Older people, silver dreams and age action

Tomorrow is Older People's Day. What better way to mark this than to take our place alongside dozens of organisations from across the voluntary, private and public sectors – all coming together to celebrate the lives of older people and address the challenges of our ageing society.

As the first national initiative of its kind, the Age Action Alliance aims to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged older people, prevent deprivation in later life and challenge age discrimination. We have committed to working together to improve the lives of older people and helping to transform communities into better places to grow older. Importantly, the alliance is also committed to working with older people to shape its work through an Older People's Reference Group.

At JRF, we hope to contribute our passion for evidence and engagement on issues including:

• challenging negative perceptions of older people and ageing;
• ensuring a better life for older people who need a lot of support, wherever they live, including approaches that foster mutuality and reciprocity;
• neighbourhood-based approaches to tackling loneliness across generations;
• dementia and how society needs to adjust; and
• issues around 'risk' and 'regulation' in caring relationships.

For us, the opportunities and challenges of our ageing society matter not only for today's older people but for all of us, across all generations. This is why we're working on an exciting new microsite – The new old age, launching in January 2012 – celebrating the fact that whatever our age, we can all live meaningful lives.

An ambitious and co-ordinated approach is what's needed overall – along with the aspiration and imagination that marks the Big Lottery Fund's announcement today of its new Silver Dreams Fund in partnership with the Daily Mail. This new £110 million Lottery Fund is about recognising and supporting the contribution that older people make to society every day. What a great way to mark Older People's Day!

For more information about the Alliance visit www.ageactionalliance.org.