Chattanooga Workshop

Building Partnerships: Creating a Livable Community for all Ages

(Choose Chattanooga: Come Live with Us)

Tuesday, June 30

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Thank you again for joining with us for this important discussion. We look forward to continued dialogue and the development of new workable quality of life

initiatives for all ages in the Chattanooga region. The result of a survey will be posted shortly on this site as well further information about upcoming meetings. Please be sure to look for additional information on the Jump Start Grants. The

deadline for application is July 17, 2009.

The following are excerpts from opening comments

and

a summary of recommendations and action steps from Breakout Groups

Opening Remark Excerpts

Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield

I was born in ‘46 and in ‘64 the Beatles came to America. That’s our generation. But we do not deny

those who fall outside those categories deserve access to the services we provide. Our children used

to grow up and move away and back some years ago when Chattanooga was going through its most

wrenching time in the 1980’s. We went through some of the hardest times economic all over the

country. Rob McNulty invited Chattanooga in the early 1980s to see what other cities were doing to

address issues and we got our horizons expanded and our goals increased and that’s how things

begin. And so now we have a community that’s had some successes. As for our young people some

are staying and some are coming back, which shows a great deal of promise. And we also have the

other folks on the other side of the age bracket who are selecting Chattanooga as a place to move.

We used to talk about wanting to be on the shortlist of communities, I believe we are there and I

believe that all that remains is for people to discover us and Choose Chattanooga is an important part

of that. We want to steal your younger people and not only that we want your older people.

Chattanooga more than else has become a community that embraces change and all walks of life and

the people here in this room will help make that happen. My hope is this is just the beginning of an

initiative that carries us to the next level.

Linda Bennett, Executive Director “Choose Chattanooga”

This has been a great experience. Today is not just about aging I think sometimes when we talk about aging we think about the elderly, which is important part but today’s about addressing a community that’s expecting change. I think today could be a very important day in the future of Chattanooga. We believe that we as a community can address the challenges ahead, our hope is that this event will serve as a starting place as a broader component to talk about the future of Chattanooga and the region. If we agree at the end of this workshop that the issues you will learn more about in the next few hours are real and that we as a community should address them we can pro-actively plan and work together to assure a bright future for all our citizens.

Our hope is this event will serve as a starting place to develop another very important component in the

much broader, in-depth discussion about the future of Chattanooga and the surrounding region.

In my new leadership role as the first Executive Director of Choose Chattanooga, I was charged with

promoting all the wonderful things our area offers to people considering the Chattanooga area for

relocation. I honestly didn’t expect that my first project would be partnering with Steve Witt and the SE

TN Area Agency on Aging and Disability to co-host an Aging in Place Workshop.

But after almost two months and many hours of study and exposure to the issue, I am convinced that

the selection of Chattanooga as a host site by the National Partners on Livable Communities was not

only timely but also a true gift to our area. It is a matter of being in the right place at the right time for

all of us. Whether you are working to implement the recommendations from our Chamber trip to

Greenville or the newly adopted Climate Action Plan or maybe you are engaged in the energetic work

being generated at Create Here….Building Partnerships: Creating a Livable Community for all ages is

about all of us….and how what we do now will impact future generations.

We are fortunate today to have political and religious leaders, developers, planners, architects,

educators, advocates for neighborhoods and for the elderly, as well as, representatives from the health

care and financial industry, foundations, non-profits. We know not everyone is in the room who needs

to be, but it is a good place to start and I am glad that you are here to help shape this conversation

about the future of Chattanooga.

We have reason to be proud - Chattanooga has received national recognition for many of the things we

have done right and we are not be alone in the challenges we will face but here is where the

opportunities present themselves….and I quote from an earlier workshop report “If communities are

resourceful, innovative and prudent, these challenges will be eclipsed by the enormous share of social

and human capital that will be made available by the largest, healthiest, best-educated and most

affluent generation of older adults in American history.”

We have a window of time to prepare for the future and if we do our job right, Chattanooga and the

surrounding region could very well serve as a model to other communities across America.

So – let’s get back to the reason we’re all here today.

Our purpose is to…“Bring together community leaders to take positive steps towards creating a livable

region with no age boundaries”

The three goals that we want to accomplish today are:

1. To raise awareness and engage the community

2. Initiate collaboration between public, private, non-profit and government

3. Define next steps

Let’s quickly review the agenda for today. Our guest speakers, Robert McNulty and Sandy Markwood,

will give us a broad, national snapshot of what is happening around the Livable Communities issue. Our

own, Greg Vital, will begin to bring the issue closer to home. Then you will have an opportunity to join

in the conversation by participating in one of four breakout sessions. I will come back after these

speakers to direct you to the breakout groups.

