In mapping the path to an age-friendly future, the borough of Oradell should seek to strengthen coordination between two of the community’s key assets – its library and its senior center, both of which serve as a resource and a social outlet for many older residents.
That was one of the recommendations of an age-friendly report on the feedback received from a survey, a public forum and individual interviews with older residents of this 2.4-square-mile suburb located in central Bergen County.
About 35 percent of Oradell’s residents are over age 55, up from 30 percent a decade earlier, according to a demographic analysis and community assessment performed by the Center for Research and Evaluation on Education and Human Services (CREEHS) at Montclair State University.
The center was commissioned by the Borough Council to conduct its study between March and June 2026. The town also hired consultant Jeanne Martin, a veteran age-friendly leader who founded the Westwood for All Ages initiative and who served as a longtime executive director of Meals on Wheels New Jersey, to work with the Borough Council and Recreation Department on its age-friendly grant project.
Reporting on the initiative at the June 23rd Borough Council meeting, Martin said older residents surveyed expressed concerns regarding affordable housing, independent living, transportation, and walkability within the community. But most also expressed a strong desire to remain in the borough in their later years.
“I know that most of the seniors in town do not want to leave this town,” Martin said at the Council Meeting. “They’ve been here many years. People love this town, and there’s a good reason for it.”
Oradell is known for tree-lined residential streets, a vibrant downtown, and scenic open spaces, including the Oradell Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to most of the region. Many Oradell households have deep, multi-generational roots, with children raised in the town coming back to raise their own families in a community that values outdoor concerts, parades, and strong neighbor connections.
Oradell offers a range of services for older residents, including an active senior center, a transportation van for medical and grocery trips, and access to senior discount programs. The borough also has a nine-member Senior Citizen Advisory Committee, and many active community groups, such as the Book and Needle Women’s Club and the Oradell American Legion that help foster intergenerational, civic and social connections.
In addition to designing and implementing a survey that yielded the views of 287 older residents, leaders of Oradell’s age-friendly project also held a listening session attended by more than 100 older adults and conducted one-on-one interviews. Pedestrian safety was a frequently cited concern, with respondents citing speeding and aggressive driving as factors that made crossing some busy intersections dangerous.
Another common theme that emerged was that older residents weren’t aware of senior services offered in their community and in the county, which prompted project leaders to arrange for several community presentations on topics such as senior property tax discount benefits, household chore assistance services and friendly visitor programs.
“What we heard most is how much seniors appreciated being asked about what mattered most to them,” Martin said.
Martin suggested that the borough could expand awareness of available resources through more coordination between the library and senior center to align messaging, cross-promote programs, and distribute information through multiple channels.
Other recommendations in the report were to prioritize pedestrian safety improvements, especially at high- risk intersections and to continue community conversations and other opportunities to include older adults’ voices in planning and decision-making.
“Together, these steps can help Oradell become a more inclusive, responsive, and age-friendly borough for residents of all ages,” the report concluded.