Our Mission

Welcome to Lifelong Elizabeth!

Lifelong Elizabeth is a city-wide initiative with the mission to ensure that Elizabeth is a friendly place to grow up and to grow old.

Using survey feedback and focus groups, along with community input, we have identified five major focus areas that are important to older adults in Elizabeth: Communication and Information, Transportation, Outdoor Spaces and Neighborhood Safety, Aging in Place, and Food Access and Security.

Funding for this initiative has been generously provided by the Grotta Fund for Senior Care.

An age friendly city focuses on the following topics for seniors:

  • Transportation
  • Housing
  • Social Participation
  • Respect and social inclusion
  • Civic participation and employment
  • Communication and information
  • Community support & health services
  • Outdoor spaces and building

What Is an Age Friendly City?

The World Health Organization states that the number of people aged 60 and older will double from 11% of the population today to 22% by the year 2050.

By then there will be more older people than children for the first time in human history!

In an age-friendly city policies, services, settings and structures support and enable people to age actively by:

  • Recognizing the wide range of capacities and resources among older people.
  • Anticipating and responding flexibly to ageing-related needs and preferences.
  • Respecting their decisions and lifestyle choices.
  • Protecting those who are most vulnerable.
  • Promoting their inclusion in, and contribution to, all areas of community life.

According to the World Health Organization website: “A key strategy to facilitate the inclusion of older persons is to make our world more age-friendly. An age-friendly world enables people of all ages to actively participate in community activities and treats everyone with respect, regardless of their age. It is a place that makes it easy for older people to stay connected to people that are important to them. And it helps people stay healthy and active even at the oldest ages and provides appropriate support to those who can no longer look after themselves.”

If you’d like to learn more about the World Health Organization Age-friendly Communities initiatives, follow the link below:

http://www.who.int/ageing/age-friendly-world/en/