Under the conditions of COVID-19 risks, older people became objects of special "care" and restrictions, faced with aggravation of social problems, manifestations of exclusion. At the same time, the response to the challenges of COVID-19was the growth of social solidarity, self-organization and mutual assistance, increased interest in the lives and problems of older people. Within the framework of public organizations, housing associations, self-organizing communities and individual initiatives, self-organization practices and public initiatives in the interests of older people began to develop in the Russian regions. These practices have different goals, scale, conditions of occurrence and prospects for development, but have received an incentive to develop due to the pandemic. The analysis of such practices in three Russian regions (Rostov, Ivanovo, Sverdlovsk regions) allows us to identify a number of typical features. In each region we meet author's creative initiatives; local practices initiated by local communities; model practices within the framework of social service institutions, culture, leisure, sports; network practices of public organizations; hybrid joint forms. The development of practices is supported by organizational, information and material state and public support. Older people act in these practices not only as recipients of assistance, but also as initiators, activists, "silver volunteers". The analysis of the nature and results of the involvement of older people in the practice of self-organization and social activity indicate the development of technologies in the Russian regions to empower older people.