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.
