Anita Altman

Altman worked to raise support for Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) as environments to organize communities with substantial senior populations. Altman believed an increasing number of seniors must be enabled “to age in place.” Altman helped execute the program concepts pioneered at Penn South, a union-sponsored, moderate-income housing co-op in Manhattan's Chelsea community, including a program with the express goal of helping senior residents to remain living in their own home. This supportive service program (SSP), mobilized the community and built partnerships between senior residents, housing management and health and social service agencies to achieve that end. With the support of the Robert Wood Foundation, the program was successfully replicated and in 1994 the New York State Legislature passed the first NORC-SSP legislation in the country, providing matching grants to an original 10 programs. This was followed in 1999 by the establishment of the New York City NORC funded by its City Council.

In 1993 Altman convened a group of authorities in related fields to address the question of domestic violence in the Jewish community. This resulted in her founding the UJA-Federation Task Force on Family Violence, which in 2001 received the New York State Governor's COURAGE award. In 2008 Altman received the Woman of Valor award from the New York Board of Rabbis for her work with the Task Force.

In 1987, Altman began working at the UJA-Federation and spearheaded the first grant proposal to fund “A Jewish Response to the AIDS Epidemic,” which helped establish training and educational programs and create service programs linking hospitals and community-based agencies. UJA-Federation became one of the five founding members of the New York AIDS Coalition, which emerged as the largest AIDS advocacy organization in New York State.

Altman served on Manhattan's Community Board 7 for ten years (1973–83) and was the co-chair of its Social and Health Care Services sub-committee for several of those years.

Altman attended the all-girls' Hunter College High School. She received a B.A. in Political Science from The City College of New York in 1967, and a Master of Professional Studies in Health Services Administration from the New School for Social Research in 1982. In 2014 Altman was awarded the City Colleges' Alumni Association's Townsend Harris medal for outstanding post-graduate achievement.

Anita Altman (born June 2, 1945) is an American social entrepreneur and city planner. She is the co-founder of ReelAbilities, America's largest film festival dedicated to showcasing films by, or about, people with disabilities. Altman is an active Jewish feminist, and a member of New York's B’Nai Jeshrun synagogue. She is the mother of Sascha Altman DuBrul, co-founder of the Icarus Project.