Reflecting and Connecting at the Annual African American Caregivers Forum

Last month, City of Seattle Aging and Disability Services (ADS), Age Friendly Seattle, and the Mayor’s Council on African American Elders cohosted the 8^th annual Legacy of Love: African American Caregivers Forum on Saturday, Nov. 1. Community members, agency partners, invited speakers, staff, and volunteers filled the Legacy Hall of the Northwest African American Museum for a day of connecting, learning, sharing, and celebrating the essential work that family caregivers do every day.

The morning may have started off with the usual cold November rain, but participants were quickly warmed up with coffee, tea, and delicious morning treats catered by Island Soul (who also catered lunch), a long-time Black-owned family business in Columbia City. This year, the forum focused on caregiver support and advocacy at the personal, local, and state levels and featured a packed agenda of musical performance, an interactive keynote session, an engaging panel discussion, and a lively community resource fair.

Mariah Roberson from The Rhapsody Project opened the event with songs and continued to share her gift of music with everyone during lunch. The Rhapsody Project is a Seattle-based music and cultural education organization with a focus on BIPOC communities and youth. Musicians and teachers like Mariah are dedicated to elevating the legacy and influences of Black culture that shaped American musical genres such as blues, jazz, fiddle tunes, gospel, and more.

One of the highlights of the day was the keynote presentation. We were truly honored to have met Dr. Claudelle Glasgow (or Dr. g), through last year’s keynote speaker. Dr. g is a poet, somatic psychologist, spiritual companion, and consultant. Her storytelling and transformative healing expand fixed ideas of embodiment, time, and place, centering the lives of queer, trans, BIPOC, and Black diasporic cultures. Her keynote weaved storytelling of her own journey as a caregiver for her mother with Alzheimer’s disease with interactive activities that got everyone up from their seats to practice grounding techniques and connect deeply with each other. Dr. g acknowledged the tremendous grief and physical and mental health toll that can come with being a caregiver, something she knows all too well. But she also reminded us to seek joy and lean into play, creativity, and self-care to strengthen ourselves and our communities.

During lunch, community members learned about locally available caregiving and aging programs at the resource fair and recorded their caregiving stories with Age Friendly staff and interns to be used for future legislative advocacy. The afternoon’s energizing panel discussion highlighted current advocacy efforts and how people can get involved. The panel was moderated by Shemekia Little, Parent Support and Family Engagement Coordinator at Atlantic Street Center, and featured:

• Myron Curry – Public art artist who creates impactful cultural art that beautifies and empowers the community. Myron shared the challenges he has overcome as a caregiver for his grandfather and gaps he is still seeing in the community.
• Cathleen MacCaul – Advocacy Director for AARP Washington State whose team recently published the 2025 Caregiving in the U.S. report, including Washington-specific data. Cathleen outlined AARP’s 2025 legislative priorities such as housing and improving dementia care.
• Pamela Williams – Assistant State Long-Term Care Ombudsman; Chair of the Mayor’s Council on African American Elders. Pamela described the role of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman in supporting caregivers and provided examples of how they can help.
• Rhonda Goodrich – City of Seattle Case Manager for Medicaid Alternative Care and Tailored Supports for Older Adults (MAC/TSOA) programs in South King County. Rhonda shared the power of prioritizing caregiver stories to influence change.

Thank you to Mary Pearson, ADS Director, for emceeing the forum and our ADS and Age Friendly Seattle staff and interns for organizing a lively gathering filled with joy, laugher, and connection. Thank you, AARP, for once again sponsoring the event. Finally, our sincerest gratitude goes to the speakers for courageously sharing their stories and wisdom; for the community members who not only showed up but engaged in thoughtful dialogue and shared personal experiences that added so much depth and nuances to the discussion; and for the following agencies for sharing resources at the forum and tirelessly supporting older adults and caregivers in the community!

• African American Elder’s Program
• Nolia Health
• AARP
• African American Reach and Teach Health Ministry
• Alzheimer’s Association
• Seattle Public Library
• Washington State Long-Term Care Ombudsman
• Sound Generations
• National Council of Negro Women Seattle Chapter

One community member summarized the day beautifully: “It felt like we were sitting at the dinner table talking.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Sherry Wu (she/her) is a Senior Planner with Aging and Disability Services, the Area Agency on Aging for Seattle/King County. In this role, she supports the Family Caregiver Support Program and the AAA’s brain health and dementia initiatives.