Session 51-E, Nov. 3, 2015
By Elise Renner
The education programming at LeadingAge conferences is innovative, up-to-date and valuable for those working in the aging-services field. This year, we chose to highlight a representative sample of continuing education sessions from the 2015 LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo in Boston, MA. This “session summary” presents the major points from session 51-E, “Creating an Age-Friendly Society.”
This presentation told the story of a journey that lasted 4 years, with the end goal of creating an age-friendly society. “Vitalocity!” is a cohesive group of multidisciplinary, experienced leaders. It offers a timely and efficient framework to help municipalities make life better for the older population. Gregor Rae, Leslie Moldow and Steve Ordahl of Vitalocity! shared their experience of transforming Apple Valley, MN, into a uniquely age-friendly city, and discussed the next steps for their company.
Background
It all began at The Innovators Summit in Colorado Springs in 2011. A few people convened as the self-proclaimed “There’s Something Missing” group. They shared a common desire to do more beyond their own individual walls and into the wider community—to “go beyond what we’re doing at the moment.” They wanted to take a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to aging in place, rooted in a non-for-profit sector but with a commercial spirit. And Vitalocity! was born. It aims to direct its focus on cities—where 5 billion are expected to reside in 2030. (The percentage of citizens aged 55-64 grew by between 77% and 110% in the 10 fastest aging U.S. cities between 2000 and 2010. Vitalocity! notes the fact that “smart cities” around the world are realizing the importance of being age-friendly, and believes that the economic and social progress in cities will hinge on the health of older people.
Vitalocity! operates on the notion of breaking stereotypes and knocking down barriers, and urges people, “Don’t just be the old folks home around the corner!” Its core principals are to design, deliver, refine and share, and it does so by creating environments that are socially and economically vibrant, integrating the well-being of all people and ages, taking age-friendly design and innovation beyond confines, and increasing government, business and public interest in the ageing population.
A Case Study: Apple Valley, MN
Vitalocity! went to Apple Valley, MN, to test out its methods. Apple Valley is described as being a “community that is welcoming,” and “a place where all can belong and contribute to make a difference.” Apple Valley is a suburban, well-planned and prosperous city that is relatively new—founded in 1974, with a median household income of $81,000 a year and a population of 50,000. Of this number, 15.5% of the population is aged 65-plus.
This provided an opportunity to lead an already self-proclaimed “age friendly” city into the future of care. The city was also extremely excited, and the project received much support and enthusiasm from city officials, especially Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland.
The project began with an active and engaging meeting at the senior center with various groups from the city, with the focus of understanding the issues of the ageing population and gaining empathy. This large group agreed on the values of infrastructure, community engagement, health and wellbeing, lifelong learning, “belongingness,” integration of all ages and support and encouragement of dreams. It ended with the accepting of all reports and recommendations by city officials, who agreed to incorporate them into the long-range planning process, as well as the generation of positive publicity through an article in the StarTribune.
Next, Vitalocity! began to move forward with its plans for the city. The 4 main focuses were housing, civic participation and employment, respect and social inclusion, and creation.
After completion of its work in Apple Valley, Vitalocity! reflected on the results. It concluded that visionary city leaders are invaluable, and that the mayor’s charisma and commitment made a huge difference. It also realized that a multidisciplinary team is essential: Local and county government, schools, business leaders, chambers of commerce, local business, clergy, religious leaders, senior centers and seniors all need to be involved. Diverse stakeholders are also essential. This includes city and county officials, school departments, not-for-profits, parks and recreation, transportation companies and affordable housing organizations.
Next time, the company agreed, it will do a few things different. For example, more time needs to be spent in the “information gathering” phase and increasing empathy to open discussion. The most important lesson, however, is the power of visual images, such as the “before” and “after” photos to galvanize approval.
The next step for Vitalocity! is to look at other cities. Some options include New York as well as Manchester and Newcastle in England.
- Elise Renner is a student at Boston University.