Core Council Looks to the Future

Core Council wrapped up its final Phase II meeting with renewed commitment to playing a leadership role in keeping the CCFL vision alive in the community and driving progress on the recommendations that have emerged from the CCFL work groups. They discussed key components that need to be in place, including a leadership structure, organizational roles, staffing requirements, and other supports, and agreed to meet again early in the new year to move forward on the implementation process.

Core Council members also discussed ways they plan to cascade the learnings of CCFL within their organizations, ranging from making internal presentations to staff, committees and constituencies to embedding the learning in their curricula and strategic planning processes. Both the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan committed to continuing in a planning/coordinating role. In the short term, they will be developing a user-friendly final report and other resources to help communicate the CCFL vision and recommendations.

CCFL Meeting Dates

For a complete listing of all upcoming CCFL meeting dates click here.

Learning Opportunities

Click here for a listing of upcoming forums and conferences throughout the region.

Michigan Communities To Be "Certified" as Elder Friendly

Representatives from across the state heard about plans in Michigan to encourage communities to become ãcertifiedä as elder friendly at the Michigan Elder Friendly Community State Assembly held November 29 in East Lansing. To advance this effort, the day-long State Assembly hosted presentations about Michigan communities presently working to improve the quality of life for older adults.

Sponsored by the Michigan Vital Aging Think Tank and the MSU Community Vitality Program, the assembly enabled communities to network, share their experiences in planning for elder friendly communities, and learn from each other. Creating Community for a Lifetime partner Nora Barkey of the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan delivered the opening presentation. Read more...

White House Conference on Aging: Setting National Priorities

Delegates from across the country ö including Suzann Ogland-Hand, PhD, Director of the Center for Senior Care at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Grand Rapids ö met last month to help set national aging policy priorities for the next decade. The 1,200 delegates to the White House Conference on Aging, held December 11-14, 2005 in Washington D.C., selected 50 key aging resolutions, narrowing them down to 10 priorities to be presented to President Bush and the Congress in a final report.

Ogland-Hand, a member of the CCFL Access to Health Care work group, spoke at the conference about the need for education for health professionals to help them prepare to treat an increasing number of older adults. She also addressed the high price we pay for failing to treat depression in older adults. As Creating Community for a Lifetime finalizes our recommendations, it is encouraging to note that we share many of the concerns and priorities expressed by the WHCoA. Read more...

CCFL New Yearâs Resolution: Check Out Blogs on Aging

One increasingly effective way to follow current dialogue on aging issues is by tracking a few relevant blogs. ãBlogä is short for ãweb logä and refers to a web site that contains dated journal entries ö the most recent first ö usually about a particular topic. Entries contain commentary and links to other web sites; some invite feedback and comments from visitors.

Although many of the 18 million blogs on the Web consist of personal trivia and communal diatribes, increasingly these online journals contain serious analysis and discussion in a timely, ãreal-timeä fashion. For example, Civic Ventures, Inc. sponsors the blog, Age of Innovation: Realizing the Experience Dividend. Blogger David Bank, director of the Civic Ventures Institute, comments weekly on issues ranging from media coverage of the boomers to his recent thought-provoking coverage of the White House Conference on Aging. Read more...

The Calgary Experience: Older Adults Define and Lead Grass Roots Efforts to Build Elder Friendly Neighborhoods

In one Calgary neighborhood, Cantonese and Vietnamese speaking elders reported that they experienced difficulties obtaining services, encountering frustrating communications barriers along the way.

In another neighborhood, older adults realized that many of their neighbors who were eligible to receive provincial ãspecial needsä funds did not know how to apply for them. They also noted the lack of subsidized housing for seniors in their part of the city.

Across town, older adults in another neighborhood sensed the need to build their leadership capacity.

Each of these neighborhood discussions was initiated and facilitated by the Calgary Elder Friendly Community Program which was spotlighted at the Michigan Elder Friendly Community State Assembly held in East Lansing in November 2005 (see Michigan Update). Now in its fifth year, the initiative provides an intriguing model of a research-based community effort to increase the well-being and quality of life for older adults living in urban neighborhoods. Read more...