speak up, show up-
advocacy for age-friendly communities
speak up, show up-
advocacy for age-friendly communities
Mary Krebs, MS, MPPM
Mary Krebs, MS, MPPM
Community Strategy Partners
Embedded Files
advocacy for age-friendly communities
Advocacy is at the heart of age-friendly community development. By building relationships, crafting clear messages, and communicating effectively, age-friendly leaders and volunteers can shape the policies, programs, and attitudes that determine how well people age in their communities. Every conversation, every letter, and every story shared moves us closer to communities where everyone can thrive — at every age.
What is considered advocacy and why should we care?
What is considered advocacy and why should we care?
Scenario - Charlotte's World
Scenario - Charlotte's World
Charlotte had been looking forward to this day for weeks. The fall foliage was at its peak, there was music in the park across the street, and her doctor had encouraged her to walk more since her hip replacement. Finally, a sunny day and the motivation to match.
"I asked a few friends to come with me, but they didn't want to deal with the street. That alone should tell you something."
At the crosswalk, Charlottet waited nearly ten minutes before a single car stopped. She stepped off the curb — but traffic coming the other direction kept moving. Stranded in the road, she watched the car that had stopped simply drive around her.
"My heart just stopped. I got myself back to the curb and waited again. Nobody stopped. I turned around and went home."
Charlotte never made it to the park that day. For her and many of her neighbors, the barrier isn't motivation or health — it's a street that wasn't designed with them in mind.
"I just wanted to hear the music and see the leaves. That shouldn't be too much to ask."
Setting the Stage for Advocacy--An Initial Reflection...
Why do you think someone would not stop at a crosswalk?
What are your first reactions to this scenario?
As an advocate what is the first thing you would address?
What are your reflections on why there might be lower numbers of older adults at the park?
Ideas - Potential Modifications for Accessibility
Raised Crosswalk
Blinking Crosswalk signs
New paint on the Crosswalk
Sitting area on both sides of the Crosswalk
Advocacy Done By Us For Us
Advocacy Done By Us For Us
One gold standard of advocacy is 'nothing for you without you' — the idea that the people most affected by a decision should have a seat at the table. Age-friendly teams are most powerful when community members aren't just the subject of advocacy, but active participants in it. That might mean organizing neighbors to weigh in on local policy, or bringing people together to shape how programs and services are designed and delivered. Even in grassroots initiatives, it's important to be intentional about inclusion — making sure that people of all abilities, backgrounds, and life experiences have a genuine voice in defining what age-friendly means in their community. The goal isn't to advocate for people. It's to advocate with them.
Relationship Building
Relationship Building
Building relationships with community partners allows for collaboration and collective action, amplifying the voices of older adults in decision-making processes.
Relationship building in community advocacy involves creating strong, trusting connections with individuals, organizations, and partners who share common goals. It’s about fostering collaboration, understanding, and mutual support. This skill is crucial because advocacy efforts are more effective when backed by united partnerships. Fostering strong relationships enables better communication, resource sharing, and coordinated actions, amplifying the impact of community advocacy work. This process also helps to build credibility and sustain long-term engagement, ensuring that efforts to create positive change are supported by a broad base of committed allies. Ultimately, strong relationships are the foundation for achieving lasting, meaningful change.
Advocacy Reflection
Who in your community has the power to move your age-friendly goals forward?
who might need some convincing — and how could you, together with your allies, help them see the bigger picture?
Click here to complete the first of three reflections in this chapter. Entering the reflection will also record your progress. Important: Complete each section before moving on to its corresponding reflection. When you return to the form, you will automatically be taken to where you last left off.
Messaging & Communication around Advocacy
Messaging & Communication around Advocacy
Crafting a powerful and effective message for community advocacy involves clarity, emotional appeal, and a strong call to action. The message should be concise, easy to understand, and focused on a specific issue or goal. Use simple language that resonates with the community’s values and experiences. Emotional appeal is crucial; stories or examples that evoke empathy or a sense of urgency can make the message more impactful. Finally, a strong call to action directs the audience on how they can contribute or get involved, making it clear what steps they should take to support the cause.
When you clearly communicate the community's needs and proposed solutions, advocacy efforts are more likely to result in meaningful change. The power of a good message lies in its ability to inspire collective action, build momentum, and sustain long-term engagement.