By the end of the day, each breakout group will present a report – highlighting key issues for

Chattanooga and recommend a short list of action steps. That’s an important point…because today is

just the beginning. Later you will learn more about the “Jump Start grants” available for several local

projects.

But now to help us see the “big” picture, it is my pleasure to introduce

ROBERT MCNULTY, President and founder of the Partners for Livable Communities, a 33 year old

organization dedicated to promoting quality of life, economic development and social equity in

American towns and cities. Robert is an experienced civic strategist and has worked in over 400

communities in the United States and Canada and has traveled in over 100 countries around the world.

He has become the prime mover of livable communities in the United States and has put together and

helped to form new leadership groups in approximately twenty cities around America. He has

undertaken strategic planning (involved in Chattanooga’s Venture Strategy) and is known for his work in

building bridges across the lines that so often divide communities.

Mr. McNulty received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California at Berkeley

and has been a fellow of Harvard and Yale Universities.

Robert McNulty – President, Partners for Livable Communities

I’d like to thank Ron’s leadership in Chattanooga. I’d like to also mention the MetLife factor. MetLife is

an extraordinary organization and we have 10 representatives present today. MetLife has been a

major visionary as an American corporation looking at this not as a health care issue, but as a quality

of life issue and I want to thank you for that.

When we started this effort, we wanted to take a look at whether communities were ready for this

demographic change and we learned that very few had comprehensive planning or had even begun to

think about this issue. If you move forward with what you do today you will be in the vanguard of

communities – the MetLife Foundation created a blueprint, which is the comprehensive community

planning guide. The Foundation has also made Jumpstart grants available to help start conversations

in communities. This event is one of 12 we’ve held across the country to talk about these issues.

How did we get involved in regional planning, metro planning…how did we get involved in this aging in

place? 15 years ago through the Lilly Foundation we asked how can we get involved with this issue?

We wanted to look at how communities were preparing. Perhaps the real litmus test would be how

well we adjusted and take advantage of the assets of our population so that they would not be forced

out of their homes and how those individuals can contribute politically, and other aspects of

community involvement. This is not a health care initiative, it’s a democratic initiative. These adults

can be involved in every aspect of life in a community if they choose to do so. Therefore our goal was

to become involved not on the healthcare end, but on the livability issue and in terms of leadership.

Years ago we honored Chattanooga for its livability and I have a hunch we will be honoring

Chattanooga again as a community.

Greg Vital, CEO Independent Healthcare Properties LLC/Morning Pointe Assisted Living

30 years ago this month I went to work at Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. There was a man

there that took me under his wing and his name was Ron Littlefield…so we’ve all aged together and

I’m happy to be here today. As a business person in the senior care industry I’m often asked by

lenders how the current economic environment is affecting our business. It’s been a challenge, but

I’m always reassuring them that I haven’t picked up the newspaper yet and seen that people haven’t

stopped aging and they continue to want services. Quality of life has greatly been expanded for

people 55 and above. Approximately 7 thousand people a day are turning 65. By 2028, a total of

71.5 million. By 2009-2015 an 40% increase in individuals 85 years is expected. And we expect a

total of 830,000 in Tennessee over age 65 by next year.

More importantly people are living longer. People will need some form of care. By 2020, 12 million

people will need assisting living and/or nursing homes. The impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia has

skewed the numbers even more dramatically, but this group knows that this community needs to

address and help with this issue from both the patients’ standpoint and the care givers. One in 8

people will be affected by Alzheimer’s. Every 70 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s. What does

this mean?

It’s about options and choices and preparing for quality of life. The announcement of Chattanooga and

VW will continue to put Chattanooga on the front page but we also have many quality of life issues to

be proud of. We continue to be recognized as an affordable place to live. We have an appreciation for

multiple cultures, open spaces and the arts. Education communities have opened up facilities for

lifetime of learning. Chattanooga is a place to live it’s a place to become involved --- no matter what

age group.

