Age-Friendly Listening Sessions and Questionnaires

Prior to the close of 2022, AARP Alaska received great news when Juneau, Alaska became the 734^th city to be enrolled in the AARP Network of Age Friendly States and Communities.  Juneau joins Anchorage (the 678^th city enrolled) to promote neighborhood unity and maximize opportunities for residents to be active and engaged with their neighbors, family and friends to develop a community that invites and supports the participation of older people.  Age-friendly communities improve the health and well-being of everyone, from newborns to centenarians.

Anchorage and Juneau have two years to complete community assessments and develop action plans.  Age-friendly action plans address community needs within the eight domains of livability that the World Health Organization has identified as influencing health and quality of life for older adults (you can learn more about the eight domains at aarp.org/livable).  Creating an action plan ensures that communities take the necessary steps to create a better place for residents of all ages, abilities, racial and ethnic identifications and socioeconomic levels.

The Anchorage Age-Friendly Leadership Team is now holding listening sessions to identify Anchorage residents’ preferences for the types of changes to make and how to make them. We are also distributing hard-copy and online questionnaires to gather feedback from harder-to-reach populations; those who travel to Anchorage throughout the year for healthcare, shopping or visits with family members; or, persons who may not be able to attend an in-person listening session.  This process guarantees that the age-friendly action plan will be data-driven and representative of community input.

The Anchorage Age-Friendly leadership team is seeking venues for listening sessions.  We’ve held two so far.  Several more listening sessions will take place within the next few months.  If you or a group you belong to have an interest in hosting a listening session, please let us know by contacting Patrick Curtis, AARP Alaska’s associate state director of outreach: pcurtis@aarp.org or (907) 268-7919. 

If you’re not sure if you can make a listening session or would prefer to provide written feedback, we’d love to get your input on improving Anchorage’s age-friendliness through our online questionnaires!  The full questionnaire allows an opportunity for respondents to provide more detailed input on each of the eight domains.  It is available at: https://bit.ly/full-age-friendly-questionnaire. The short questionnaire asks respondents to select just one or two domains to comment on and can be found at: https://bit.ly/short-age-friendly-questionnaire.

Both versions allow any person to share their opinions or judgements on what is needed to make Anchorage more age-friendly.    We look forward to hearing from you!