AGE-FRIENDLYNYC The Office of the Mayor The New York City Council The New York Academy of Medicine Commission Initiatives 2010-2013 www.agefriendlynyc.org The New York Academy of Medicine At the heart of urban health since 1847 building We love this Age-friendly NYC an age- I don’t I like shopping in my city! go out neighborhood because Age-friendly New York City is a collaborative effort led by the Office of the Mayor, friendly they know me. at night the New York City Council, and The New York Academy of Medicine. NYC because there I don’t want to retire The initiative seeks to make New York City a better place to grow old by is no promoting an “age-in-everything” lens across all aspects of city life. The initiative one to and do nothing. listen to lots of go with. asks the city’s public agencies, businesses, cultural, educational and religious older people I wish I knew institutions, community groups, and individuals to consider how changes to policy 11 how to skype. and practice can create a city more inclusive of older adults and more sensitive I get stuck in the middle of the street when the My mom can't climb her to their needs. light changes and cars I like meeting have to wait for me. stairs any more, and I don't know what to do about it. new people. Age-friendly NYC is one of more than 150 members of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. People over 65 ride S MTWT F S public transit only 54% 1 in 3 volunteers Under the direction of Jo Ivey Boufford and Ruth Finkelstein, the New York of the national average. is 55 years Every Academy of Medicine staffs the Age-friendly NYC initiative and serves as the day WHO’s Collaborating Center on Ageing, Globalization and Urbanization. old or older. roughly In New York State 10,000 share the 129,522 grandparents baby are responsible for data loudly grandchildren who live boomers 2 with them. turn 65 Contents 84%of people over 700,000 and will 65 say they need of NYC workers are over 55. for the A person entering the workforce 4 Age-friendly NYC Commission more time to cross today can expect to work next 19 the street. for 60 years. years. 5 Introduction BUILD ADVOCATE WORK ACROSS WORK ACROSS CITY GET STORIES COALITIONS ALL SECTORS DEPARTMENTS IN THE PRESS 6 Employment Age- friendly Grocery Guide 2011 8 Local Business Initiative BETTER Upper West Side create real 10 Neighborhoods 12 East Harlem Aging Improvement District SOUP 3 citywide change 14 Upper West Side Aging Improvement District 16 Bedford-Stuyvesant Aging Improvement District 18 Pelham Parkway Aging Improvement District 20 Colleges and Universities 22 Disaster Preparedness & Response Initiative www.agefriendlynyc.org 24 Professions @AgefriendlyNYC 26 Communications & Public Engagement Introduction ver the past five years, New York City has become an internationally recognized model and leader in creating a city where it is great to grow old. Traditionally, governments have only addressed the issues of aging through expensive Ohealth care and social services. Through the Age-friendly NYC initiative, a joint partnership between the Office of the Mayor, the New York City Council and The New York Academy of Medicine, New York has leveraged its partners across city agencies and the private sector to develop much a broader, comprehensive, creative approach to aging. From capital investment to low-cost simple fixes, the city’s streets, parks, institutions, social services, small businesses and neighborhoods have Age-friendly NYC Commission improved dramatically for the benefit of older adults and for people of all ages. The Age-friendly NYC Commission, seated in 2010, is composed of public and private sector CO-CHAIRS Jack Friedman Jacqueline Mondros EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS leaders who are dedicated to and charged with making the City a better place to grow old. The Executive Director, Queens Dean, Hunter School of Commission recognizes that older adults are the experts on their own needs and that their Gordon Campbell Chamber of Commerce Social Work Lilliam Barrios-Paoli Professor, NYU Wagner Commissioner, New York talents and skills are assets to the City. The Commission’s main strategy of working is to consult School of Public Service Helen R. Hamlin Meredith Oppenheim City Department for the older adults, test new interventions, evaluate them and disseminate if proven successful. The Main Representative, Founder & CEO, Aging Commission has applied this strategy through establishing work groups composed of commission Robin Willner International Federation Nurturemed members and city stakeholders. The accomplishments of those groups are outlined in this report. Director, Leadership on Aging, United Nations Jo Ivey Boufford Council for NYS P-TECH; Carol Raphael President, The New York Highlights include: 1,000 local businesses now better serving and attracting older customers; four Paloma Hernandez Former President and CEO, Academy of Medicine new neighborhood-level initiatives called Aging Improvement Districts and