|
Lifelong Communities- Changing the Region from the Ground Up
The Atlanta region is experiencing the most profound demographic shift we have ever faced. By 2030, one out of every five residents will be over the age of 60, up from one in 10 today. Some counties in the region will experience over a 200% growth rate in their local older adult population. In every county the 60+ population is growing much faster than the total population. This dramatic change is both exciting and challenging. Without some significant thought and creative ideas, no community in the region will be ready.
In 2007, the Atlanta Regional Commission began to work with individual counties and cities to prepare for the rapidly growing older adult population. The goal is to transform every community in the region into a Lifelong Community— a place individuals can live throughout their lifetime and a community that provides a full range of options to residents, insuring a high quality of life for all.
ARC is committed to a process that will transform the region from the bottom up. Rather than create one regional plan that local communities implement, professionals with a wide range of expertise, older adults and caregivers form local county based partnerships. These community groups then analyze the local data, challenges and opportunities; identify priorities and implement strategies.
A wide range of stakeholders come together to understand the local impact of this unprecedented demographic shift, affecting all parts of the region. Then professionals, older adults and caregivers break into work groups to develop strategies and programs that accomplish three goals: Promote Housing and Transportation Options, Encourage Healthy Lifestyles and Expand Information and Access to Services. So far the creative work of communities has yielded new mobility management strategies, new local housing policy, analysis of local housing needs and preferences, collaborations between aging services and public health departments to increase access to flu shots and other preventive healthcare, expansion of walking clubs and other opportunities for physical activity and education and outreach about the options and benefits available to seniors in the community.
Click for Enlargement
Communities throughout the region are throwing out old ideas, overcoming long standing obstacles and putting out of the box solutions to the test.
In 2007, ARC began to form these local Lifelong Community partnerships in Cobb, Cherokee, Fayette, Douglas and Rockdale counties. In 2008, work is already underway in DeKalb and Clayton with more counties to be added in the coming weeks.
For more information about the Lifelong Communities Initiative, visit the website or call Eve Byrd at 404.463.3243.
Planner’s Book Club Announcement
Just in time for reading poolside, the masses have selected:
Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
by James Howard Kunstler
The next meeting date will be Monday, June 30. Location: TBD. Please contact Kristen Wescott at kristen_wescott@urscorp.com or 678-808-8830 for more information. |
