About Us

OWLHART (Older Women Leading Healthy Aging Research Together) is a Kansas City-based, community-led collective of women, age 45 and older, who have experienced incarceration, clinicians who provide health services to older women in the community, researchers looking for healthy aging solutions, and advocates and community members committed to building a more just and supportive world.

OWLHART is united by a commitment to dignity, equity, and community.

We work together to expand awareness, education, research, and action around the aging-related health impacts of mass incarceration and explore ways to improve the health care and health outcomes of older women in the community after incarceration.

  • Mission Statement Our mission is to advance knowledge, strengthen support systems, and amplify the voices of women whose resilience inspires us—and whose health and well-being matter.

  • Vision Statement We envision a community that celebrates fresh beginnings and new paths for women with lived experience of incarceration by cultivating services, programs, resources, and opportunities for women across the lifespan.

  • Values or Guiding Principles The values that shape our work are dignity, equity, community, and respect for lived experience.

    Look around on the site. You will find information, resources, and ways to get involved whether you are a woman with experience of incarceration, a clinician, a researcher, an advocate, or a concerned community member.

    • If you are a woman who has been incarcerated, you will find information and resources for healthy aging after incarceration and opportunities for learning, community, and empowerment. You will also find opportunities to become involved in advising on, planning, or partnering with others to create research to improve healthy aging for other women. No prior skill or experience except life experience required!
    Three women on a black background looking at the camera
    If you are a clinician, you will find learning and consultation opportunities on the priority health needs of older women with lived experience of incarceration—from their perspective. You will find pointers on how best to build trust and equity to improve health care encounters with older women with lived experience of incarceration.
    A young woman doctor talking with a patient on a hospital bed.
    If you are a researcher, you will find opportunities to partner with OWLHART members in planning and conducting research. You will find pointers on how to create respectful, responsive older women with lived experience as well as ideas about dissemination. You will be able to request consultation with OWLHART on your research ideas and get feedback on methods, problem-solving, and dissemination from women with lived experience of incarceration, and suggestions about how to collaborate with OWLHART to conduct responsive, patient-centered, community-partnered research
    A young woman researcher in a white lab coat looking at the camera
    The OWLHART project was funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award (EACB-34382). The views, statements, opinions on this website are solely the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute® (PCORI®), its Board of Governors or Methodology Committee.