agefriendlycollege. COMMISSIONERS President & CEO, Urban Visiting Nurse Services of org, a clearinghouse of opportunities for older adults at 40+ of the city’s colleges and universities. Health Plan, Inc. New York Linda Gibbs Michael Adams Deputy Mayor, New York These innovations intersect with 59 initiatives implemented across city departments, whose Executive Director, SAGE Robert M. Kaufman Denise Scott City Health & Human progress is concurrently reported on in Age-friendly NYC: 59 Initiatives. Member of Firm, Managing Director, Services, Office of the Lois Wagh Aronstein Proskauer Local Initiatives Support Mayor This work is pioneering. New York recently won the “Best Existing Age-friendly Initiative” in the Consultant Corporation NYC Jessica Lappin Christine C. Quinn world from the International Federation on Aging, yet we have more work to do. People are living Philip Brickner Member, New York City Walter Smith Speaker, New York City longer, and birthrates are low. In New York we will soon have more people over 60 than school-aged Director of Tubercolosis Council Chancellor, Health Care Council Studies, Department of Chaplaincy children for the first time in history. The majority of leaders in our businesses, civic organizations, Community Medicine, Melissa Mark-Viverito and churches are older adults, yet most organizations do not have practices or policies that Member, New York City Mark L. Wagar Mt. Sinai Hospital encourage people to remain active as they age. Much of our housing, infrastructure, social supports, Council President, Heritage Calvin O. Butts, III Medical Systems and technology are not designed with the diversity of older New Yorkers in mind. And our social Pastor, The Abyssinian Len McNally supports have only begun to recognize NYC’s older adults are as diverse as New York as a whole. As Baptist Church Program Director, The Arthur Webb New York Community we experience this unprecedented phenomenon, the Age-friendly NYC Commission looks forward Francine Delgado Trust to partnering across the city to address these issues. For more information and updates on Age- Principal, DL Consulting friendly NYC, please visit www.agefriendlynyc.org. Edward I. Mills Linda Fried Principal Architect, Dean, Mailman School of Edward I. Mills + Public Health, Columbia Associates, Architects PC University Age-friendly NYC Accomplishments | 2010-2013 | www.agefriendlynyc.org 5 Employment Origin Key Partners Accomplishments of NYC’s workforce • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 1. In 2011, Age-friendly NYC, AARP, and The 4. In Spring 2013, the Age Smart Employer (700,000 people) • Age Smart Employer Research Advisory Panel Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co- Selection Committee, chaired by Robert 20% are 55 and older and • Age Smart Employer Selection Committee sponsored a successful symposium that Kaufman from Proskauer Rose was selected many want or need to work past traditional focused on challenges and solutions for and announced retirement age. During consultations with Press preparing for an aging workforce. older New Yorkers in 2007, several challenges 5. In Spring 2013, the Age Smart Employer to employment were identified including the “Transforming the Challenges of an Aging 2. In 2012, The New York Academy of Compendium of Strategies and Practices perceived reluctance to hire older workers, Workforce into Business Success” Medicine (NYAM) was awarded a grant from was issued and the award competition was the need for upgraded skills, the pressures AGEnda Aging & Work Blog, April 3, 2013 the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop launched. of balancing work-life issues, functional “The Age Smart Employer Awards Competition and launch a new awards program honoring limitations, and the desire for “bridge” jobs is Open” New York City employers who promote that supported a gradual transition to eventual Press Release, NYAM, May 23 2013 policies and practices that optimize the retirement. Because of the importance of multigenerational workplace as part of a “The New York Academy of Medicine Launches 21st century business strategy. older adults as workers, employment has been First Annual Age Smart Employer Awards” a focus of the Commission. Newsday, August 16 2013 3. In November 2012, the Age Smart Employer Research Advisory panel, chaired by James “Awarding Age Diversity” Plans Parrott from the Fiscal Policy Institute, Andrea Doyle, Incentive Magazine, September convened to guide the development of a The Age Smart Employer Selection Committee 17 2013 report that provides a review of current will choose up to 10 winners by October strategies and practices considered to be 2013 The Selection Committee is comprised Products age-smart. of a selection committee of business and civic leaders in New York City and chaired Compendium of Strategies and Practices can by Age-friendly NYC Commission member be found at www.agesmartemployer.com. Robert Kaufman of Proskauer Rose. Winners will be honored at a ceremony in January 2014.