Population aging presents both challenges and opportunities, and it’s time for New Jersey to start planning in earnest for the fast-approaching day when adults over 60 will outnumber children in the Garden State.
A bill recently introduced in the New Jersey Legislature calls for a broad-lensed and comprehensive planning process to get underway.
Assemblywomen Carol Murphy (D- Mount Laurel) and Verlina Reynolds Jackson (D- Trenton) are the primary sponsors of a measure that would appoint a task force to draft and implement a Multi-Sector Plan for Aging.
“This is both an exciting and extremely timely development,” said Dr. Cathy Rowe, executive director of New Jersey Advocates for Aging Well (NJAAW), one of several statewide groups spearheading a campaign called Lifelong Strong New Jersey to persuade the new governor and the Legislature to take the lead on preparing for this unique time in history.
“This new gubernatorial administration has taken office right when the state – and the country as whole – is on the precipice of a major demographic shift,” Rowe said. “A quarter of the state’s population will be over the age of 60 by 2034, something that’s never happened before. This is the time to consider new approaches and new strategies for building a better future for all New Jerseyans.
A Multi-Sector Plan for Aging, or MPA, is a 10-year blueprint that 12 states across the country have already implemented and another 20 have begun drafting. These planning documents aim to create a coordinated system for restructuring state and local policies and implementing age-friendly practices and infrastructure at the community level. Such changes, when implemented in concert with one another, can promote healthy aging, independent living, and social engagement, while also addressing issues related to healthcare, housing, transportation, and other social determinants of health.
“Codifying a statewide comprehensive plan across sectors would be a big win for New Jersey,” said Julia Stoumbos, Director of Healthy Aging for The Henry & Marilyn Taub Foundation. “New Jersey has taken some positive steps in recent years, but what’s needed now is a commitment at the state level to taking the lead on planning and engaging key players in both the private and public sectors for how our government, economic, infrastructure and social systems can respond and adapt to the changing needs and desires of an older populace.”
New Jersey has already laid some groundwork with the adoption in May 2024 of the New Jersey Age-Friendly Blueprintand the launch the following year of an Age-Friendly Grant Program, both of which have helped increase local awareness and planning in municipalities and counties across the state.
Assembling key state leaders and stakeholders to begin drafting an MPA is the logical next step. The proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 5140, has been referred to the Aging and Human Services Committee, with a hearing date not yet set.
The 27-member task force called for under the bill would have designated representatives from a broad swath of state agencies, including the Offices of the Attorney General, Aging Services and Long-Term Care Ombudsman as well as the Departments of Agriculture, Banking and Insurance, Community Affairs, Health, Human Services, Labor and Workforce Development, Transportation, and Veteran’s Affairs – all of which impact our lives in important ways as we age.
It would also have 16 public members with pertinent backgrounds, such as gerontologists, geriatricians, aging services providers, caregivers and older-adult recipients of care and services.
The bill calls for the task force to meet at least three times a year but more often, if necessary, with the ability to hold public hearings “at times and in places it deems appropriate and necessary to fulfill its charge.”
The task force would have two functions. The first would be to act as an advisory body on aging to the Legislature and state agencies.
The second task would be to develop and implement a 10-year, multi-sector plan with “clear and measurable data-driven objectives and goals” within a year of the task force organizing. One strategy that five other states have employed is to create an online data dashboard that could help track progress on goals.
The resulting plan should address how population aging in New Jersey will affect the State’s economy, workforce, transportation network, and infrastructure as well as the long-term-care system, the aging services system and county, municipal, and local budgets. The task force also would be asked to consider the impact of current political and socioeconomic factors, such as evaluating the potential effects of proposed federal entitlement reforms, assessing the availability and affordability of digital technology for older adults; and addressing the root causes of health disparities and inequities.
“Population aging is reshaping communities across the country, and New Jersey is no exception, said Dr. Emily Greenfield, director of the Hub for Aging Collaboration at Rutgers University. “An MPA would provide the long-term, systemic, statewide leadership necessary for supporting healthy aging all throughout the Garden State. It would build on existing policies, initiatives, and assets–in and out of Trenton–weaving them into a more powerful, cohesive, and comprehensive agenda for the future of us all as we age in New Jersey.”