Most age-friendly community efforts start with a core group of people who have a passion for making their community a better place to age. Since aging is a lifelong process, that means the community is better for everyone--from toddlers to centennarians. Lifelong communities typically begin with a growing awareness of the need to make it easier for older people to thrive in the community - to live healthy, active , and engaged lives. It often starts with an elected official, municipal leader, resident, or an organization recognizes a gap in the services, activites orprograms available for older residents and sees the benefits of adopting age-inclusive solutions. 

Regardless of where the idea to embrace an age-friendly approach to community development starts, the work always begins with a core team of like-minded individuals and organizations who share a vision for age-friendly. 

An effective team should include people who have different perspectives on the work ahead. This usually means including people from the municipal government, the volunteer sector, local businesses, social service providers, funders, and older residents. It’s vital to recruit residents who represent the community’s diversity. For example, if your community has a strong arts or farming community, make sure that someone on your team has ties to those groups. In most Maine communities, it is critical to include the voices of families who have lived in the community for generations as well as newcomers. We all bring different, complementary, perspectives that make our lifelong community stronger. 

Members of the core team will reach out to community leaders and organizers to create partnerships in support of lifelong goals. Although an informal, citizen-initiated group can get the age-friendly ball rolling, additional help may be needed to:

• Raise awareness in the community and among municipal officials.

• Plan the direction the initiative will take

• Recruit volunteers to help implement an action plan.

• Create and deliver a unified message.

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