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OPENING VIDEO
AARP is working to make communities more livable for people of all ages.
But what is a livable community?
In a livable community, people of all ages can find housing that is comfortable and affordable.
A livable community ensures access to needed shopping and health care services.
It’s a place where people can work or volunteer and be included in community events and decision making.
So what is a livable community?
It’s one where everyone can make their city, town or neighborhood a lifelong home.
MIKE WATSON: Welcome!
I’m Mike Watson, director of Livable Communities at AARP.
Two years ago we were in person for two workshops on placemaking and rural livability.
That feels like a lifetime, for many of us.
And last year, we held a virtual discussion focused on transportation.
Community engagement and the important role that older adults play in the process we all live.
We think this topic is a very timely one.
NANCY LEAMOND: Hello, and welcome to the 2021 AARP Livable Communities Community Engagement Workshop.
I’m Nancy LeaMond, AARPs Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer.
Over the last year that’s meant protecting those most at risk from COVID-19.
It’s been a challenging stretch and it’s not over.
We’ve seen how communities can come together to help residents of all ages thrive.
And perhaps more important, we will have the opportunity to learn from you.
Thank you for joining us and contributing to this very important discussion.
MIKE WATSON: As Nancy, shared engagement is a fundamental aspect of a AARPs approach on livable communities.
We’ve seen some incredibly inventive approaches: from community-driven listening to hackathons to focusing on accessibility and meetings.
You’ll get to see several of these initiatives featured throughout the program.
Nancy also mentioned the AARP internet of Age-Friendly States and Communities.
You’ll get to hear from members of the internet throughout this program.
And as Nancy shared, we hope this experience is centered around your engagement and interaction.
Plus, well be working to replicate some of those experiences through the use of technology.
you’re able to use the chat for conversation throughout the workshop.
I also want to familiarize you with some of the accessibility features today.
If you have questions about the Zoom platform, you could email those tolivable@AARP.org.
Again, that'slivable@AARP.org.
You’ll see that hashtag and our Twitter handle on the screen throughout the event.
We’ll also be using the platform Slidofor polling to facilitate your questions today and tomorrow.
So here’s our first question:What state or country are you joining us from today?
Let’s try one more question.
like tell us in one or two words:Why is engaging older adults good for the community?
There seem to be some clear themes and threads popping up.
We’re going to be collecting all these throughout the conference, so like continue to participate.
VIDEO
ROBERT WALKER:Macon is the heart of Georgia.
Were directly in the center, where [Interstates]75 and 16 meet.
it’s possible for you to get anywhere in Georgia coming through Macon.
MICHAEL GLISSON:Age-Friendly is just that that whole lot idea of bringing people together.
ROBERT GLISSON:The parks have come a long way.
I think now, especially because of COVID and the needs that kind of separate social distance.
ROBERT WALKER:No one moves to a city just for a job.
ROBERT GLISSON:Neighborhoods are starting to take more pride in their green spaces.
I think it’s definitely something.
We have an adopt-a-park program, it’s really taken off.
ROBERT WALKER:People have been excited about what were doing.
We’ve had several competitions there locally.
After her keynote presentation she’ll also be here to answer your questions.
And at the heart of that work is thinking about more equitable approaches to engagement.
And today, the Miccosukee and the Seminole.
I honor their elders past and present, as well as future generations.
The punch in of approaches that don’t honor lived experience and don’t really listen to people.
The key in of approaches that value outputs more than outcomes.
What if we turn those off for good?
What if we understood that authentic purposeful engagement could only move at the speed of trust?
What would that look like?
Let me walk you through each of them.
The first is to center on lived experience.
And who has the most lived experience in our communities?
It’s our older adults.
We are very comfortable compensating for other types of expertise.
Why not lived experience?
She will engage with us with no compensation.
That’s just not always true, and we shouldn’t make that assumption.
Showing respect means that we honor the time and we honor the expertise.
That can take many different forms.
It also means that we meet people where they are.
And this is exactly what it sounds like.
It may also mean that your engagement process takes longer, because you were holding more gatherings.
But that’s okay.
We also need to listen first for understanding.
And this information may be shared with you with the tone of anger, or maybe even distrust.
People need to express the harm.
They need to express the hurt.
They need to express the distrust and you better receive that.
We also need to frame on assets.
But too often we approach engagement with a deficit mentality.
Let’s stop that and let’s reframe and lift up those assets and what’s working.
But that does not mean they aren’t present.
You have to listen for that.
You have to embrace flexibility in how you’re working, in who you’re working with.
I want to invite you to really interrogate the metaphor of the table and actually disrupt it.
Tables don’t magically appear.
They don’t magically set themselves.
And finally, we have to deliver on promises.
We must honor what we learn in this approach to engagement.
We have to deliver.
We really have to rethink that and figure out ways to deliver.
So what would this kind of engagement look like in practice?
Too often, these public spaces are not safe for everyone.
They’re not inviting to everyone.
Why does this matter?
These trends are especially urgent for the most vulnerable in our communities, including our older adults.
That is a trend that’s not coming, it is happening right now.