We see people in their 80 and 90’s who still want to volunteer and give something back to the

community. There’s an opportunity for mentoring with intergenerational programming at our facilities

to help with the challenges facing our young people. We had a changing demographic that could be

addressed in many ways --- and out of that came “Choose Chattanooga”. We now have an excellent

Executive Director in Linda Bennett to lead that effort. Everyone here has an opportunity to become

involved. We appreciate your commitment to seniors and we want to recognize those who are on the

front lines every day caring for our seniors.

Sandy Markwood, CEO and Executive Director, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging

Keynote address:

This is the 12th city that we’ve been able to come to do these forums in creating livable communities

for all ages. We couldn’t do this without the support of the MetLife Foundation. I am so thrilled to be

here, my organization represents 629 area agencies on aging across the country. They provide home

and community care to seniors in every community across the country. One of the reasons we took

this on, was because we saw that if someone needs to have a home delivered meal and say you

deliver that mean and you walk into that house and that house is not what it needs to be to offer

quality of life for that older individual…it’s not what it needs to be. You can have the best services

available, but if someone can’t get there because they can’t drive...their quality of life is hampered.

Take this message on the road and talk to community leaders like people in this room about how you

vision your community to be across the ages. What I’d like to do is talk about why this is important to

Chattanooga and the area around Chattanooga. What we’re looking at today is putting another

overlay on your efforts. This vision statement of our organization is to build a society that values

people as they age.

As an aging community we’re not focused on people as they turn any magic age, but it’s looking again

that we’re building a society that values and supports people as they age. And remember you age

from the time you are born. We used to have a coming of age wave…well I’m here to tell you the

wave has hit the shore. We can’t talk about that as a future event. When you are looking at the aging

of the population you see that line going straight up and you look at Tennessee the same trend is

happening right here and in some instances you’re ahead of that.

I think three things are going to happen. With the aging of baby boomers we’re looking at a new

definition of aging. People are looking at what they want to be called. Do they want to be called

seniors and older adults. We really need to look at how we are going to define aging. If I were walking

into a room of a senior center and I started throwing out decades, it would not be until I got to 80 or

90 because people before that age do not consider themselves old. So a new definition of aging is

required. It’s hard to open the newspaper without a new conversation of aging. Aging is the major

policy concern of this country.

The interest in aging is more than the health care issues, more of a deficit look of aging rather than

what are the opportunities of aging or asset look at aging for the country and communities. As we look

at aging and we need to look at the opportunities of aging and put away the stereotypes. However

you define the milestones, it really is how you feel and how you want to define your life. Older adults

are not all alike. Consider 46-64 year old Baby Boomers…just looking at that group there are

generational differences in that group alone. 85+ are the fastest growing population. The fact people

are growing older communities need to celebrate that people are growing older. There is a great deal

of diversity and that needs to be accounted for and we need to also consider there is diversity in

income. After the recent economic downturn – there is a great section of the population that is

financially secure, there’s a part of the population that is not – but there’s the biggest group in the

middle. The 800 lb gorilla in the room is the baby boomers and the force of demographic trends that

represents.

In looking at the baby boom population, there’s a baby boomer that turns 50 every 7 seconds. I think

most critically when a baby boomer turns 50, they have half of their adult life ahead of them. Baby

boomers have changed the face of life of U.S. life – we changed U.S. institutions and there’s nothing to

say that baby boomers won’t be pushing into their old ages…they have a sense to give back. And this

can be a huge driver. They will have a positive impact on their communities – volunteers, consumers,

home owners and investors. Aging of the population is something to be celebrated – it’s a hallmark of

this nation.

If we were living in the year 1900, the average age would be 44-46 years old. Today to successfully

age, individuals need to plan for their own aging, communities need to plan for aging, this will impact

every part of the communities – social, housing, healthcare, parks and recreation, lifelong learning,

education, arts and culture, economic development, infrastructure, economic fabric.

In the area of health care if there is silver bullet – physical activity, exercising and eating well, wellness

and prevention care. Making certain there are walkable streets, maintained sidewalks, parks and

recreation activities.

In terms of Land use planning – environmental planning – in looking at that master plans and capital

improvement plans where all your governmental facilities are building codes, zoning, transportation

and whether they meet the needs of people as they age.

Housing – Whether we have adequate housing is key and critical. Most baby boomers want to age at

home and in their communities as long as possible. We need to look at their homes and whether they

will need modification to be appropriate. How about creating new housing in communities that meet

the need of people as they age? One level housing – a universal design – downtown revitalization –

recognizing older adults could move and be closer to services if they move closer to downtown. In-

home technology – all this helps people age in place.