Effective messaging is important because it unites people around a common cause and motivates them to take action. A well-crafted message can raise awareness, influence public opinion, and garner support from key partners, including policymakers.
Activity - Align as a Team
Activity - Align as a Team
Advocacy is most powerful when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Before you craft your message, take time to align with your team and partners. The Align as a Team worksheet walks your group through four simple conversation-starters — helping you identify shared priorities, clarify each person's role, and make sure the right voices are at the table. When your team is aligned, policymakers hear one clear, consistent message.
Start the conversation with your team
What issues or advocacy goals matter most to us right now? What are we seeing or hearing in the community - from neighbors, friends, and participants in age-friendly initiatives?
Where do our priorities overlap? Whether you're here as an individual, part of a group, or representing an organization, what issues can we all get behind?
What role can each of us play? Think about what you — as an individual, group, or organization — bring to the table: relationships, time, influence, lived experience, and more.
Who else should be part of this conversation or effort? Is anyone missing who could expand our perspective or reach?
Activity - Craft a Powerful & Effective Message
Activity - Craft a Powerful & Effective Message
Crafting a strong advocacy message is a skill — and like any skill, it gets easier with practice. This worksheet walks you through eight straightforward steps, from identifying your core issue to following up after your message is delivered. To make it concrete, we'll first work through a real-world example together, then you'll have the chance to apply the same steps to your own age-friendly priority. Take it one step at a time — you may be surprised how quickly a powerful message comes together.
As you craft your message, think about these key questions:
What story will you tell and why do you believe it will resonate with key decision makers?
How do you believe it will persuade others to support your cause?
Reflective Practice in Advocacy-download.pdfSample Core Advocacy Message
Sample Core Advocacy Message
Traffic accidents near our Community Center have risen sharply over the past year — and older residents and anyone who needs a little extra time to cross the road are bearing the brunt. This is fixable. Additional pedestrian crossings, speed bumps, and clearer signage are practical, proven solutions. With the right investments, everyone in our neighborhood can get where they need to go safely and confidently. This is our community — let's make it work for all of us.
Go back to Charlotte's story above. Would it make a good Age-Friendly story to advance the core advocacy message?
Activity - Build Your Age-Friendly Story
Activity - Build Your Age-Friendly Story
Use a real-life example to help others understand why your age-friendly initiative matters.
Stories are one of the most powerful tools we have to influence change. Research shows that stories — more than facts or data — help people understand new ideas, shift perspectives, and feel connected. This tool gives you a simple formula and tips to build a story that's clear, personal, and action ready.
As you build your story, think about these key questions:
Challenge - What gets in the way of aging well in your community?
Change - What helped? - a program, activity, or shift in thinking
Impact - What changed — and whose life is better because of it?
Connection - How does this story support key advocacy goals? In the sample below, the team is advocating for funding to expand volunteer transportation to neighboring communities.
Tips to make your story meaningful:
Use your own words and speak from the heart
Be specific: name people, places, or situations
Keep it brief: aim for 1–2 minutes, at most
Sample Story
Sample Story
For many older adults in our community, not driving meant missing medical appointments, skipping the grocery store, and slowly losing touch with daily life. A small team of age-friendly volunteers decided that wasn't acceptable. With an AARP Community Challenge grant, they launched a volunteer transportation program — and what started as a conversation around a table is now a lifeline. Last year, 21 volunteers logged nearly 1,000 hours driving 28 neighbors almost 15,000 miles. That's 588 trips to doctors, grocery stores, and community connections that might otherwise have been out of reach.
Advocacy Reflection - Messaging
Advocacy Reflection - Messaging
Reflect on your experience crafting an advocacy message. How did you identify a story that resonates with key decison-makers? What community values and beliefs did you tap into to persuade others to support your cause? Click here to complete the second of three reflections in this chapter. Entering the reflection will also record your progress. Important: Complete each section before moving on to its corresponding reflection. When you return to the form, you will automatically be taken to where you last left off.
Plan Your State Advocacy Year
Plan Your State Advocacy Year
Most age-friendly advocacy happens close to home — working with local officials, organizations, and neighbors to make practical changes in your community. But some challenges are bigger than any one town can solve alone. When issues like transportation funding, housing policy, or caregiver support require legislative action, that's when state advocacy matters. By working together across communities to influence state policy, age-friendly teams can create change that reaches every older adult in Maine — not just their own backyard. Local and state advocacy aren't either/or; they work best together.
