ORONO — The University of Maine Center on Aging has launched the Age-Friendly University Resources (AFU Resources) hub, a centralized repository for educational materials, services, events, volunteer opportunities and other activities for older people offered by UMaine, the University of Maine at Machias, and University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
The various resources are sorted into categories, which websites users can find and select on the website homepage. Each activity has a location, cost, link, contact information and details about what is being offered.
Beyond resources, the UMaine AFU Resources hub also outlines the history of the Age-Friendly movement and how it has propelled universities toward offering more inclusive services. The website helps promote personal and career development in the second half of life and intergenerational learning. These are two of the 10 principles of age-friendly universities, which UMaine and all Age-Friendly Universities follow.
“The roster of resources that have been organized on this website confirms in no uncertain terms the significant progress being made at Maine’s flagship university to provide older adults in the larger community with an exceedingly rich array of opportunities to benefit from,” says Len Kaye, director of the Center on Aging and professor of social work at UMaine.
The website will be continuously updated as new older adult engagement programming becomes available.