AARP and the City of Tallahassee Announced Release of Age Friendly Communities Survey

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Older Tallahasseeans would like to see more home-repair services for lower-income or older adults, affordable home-health care options, more public transportation services and better job training for older adults, according to a new survey conducted by AARP and the City of Tallahassee as part of the joint AARP-Tallahassee Age-Friendly Community initiative.

“A city that is truly livable is one that ‘fits’ people of every age,” said Tallahassee City Commissioner Gil Ziffer, an early supporter of the Age-Friendly Communities initiative on the Tallahassee City Commission. “This initiative will help equip our city’s leaders now and in coming years to achieve that future.”

Ziffer and City Commissioner Nancy Miller spoke Wednesday, June 15, at a meeting of the Tallahassee Coalition on Aging at which the survey results were announced.

“As Tallahassee works toward becoming a more livable community for people of every age, it’s important to hear from residents first. This survey work, together with other research by AARP and the city, will help policy makers and community planners prepare for a community that works for everyone at every stage of life,” said Leslie Spencer, AARP Florida Associate State Director for Tallahassee, who also spoke at the event.

The survey measured residents’ opinions on eight community factors, or domains, of “livability.” The survey showed residents were most focused on improving Tallahassee in four key areas: health and wellness, transportation and streets, housing features and outdoor features and public spaces. The survey is based on 355 responses to a mail survey of residents age 50-plus in Tallahassee in late 2015. The survey is believed to be accurate within plus or minus 5.2 percent.

Sheila Salyer, manager of the Tallahassee Senior Services unit of city government, presented the findings to about 50 members of the Tallahassee Coalition on Aging, a group of public, nonprofit and private-sector organizations and private citizens serving the older population of the Capital City.

City staff and AARP next will use the survey results to inform further work on preparing the community’s long-range plans for becoming more age-friendly. Sheila Salyer of Tallahassee Senior Services, the organization leading the survey release process, says it will ask Tallahassee Active Lifelong Leaders (TALL) to help throughout the process. An open house meeting on Sept. 6, 2016, will reveal more details.

“We are excited,” said Salyer, “to see this process through. The thorough evaluative properties of this survey will help Tallahassee pave the way for not only the Capital City, but also for Florida as a whole by enlightening legislators to the need for creating Age Friendly Communities.”

Download the survey here.