Senior Care Community Cohort

Building the future of rural senior care

Rural communities are home to deep connection, resourcefulness, and resilience. Yet, they face growing challenges in supporting older adults — from workforce shortages to social isolation and access to care. 

AscendRural bridges innovators and rural communities to co-create scalable, real-world solutions. Our next Impact Theme focuses on senior care, and we’re inviting early-stage tech startups and community partners to join us in exploring new solutions. 

For Rural Communities: Join the Community Cohort

Bring innovation home 

Rural communities play a critical role in shaping and testing new ideas. The AscendRural Community Cohort is a select group of communities that will explore, test, and adopt solutions that strengthen rural senior care. 

As a cohort partner, your community will gain: 

  • A pathway to participate in real, funded pilots with vetted technologies  

  • A meaningful voice in shaping the direction of national technology sourcing  

  • Tools, templates, and frameworks designed specifically for innovating in rural contexts  

  • A peer network of organizations facing similar challenges and opportunities   

FAQs for community partners

  • Eligible organizations must:

    • Be a non-profit or government agency

    • Actively serve the defined population in a rural region in the United States

    • Have problems that they’re seeking to solve connected to one or more of the cohort's focus areas

    • Be open to exploring new tools, approaches, and technologies

    • Have team members who can commit a small but consistent amount of time

    • Have the desire and ability to adopt and pay for solutions that show clear value

  • No, participation in a Community Cohort is free. AscendRural covers:

    • Program facilitation

    • National technology sourcing

    • Access to tools, templates, and learning materials

    • Evaluation support

    • Initial technology costs, implementation support, and measurement for selected pilots

    If a pilot demonstrates clear value and you would like to continue, your organization would assume ongoing costs to sustain it.

  • Not automatically, but the primary goal of the cohort is to create strong, sustainable matches between rural organizations and high-potential technologies. When a strong match emerges, our intent is for it to lead to a pilot.

    Participation in the cohort gives organizations:

    • A direct pathway into pilot opportunities

    • Early exposure to promising solutions

    • A meaningful role in shaping which technologies are sourced and evaluated to solve an organization’s greatest needs

    While a pilot cannot be guaranteed for every participant, the cohort is designed to maximize the likelihood of strong matches that lead to successful, sustainable pilots.

  • AscendRural provides:

    • Facilitation of all cohort activities

    • Expert guidance on problem discovery

    • National technology sourcing

    • Evaluation and innovation frameworks

    • Access to experts and mentors

    • Pilot design and implementation coaching

    • Potential pilot facilitation and measurement

    • Opportunities to share learnings nationally

  • Depending on fit, organizations may:

    • Be matched with technologies for a facilitated pilot

    • Enter the pilot readiness queue for future opportunities

    • Continue learning through AscendRural networks

    • Connect with tech partners for direct conversations

    • Receive updates on future cohorts

    Even if you don’t find a strong fit for a pilot, your participation positions you strongly for future pilot opportunities.

  • The cohort is hosted on the AscendRural collaboration platform (Mighty Networks) and supported through:

    • Live virtual collaboration workshops

    • Asynchronous activities

    • Peer connection spaces

    • Pilot readiness tools + templates

Insights

  • Senior Care Pilot

    Press release (for technologies)

    With new program, AscendRural invites tech startups with ideas for senior care to get “rural ready.”

    Read the press release

  • Press release (for community collaborators)

    AscendRural launches new innovation program for senior care entities in central Minnesota and other rural communities across the country.

    Read the press release