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At its March annual session of 2025, the North Carolina Senior Tar Heel Legislature (NCSTHL) inducted local residents Jennifer Tolbert as delegate and Maggie Dennis as alternate for Dare County. It was an historic meeting held at the North Carolina Capital Building in the former chamber of the North Carolina House of Representatives, where the NCSTHL held some of its sessions in the formative years. House Speaker Pro Tem Mitchell Setzer spoke to encourage the work of the NCSTHL in advocacy for North Carolina’s older adults.

Tolbert is a retired United Methodist minister, nursing home chaplain and hospice chaplain. She holds a masters of divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary. A Dare County resident for six years, she enjoys spending time playing billiards at the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center and spending time with family, especially her granddaughter, Alice.

Tolbert says of her appointment to the NCSTHL, “I am honored to be meeting with our state representatives and advocating for older adults. Older adults have worked hard all their lives and lived to an age where they certainly deserve to be treated with dignity. Many of our Dare County seniors are veterans who have served their country as well. We are asking that or senior adults be provided affordable medical care, be protected from those who would prey upon them, and that they be empowered to age comfortably in their homes with proper assistance.”

Dennis is a recently retired employee of Dare County and continues her work advocating for Dare’s older adults. She has been a Dare County resident for 30 years. Besides raising her 16 year old future firefighter, she enjoys volunteering with children’s ministry, caring for her family’s four-legged fur babies and photography. In addition to being the new Dare County alternate, she is actively involved as chairperson of the Older Adult Advisory Council. Dennis welcomes any opportunity to talk with individuals, stakeholders and community groups about issues concerning older adults.

The NC Senior Tar Heel Legislature recommends these goals to the NC General Assembly for 2025-26:

1. Adult Protective Services (APS). Pass statutory changes recommended by the Adult Protective Services Improvement Design Team and provide state funding to support needed capacity to protect all vulnerable older and disabled adults across the state.

1. Senior Centers. Create and fund robust senior centers for all counties in the state, to ensure socialization and well-being, to provide information and education, to perform triage in providing appropriate assistance services, and to prevent debilitating isolation.
2. Home & Community Care Block Grant. Create policies that rebalance the system of in-home services versus institutional care, including budget appropriations to ensure continuity of home- and community-based annual services and supports to address the rising number of older adults.
3. Older Adult Housing. Alleviatethe severe housing shortage by supporting the availability of safe, affordable and accessible housing for older adults and help older adults age in place in their homes.
4. New Community-Based Services Program. Establish a funding stream of at least $2 million to be administered by the Division of Aging, outside of the constraints of the Home and Community Care Block Grant Program, that supports services allowing recipients 60-plus to live in their homes safely as long as possible.
5. Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. Strengthen the state’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program by addressing staffing concerns associated with paid ombudsman positions and defining roles and responsibilities of the Community Advisory Committee volunteers.
6. Healthcare Workforce Crisis.Address the critical shortage of healthcare workers by addressing the healthcare workforce crisis through expanded financial incentives and support for individuals pursuing careers in healthcare.
7. Nursing Home Staffing Standards. Strengthen nursing home staffing standards by adopting a state required minimum staffing standard at least equal to the current federal regulatory standard of 3.48 hours per resident.

For more information, contact Tolbert at jennifer.tolbert56@gmail.com or 571-264-4303, go to ncdhhs.gov/divisions/aging-and-adultservices/daas-councils-and-committee/nc-senior-tar-heel-legislature, or contact Allison Brown, NCSTHL public relations chair, at ncsthlpr@gmail.com or 336-940-8185.

Learn more about the Albemarle Commission’s Area Agency on Aging traditional resources at AlbemarleCommission.org.

The North Carolina Senior Tar Heel Legislature was created as a non-partisan, unicameral body by the North Carolina General Assembly with the passage of Senate bill 479 in July 1993. Its purpose is to identify the most pressing issues facing older adult adults across the state and propose legislation that will improve their quality of life to the NC General Assembly. NCSTHL is comprised of delegate and alternate representing each of the North Carolina’s 100 counties common and supported by the Area Agencies on Aging serving the states 16 service areas.

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