Age-Friendly Blog
This blog reports on New Jersey’s expanding age-friendly movement and examines new trends and programs to improve the housing, transportation, health and social connectivity needs of older adults and the overall livability of communities in the Garden State.
Partnerships Help Communities Get Traction on Pressing Issues
“Nothing about us without us.”
That phrase – commonly used in the world of advocacy - was cited by one of the keynote speakers of the Age-Friendly Communities NJ: New Relevance
Listening to Community Labeled Key to Age-Friendly Efforts
There is no one path to becoming an age-friendly community - nor one mold to use. The age-friendly movement has footholds in urban, suburban and rural locales, sometimes encompassing a single community, other times a multi-town region. These efforts to build...
Conference Highlights Successes in Age-Friendly Movement
Looking for partners in “unlikely places” is a good way to overcome the negative views of aging that are pervasive in our culture, as well as the tendency to view older adults as “a problem” in the community rather than as a useful reservoir of wisdom and skillsets
Wider Lens Needed in Envisioning “Successful Aging”
In its advocacy work, The New Jersey Foundation for Aging routinely seeks to widen the lens that society trains on the lives and livelihoods of older adults, and the organization’s annual conference this year succeeded in doing just that, opening attendees’ eyes to the ways in which ageism is so widely normalized and internalized
Property Tax Relief Programs Could be Lost to State Budget Cuts
The loss of property tax reimbursements is just one potential blow to efforts to ensure low- and moderate-income older adults can afford to keep living independently in their own homes and apartments during this crisis. With federal and state renter protections potentially expiring, there are growing worries about widespread evictions in coming months
Four New Towns Join Diverse Age-Friendly Network
These four towns - with their varied landscapes, histories and systems of government - are alike in two important ways: Their populations are aging, and their government and civic leaders recognize the importance of using an age-friendly lens to plan for the future. With the addition of these four new community initiatives, the network now encompasses 16 communities in five counties – Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic and Union – which together have a population of more than a half million people
Age-Friendly Leaders Join in COVID-19 Response Efforts
Age-Friendly leaders have tapped into community partnerships built over the past few years, trying to formulate new strategies for keeping older adults physically and emotionally healthy in the wake of suspended social service programs, cancelled recreational activities, interrupted transportation services, and growing food insecurity
Article details how Ridgewood will plan for older residents’ needs
One of our alliance members, Age Friendly Ridgewood, has been working with residents and village leaders on developing an age-friendly vision for the community. A Feb. 27 article in northjersey.com outlined the important and forward-looking planning strategies...
Alliance leader’s OpEd on affordable housing published by nj.com
An OpEd written by Julia Stoumbos, director of aging-in-place programs for The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation and co-facilitator of North Jersey alliance of Age-Friendly Communities, was published Feb. 15 on nj.com. Here's an excerpt: Too many New Jerseyans of...
Alliance Leader OpEd on Social Isolation Published by NJ Spotlight
An OpEd written by Julia Stoumbos, director of aging-in-place programs for The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation and co-facilitator of the North Jersey Alliance of Age-Friendly Communities, was published Jan. 30 on the NJ Spotlight news site: Here's an excerpt: In...