AARP in California Celebrates National Park Week!

For National Park Week 2019 (April 20-28), AARP in California is celebrating the importance of ALL parks and public spaces!

According to a recent survey conducted by AARP, 89% of adults age 50+ in California said that it is important to have parks, recreational space, or other open spaces available for use in their community. We also know that parks contribute to positive effects on one’s physical, physiological, and mental health. This is especially true for older adults, who often utilize parks and open spaces to help promote physical activity, engage in social activity, reduce stress, and support faster healing and recovery.

That is why one of AARP’s top priorities is to help improve the livability of communities by creating places where people of all ages and abilities can live healthy, independent lives, which includes access to age-friendly parks and public spaces.

Parks and public spaces that are age-friendly include features such as walkable sidewalks, safe surrounding streets, outdoor seating and shade, accessibility, and more.

To support our age-friendly parks and public spaces work, AARP provides an array of resources that community members, leaders and organizers can take advantage of and implement.

Creating Parks and Public Spaces for All Ages Workbook

This new step-by-step guide helps to assist you with collecting data, evaluating opportunities, and generating ideas on how to increase the quality and quantity of parks and outdoor spaces in your community. This FREE publication is available for you to order or download HERE.

Walk Audit Toolkit

This easy to use toolkit provides instructions and checklists for examining intersections, sidewalks, driver behavior, public safety and more. This FREE publication is available for you to order or download HERE.

AARP Livable Communities E-Newsletter

This e-newsletter provides regular updates and information on AARP tool kits, guides, how-to’s, interviews, slideshows, best practices, news and much more, as it relates to open spaces and creating livable communities overall. This FREE newsletter is available for you to subscribe to HERE.

To learn more about AARP’s work in California, follow @AARPCA (Twitter) and /aarpcalifornia (Facebook). In addition, don’t forget to learn about your local National Park Week events and offerings by clicking HERE.

#NationalParkWeek #AgeFriendlyParks