Finding the Right Fit:
Age-Friendly Community Planning
Finding the Right Fit
Age-Friendly Community Planning
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Presenters
 Dr. Margaret Denton, McMaster University
 Amanda Peters, McMaster University
 Ruth Wilford, Lakehead University
 Dr. Mary McGeown, Lakehead University
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Outline of Presentation
 Age-friendly Cities and Communities
 What is happening in Ontario today
 What is the Government of Ontario doing to promote
age-friendly communities
 Overview of the guide Finding the Right Fit: Agefriendly Community Planning
 Lessons learned on building an age-friendly
community
 Contact Information
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Aging Seniors in Ontario:
A Demographic Imperative
 2012 1.9 Million (14.9%)
 2036 4.1 Million (25%)
Is it a Silver Tsunami or a Triumph of Our Times????
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Age-Friendly Cities & Communities (AFC)
AFC is an effective local policy
approach for responding to
demographic aging.
AFCs establish policies,
programs, services and
infrastructure that supports the
physical and social environments
designed to enable older people
to live in safety, enjoyment, good
health and well-being while
continuing to participate in
society in meaningful ways.
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Origins of the AFC Concept
Person-Environment Fit (P-E fit)
 Roots in Environmental Gerontology discipline that
suggests the ongoing relationship between people and
their physical and social environment affects their quality
of life (p-e fit).
“The goodness of fit”
 For example:
 What is the p-e fit between older adults with mobility
limitations and the public transportation system?
 What is the p-e fit between older adults who are isolated and
lonely and the number of social activities in the community
and why they are not able to attend?
8 Dimensions of an Age-Friendly City or Community
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Heart of the Guide
is the Age Friendly Checklist
 Tool for self
assessment and a map
to chart progress.
 Going beyond the
checklist is possible.
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What is Happening in Ontario Today?
 Twelve (12) Ontario communities are
members of the WHO Global Network
of Age-Friendly Cities and
Communities:
 Central Region : Welland
 West Region: London, Waterloo,
Windsor, Port Colborne,
 East Region: Ottawa, Kingston
 North Region: Thunder Bay, Sault
Ste. Marie; Francophone
Communities: Hearst, Noëlville,
Verner.

Sources: Ontario Seniors Secretariat (December
2013); MAREP AFC Communities Stories Website
 Many Communities have not begun
 Others are at various stages of the
process (26):
 Central Region : Burlington,
Mississauga, Collingwood, Halton,
Hamilton, Richmond Hill, Toronto,
Town of Caledon, York Region
 West Region: Brantford, Cambridge,
Port Colborne, Welland, Erie St
Claire, Guelph, Kitchener, Niagara
Region, Oxford County, Petrolia,
Sarnia-Lambton, Waterloo
 East Region: Kawartha Lakes ;
Halliburton Highlands,
Peterborough. Sharbot Lake Region
 North Region: Dryden, Sudbury
Leadership Varies
(based on contact information)
In many cases Public and Private are working together!
 City/ Region including (N=16)
 Community Organization (e.g. Social Planning Council; Community
Development) (N=2)
 Health Unit (e.g., District Health Unit, CCAC) (N=6)
 Seniors Group (e.g., Council on Aging, Senior Advisory Committee)
(N=5)
 University (N=1)
 Unknown (N=3)
What is the Ontario Government Doing to Promote
Age-Friendly Cities & Communities
Age-friendly communities
(AFCs) is a key component of
Ontario’s Action Plan for
Seniors
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Finding the Right Fit
Age-Friendly Community Planning
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Contents
Section 1: Background
Section 2: Using this Guide
Section 3: Age-Friendly Community
Dimensions
Section 4: Defining Local Principles
‘A society for all ages is
multigenerational. It is not
fragmented, with youths, adults
and older persons going their
separate ways. Rather, it is ageinclusive, with different
generations recognizing – and
acting upon – their commonality
of interest.’
Section 5: Custom Needs Assessment
Section 6: Developing an Action Plan
~ Kofi Annan, Secretary General
of the United Nations
Section 7: Implementation and
Evaluation
Appendix I – V, Glossary, Business Tool
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The Four Steps of the AFC Process
Section 4
Section 7
Section 5
Section 6
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Is this your community?
