Investing in Age-friendly Sustainability

Within a decade, the U.S. population will consist of more adults over 65 than children under 18. To prepare for rapid population aging, Age-friendly Community (AFC) programs across the country are helping towns, cities, counties, and states transform their communities into great places to grow up and grow old. The members of AARP’s Network of Age-friendly States and Communities (NAFSC)—over 900 and counting—bring together local leaders and community members to develop programs that, among other aims, help make streets and sidewalks safer and more walkable, create more accessible housing and transportation options, and provide opportunities for people of all ages to participate in community life.

But alongside these successes, practitioners and thought leaders often express concerns regarding the sustainability of this work. The AFC model requires as a condition of membership that participating governments formally commit to the AFC process. However, leaders in government change and priorities shift. The concern about sustainability is often most acutely around funding, a significant obstacle particularly in an age of ever-present fiscal challenges. Yet, as Grantmakers in Aging points out, the quest for sustainability is not limited to funding.

Based on numerous conversations with academics and practitioners, as well as data from recent NAFSC annual surveys, here are some observations about factors that appear to be key to the sustainability of this agenda.

Cross-sector Collaboration

Perhaps the most significant commitment a government makes when joining the network is to foster collaboration among multiple departments around programs, policy, and planning. Indeed, the model also requires collaboration with stakeholders outside government, including a variety of for-profit and nonprofit entities and groups of older people.

While collaboration initially requires educating a broad variety of partners about the relevance of older populations to their work and establishing the initiative as a credible partner, successful investment in cross-sector AFC work reaps multiple benefits. It enhances information and knowledge exchange, minimizes duplication, more efficiently allocates and utilizes resources, achieves greater coherence in policy and program priorities, and broadens opportunities for innovation. Effective collaboration also optimizes for each sector’s strengths, while finding ways to minimize, overcome, or compensate for each sector’s weaknesses. All of these improve the public value of programs and contribute to the likelihood of their sustainability.

Leadership

The primary actors participating in an initiative shape the extent and effectiveness of collaboration, so who drives the ship is important. In the U.S., leadership of age-friendly programs has diversified substantially over time. Initially, a municipality’s Aging Department typically ran the AFC initiative and often other departments didn’t perceive its relevance to them. Today, only 17 percent of AFC initiatives are run out of aging departments. The largest percentage (19%) are now directed from the Town Manager office—which is significant for both level of leadership commitment and longevity of committed personnel. Other government units or sectors managing programs include: social services/senior centers (15%); elected officials (13%); parks and recreation (11%); planning or codes (7%); library (7%); public health (5%); communications (2%); and housing (2%).[1]

Though government departments and leadership are essential, it is not unusual to see an entity outside government (usually a nonprofit organization) and a cadre of volunteers leading AFC initiatives. According to the 2022 NAFSC member survey, 65 percent engaged volunteers on the AFC leadership team and 53 percent relied on volunteers to guide the process. Indeed, external leadership is critical to the continuity of these collaborative initiatives. That is especially true when it comes to elevating important aging issues with decision-makers. For example, outside groups and volunteers in many communities have engaged candidates for elected office in nonpartisan pre-election candidate forums, enabling them to solicit commitments on record from their future elected officials.

Spillover effects

An important contribution to the success and sustainability of AFC work is its “spillover effect,” wherein a behavioral or policy change in one environment spurs positive change in another. A study on spillover effects from the Age-Friendly Boston program discusses how age-friendly principles become embedded in formal and informal organizational processes, positively impacting the wellbeing and quality of life of residents as they age. For example, the age-friendly program conducted age- and dementia-friendly community training with the city’s library staff, which inspired some library branches to create Memory Cafes for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

The Boston study also highlights the importance of showcasing these success stories in order to bring attention to the issues and highlight opportunities for additional actions in different environments. Furthermore, at a time when demonstrating impact is paramount to sustainability, it is critical the AFC initiative find concrete ways to account for these spillover effects as significant “wins.”

One implication from spillover is that, while age-friendly programs create critical infrastructure and are significantly moving the needle, ultimately it is the age-friendly approach that is most important to sustainability. The Boston review indicates that “program continuation is only one of myriad ways an initiative creates enduring change.” The kind of enduring change that will ensure communities are prepared to serve rapidly aging populations, they suggest, results from embedding aging considerations in the processes and cultures of various stakeholders across and outside government.

Combatting Ageism

Ageism is so blatant in many societies that the World Health Organization included the Campaign to Combat Ageism as one of four action areas in their focused work for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). Messages around aging that are either shared or received by age-friendly community stakeholders have immense power to influence the way we think, feel, and act. Therefore, reorienting narratives toward positive views on aging are a key ingredient in the sustainability of age-friendly efforts.

For example, the lead organization for Age-Friendly Boston was initially called the Commission on Affairs of the Elderly. To foster a more proactive narrative around aging as continued opportunity, Age-friendly Boston renamed it the “Age Strong Commission” and launched an anti-ageism campaign centered on the theme: “How do you age strong?” NAFSC members have taken this charge to heart. By one measure of progress in overcoming age-friendly barriers, surveys indicate that creating a positive view on aging has steadily increased from 36 to 43 to 47 percent over the last three years.[2]

Well into its second decade, the age-friendly community movement continues to grow exponentially, with more towns, cities, counties and states joining the global and national networks and AFC programs becoming ever more sophisticated and effective. Yet, sustaining these efforts is a common concern. In fact, 46 percent of NAFSC members indicated their program’s top priority for 2024 was sustainability, and some are taking important steps to proactively promote the long-term viability of their efforts. Age-friendly community initiatives should double down on efforts to collaborate broadly, further diversify their leadership, encourage and account for spillover effects, and invest in language that changes the narrative on aging. These focused action areas will enable them to sustain and continue to enhance the contributions from age-friendly community initiatives.

For additional materials that build on AFC successes, see Aging Well in America: AARP’s Vision for a National Plan on Aging  and the newly updated AARP Livability Index.

[1] NAFSC 2023 member survey
[2] NAFSC member surveys, 2021-2023.