Guilford County is officially the 22nd North Carolina community to join AARP’s Age-Friendly Network, following a formal presentation by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at tonight’s meeting.
Last month, AARP officially welcomed Guilford County as an Age-Friendly community, allowing the county to benefit from its extensive research and established best practices. The designation provides access to a global network of participating communities, technical expertise, and financial assistance. Guilford County will continue to focus on activities and projects intended to improve the quality of life for residents of all ages with a particular focus on senior neighbors. The official county designation comes a year after Gov. Roy Cooper’s declaration of North Carolina as an Age-Friendly State. The town of Jamestown is already a community member of the network.
"Guilford County is committed to being a well-designed, livable community that promotes health and supports economic growth, making life better for residents of all ages,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Melvin “Skip” Alston. “Creating an age-friendly community helps ensure that we’re inclusive and meet the changing needs of our aging population. We’re especially thankful to Well-Spring, a leading senior living community in Greensboro, for their generous $25,000 donation to fund a support person for this important initiative.”
“We’ve been working closely with Guilford County senior management and Well-Spring, A Life Plan Community and Well-Spring Solutions over the last 18 months,” said Senior Resources of Guilford Chief Executive Officer Ellen Whitlock. “The leadership team has been expanded to include representatives from housing initiatives and food insecurity organizations such as the Greater High Point Food Alliance, as well as other interested community volunteers. Housing and food insecurities are two of the eight domains that are primary concerns of the network, and these organizations support the work of the team in these areas.”
"Guilford County has been working on many fronts to plan and prioritize projects considered to be age-friendly," said AARP Associate State Director for the Triad Region Mark Hensley. “An age-friendly or ‘livable community’ is a place that is great for all ages with important aspects such as affordable housing and transportation options, the ability to walk and ride a bike, to enjoy open spaces, engage with others and have access to healthy food and quality health care services."
Organizations involved in the leadership efforts of implementing Age-Friendly Guilford welcome input from the community and invite residents to become volunteers among the established domains. Volunteers may reach out to volunteer by contacting Whitlock at director@senior-resources-guilford.org or Robert Gerken, Age-Friendly Guilford Coordinator at Senior Resources of Guilford at agefriendlyguilford@senior-resources-guilford.org.
For more information on AARP’s Age-Friendly Network, visit www.aarp.org/livablecommunities.