Community 1
Starting a local AFC
initiative
Community 2
Developing a custom
needs assessment
Community 3
- Writing an Older Adult
Plan,
-Implementing
- Evaluation
Read Sections 2 and 3 to
learn about AFC planning,
then focus on Section 4,
which presents tools for
starting a local AFC
initiative
Review the p-e fit concept
and AFC dimensions
(Sections 2 and 3) and
read Section 5 to see how
to create a custom needs
assessment.
See Section 6 and 7 for
resources about writing,
implementing and
evaluating an AFC action
plan.
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Outdoor Spaces and Public Buildings
Respect and Social Inclusion
Transportation
Civic Participation and Employment
Housing
Communication and Information
Social Participation
Community Support and Health Services
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Section 4
Step 1: Defining Local Principles
Objectives
 Create structure around local
initiative
 Determine which AFC dimensions
are most relevant to your
community
Tasks
1. Form a steering committee
2. Create guiding principles
3. Build partnerships
4. Create and age-friendly community
profile
5. Discuss priorities
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Section 5
Step 2: Custom Needs Assessments
Objectives
 Collect more detailed information
about age-friendly priorities in your
community
 Identify your community’s personenvironment (p-e-) fit
Tasks
1. Examine your tool set
2. Create a draft list of questions
3. Create person-environment question
pairs
4. Finalize the needs assessment
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Appendix III: Age-Friendly Community and Quality
of Life Instrument Studies
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Create a Draft List of Questions
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Section 6
Step 3: Developing an Action Plan
Objectives
 Lay out specific strategic actions
that address the key gaps in your
community’s p-e fit
Tasks
1. Analyze your needs assessment
data
2. Identify specific strategies that
address gaps identified by your needs
assessment
3. Compile strategies into an action
plan with specific goals and objectives
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Section 7
Step 4: Implementation and Evaluation
Objectives
 Identify primary users
 Determine the purpose of your
evaluation – summative vs.
formative
 Identify methods and measurement
 Interpret findings and make
judgments
 Develop future AFC plans
 Improve existing AFC action plan
Tasks
1. Establish a direction for monitoring
and evaluating the success of the plan
2. Determine an appropriate
monitoring mechanism
3. Specific goals and objectives
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Additional Materials
 Appendix I: Key Resources
 Glossary of Acronyms
 Is Your Business Age-Friendly?
 Reference List
COMMUNITY STORIES
Acknowledging and learning from the successes of AFC initiatives is key to
the continued success of the movement. To achieve this, the guide
highlights ten case studies (pages 18, 26, 36, 44, 49, 55, 56, 59, 64 and
66) that explore different approaches communities have taken to improve
their age-friendliness. Besides these, many community stories on the
Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP) website
(http://afc.uwaterloo.ca) discuss the positive effects that AFC planning is
having across Ontario.
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Some Lessons Learned in Moving
to an Age-friendly Community AFC
 Older adults must be involved in all stages of the process.
 To be successful, a-f initiatives must be both bottoms up and
top down (City, Region, as well as community led seniors group).
 It must involve multiple stakeholders, both public and private.
 Look for Champions or advocates to champion AFC and build alliances
 Both outside the City and Inside
 Be aware of current initiatives that may contribute to a-f (e.g. Accessibility for
Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Municipal Plans, Complete Streets, Vibrant
Communities etc.)
 Use an AFC lens to assess current policies and practices, organizations and
services.
continued
 Where is the accountability? Need a strategic older adult plan to
achieve AFC
 Need a community plan
 Municipality responsible for infrastructure & some services
 Community responsible for other aspects
 Two levels of government (City/Region) must develop an over arching
strategy
 Evaluation (need indicators, measures)
 Sustainability
 AFC initiative must be sustainable across political regimes
 AFC must be sustainable over time.
 Start up and core funding is critical.
Contact Information
McMaster
University
Waterloo
University
Lakehead
(Central & Eastern
Ontario)
(Western & Eastern
Ontario)
(Northeast/Northwest
Ontario)
Margaret Denton
mdenton@mcmaster.ca
905-525-9140 ext 23923
905-379-5099
Amanda Peters
petera8@mcmaster.ca
John Lewis
j7lewis@uwaterloo.ca
519-8884567 ext 33185
University
Mary McGeown
mmcgeown@lakeheadu.ca
807-766-7123
Mark Groulx
Mark.Groulx@gmail.com
***Content Expert on
Customized Needs
Assessments Using the
University of Waterloo
Data Base
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