This calendar breaks down the state legislative cycle so you can plan ahead. Use this seasonal guide to see what advocacy typically looks like across the year. These tips can help your age-friendly team plan, stay connected, and act.
Key Contacts for Maine State Advocacy
AARP Maine, Noel Bonam, nbonam@aarp.org
Cabinet on Aging, Elizabeth Gattine, Elizabeth.Gattine@maine.gov
Maine Council on Aging/Caucus on Aging. Jess Fay, jfay@mainecouncilonaging.org
Advocacy Calendar (8.5 x 11 in).pdfExercising Your Advocacy Muscles
Exercising Your Advocacy Muscles
Age-Friendly Advocacy Tip Sheet (3).pdfAdvocacy Reflection - Your Commitment
Advocacy Reflection - Your Commitment
Our impact grows when each age-friendly leader and volunteer takes meaningful steps. Use the space below to identify two actions: one you can take now and one that stretches you or uses your influence in a deeper way.
What's one thing you can do this month to move your age-friendly goals forward?
Name one action you'll take in the next six months — something that pushes you a little outside your comfort zone or puts your influence to work.
Click here to complete the final reflection in this chapter and record successful completion of the Advocacy chapter. Note: Clicking will bring you back to where you left off when you completed your last reflection. When you have finished, please click "submit" to record completion of the Advocacy chapter.
Optional Resource: Policy Analysis
Optional Resource: Policy Analysis
Ever wonder what alternatives decision-makers are weighing? Want insights into the best path forward for achievable goals? Basic policy analysis can answer these questions and is a crucial skill for age-friendly community initiatives. This process helps assess existing policy alignment with the goals of your age-friendly initiative, helps to identify gaps, and facilitates proposed changes to enhance accessibility, health services, and social inclusion. It ensures that communities can effectively implement strategies that promote the well-being and quality of life for people of all ages, including older people and people living with disabilities.
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Lifelong Maine Guide: Publicity and Strategic Communication
A practical online resource covering how to craft focused, consistent messaging; develop a communication plan; tell your initiative's impact story; work with media; and design clear, accessible outreach materials. A natural next step for putting this tip sheet into action.
Maine State Department of Health & Human Services. Advocacy Resources, State of Maine, Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Aging & Disability Services
An array of resources are available to assist you in ensuring your voice is heard, knowing your rights, keeping your benefits, and making a complaint. Guardians, family members, or case managers can also use these resources to help you.
Cormac Russell. Sustainable community development: shifiting the focus from what's wrong to what's strong.
This two-page document describes a succinct guide to Community Development approaches helpful in working as an advocate in your community. By building on the strengths and capacities of the people who come to you seeking help, not only will the person be in the driver-seat when they access resources (which is critical for someone to receive help) but community will be stronger.
State Representative from your district. Find Your Acting State Legislator
Elected officials are at your service to field questions and assist with challenges experienced tby their constituents. Proactively introducing yourself and building a relationship with those in state leadership roles can be helpful in the future.
State Senator from your district. Find Your State Senator
Elected officials are at your service to field questions and assist with challenges experienced tby their constituents. Proactively introducing yourself and building a relationship with those in state leadership roles can be helpful in the future.
Meet Your Chapter Guide - Mary Krebs
Mary Krebs, MS, MPPM is the founder of Community Strategy Partners and a consulting member of the Lifelong Maine team. She has managed projects since 2012 conducting research focused on a wide variety of policy issues important to families and communities. Since 2019, Mary has served as a team member at UMass Boston's Gerontology Institute and the Collins Center for Public Management to assist over 20 municipalities in addressing challenges to livability experienced by older adults. Her passion is to develop age-friendly action planning for improved vibrant communities.
During this chapter, we reviewed key skills and a few tools for advocacy.
If you have any questions as you are going through the material, please email: lifelong@maine.edu.
The Lifelong Maine Skill Building Series was developed as part of the Community Connections project.
Funding for the project was provided through support of the Governor's Cabinet on Aging and Office of Aging and Disability Services.
We are deeply grateful for the funding and for the thought leadership provided by Elizabeth Gattine, Coordinator of the Governor's Cabinet on Aging.
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