for-profit businesses, medical professionals and academics. We operate as a collaborative of community organizations seeking to address the impacts of social isolation and loneliness among older adults through unified, cross-sector action. Via quarterly meetings, focused initiatives, working groups and opportunities for connection, we work to “walk the walk”—if we increase social connection in our communities, shouldn’t we also be connected to each other?

Social connection has never been more important, along with our commitment to serving all people in our communities. As a coalition, we remain focused on our goals and values, detailed below. To learn more about our work in light of recent changes, please see our Statement of Commitment, released earlier this year.

Goals:

• Serve as a resource for evidence-based research and programming  
• Facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among programs, institutions, and other community agencies
• Increase awareness of social isolation and loneliness as critical public health issues
• Enhance social connection and resource utilization among older adults
• Advocate for funding and policies to support social connection initiatives

Values:

• Inclusivity: We foster connection by uniting institutional and community-based partners serving diverse older adult populations across Northern California. While our coalition comprises program leaders, we actively seek to represent older adults directly through community outreach and program evaluations.
• Collaboration: The Coalition promotes community building and collaboration through regular meetings, networking opportunities, shared goals and objectives, and mentorship.
• Integrity: The Coalition operates as a non-hierarchical and collaborative space for all members. All members and leadership practice transparent communication and adhere to community-set guidelines.
• Equity: As a Coalition, we strive to challenge dominant systems and structures through our words, initiatives, and community-building.

As a newcomer to the aging field, I was grateful to become a 2025 Archstone RISE Fellow. The fellowship provided me with a further understanding of aging issues and policy across the country; a growing network of colleagues interested in advancing equity across the life stage; an opportunity to create a Capstone project centering older adults in our communities; and, most importantly, a cohort of fellows that inspire me to continue this work. The ASA RISE curriculum and network helped grow my confidence in my role as a leader in the aging community, something I occasionally struggled with when first stepping into this post-grad role.

The overlap between my work with the Coalition and the Archstone Foundation, a funder of the ASA RISE Fellowship, became clear. The foundation’s pillars directly correlated with our Coalition’s work:

• Coordinated Care: In a world where so many organizations are providing valuable community services, our coalition aims to build collaboration between different systems (healthcare, community-based organizations, academia, and government agencies).
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: Through our member organizations, the coalition represents older adults in large communities across Northern California, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, rural areas, underserved racial and ethnic groups, and more.
• Capacity Building: At its core, the coalition’s purpose is to increase the capacity of our partners through collaboration and support from our growing network. Housed in the University of California–San Francisco, it is my hope that I can share our institution’s resources, expertise and power to advance the essential services provided by our community partners.

More than a year into our revitalization efforts, we are embarking on exciting initiatives, including a storytelling campaign and our first ever Social Connection Week (Oct. 6–10, 2025). The coalescence of our coalition’s efforts to host webinars, a resource fair, a community celebration, and more to advance social connection across our communities is remarkable and exciting.

I hope you will join us for some of our events, and I encourage you to build coalitions and relationships in your own community. As the world of public health is threatened, we must continue convening and forging paths ahead for the health and well-being of our communities—which can be as simple as checking in on your neighbor, connecting with an organization that supports older adults in your community, or calling up an old friend.

Nandini Singh, MPH, is a coalition director and research manager at UCSF Division of Geriatrics Social Connections and Aging Lab in San Francisco, and an Archstone RISE Fellow.

Photo caption: Singh with Dr. Carla Perissinotto, professor in UCSF’s Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, at the California Department of Aging Day of Action for the Master Plan for Aging in Sacramento, CA, Sept. 2024.