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Lenard Kaye is a professor at the School of Social Work, director of the Center on Aging, and interim director of the Graduate School of Biomedical Science & Engineering at the University of Maine. He is a member of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members’ columns appear in the BDN every other week. Patricia Oh is senior program manager at the University of Maine Center on Aging and co-director of the Consortium for Aging Policy Research & Analysis. Karen Campbell is Lifelong Communities Program coordinator at the University of Maine Center on Aging.
Visit any of Maine’s campuses of higher learning and you will likely see an increasingly wide range of ages of people coming together for learning, sharing and enrichment. Throughout our state, older residents recognize that intellectual growth and social engagement are critical to thrive.
Maine continues to lead the nation as the oldest state in the union, which gives us the opportunity, if not obligation, to develop communities and institutions that work for everyone. All of us are aging — from toddlers to centenarians. When our cities, towns and institutions work well for the young and the old, we all benefit.
Started by the World Health Organization, the age-friendly movement promotes active, healthy, engaged aging. Maine is a national leader in the movement with nearly 100 cities, towns, counties enrolled in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, 28 medical facilities recognized as age-friendly by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, two institutions of higher education enrolled in the Age-Friendly University Global network, and the State of Maine’s Cabinet on Aging ensuring policies across state government support such efforts. For more than 22 years, the University of Maine Center on Aging has promoted a more equitable, age-friendly state, most recently through its Lifelong Communities program and stewardship of the University of Maine’s Age-Friendly University designation.
In 2022, the University of Maine joined the University of New England as part of the Age-Friendly University Global network, which has more than 100 members. Member institutions commit to enhance education about aging, foster intergenerational connections and promote lifelong learning. As a first step, the University of Maine created a website representing a comprehensive compendium of age-friendly opportunities that promote older resident engagement in all the university’s key activities, from educational opportunities and citizen science research to volunteering and attending art, cultural and sports events. Traditional-age UMaine students worked in partnership with their older peers to conduct the preliminary ground work needed to prepare the institution for global age-friendly designation and organize the campus resources available to older Mainers. By embracing age-friendly, the university promotes understanding across generations while also creating an environment that expands our collective knowledge.
Age-friendly universities also commit to promoting age inclusion through service. The Center on Aging developed its Lifelong Communities initiative in collaboration with the Maine Community Foundation and AARP Maine to emphasize the lifelong implications of age-friendly communities. The program champions age-friendly community development through programmatic support, collaborative learning, leadership training, technical assistance, peer support and mentorship, and grant funding.
Across the state of Maine, from Fort Kent to Stonington and Eastport to Eliot, Maine’s Lifelong Communities are making our state a great place to live and age. Each of the nearly 100 initiatives depend on older volunteers who contribute their skills, knowledge and life experience to their community. They work collaboratively with municipal leaders and other partners to engage residents, complete an assessment, develop a plan that builds on what is already going well in the community, and then make changes that promote independence and equity for aging residents, whether it be in the area of food security, home maintenance and repair/modification, transportation, or opportunities to be engaged in the social and civic life of the community with friends, families, and neighbors.
Today, Maine’s Lifelong Communities include 52 percent of Maine’s population and most have been in existence for over five years. Combined, the communities have developed 41 home repair and chore programs, 74 social programs, 69 programs that promote food security and 34 transportation initiatives. More than 500,000 Mainers have benefitted from one of the Lifelong Community programs and more than 2,000 volunteers are engaged in these efforts!
UMaine’s Lifelong Communities program website, lifelongmaine.org, provides communities, municipalities, partners, and interested individuals a snapshot of Maine’s Lifelong Communities movement, as well as the information and tools needed to develop, grow and sustain a lifelong community initiative.
Now, more than ever, is the time for young and old alike in our communities and on our campuses of higher learning to continue to come forward, join forces in collaborative civic engagement and sustain Maine’s standing as a national model of how a state’s residents can mobilize to create exceedingly livable spaces for individuals across the lifespan.
