Age Friendly Communities

All-Age Friendly Communities aims to address in a sustainable way the issues created by demographic change. This program supports communities to take steps to become more welcoming to residents of all ages and, in the process, more vibrant, healthy and prosperous.

Harnessing the expertise and experience of the ageing population is one of the key assets that transforms a vulnerable community into a liveable community. Encouraging the perception of older adults as community assets and civic allies requires all functions of society—including local government, community stakeholders, businesses, non-profits, philanthropists, and local media.

Older adults can participate in “asset mapping,” which can systematically “map” both what the community "needs", - for example, ways to integrate older adults into its mainstream - and what existing “assets” are already in place, including individuals of all ages, associations, businesses, and institutions. Older adults can both help with the research required to identify these assets and play key roles in implementing the solutions proposed.

Lifelong learning and participation in cultural and recreational activities are important both for older adults’ health and for communities’ quality of life and economic competitiveness. Older adults are among the most generous and impassioned patrons of arts programs. They increasingly participate in lifelong learning programs and bring a lifetime of experience to intergenerational programs.

Project Objectives:

  • • Create vibrant communities for all by supporting the development of intergenerational activities
  • • Create cohesive communities through the implementation of pilot projects targeting the social inclusion of older people within society
  • • Capture, protect and preserve cultural heritage by reinforcing the positive image of older people
  • • Ensure well-being through encouraging lifelong learning activities

Our work is underpinned by the 6 C’s

  • • Choice
  • • Control
  • • Connection
  • • Co-production
  • • Contribution
  • • Community

In practice this means we can:

  • Nurture very small (micro) community enterprises, groups and initiatives that care for or support people in their local area and offer them real choice
  • Work directly with people (who might be tagged with words like ‘disabled’ ‘older’ or ‘service user’) who decide the best way for them to get the 6 Cs is to establish their own enterprise or venture
  • Work with big organisations like councils, CCGs, charities and care providers who are passionate about the 6 Cs and want help to make them a reality

We use lots of different methods and approaches to meet the needs of our customers, including: events, scoping exercises, benchmarking, workshops, writing practical guidance or toolkits, conversations, group work and project management.