Stefani Zinermarman with Seniors and AARP Members
Zinerman for NY Assembly 56
Stefani Zinermarman with Seniors and AARP Members
Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman is calling for stronger protections and expanded investments for older adults across New York as part of Older Americans Month 2026. The Brooklyn legislator is backing a nearly $450 million aging investment package aimed at improving home care, transportation, housing stability, caregiver support, and other essential services that help seniors age safely within their communities. Zinerman is also advancing legislation to strengthen oversight of nursing homes and long-term care facilities through a new District Long-Term Care Ombudsperson Council Program. Drawing on decades of advocacy work in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, Zinerman said New York must prioritize policies that support healthy aging, independence, and dignity for older residents.
Assemblymember Zinerman Marks Older Americans Month With Call to Fund Aging in Community Across New York
Brooklyn legislator pushes nearly $450M aging investment package, advances ombudsperson legislation to protect residents in long-term care
BROOKLYN, NY — As Older Americans Month 2026 spotlights the theme "Champion Your Health," Assemblymember Stefani L. Zinerman (AD-56) is calling on New York State to back the slogan with serious investment, stronger protections, and a clear commitment to helping older adults age in community, not just in place.
"Older adults cannot champion their health alone," said Assemblymember Zinerman. "They cannot champion their health while waiting for home care. They cannot champion their health if they are choosing between groceries, medication, and rent. To champion the health of older adults, New York must champion the conditions that make healthy aging possible."
Zinerman, a five-year member of the Assembly Standing Committee on Aging and Deputy Majority Whip, is advancing A5006, legislation to create the District Long-Term Care Ombudsperson Council Program. The bill would coordinate volunteer ombudspersons in every Assembly district and strengthen oversight of nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
"Healthy aging is not only about preventing illness. It is about preventing neglect," Zinerman said. "No resident should be ignored, mistreated, isolated, or silenced. Families deserve to know where to turn when something does not feel right."
The Assemblymember is also backing the aging advocacy community's call for nearly $200 million in direct state investments to reduce waiting lists for meals, home care, transportation, caregiver support, and case management through the New York State Office for the Aging. When senior-relevant housing stability proposals are included, the package rises to nearly $450 million.
Stefani Zinerman with Seniors in Bed Stuy
Zinerman for NY Assembly 56
Stefani Zinermarman with Seniors and AARP Members
Stefani Zinerman with Seniors in Bed Stuy
Zinerman for NY Assembly 56
Stefani Zinermarman with Seniors and AARP Members
"Funding aging services is not charity. It is smart public policy," Zinerman said. "When we invest in community-based services, we keep older adults healthy, independent, and connected. We reduce avoidable hospitalizations. We support family caregivers. We honor the people whose labor and sacrifice built our communities."
Zinerman's record on aging began long before she entered the Assembly. In the 1990s, she served with the Community Service Society's Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). As Chief of Staff to former Councilmember Robert Cornegy, Jr., she helped expand the Age Friendly Neighborhood Initiative across Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, work that grew into Age Friendly Central Brooklyn, Inc., now a senior-led 501(c)(3) organization.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, Zinerman noted, older adults held families and neighborhoods together through redlining, foreclosure crises, deed theft, hospital closures, and displacement pressures.
"They built our communities," she said. "Now, New York must help them age well in them."
