Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced that the city has completed its Age-Friendly Action Plan, which is designed to enhance “opportunities and (promote) inclusivity across all age groups in the city,” according to a press release published Sept. 27. The plan will be implemented over the next three years.
The Mayor’s Office collaborated with the city’s Senior Services Division, American Association of Retired Persons Rhode Island and other groups to create the plan.
The plan also involves collaboration spanning various city departments, such as the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, the Department of Public Property, the Communications Department and the Information Technology Department.
According to Smiley’s Deputy Press Secretary Samara Pinto, the plan is aimed at improving life for all ages, not only the community’s seniors. “By implementing these strategies, we’re addressing the unique challenges faced by older adults and creating a more inclusive and vibrant city where all age groups can thrive,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
Preliminary steps toward the Providence Age-Friendly Action Plan began in 2019, when the city applied to join AARP’s network of age-friendly states and communities. The next step, which is to conduct a community survey, was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Providence’s Age-Friendly Task Force was created to lead the charge in creating the plan.
The task force, in collaboration with AARP R.I., conducted a survey of nearly 400 Providence community residents. It also held four listening sessions in which residents were asked about the elements of their communities that functioned well and those that could be improved.
Ultimately, the task force identified nine domains, including housing, public transit and outdoor community spaces, along with improvement goals for each domain.
The housing shortage in Providence is one of the key concerns addressed in this plan. According to AARP R.I. State Director Catherine Taylor, the state’s housing availability for older adults was ranked 51st out of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. by AARP’s Long-Term Services & Supports scorecard.
The plan identifies objectives that include advocating “for housing policies that support safe, equitable and affordable housing options” and identifying “programs and funding streams that can assist with necessary home modifications,” with a focus on making houses livable for the elderly.
Adjunct Lecturer in Anthropology Irene Glasser analyzed an AARP survey of Providence residents used as a foundational tool for the Action Plan. She said in an interview with The Herald that many community members are unaware of available programs and resources. Much of this information is a “well-kept secret,” Glasser added.
The Action Plan addresses this by calling for the creation of a Senior Resource Guide. The guide will offer information about programs and services available in the city and will be updated every four years.
Though Glasser supports this effort, she also emphasized the potential challenges in communicating the guide to older residents.
Other objectives of the Action Plan include hosting community sessions on RIPTA services, evaluating outdoor public spaces for age-friendliness, hosting disaster-preparedness workshops and developing technology education and assistance programs.
“We’re really trying to make the city great for everybody (of) all ages and all abilities,” Taylor said. “If you make a city great for 8-year-olds and you make it great for 80-year-olds, you make it great for everybody.”
The Action Plan, like many long-term collaborative plans, will be funded “incrementally through department-level budgets or supported by grants that assist with programming across the various domains such as transportation, housing and social participation,” Pinto wrote.
AARP will play a supporting role in its implementation. “I think we’re going to be working really closely with (the city) to get things done,” Taylor said. “One of the advantages of being a member of the network is that we have all kinds of technical resources” that the city can access, she added.
