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Summary

The City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio joined the network of Age-Friendly Communities in 2016. Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County is managed by Age-Friendly Innovation Center (AFIC) at the Ohio State University, College of Social Work. With the support of the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, AFIC launched the Technical Assistance Program (TAP), in response to the great need of support among current and emerging Age-Friendly communities throughout Ohio. TAP is a first-of-its-kind initiative to increase the number of and support to Ohio Communities working toward age-friendly goals. It expands the WHO’s and AARP Livable Communities’ Age-Friendly framework across the state by engaging older adults as experts in creating innovative, evidence-based solutions to make Ohio a better place to live for people of all ages and abilities. TAP provides individual and group consultation through TAP Office Hours, which is a monthly virtual question and answer session hosted by AFIC for existing and new communities thinking about joining the network; Age-Friendly Certificate Program containing self-guided online training courses on different topics within the Age-Friendly framework; and support network for Age-Friendly communities. Since its launch in 2022, TAP has engaged with many Ohio communities and individuals for consultation through its Office Hours and Age-Friendly Certificate Program. Many new communities joined the network of Coalition of Age-Friendly Communities of Ohio (CAFCO), a grassroots driven collaboration of existing Age-Friendly communities in the state.

Website: https://osucosw.catalog.instructure.com/courses/afc-course-1-introduction-to-age-friendly-communities

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): People doing work in Age-Friendly and people who are new to it.

Sector(s): Health, Transportation, Urban development

Other sector(s): Current or new Age-Friendly communities in various sectors.

Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Accessibility
  • Ageing in place
  • Disasters and emergencies
  • Inclusion
  • Participation

Contact details

Name: Suh, Eunha

Email address: suh.198@osu.edu

Preferred language(s): English

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Research institution

How collaboration worked: Age-Friendly Innovation Center at the Ohio State University College of Social Work collaborates with many local and national leaders in Aging such as the local Area Agency on Aging and other Age-Friendly communities in developing the Age-Friendly Certificate Program. Its Technical Assistance Program is funded by the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: We intentionally include older adults in every step of our work. We have an advisory council comprised of older adult members of the community. They were a part of our work groups and discussions since we joined the network of Age-Friendly communities in 2016.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
We have had positive feedbacks from people who are interested in joining the global network of Age-Friendly communities and also from currently enrolled communities seeking more guidance. They benefit from the online training course and on-going consultation in their Age-Friendly journey.

Expansion plans:
Yes, we plan to expand TAP by adding more topics on the Age-Friendly Certificate Program. We also wish to expand the Experience Age-Friendly to host more communities for hands-on experience of Age-Friendly work.

Looking back

Reflections:
We are in the second year since the launch of Technical Assistance Program (TAP). TAP is currently in active practice to help communities in need. We continue to work on developing more materials and expanding access to more communities.

Challenges:
TAP is funded by HealthPath Foundation of Ohio and its service area is within the state of Ohio. Sometimes communities outside of the service area request for consultation or training materials. TAP has been flexible and provided support to them as much as possible.