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Mansfield Council on Aging seeks AARP age-friendly designation; plans needs assessment and five-year action cycle
Summary
Mansfield's Council on Aging announced plans to apply for AARP's Age-Friendly Community designation, outlining a five-year cycle of needs assessment, planning, implementation and review.
The Council on Aging director told the Select Board that Mansfield's COA is preparing to apply for AARP's Age-Friendly Community designation, a multi-year process that starts with a letter of interest and a community needs assessment. "We actually serve everyone in the community, not just our seniors," the director said, and added the COA already functions as a social-service hub housing the town's social worker, an outreach worker and benefits assistance (including SNAP and SHINE).
Nut graf: The designation provides a template and tools from AARP to promote healthy aging through policies, services and environments. If accepted, Mansfield would complete year 1 needs assessment, year 2 an action plan, years 3—5 implementation and year 5 an evaluation before repeating the cycle.
Details from the presentation: the COA estimated roughly 300 visits per week depending on programming; the center has already received a dementia-friendly designation and views age-friendly as a natural next step. The COA has engaged a winter intern, Addison Hart, to help draft outreach materials and will meet with the COA board to finalize application elements. The director said the planning and assessment work could be done in-house with support from the planning department and AARP tools.
Housing partnerships: board members asked whether the Housing Authority would be included. The COA said it will include the Housing Authority in the needs assessment and noted the authority recently received about $70,000 from a One Stop grant to fund a feasibility study for senior-housing expansion.
Triad and safety programs: the director described Mansfield's Triad partnership (Council on Aging, Mansfield Police, Mansfield Fire, and district/prosecutor representatives) and programs such as a medical-lockbox program, K-9 demonstrations and presentations on scams and elder abuse provided with the district attorney's office.
Ending: COA leaders asked for the board's endorsement of moving forward; board members expressed support and asked staff to help coordinate outreach and inclusion of partner agencies in the needs assessment.
