ABSTRACT
Community workers participated with the aged in referral and advocacy capacities and placed pressure upon service institutions to respond to client needs. Where institutionalization was the only solution to the plight of some individual aged, the transition out of the community was facilitated. While the support and positive role model provided by the community workers and the potential role of the gatekeeper could have led to improved conditions among the aged in low-income communities, the outcome conceptualized a state of dependency by the aged on community agents vigorously acting in advocacy roles. The community leadership potential of the group has been secured by their persistence and success in eliminating some housing hazardous to the community. The program’s success has been suggested in the impressionistic material presented. However, limitations of information-referral-advocacy work with the aged when adequate services to support the aged in the community are only available in restricted quantity must be confronted.