Intergenerational opportunities – meet the needs of people across age spans. Mentoring tutoring –

young tutoring older adults or vice versa. Shared community facilities. There was a time when we

looked at separating generations. We need to look at that and there may be a time when people want

to live together. That addresses the need for community centers --- that blend services and programs

for multiple generations.

Addressing lifetime employment – business sensitivity --- lifespan population and creating retraining

and life long learning. Learning should not stop at any age.

Every aspect of your population will be impacted by this, population In 2006, that’s the year the first

baby boomer turned 60 and the year we surveyed communities nationally and what we found that less

than half of communities across America had even started to look at planning for aging.

So I’m here to tell you that what we found through our surveys and our work with 12 communities is

that its good planning – you here in Chattanooga has been at the forefront of this – it’s continuing the

work, It’s good for everyone. They haven’t just bettered the communities for older adults,

Ask yourselves these questions…

Is Chattanooga a good place to grow up and grow old?

Will it meet your needs at different ages? And if not, look forward to what you can do as ambassadors

for livable communities in Chattanooga. You are now ambassadors for change for livable communities

in Chattanooga. You need to look at this community in a whole new light. Can it meet the needs of

current aging population and will it be ready for the Baby Boomers. The Rolling Stones are now

beyond Baby Boomers. And the time to start planning is now. You are looking at the future of

Chattanooga and make sure this community is a wonderful place to grow up and grow old a wonderful

place for all.

Breakout Session Reports

A Place for Everyone – Marie Noll, Facilitator

Rich Bailey - reporter

Summary and Action Steps:

Two major challenges came up: funding resources and attitudes and both of those things cover a multitude of areas. When it comes to funding – we looked at the idea of one-stop-shop…meaning a combination of what you think of bringing existing services into one location and putting those in neighborhoods and working first with existing community groups and programs and bringing co-located agencies together to share resources and broaden that idea much - as in health care, transportation. There’s a second piece under funding – getting businesses to buy into some of these programs – incentives for grocery stores and other local businesses to come into areas that they don’t naturally come into and the other is to engage businesses to become involved in solutions and fill a need economically. Another part of that is incentives to buy local.

The second large challenge we came up with was attitude — we believe that starts with cross-generational programming and a broad base communication program to begin to change attitudes. Think about an idea of a Seniors and Seniors program. Seniors and High School Seniors. The idea is connecting those age bands in some type of joint program. At the end of the year have a joint “senior” prom. The broad idea is taking care of your neighbors --- return to small town thinking. The town is getting bigger but not too long ago we would have been labeled as old fashioned. We need to think about maintaining and caring for neighbors. Interactive neighborhoods --- are a goal. We really don’t want neighborhoods where people close their doors and don’t find ways to associate – finding way to make that happen is very important.

Lifelong Learning – Geri Spring, Facilitator

Mel Cooper Reporter

We had a very open and free wheeling discussion and we had difficulty to come up with one age

group. When you think of lifelong learning it is one of the immediate challenges facing the

Chattanooga community and we need to prioritize. Two challenges that can get us moving are the

following:

We recommend a community-wide needs assessment --- without being narrow of one age group -- to

address a long standing deficit in our community: Education. The focus could be intergenerational.

Education is a huge challenge for this community. And to move that needs assessment forward we

need to separate it out by looking at current needs very specific needs in comparison to looking at

future needs as people move here.

Action Steps

Design a scope of research – the Ochs Center has a lot of data, but there may be gaps and we may

have to fill gaps. We need to develop benchmarks compared to other communities. When you look at

the library for instance, we are not anywhere near where we need to be when it comes to funding the

library on a per capita basis. We need to address that.

We need to look at connectivity – physical structures, transportation, cultural groups – to keep people

connected and make it easier to get to places to learn and to be a part of this community wide effort.

----------------------------------------

Healthy Living – Becky Patterson, Facilitator

Reporter-

Breakout Session report: We should hone in on community and social activities. One of the things we

had most difficulty with was we keep coming back to dealing with the ages and we as a community

need to deal with people of all ages and we need to project that we as a community are concerned

with all ages. We need to overcome the stigma of aging…that’s no longer the way we age. We went

through what was available again, mindful here what others were doing and many didn’t know what

was going on. If we don’t know how can others outside this group know. There’s important

information we need to disseminate to our community

The most important thing we need to do is make that available. For instance, we went to the United

Way and told them your book is out of date and they said we need money – and eventually they came

up with more information. Now people that come to our community know what 211 is and they can go

there for services.

