AGE FRIENDLY MADISON - Innovative, Inclusive & Thriving

posted January 23, 2020 – 4:12pm

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and members of the AARP Age-Friendly Network committee will host a press conference at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, January 30, 2020 at the Madison Senior Center, 330 W Mifflin Street to launch the Age Friendly Madison – Innovative, Inclusive & Thriving project.

The City of Madison has officially been accepted as a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities. The network is an affiliate of the World Health Organization’s Age-friendly Cities and Communities program, an international effort launched in 2006 to help cities prepare for rapid population aging and the parallel trend of urbanization. The program has participating communities in more than 20 nations.

Madison is the sixth municipality in Wisconsin to earn the designation. It joins Sheboygan, Greendale, Shorewood and Wausau. Across the country 353 communities are part of the Network as they actively work to make their towns, cities or villages great places to live for people of all ages.

A steering committee will lead the local age-friendly initiative called Age Friendly Madison – Innovative, Inclusive, & Thriving. The steering committee will create an action plan to insure that Madison residents have access to resources that enhance personal independence, allow residents to age in place; and welcomes our residents’ engagement.

Age Friendly Madison – Innovative, Inclusive, Thriving is a partnership between the local AARP chapter and the City of Madison. Darrin Wasniewski and Sam Wilson of AARP have been working on the initiative with Sally Jo Spaeni, City of Madison Senior Center & Senior Services Manager and Sridevi Mohan, MPH, MA, Epidemiologist Public Health Madison & Dane County and Jason Ilstrup of Downtown Madison, Inc.