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Livability for All: Life Beyond Limitation
The Traverse City Aging in Community Initiative, based on the AARP Livable Communities model, is a community-wide assessment project that helped to identify assets and barriers to livability for those who live and work in the Traverse City area. While the questions were asked from the perspective of older persons, the community features and amenities surveyed were meant to benefit individuals of all ages and abilities. The Traverse City Aging in Community Assessment lead team, which included the City of Traverse City, the Disabilities Network, the Aging Institute of Michigan, the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Office of Services to the Aging and others, (www.tlcsurvey.org) took a strong person-centered planning approach when designing and implementing the community-wide assessment.
The Traverse City leadership team recognized that person-centered planning first emerged as a major component of the disability community when they began to collectively advocate for greater inclusiveness; helping to make their communities more welcoming, flexible and supportive to their interests and needs. It was also acknowledged that the very concept of ‘livability,’ which includes various aspects of community such as housing, transportation, mobility, and connectivity, had its roots in the disability movement. Project leaders observed that many environmental concepts promoted under the current umbrella of livability, such as universal design, zero step, and visitability were originally adopted from the disability community and were now being incorporated into current community planning, accessibility, and aging-in-place initiatives, including home-modification, home-improvement and new home design projects. In planning for the survey, the Aging in Community team also recognized that nearly 40% of adults, 60 years of age and older, experience some form of physical disability or sensory impairment. This demographic convergence was recognized and viewed by project leaders as increasingly important to Traverse City as we considered present interests and future needs in light of the longevity revolution. It was also noted that many assistive and adaptive technologies now emerging in the health care, home security and aging services markets were first developed and mainstreamed by the disability community. As a result of these foundational insights and sensitivities, the Traverse City Aging in Community Initiative embraced ‘life beyond limitation and caring for the generations’ as core program values, with an eye toward how these values will impact future planning for housing, transportation, personal mobility, education, social engagement and economic growth for all residents of Traverse City.
Traverse City is highly sensitive to the importance of personal connection and connection to community for all. The Traverse City: Aging in Community Initiative and the Aging Institute of Michigan were recognized as Best in the Great Lakes Region (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois) by the National Grantmakers in Aging Host Committee in Wisconsin. The Traverse City project will be showcased at the 2006 GIA national conference later this month. Grantmakers in Aging is a national affinity group of private, corporate, and community grant makers whose giving is focused on aging issues. This special recognition not only generates national visibility for Traverse City in the area of livability for all, it also creates leadership and awareness for future funding opportunities for our city and our state. |