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Municipal Leaders
Municipal leaders can help advance EngAging Illinois by aligning existing initiatives with statewide priorities and strengthening partnerships with aging service providers, local businesses, and residents. EngAging Illinois can help.
Implementing EngAging Illinois on the Local Level
EngAging Illinois: A Comprehensive Plan for Living Well is a groundbreaking, multisector plan that positions Illinois among the first states in the nation to develop a comprehensive strategy addressing the needs of older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers.
The Plan, created from an Executive Order by Governor JB Pritzker in August 2024, establishes policy and programmatic priorities to ensure our State, counties, cities, and towns are great places to grow up AND grow old. It will help all of us — no matter where we live, how much we earn, what we look like, what we believe, or our abilities — to live well and to age with a sense of security and possibility.
With a fundamental concern for equity and inclusion, EngAging Illinois presents strategies to improve and transform services, policies, and programs critical to all of us as we get older. It reframes the way we think about aging and recognizes the important value of older adults’ experiences, insights, and contributions.
The Plan is organized around four key focus areas. Public feedback helped identify the following key focus areas, which may evolve over the months and years ahead.
1
Creating Livable and Connected Communities
Developing people-centered, physical, and social infrastructure, including:
- Innovations to facilitate aging in place
- Housing security and stability
- Transportation
- Social connection and community engagement
2
Ensuring Health for All Ages
Ensuring high-quality, age-friendly, culturally-attuned health care and prevention, including:
- Health education, promotion, and screening
- Coordinated and accessible care
3
Investing in Caregivers
Expanding investment in:
- Well-being and resources for paid and unpaid caregivers
- Cultivating a well-trained and sustainable caregiving workforce
4
Affording Aging
Working to guarantee that older adults have:
- Economic security and financial health
- Estate planning resources
- Access to long-term care support
- Freedom from fraud, neglect, and elder abuse
Help Make Your Community the Best State to Age Well
The EngAging Illinois multisector plan for aging provides a statewide framework to ensure Illinois residents can live healthy, connected, and financially secure lives as they age. While the plan is coordinated by the Illinois Department on Aging, municipal leaders play a key role because many factors that shape how we get older — health, housing, transportation, public spaces, and community engagement — are managed locally.
Get Involved
- Review the Plan
What are your city, town, village or community’s priorities? How do they reflect the strategies and actions in EngAging Illinois? Are you interested in pursuing an Age-Friendly or Dementia Friendly designation? The Plan is filled with actionable ideas! - Start the Conversation
Convene local partners – a multisector group of government agencies, community organizations, businesses, healthcare providers, housing and transportation leaders, and older residents — to discuss how your community can align with the Engaging Illinois goals. - Identify Your Top Priorities
Choose initiatives that matter most to older people, their families and community. What will make a visible, meaningful difference? - Connect with State and Regional Partners
Work with the Illinois Department on Aging, your Area Agency on Aging, and others to align local initiatives with statewide efforts and share best practices. - Report back!
Let us know what your locality is working on and what it plans to do in the coming years to make it a great place for people to age well.
Many Ways to Start
Because EngAging Illinois is a multisector plan, there are a wide variety of actions cities, towns, and villages can take.
For Example:
Incorporate Age-Friendly Design into Community Planning by promoting accessible housing options, walkable neighborhoods, and inclusive public spaces.
Improve Transportation and Mobility by supporting safe sidewalks, accessible transit stops, and partnerships with local or regional transportation providers.
Promote Social Connection and Community Engagement by ensuring libraries, parks, senior centers, and community organizations serve as vibrant hubs for intergenerational activities, volunteer opportunities, and civic engagement.
Expand Digital Access and Literacy for older adults and people with disabilities by expanding trainings and broadband access that connects everyone to essential resources.
