PARTNERS’ ACTIONS: Towards Elder-Friendly Communities

Partners Journey in Aging
Next Steps

NEXT STEPS

There is a growing imperative for a comprehensive national agenda of rethinking, retrofitting and redesigning our existing cities, housing opportunities and social services to allow people to age where they feel most comfortable, their homes and communities.

Partners for Livable Communities, a non-profit, community and economic development organization, has seen aging as a top issue facing the United States for several years. While groups like Seniors Commission and AARP have produced policy-altering reports, there are very few organizations that have actually gone into communities and taken a hands-on approach. National Association of Area Agencies on Aging has joined forces with Partners to develop a national 18-month initiative called Aging In Place.

The 18-month Aging In Place program will supply each city with resource books and tool kits to familiarize participants with the issues at hand. City Participants will focus on a comprehensive plan lead by a local issue. Each community will gain a team of local powerful stakeholders for aging issues, a demonstration project that illustrates each city’s objectives, a five-year game plan for an elder-friendly community and a chance to network in Washington DC with other aging-oriented professionals.

Technical experts in a host of fields will help design the issue at a local level and formulate a long-term vision for future Aging In Place endeavors. Through this process, Partners hopes to implement a self-sustaining and ongoing technical assistance program for communities over the next 8 to 12 years.

Two years following the Aging In Place program, Partners and N4A will publicize blueprints and raise local awareness of the opportunities and necessities presented by the senior boom.

Partners for Livable Communities and The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging have limited room for communities interested in this exciting program and seek motivated, dynamic cities to become involved.