Leadership Forum in Indianapolis

In the late fall of 1989, Partners for Livable Communities convened a national leadership forum to explore the definition of social equity and equal opportunity in the American community. The Lilly Endowment sponsored the forum in association with the Urban Center of Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis.   It was at this conference, that Partners began looking at the older adult population in America and the opportunity to explore housing, transportation and new partnerships. Partners specifically focused on the concept of “Aging in Place” as a strategy for creating a community that is more hospitable for all people, young and old alike.

 

National Endowment for the Arts

In 1993, Partners began developing its first programmatic initiative on “Aging in Place” with the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) through its Architecture and Design Program.  Partners received a grant to develop a national competition for retrofitting communities in innovative ways to accommodate “Aging in Place.”  The first part of the grant was to develop an outreach program to the design, social service, and planning communities.  A catalog of best practices on quality of life, housing, design and transportation was also published.  Through this grant, Partners developed awareness among its membership and Board that livability could be equated with the flexibility of a community to rethink its design, planning and services to accommodate older adults who wish to age in place.

Outreach Efforts

From 1995-2000, Partners continued its outreach efforts and met with representatives of AARP and the Office of Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Partners' President Robert McNulty advanced the agenda that aging in place was not only a healthcare issue; it was also a livability issue.  The healthcare community needed to join with Partners to create a mainstream movement that defined livability around an Aging in Place strategy.

To promote this concept, McNulty served as keynote speaker at the State of Indiana Governor’s Forum on Aging and the State of Kentucky’s forum on aging, and was the keynote speaker at the annual meetings of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the State Area Agencies on Aging.  McNulty became one of the first non-public health industry speakers to urge the audience to move out of a deficit mode and into an asset mode of defining Aging in Place as a civic goal.  Aging in Place can be an asset in creating a community that is more hospitable for all people including young, old, working families and people with accessibility needs.   In 1998, Partners signed a memorandum of understanding with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to work together on the issue.

In 2000, Partners turned 25 and celebrated a quarter century of pursuing livability by releasing an account of its work called Towards Livable Communities.  Neal Peirce, the nationally syndicated urban affairs columnist, wrote a column in June of 2001 on “Livability at 26 – Creative and Still Saucy.”  His column highlighted the newest definition of livability and stated that the oncoming tidal wave of older adults was destined to double to 1 in 5 Americans by 2050 as life spans lengthen.  The article quoted McNulty, who stated, “America can not have Livable Communities without radically redesigning towns and suburbs to offer housing and services for people who are no longer able or allowed to drive.”  The same year Partners also convened the Livability Coalition, a 70-member group of organizations that agreed to work together on domestic issues concerning Aging in Place.

Conference on Aging in Ellicott City, MD

In 2002, Partners developed a relationship with Richard Krieg, Executive Director of the Horizon Foundation in Columbia, MD and with Howard County, MD whose division of County Services within the County Executive’s Office has made elder services a major focus.  Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Horizon Foundation, Partners orchestrated a national leadership forum in June of 2002 to “design a blueprint for action to bring Aging in Place to the floor as a national civic agenda.”

An Aging in Place Agenda through Other Organizations

Some 15 years after beginning Partners’ work on aging, suddenly, the skies began to lift and enormous interest began to surface on an advocacy issue Partners had begun in 1989.  AARP and Fannie Mae signed a five-year, multi-million dollar joint venture on expanding housing options and financial resources to support Aging in Place across America.  AARP created a leadership forum entitled, “Livable Communities” with Aging in Place being one of their key agendas.  And the Society for Arts and Healthcare proposed a joint venture with Partners to ensure that aging, even for older adults in good health, was seen as a component of a broad health and welfare application of arts and culture for community betterment.

Federal momentum also commenced with the White House Conference on Aging in December 2005.  The Office of Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requested that consultants focus upon “Livable Communities and Aging in Place” as a frame of reference and the top 10 resolutions reflected a willingness to blend housing, mobility and health services for residents to be as independent as possible while living within their community.

The National League of Cities under their Cities in Transition Agenda has twice asked Partners to develop issues to raise Aging in Place concerns among their members.  The Surface Transportation Coalition has mounted a working group under the banner of Aging in Place/Livable Communities.  In addition, the US Environmental Protection Agency expanded its framework and is now actively working to promote the health of older adults by improving the environment.

Finally, a whole new set of terms began to appear over the last several years.  In 2002, Partners began talking about an “ageless” community where age is no barrier to safety and enjoyment, including people with special needs and older adults.  Partners believes that a livable community should have no age barriers.  Increasingly, these terms are beginning to be used in both the popular and professional press and current zoning ordinances are being altered to accept new standards.

Partners’ Aging in Place Initiative

Following the Ellicott City conference, through the auspices of the Honorable Mel Martinez, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Partners began developing a national laboratory program to work in several communities.  Partners and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) collaborated on the project and solicited the International City and County Management Association (ICMA), Governing magazine, the Surface Transportation Coalition, AARP, the AccessAbility Program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Office of Smart Growth of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to aid the two organizations in developing a broader awareness beyond the wellness agenda.

In 2004, Partners and n4a selected nine cities and began an 18-month work program.  The communities ranged from Martinsville, VA; Battle Creek, MI; Jacksonville, FL; to Rochester, NY and were as diverse in assets and challenges as they are geographically.  Partners not only supported their efforts but enhanced their understanding of how to address the issue of Aging in Place, given the other complexities and concerns facing communities across America.

In 2006, with support from MetLife Foundation, Partners, n4a collaborated with ICMA, the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities to conduct a survey of the nation’s cities and counties to determine how they were addressing the needs of their aging populations.  The report from this survey, The Maturing of America:  Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population, found that less than half of American communities have begun planning to address the needs of the exploding population of aging baby boomers.

To help those communities that have begun the journey and those yet to take the first step, Partners and n4a joined again with additional support from MetLife Foundation to produce a comprehensive toolkit, A Blueprint for Action: Developing Livable Communities for All Ages.  The Blueprint, released in May 2007, is the most comprehensive community Aging in Place guide published to date and has been well-received by Partners’ entire network of communities and organizations.

Even better, Partners and n4a took the Blueprint on the road to 12 community workshops across the country—each focused on a specific theme—where civic leaders and aging professionals discussed local needs and action. In an effort to kindle smaller steps among an array of community organizations, "JumpStart the Conversation" grants were awarded in each community where a workshop was convened. The purpose of these grants was to award innovative ideas on aging and livabilityy and provide seed money to partnering organizations to talk about what they could do together. 

The most recent component of this partnership is an Aging in Place Outreach campaign where Partners is building on the experience of the Survey, the Blueprint and the 12 workshops. During 2010, the team will launch a comprehensive outreach, media and marketing campaign compromised of a variety of elements; create an Aging in Place Resource Center; and develop a process to reach key stakeholder regarding the imperative of taking action. This outreach campaign will focus on building public awareness among key civic leaders of the opportunity the growing older demographic presents for developing more livable communities for all ages.