It’s hard to plan for a community’s future when some people are missing from the conversation.
In embarking on its age-friendly community planning project, Hillside Township’s leaders decided they needed a strategy for making sure they received input from a diverse group of older residents – not just from the regular attendees of the town’s senior center.
In addition to circulating a survey and holding focus groups and stakeholder sessions, the Union County town used grant funds to hold a series of social events for seniors, including an “afternoon tea” and popular draws such as Bingo games, saidMary Dawkins, director of Hillside Senior Recreation Center.
“We were afforded the opportunity to bring together our aging population for informative, social, and fun events,” Dawkins said.
The goal was to reach and get feedback from more of the community’s homebound residents – as well as the many older adults who never got over their COVID-era discomfort with coming out to the town’s senior center and other community events. Project leaders and partners relied on more-active seniors to help spread the word about these events, recognizing that sometimes a direct invitation from a neighbor or friend is the best way to persuade someone to overcome their reticence to participate in a survey or a community conversation.
“It was a trust factor there,” Dawkins said. “We were able to break down those barriers – go and bring them out into the community. We held several events, and they were well-attended.”
The social events helped the community log more than 300 responses to its needs assessment survey and helped increase attendance at the senior center’s regular programs.
“Now my center is packed with a waiting list,” Dawkins said. “We didn’t have that before.”
Situated on the border of Newark and Essex County, Hillside is a racially diverse 2.7 square mile suburb that is home to a portion of Kean University. The community has a poverty rate of 11%, and is designated as an “overburdened community,” meaning it faces higher environmental, economic, and health stressors.
“These conditions exacerbate the difficulties that older adults face, particularly those from low-income or minority backgrounds who may be further marginalized in their access to services,” the township wrote in its initial grant application. “With an aging population and a host of socioeconomic challenges, there is a clear need for comprehensive, targeted efforts to support the wellbeing of Hillside’s older adults.”
The Township has a Senior Citizens Advisory Board, which serves as a communications channel to the Township’s mayor and the council members. The increased participation from older residents since the project began also helps ensure their challenges are communicated to municipal leaders, which has made more seniors feel “they actually have a voice in what’s happening not only in their local government but also in their senior center.”
The township is tabulating results from the community assessment, one of the first steps required for developing an age-friendly action plan and joining the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities.
“The surveys conducted during several focus group meetings within our community provided a snapshot of what is wanted, needed, and essential for our aging population.” said Dawkins, noting that many respondents expressed a desire for more fitness programs and opportunities to volunteer.
One of the big benefits that Hillside gained from participating in the New Jersey Age-Friendly Grants program were the many training webinars and workshops offered to grantees to share the best practices and strategies other communities have used in their age-friendly work, Dawkins said.
“The various office meetings, workshops, seminars, and related activities were very helpful to our township,” Dawkins said. “Like-minded communities were able to share their experiences, what worked, and what didn’t.”