A Stronger — and Older — Vermont

Vermont officials have taken multiple steps over the last year to make the state more age-friendly — part of a 10-year roadmap called Age Strong Vermont.

Among the recent actions to bolster support for older Vermonters: expanding access to Meals on Wheels, launching a new brain health campaign and beefing up a program to prevent falls. That’s according to a January 2025 progress report issued by key state agencies involved in carrying out the plan.

Over the long term, the plan emphasizes seven priorities, from making the state more affordable for older adults to expanding support for Vermont’s caregivers.

“I think that a plan like this can really reshape how we talk about aging,” says Kelly Poor, AARP Vermont associate state director for community outreach. AARP was one of many community and government organizations that provided input on the plan.

Poor says the plan will help shift the conversation around aging in a more positive direction, away from some of the negative stereotypes. “I think that that will open up a lot of opportunities for older adults to be able to thrive and remain independent and contributors in their community,” Poor adds.

Vermont was among the first states to create a multisector aging plan as the state’s population of older adults began to grow. As state officials note in the document, one in three state residents will be 60 years or older by 2030.

Angela Smith-Dieng, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, says other state agencies are now working to fold the goals of Age Strong VT into their own work, demonstrating the power of collective impact.

“You can’t have good social connection without transportation, and you can’t have health and well-being without affordability,” Smith-Dieng says. “And so, this plan is bringing together all the players, all the policy ideas and all the strategies in one place.”

For this year, she says, “We’re really focusing on the key goal areas of affordability and housing because those are two areas where there’s a lot of momentum right now.”

Poor says one innovative project now in the works will aim to help strengthen social connections.

“For the first time ever, we have a provider that’s going to be offering intergenerational programming,” with an adult day center and childcare center co-located in central Vermont, she says. “I’m really excited.”

To read the report, click here. Learn more at aarp.org/vt.

—Michelle Cerulli McAdams