We went through a list of deciding what was needed --- and then we went through what do we need to

meet those needs --- and we came up with a solution – again I want to remind you and we believe we

need to disseminate the concept that we need to address the needs of all ages.

Action Steps: The Solution – to promote and centralize awareness of services available to individuals

of all ages. There’s a place you can go to – whatever your needs are and that place will know what’s

going on. We also need to first identify what’s here and identify gaps. Then develop actions steps to

promote what’s here and fill in the gaps.

Building for the Future – Janna Jahns, Facilitator

Housing – reporter, Garnett Chapman, architect and neighborhood activists.

Those who desire to stay in their homes require modification to their homes to stay there. Then there are those who should be in assisted living. We need to look at education and land use planning. We need to educate the general public – individuals who are aging and needing to make these choices and families who are helping them make these decisions. Service providers who will prepare those services and so we can come up with solutions at events like this.

Long term planning – Senator Andy Berke was able to provide information getting information to people and reach general population

Action Steps: publicity and outreach to the general public and people who need these services and to churches who reach out to congregation and community, employers that can help folks and neighborhood associations that can reach others. We really felt that you had to start this program young – we need to get into the schools and start with young people has a life long learning event.

Land use – reporter, Theresa Graves

Our group talked about land use development and some of the areas we wanted to look at individuals whatever ages you may not want that large of a lot all that land to take care of –you want different option – condos or townhouses…so you don’t have that much to take care of…or maybe you do have that single family home and you want to add more to that single family home because we may start to see more than one family generation living in that single family home like years ago.

How do we provide affordable housing? Some people may not want to live with one age in a community. In a specific community maybe there will be more than one level of affordability –

Action Steps: solutions to look at involved examining our density and zoning and what is allowed for us to do. And it also comes to affordable housing and look at retirement and it’s hard to build housing that’s affordable for seniors – maybe the city or county could develop a land bank were the land could be more affordable for developers to build on?

Building and Tranportation – reporter, Karen Hundt –

This ties in perfectly with what Theresa said. We talked altl about public transportation and the fact is public transportation doesn’t work very well in this community. There’s a lack of funding at local, state and federal level. People can’t walk well…people live too far away from a transit stop. The bus stop doesn’t have a place to sit down or a shelter. There’s also a social stigma to riding the bus. We’ve added WIFI and other electric buses.

Action Steps: One of the solutions we came up with was a “Pilot Project” start in one area and raise awareness among public officials and neighborhoods. Maybe use electric shuttles for the green component or a ride-share program – were you can reserve a ride either by internet or phone. Things like door-to-door on-demand transport services and really look at our policies and funding in those areas and change some of those things that will make transit work. Throwing money in one area – might increase visibility and have a chance to see things work and then spread from there.

Employment -reporter, Monty Wynne

Our challenge is all about employment and I can tell you that you are looking at a walking talking example of that. The question for me was how was I going to get re-employed. There are people in this age group that are valuable employees. We had a number of problems – and we decided to focus on the two most important – awareness and communication. Getting employers aware of employees and vice versa.

Action Steps: Possible solutions Conducting a virtual job fair – there are now three dedicated websites in our area with url’s that offer jobs. The other idea was to offer a resource center – not senior --- but “experience” resource center. Lastly, we are looking at ways to create outreach and how can we reach out to these people. The second challenge and one of the thoughts was to use volunteers to possibly solicit – taking existing infrastructure and maximizing that. Rebranding and changing those perceptions – of the Senior network. Challenge number 2 is technology and that’s an issue that continues – experienced people often lack technology experience --- Why don’t we establish classrooms in non-threatening environments and teach people how to work with technology.

20 minutes Question and Answers ----

1. Q: We would like to replicate this event I have a general question about this event how this information will be disseminated. A: Every participant will receive a summary report by professional journalist. www.aginginplaceinitiative.org where information is available on previous events

2. Q: Will the slideshows and the presentation during the event will that be available? A: It will be on the website. Blueprint for Action is available on the website. It will also be available on this site.

