Agencies
Services
Milestone 1: Review EngAging Illinois and Connect with Local Leaders
To start, familiarize yourself with the EngAging Illinois plan. It is organized by four focus areas, each with several overarching strategies and dozens of action steps.
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While reviewing the Plan, think about:
- What focus areas are you most interested in?
- What leaders and experts do you need to connect with to learn more?
With these ideas in mind, begin to engage local leaders. Local government officials, aging and disability advocates, aging service providers, non-profits, community and faith organizations, and academics can provide critical partnerships and expertise necessary for implementing age-friendly policies, programs, and initiatives. It may be easier to influence an on-going initiative to pay attention to older people than to create something brand new.
Review the Plan with these groups and ask:
- What are your city, town, township, village or community’s priorities? How are they reflected in the EngAging IL strategies and actions?
- What’s already in place or being planned that can be better aligned with EngAging IL?
- What initiatives matter most to the people in your community? What will make a visible, meaningful difference?
Below are some links that may be useful for identifying and connecting with agencies and organizations in your area. You might also consider using a free Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform to help you brainstorm ideas for key groups to engage.
- Local government-Connect with government officials to understand your community’s priorities, where there are gaps, and what age-friendly work is underway.
- Aging, health, disability-Refer to experts in the aging, health, and disability space to connect with older adults and learn more about their needs and get informed about existing initiatives or gaps.
- Illinois Area Agencies on Aging
- Find Aging & Adult Service Providers in Your County
- Local Health Department Directory
- IDHS Illinois Independent Living Network
- Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living - Find an ILC
- IHFS Long Term Services and Support Home
- IHFS Designated PACE Organizations
- AARP Illinois
- Higher-education and research institutions-Refer to local colleges and universities, community colleges, and research centers for help with environmental assessment, program evaluation, data, and insights into existing initiatives.
Guidepost: Who’s involved at the beginning of the process often has a lot to do with how the project turns out. Take time to make sure all important groups and constituencies can come in on the ground floor and take an active role in shaping the work.
From the Field
In 2018, Arlington Heights successfully applied to become designated as an Age-Friendly Community through the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. To do so, they submitted a short form with details about their community, a point person for their efforts, an overview of the current and possible future age-friendly activities and collaboration opportunities, and a letter of commitment from the highest elected government official in the area. From there, Arlington Heights developed an Action Plan focused on three domains of Age-Friendly Communities: housing, transportation, and communication and information.
