141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

292990
Creating age-friendly cities, communities and organizations: Best practices from the u.s

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 12:54 PM - 1:06 PM

Dorian Block, MS , The Division of Health Policy, The New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY
Age-friendly Cities and Communities initiatives aim to improve health outcomes by asking all stakeholders in a given place to look at their work through the lens of aging and change policy and practice to make their city or community more inclusive of older adults. This model - which requires the collaborative work of government and the private sector - is now in more than 100 cities around the world and evidence of effectiveness is growing. From street redesign to new employment policies to zoning code changes - lessons learned and best practices are increasingly important as municipalities prepare for the largest growth in the older adult population in history. This symposium highlights four applications of the age-friendly concept in the U.S. - at the city, community and organization level. Presenters come from Age-friendly Washington, D.C., Age-friendly NYC (whose leadership also provides strategic assistance to cities around the world), the Environmental Protection Agency's Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging initiative, and the Brownsville Partnership, a community development organization in one of New York's poorest neighborhoods. Presenters will focus on strategies and evidence of partnerships, programs, practices and policies which have positively impacted the health of the population each initiative aims to serve. The range in population size and initiative size amongst the presenters provide models for implementation in any U.S. community.

Learning Areas:
Other professions or practice related to public health
Program planning
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate an "age-in-everything" lens to their own institutions, communities and cities after seeing applications of the Age-friendly concept from several different parts of the U.S at several different levels. Explain how the age-friendly model creates health in communities. Describe the current state of age-friendly cities and communities in the U.S.

Keywords: Aging, Community Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have managed the Age-friendly NYC initiative in partnership with The New York Academy of Medicine, the Office of the Mayor and the City Council for the past three years. I also provide strategic assistance to governments and organizations around the U.S. and world implementing age-friendly initiatives. The New York Academy of Medicine takes on this role as the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center on Aging, Urbanization and Globalization.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.