3. Q: question on transportation – senior services are available volunteers to take people to doctors appointments and a shuttle service available by appointment My question is basically do we know what’s in place so we don’t duplicate and do we have a mechanism to incorporate that. A: Karen Hundt, I think there are initiatives in place that we can take advantage of the problem is the community does not know about it. So that everyone that’s aware of it knows

4. Q: I was in “a place for everyone” breakout section and there were some people from Atlanta and Knoxville and they described services they have in place that address some of the things we discussed. Like the IN trip Mayor Littlefield mentioned so that we don’t reinvent the wheel. A: On aging in place initiatives there are best practices captured and as we’ve been doing these conferences we’ve been trying to capture more and more. And we can also look for more best practices that are out there.

5. Q: Is there a land use plan that needs to be discussed with the city and what are the elements that need to be discussed and what’s included: A: Karen Hundt The current land use plan that we are using is a few years old but it does address some of these issues – the areas around

Chattanooga are starting to address these issues again partly because of Volkswagen moving in and we will need to continue to look at these.

6. Q: You’ve addressed the idea of going to senior to older adults – beyond the thin veneer of nomenclature what’s some strategies we can use to attack that; A: Monty Wynne One of the things we need to do is get a group together and work on that. It’s a very sensitive issue. One of the things we talked about earlier is retirement – what do people want to do how can we make them feel valued. How can we call on their resources rather than being tossed aside? There are ways we can work together and do some brainstorming on this issue. Dr. K a name that’s not offensive is sages. We need to get away from segregating populations.

7. Q: there’s no lack of great ideas but there’s an 800lb gorilla which is funding – is there a strategy for funding? New housing, to getting places, health care --- how much are the taxpayers going to have to subsidize these programs? A: Linda Bennett - There are some jumpstart grants available A: Sandy Markwood – Through some of the programs, it doesn’t necessarily cost “new” money it’s giving “new” opportunities where things don’t cost more. There are regular funds available for maintenance of sidewalks and roads…it may not happen overnight but it’s something that has to be put in strategies to come. Looking at affordable housing --- having a two-story home that is not adequate for someone to live in…new construction or modification is less expensive than that person may fall down and end up in a nursing home and the costs associated with that. It’s a matter of redirecting existing resources or with transportation and long range plans and things you can change in the future. A: Ron McNulty – I just to remind Chattanooga of your past --- in that last recession Chattanooga motivated its population and motivation is the first step and money flows into good ideas that ‘s the first step. And remember to pick up the phone and call your elected officials

8. Q: A next step for Choose Chattanooga would be to organize some additional meetings and there’s a lot of people in our community that recognize challenges How is this going to happen. A lot more people would have a lot more input –A: Linda Bennett --- this is a beginning and there’s a willingness to make a commitment Choose Chattanooga will be a partner and there will be others involved --- Leadership Roundtable will come out of Arts and Education which Choose Chattanooga will be a part of that ….but there’s will be a lot more to come but it’s a good place to start.

9. Q: So much of those I come from Nashville I’m with AARP in TN and I have a perspective that is not Chattanooga base – there’s so much that you’re have to go back to the state – there’s so much money that can be available with home based care – that is money that can come back to this community. There are so many issues that are being discussed right now in Nashville and we need to think about how that affects what we do here.

Jump Start The Conversation – Grant Opportunity Overview – Helen Eltzeroth

One of the purposes is to build partnerships. Together we can do so much more together than we can to alone. The group has to be a 501c3 if not you can partner with a 501c3. We are looking

for innovative ideas. The opportunity is there but it will help you further the discussion. Information is on the www.aginginplaceinitiative.org website

Grants

“Jumpstart the Conversation” grants are an opportunity for organizations in the Chattanooga Metro to take action in their communities on the Aging in Place Initiative. Grants will be awarded to innovative ideas focused on the theme of Building Partnerships what would you like to see happen in your community to make it more livable for all ages? Awards Nine grants of $1,000 and one grantor $2,500 will be awarded to support innovative ideas to begin an Aging in Place project focused on the theme of Building Partnerships. The $2,500 award will go tithe most innovative idea

Eligible Counties and Cities in Tennessee include the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Grant applications are due to the Partners for Livable Communities by July 17, 2009 and on July 31, 2009 the awards will be made.

For more information, applications and deadlines follow to this link:

http://www.aginginplaceinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=293&Itemid=234

Closing:

Steve Witt – this is important to talk about that this is just a beginning – Linda mentioned the Leadership Roundtable and that will help. Pre-workshop survey results and a summary of comments today will be available on Facebook on a Livable Communities group that you are all invited to join. If we have your email address we will send you an invitation and it will be a group that we can communicate about updates and next steps.