LeadingAge Maryland CEO is passionate about helping those who help with elderly care

Allison Roenigk Ciborowski first joined the nonprofit LeadingAge Maryland in 2018 as their director of member relations. She was promoted to CEO and president in February 2020.

As the population continues to age and the need for elderly services increases, Roenigk Ciborowski discussed a number of topics with The Daily Record including the organization’s mission, issues in the older adult sector and exciting projects coming up for the nonprofit.

Maryland Daily Record (MDR): Your career has largely been focused in the elder care sector. What first drew you to this field?

Allison Roenigk Ciborowski (ARC): My mom is a hospice nurse and I think that greatly influenced me being interested in working in health care. I think I was exposed to it at a really young age. My mom would take us to volunteer in nursing homes and hospitals to spend time with the residents and the patients. Just from a young age, I remember getting so much enjoyment out of bringing joy to other people and especially older adults.

After college, I worked in hospice admissions and just really fell in love with getting to interact with and work with older adults and people with dementia especially. So from that point on, I have just worked in the field and I think just said yes to the opportunities where I got to feel like I could make a difference.

MDR: You became the president and CEO or LeadingAge Maryland in 2020. How does the organization serve as a collective voice for nonprofit providers for older adults across the state?

ARC: Our association represents about 150 different organizations and communities that are providing housing and services and care to older Marylanders. And really when you boil it down we want our members to be able to meet their missions to provide care and services and housing for older adults so we work to stand with them and ensure that they have the information and resources they need and really it is all about relationships. Our mission is to be the trusted voice for aging in Maryland. We work to stay abreast of both national and state-level issues as well as continually connecting with members so that we understand what the real challenges and opportunities are on the ground. So to be that collective voice it is really having those relationships with state leaders, state agencies, legislators and being that trusted source of information so when they have a question or there is an issue that has come up or there is a bill they are thinking about introducing that they know they can come to us and trust the information and insight that we provide.

We work with responding to media inquiries related to stories that have to do with aging services and health care. We work closely with legislators to help educate them on different issues as they come up. Engage on a variety of different types of legislation throughout the general assembly. Engage in different regulatory revision processes. So it is really a whole host of things but really it is being that trusted voice that stakeholders, legislators, regulators, know that they can come to us and that our members feel that their voice and their needs are being shared and that they have a voice at a broader state level.

MDR: What do you enjoy the most about your job?

ARC: I think being able to help raise awareness about a cause that I am really passionate about. At the end of the day, I feel like my work is hopefully making a small difference in the world and making it a bit of a better place. I think I enjoy that every day is different. There are always new questions, new challenges, new opportunities and no one day is the same. Some days it is being a listening ear to our members if they are facing a challenge. Other days it is really digging in to try to find answers to complicated operational regulatory questions. It is always different and feeling like I am able to make a difference.

MDR: Heading into 2024, what are some issues older adult care providers face?

ARC: I think there are a few things. The first is just financial pressures, the increased cost of everything. We are all facing that especially with the holidays coming up. But everything is just more expensive and so it makes it more expensive to operate organizations. Our members can’t just pass on the increased cost to the consumer which is the older adult in a lot of cases so figuring ways to creatively be able to still provide services with those increased financial pressures is certainly a challenge.

And then (the next challenge is) the workforce. This is an incredibly rewarding field to work in but it is not always seen as desirable or attractive. There are not enough people going into social work with a focus on geriatrics or medicine and working with older adults. Our members are continually trying to recruit and retain and develop the best talent that they can but it is a challenge with so much competition in the market from other employers. Those are probably the top two.

MDR: What are some exciting endeavors/projects you have coming up for LeadingAge Maryland?

ARC: Yes there are three things I wanted to note. We received about $350,000 in grants from three different funders to develop and evaluate a training program for maintenance and property managers in affordable senior housing. This is a first-of-its-kind program that will be piloted in 16 properties in Baltimore City and County and Harford County. We are excited. We applied for that funding. We were able to get the funding so that project will run until the end of September of 2025.

I think another is just we do a lot of work to help our members create communities and services that are inclusive. One of the initiatives we started this year that was spearheaded by members was a Leaders of Color Network which is a professional networking group for senior, mid-level and emerging leaders of color and allies designed to support recruitment, retention, and professional groups of people of color in the field. Just continuing to provide that space for connection. We are exploring some potential mentoring opportunities. It is really exciting to just find ways to support our members as they embark on their own Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging journeys.

And then lastly, LeadingAge Maryland is known for our leadership development programs. We have a couple of different programs that we are running and are apart of and we are doing even more next year to add an additional program so that our members can continue to develop talent from within and have the resources to do that well, to help continue to develop their pipeline of leaders.