Awards & Accomplishments

Awards

• National Associations of Area Agencies on Aging 2011 Achievement Award
• Advocacy award on behalf of pets and seniors from the Sarge Fund

Accomplishments

• We have planned and administered an average of 6 events annually
• Cultivated an event listserv of roughly 450 people
• Been featured in the Jewish Exponent and Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal
• We have planned and administered 18 events
• Been invited to participate in TedX Philly, Ignite Philly, the P’unk Avenue Junto, and Young Involved Philadelphia’s State of Young Philly
• Held 15 bimonthly networking meetings
• Collaborated with other Young Professional Groups such as Young Involved Philadelphia, the Junior League of the Alzheimer’s Association, and Young Friends of the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society to promote age-friendly programs
• Participated in the development of the Age-friendly Parks Checklist, which was highlighted in the Philadelphia Inquirer (and picked up around the country in blogs such as cityparksblog)
• Developed a Toolkit for Connecting Seniors and Community Gardens
• Connected senior centers and housing complexes with resources to create community gardens
• Created a Careers in Aging Resource Guide
• Designed a Resource Guide and Report on the need for a program that supports pets and seniors in Philadelphia
• Inspired PCA’s www.phillypetsandseniors.com website and the PCA Research Department’s successful request to ask the Public Health Management Corporation to add a question about seniors about pets in their bi-annual community health survey
• Brought on two new Leadership Committee Members
• Shared our model with emerging professionals in other cities to spur replication

GenPhilly Plugs

• A City That Truly Considers Its Older Residents, Herald-Tribune – November 2011 [read]
• Phind out Phriday: Forever Young, Kate Clark of GenPhilly, Phreedum – October 2011 [read]
• Nothing Retiring About Philly’s 60-Plus Population, Flying Kite Media – August 2011 [read]
• Aging Boomers Strain Cities Built for the Young, Huffington Post – July 2011 [read]
• Seniors and the City (EPA Award and Age-friendly), Governing Magazine – April 2011 [read]
• Kudos To Age-Friendly Places (EPA Award), AARP – April 2011 [read]
• Towns & Cities Prepare for Aging Populations, AARP – March 2011  [read]
• Phila. effort aims to make parks fit for seniors (Parks), The Inquirer – December 2010 [read]
• Some August Moments on a dog Day Afternoon, Jewish Exponent – August 2010 [read]
• Designed for Visitability: Ways to create a truly inclusive city, one new house at a time, Plan Philly – October 2010 [read]
• A new housing class in the zoning code meets with controversy (ADUs), Plan Philly – October 2010 [read]
• GenPhilly Steps Up, The Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal – June 2010 [read]

While much of the success of this network is due to the vision and commitment of members, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA), the Area Agency on Aging for Philadelphia, deserves strong recognition for its foresight in supporting the group and for devoting staff time to its development.

We are very proud that our programming has catalyzed larger efforts by local organizations to make the city more “age-friendly”  and with your continued participation, we hope to further this trend in upcoming years.