We issue more barriers to participation than we do invitations.
And trust in institutions is also in decline across the globe.
So is our trust in each other.
Now these decades-long trends of social and economic fragmentation, they may seem impossible to tackle.
In fact, I believe this is the challenge of our time.
It is also our call to action.
Our gathering places often come at the bottom of municipal budgets.
They are seen as nice-to-haves but not essential.
And when budget cuts hit, those places are the first on the chopping block.
No it doesn’t.
We need that to maintain our health and our well-being.
So the desire to achieve those outcomes truly guides everything that we do.
It has now been co-stewarded by our 10 communities as well as our larger web link of partners.
So let’s go to Akron!
I think the work at Summit Lake is an especially good example of this.
Now, in the 1920s, this was known as Akrons million dollar playground.
They saw it as a liability and not as a community asset.
So that just gives you a picture of what was going on there.
This included facilities for fishing, swings, places to sit, shade umbrellas, outdoor grills.
Portions of the lake bank were cleared to create a new beachhead and provide more access to the water.
Facilities for canoeing and kayaking were improved.
Fences were removed from around the play space area to make that space more welcoming to all.
This active co-creation and delivering on promises generated trust.
Another early investment and prototyping led to the Summit Lake Nature Center.
But residents wanted to see a permanent investment and they got one.
you could see it here in this in this picture.
This approach is also yielding greater civic engagement, as residents really gain a renewed sense of agency.
You see her in this photo wearing the Summit Lake shirt there.
Heres the garden in bloom on its first anniversary.
I really think the garden shows the impact of fostering stewardship and advocacy for the civic commons.
Another example of co-stewardship is the Summit Lake Youth Ambassador Program.
They are engaged in things like picking up litter, painting picnic tables, planting flower beds.
Importantly, participants in this program are guided in that work by community leaders like Grace Hudson.
Grace is a longtime resident of Summit Lake.
She also serves on the Akron Civic Commons core team.
That’s up from 43 percent in the baseline survey.
And it all started by listening and then moving at the speed of trust.
Now, our ambition for civic commons does not end with the 10 cities we currently operate in.
Now is really a critical moment for our communities, for our country.
We desperately need approaches to engagement and to our public realm that help restore our democracy.
Yes, I said democracy, because I, I really think it’s quite that serious.
We need places where our paths cross with people of all backgrounds, ages, identities and abilities.
Places where trust is cultivated and our empathy for others is bolstered.
I want to thank you for sharing the space with me today.
So c’mon enjoy this video and Ill see you on the other side to continue our conversation.
If I had to describe Summit Lake a few years ago, I would honestly say depressing.
Civic Commons came to this community and realized they had to earn the trust of the community.
We have to break this legacy of things being done to and not with things promised and not delivered.
you’re free to’t get anything done without trust.
It’s embedded in the process to be inclusive.
This is the Civic Commons process.
Civic Commons really does define how you build trust.
We’re changing the world; we’re doing that one neighbor and one neighborhood at a time.
MIKE WATSON:Wow.
Thank you Lynn, and thanks for sharing that remarkable work and for being here for Q&A.
So now it’s time to ask your questions of Lynn.
We have Lynn here with us.
Lynn thanks so much for joining us.
LYNN M. ROSS:Thanks for having me Mike.
Great to be with you
MIKE WATSON:Wonderful to have you here.
So now we’re going to jump into Q&A.
Remember like use Slido to ask your questions.
We already have some great ones coming in, I was just looking at them.
LYNN M. ROSS:Sure.
So it’s a great question, thank you for that.
Every process has limitations right whether that’s a budget or staff or time.
MIKE WATSON:Fantastic answer.
So, Im just have even more coming in, so Im going to jump right in.
We hear ideas like social infrastructure, civic infrastructure?
Do you include libraries and grocery stores into the broader definition of public space that refers to parks?
All of that is what we consider civic commons.
How can new housing for homeless people help to facilitate this idea of a livable community?
These spaces welcome everyone but, first and foremost, they are for those who are already there.
That can look a lot of different ways.
MIKE WATSON:Another great response.
Lynn, Im going to lump a couple questions here.
LYNN M. ROSS:Great question.
We also have a pretty extensive metrics program.
That again is rooted in those outcomes.
Spend some time atCivicCommons.usto learn a lot more.
MIKE WATSON:Okay, great.
Every process is not about consensus, right.
I talked about listening to understand.
Public space can be a great unifier in that way.
Most people like public spaces, right?
And that may help us overcome some divides in our community and beyond.
LYNN M. ROSS:We have to think about environmental impacts.
We are all dealing with those.
I live in Miami Beach.
We can’t have a livable community when we don’t focus on those climate and environmental impacts.
That is something we absolutely have to think about.
In my own work it’s something that is at the center of what I do.
MIKE WATSON: Lynn, thank you again.
We have so many more great questions coming in.
I wish we had time to get to them all.
Thank you again for joining us today.
This has been so wonderful.
Learn More
2021 AARP Livable Communities Engagement Workshop
Page published October 2021
