The Elder-Friendly Communities Program

Abstract

We are just at the beginning of cultural shift that can be described as movement away from stereotypic and denigrating perceptions of aging, toward more respectful and inclusive approach. Elder Friendly Communities is program that views elders as significant contributors society and their communities, rather than as passive, dependent recipients of benefits and services. Viewing elders as significant contributors and providing opportunities for meaningful engagement among older residents are core characteristics of agingfriendly communities. The Global AgeFriendly Cities Project of the World Health Organization (WHO) (2007) calls for inclusive opportunities for civic, cultural, educational, and voluntary engagement. The Elder Friendly Communities Program (EFCP) seeks promote meaningful engagement among older adults through neighborhood-based community development, supported by collaborative partnership of community agencies. Program Principles EFCP is rooted in three foundational principles: vital involvement, capacity building through neighborhood-based community development, and collaborative advantage. The challenge meaningfully engage older adults was clearly articulated over twenty years ago by Erikson, Erikson, and Kivnick (1986): Our society confronts the challenge of drawing large population of healthy elders into the social order in way that productively uses their capacities. Our task will be envision what influences such large contingent of elders will have on our society as healthy older people seek and even demand more vital involvement, p. 333 Vital involvement of older adults also seeks enhance quality of life for elders, along three dimensions: being (who one is in physical, psychological, and spiritual terms); belonging (the fit between person and the physical, social, and community environment); and becoming (the activities pursued achieve personal hopes or goals) (Raphael et al., 1999). The EFCP approach is based on capacitybuilding through community development at the neighborhood level. Neighborhoods are social environments comprising complex network of relationships, where residents share their daily lives (Chaskin, 1997). Neighborhoods are viable units of identity and action, focal points for collective activities and action. Community development in neighborhoods is useful approach promote vital involvement and create sustainable change. However, there is little documented experience of community development practice with older adults. Common principles of generic community development such as empowerment, focus on strength, community control, orientation process and outcome, and motivated participants also can be applied community work specifically with elders (Mairs, 1992; Fried et al., 1997). Effective community development with elders would be a process whereby community members [in this case, elders] come together take collective action and generate solutions common problems (Frank and Smith, 1999, p. 6). Community development seeks generate indigenous leadership and build capacity through local initiatives in which participants have the primary responsibility for decision making and action (Homan, 2008). The EFCP incorporates shared model of collaborative planning, service delivery, and community-based research among major service providers and the University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work. Although funders now consistently require collaborative proposals, pressures retain organizational autonomy remain strong. While effective and sustained collaboration requires long-term commitment, demands for short-term outcomes dominate. From its inception, the EFCP partnership was built on the assumption of collaborative advantage, that to gain real advantage from collaboration, something has be achieved that could not have been achieved by any one of the organizations acting alone (Huxham and Vangen, 2005, p. …