Introduction to the Local Companion
Pennsylvania is growing older. Currently, 1 in 4 Pennsylvanians is over the age of 60, and that number will grow to 1 in 3 by 2030. Meanwhile, our older population is becoming more culturally diverse, and rural communities are aging more rapidly than urban and suburban ones.
Pennsylvania has a Plan. To meet the opportunity created by our most knowledgeable, experienced, deeply-rooted population in history, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro created Aging Our Way, PA. This Commonwealth-wide Multisector Plan for Aging (MPA) provides a 10-year roadmap for the Pennsylvania government to change and improve how it serves older adults.
Dear fellow Pennsylvanians,
We, the PA Council on Aging (PCoA), proudly present herein to all Pennsylvania stakeholders “Lights, Camera, Action.” This Local Companion will serve to guide the local implementation of tactics found within Aging our Way, PA a strategic ten-year plan for transforming the infrastructure and coordination of services for Pennsylvania’s older adults.
“Lights, Camera, Action” was developed by the resolute volunteers of the PCoA, led by Committee Chair Velma Carter-Drayer in coordination with Jessie Pierce, Executive Director of PCoA. Members worked tirelessly across the state for over a year to complete this outstanding tool.
Uniquely the Local Companion combines the resources and talents of local government entities, non-governmental business enterprises, and other community resources to transform the service experience for older adults in Pennsylvania.
Heartfelt gratitude is offered by the Council to the Secretary on Aging, Jason Kavulich, for his wisdom, support, and encouragement throughout the process.
Sincerely,
Melanie R. Titzel, Ph.D.
Chair, Pennsylvania Council on Aging
Pennsylvania is growing older. Currently, 1 in 4 Pennsylvanians is over the age of 60, and that number will grow to 1 in 3 by 2030. Meanwhile, other demographic shifts are changing how we age. Our population of Asian, Latinx, and Black residents grows each year, making our older population more culturally diverse, and rural communities are aging more rapidly than urban and suburban ones.
This is an opportunity. Right now, Pennsylvanians have more life experience, community ties, strong relationships, and professional expertise than we ever have had before. Older adults are the economic drivers of our communities – they spend more on travel, have more leisure time, and are more likely to succeed as entrepreneurs than younger generations. They keep our communities going socially, too – people over 60 make up 29% of volunteers. At the same time, like people of any age, older adults from all backgrounds rely on their communities for support when they encounter challenges. We must adapt to meet our changing needs so that we can all continue to contribute to our communities as we age.
Planning for aging is planning for everyone. In general, older adults want what most people want: safe, connected, thriving communities. It’s easy to see how aging-oriented planning benefits people of all generations: an elevated crosswalk, for example, becomes more accessible for older adults, people with mobility issues, parents pushing strollers, and young children. Lights, Camera, Aging will help you develop a Local Multisector Plan for Aging that engages multiple partners to meet the needs of residents of all ages for many years to come.
We are hopeful that Lights, Camera, Aging will be useful to the following categories of people:
- Local Elected Officials: County and municipal elected officials can use this guide to build a compelling case for creating a Local MPA, empower its development through resolutions and resource allocation, and oversee its successful implementation.
- Local Government Staff: Workers in local government agencies can use this guide to understand their role in the MPA process, guide their agency’s participation in development and implementation, and contribute their expertise to implementing specific policy initiatives.
- Local Non-Government Partners: Non-profits, businesses, advocacy coalitions, and others beyond local government can use this guide to build outside momentum toward initiating Local MPA development, identify ways to partner with local government in development, and sustain external engagement throughout implementation.
A Multisector Plan for Aging (MPA) unites as many sectors as possible in supporting older adults. An MPA is a 10-year plan led by a government that engages many departments, agencies, and non-governmental partners in supporting older residents. In the United States, MPAs are a catching trend among state governments: 14 states are implementing MPAs, and 25 states have expressed their intention to publish one in the next few years.
The multisector approach is key. Aging impacts every aspect of our lives, so every sector has a role to play. Further, a multisector approach is necessary for addressing changing needs. In Aging Our Way, PA, for example, older Pennsylvanians elevated housing and transportation as the most urgent and universal challenges they face. These challenges go far beyond the scope of “traditional” key partners in aging to address. A multisector approach brings new partners to the table.
An MPA can belong to a national, state, or local government. The MPA model helps governments improve their ability to respond to the needs of older residents through coordinated planning. The government-led focus makes it different from, and complementary to, other age-friendly planning models. Non-governmental players such as non-profits, advocates, and businesses can and should be valuable partners, as you will see throughout the guide.
Aging Our Way, PA is Pennsylvania’s Multisector Plan for Aging. Aging Our Way, PA provides a 10-year roadmap for the Pennsylvania government to change and improve how it serves older adults. The Department of Aging led the charge to develop the Plan following an Executive Order signed by Governor Josh Shapiro in May 2023, and the Governor signed the Plan into action in 2024.
The foundation of Aging Our Way, PA is robust engagement and partnership. Over 20,000 Pennsylvanians contributed their input, which directly shaped the Plan’s policy tactics. The policy tactics were then adjusted and refined by the state agencies responsible for their implementation. Ultimately, 30 state agencies are committed to implementing the Plan’s policy tactics.
Aging Our Way, PA needs local partners. Pennsylvania has 67 counties and 2,560 municipalities that serve our older residents in vitally important ways, and their partnership is crucial. In developing Aging Our Way, PA, the Plan’s development team learned a lot: they created processes, tools, templates, and best practices to make the Plan a success. Lights, Camera, Aging gathers these resources, adapts them for local audiences, and makes them publicly available for the first time. Through this guide, we hope to encourage and assist our local government partners to create Local MPAs by making the process as streamlined and straightforward as possible.
How to Use this Guide
Lights, Camera, Aging has two parts, with two goals. This guide is divided into two parts:
Part 1 provides a strategic planning framework. This will walk you through every step of the process of developing and implementing a Local MPA, from initiation to evaluation. The goal of Part 1 is to help you develop and implement a Local MPA that responds to the needs of your own older residents.
Part 2 provides a series of “localized” policy tactics from Aging Our Way, PA. Each of these short profiles provides an overview of the work being done at the state level, ideas for including the tactic in your own Local MPA, and an example of successful tactic implementation. The goal of Part 2 is to help you align your Local MPA with the state-level work of Aging Our Way, PA.
Before embarking on the journey of Local MPA development, we encourage you to read Lights, Camera, Aging in its entirety. This will enable you to begin with the end in mind. Additionally, it will give you insight into the most appropriate place for your journey to start.
Every user of this guide comes to it with a different starting point. The way you use the guide will depend on many, many factors, including your familiarity with strategic planning, the aging sector, and government operations; your role in your organization, and your organization’s role in your local planning infrastructure; the appetite, resources, and capacity available for a Local MPA in your locality, and more. We encourage you to keep the parts that are useful to you and skip any parts that do not apply.
Planning is a non-linear process. The strategic planning framework laid out in Part 1 provides a general overview of the Local MPA process, but it is not meant to be rigid or prescriptive. Every locality is unique, and therefore every Local MPA process will be unique. We hope you will adapt the guide to suit the unique position, needs, and changing circumstances of your locality.
The Framework (Part 1) of Lights, Camera, Aging incorporates a set of tools to help you with the development of your Local MPA. These tools are adapted from the tools used to develop Aging Our Way, PA. They are designed to be intuitive, simple, and adaptable. They require no special software, and they can grow and change with your planning process.