To meet the growing demand for home and community-based services for older adults, 15 states across the United States have successfully used levy funds to support local aging services. Missouri is one of states that established a levy funding source called “Senior Citizens’ Services Fund.” Passed in 1989, the state statute allows counties to seek approval from voters to levy property taxes to fund home and community-based services for residents who are 60 years and older. Currently, 54 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis have created senior levy funds.
In 2020, three of the senior levy funds (Clay, Platte, and St. Louis City) initiated work to establish the network of levy funds in the state as a formal association, Missouri Association of Levy Boards and Senior Organizations (MoALSO). MoALSO is modeled after the Missouri Association of County Developmental Disability Services which is an 84-member county board and affiliated agencies that host conferences to bring together innovative ideas to broaden perspective of member counties to Missouri and makes strong impact on legislative initiatives. Missouri is the only state at this time that is forming a formal association for its senior levy boards.
With support from a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health, MoALSO is seeking a contractor(s) to help move forward the work of developing the association and strengthening the network of senior levy funds. We are seeking proposals from qualified individuals or teams to work with the association’s executive committee to manage and facilitate:
- Hosting monthly educational sessions on best practices and governance issues.
- Developing association communications to promote the association and resources, including working with a graphic designer and website developer to develop a website.
- Developing a toolkit and other documentation that can help advocates in counties that are considering pursuing a senior levy fund.
- Responding to advocates who have expressed interest in developing a senior levy campaign. This may include presentations to community partners via Zoom or in-person and helping them connect to resources to determine their readiness for the work and next steps.
- Working with association members to respond to policy issues that are relevant for the association and older Missourians, as prioritized by association members.
Interested applicants should submit a brief proposal no later than Friday, November 19 at 5pm (Update: Accepting proposals through November 30).