Bristol Age-Friendly Neighboorhood Toolkit

This toolkit, produced in 2019, is a guide for local residents and community activists to support them to start social action to make their neighbourhood age-friendly. It includes a concise overview of the age-friendly concept and information about changes being made by Age-Friendly Bristol, and also explains why grassroots action is just as vital to improving the city for its older residents as the strategic and top-level work being done by the City Council and organisations. Each domain is explained, alongside a list of indicators of success in each and suggestions for neighbour-led action that can make a difference in each domain. Also included are seven profiles of Bristol residents who have made a difference to their communities. The toolkit ends with a checklist for residents to complete to help them to identify what elements of their neighbourhood are already age-friendly and what could be improved, and an action plan template to map out how to achieve these aims. Also included is a list of local contacts including volunteering schemes, and resources such as papers from the WHO, guides to setting up neighbourhood watch schemes and repair cafes, and local social and skills-sharing groups.

We have recently launched a scheme that offers a certificate of recognition and one-to-one support for neighbourhood groups that complete the checklist and action plan.

The community activists in the guide are all Bristol-based, and the statistics provided in the background information about demographic trends are also local, but most of the content in this toolkit can and has been used by other Age-Friendly communities. If you would like to use any of the content from this guide for your own resources, please feel free to get in touch.