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    Lights, Camera, Aging: A Local Companion to Aging Our Way, PA

    Act Two: Set the Stage

    Act Two will help you develop a set of Research Reports to guide coalition-building and Plan development.

    Introduction to Act Two

    In Act One, you sought input from your community on the most urgent issues they face and refined that information into major themes. To ensure that your Local MPA can respond effectively to those themes, you will need to hit the books.

    By the time you complete this Act, your Development Team will have: 

    • A clear picture of your Local MPA’s position and purpose within the existing planning and infrastructure of your area 
    • A robust body of knowledge, strategies, and examples you can use to help you build and carry out your Local MPA 
    • 8 completed Research Reports containing a Domain Snapshot and a Landscape Analysis for each Domain of Livability

    Toolbox Tip:

    As you work your way through this Act, your research will introduce you to new leaders and partners in your area.

     In Act III, you will formally invite many of these new contacts to join your Local MPA Development Coalition.

    Make sure you are keeping your Network Development Spreadsheet up to date!

    Step 1: Survey Existing Plans

    First, it’s time to get a sense of what other plans exist (or don’t exist!) in the area you serve. This will help you understand how your Local MPA effort fits into the existing planning efforts of your area and start identifying valuable planning partners. For this step, and throughout this Act, you will use the Landscape Analysis Spreadsheet to guide your work.

    Types of Plans

    • Comprehensive Plans: A comprehensive plan is a long-term plan that communities use to shape land use, neighborhood development, and public services in the area they serve. It provides the framework for zoning ordinances and other local regulations, making it an important guide and reflection of a community’s priorities over time. Every county is required to have a comprehensive plan, and to update it every 10 years. Municipalities are encouraged to have comprehensive plans as well.
      • Adding Aging: Older adults should be engaged in the development of a comprehensive plan’s core elements, such as housing, transportation, and economic development. Further, local governments can elect to include additional sections, including planning for an aging population.  
    • Functional Plans: Functional plans address a particular topic, such as downtown revitalization or emergency preparedness. While they are more specific than comprehensive plans, they are still most effective when their policies are linked to the comprehensive plan. Contact your local government’s planning department to find out what functional plans they have. A broad list of examples of functional plans can be found in the Planning Efforts Inventory.
      • Adding Aging: Any functional plan could include (or could be updated to include) sections specific to older adults. A Local MPA is an example of a functional plan.
    • Non-Governmental Strategic Plans: Many entities beyond the government engage in strategic planning efforts, and their plans may be relevant to your work. These may include, but are not limited to: 
      • Age-Friendly Action Plans: Age-Friendly Communities are required to develop an Age-Friendly Action Plan to make their communities inclusive places to work and play for residents of all ages. Find out whether your community has an Age-Friendly Action Plan. 
      • Dementia-Friendly Community Action Plans: The Dementia-Friendly Communities Network encourages communities to develop action plans to support and improve the wellbeing of people living with dementia and their caregivers. There are 21 Dementia-Friendly Communities in Pennsylvania’s network. Find out if your community is a Dementia-Friendly Community.
      • Public-Facing Strategic Plans from Private Sector and Non-Profits: Non-profit organizations, philanthropic funders, and businesses from hospitals to homecare agencies to even grocery stores have strategic plans that may include (or could be updated to include) older adults.

    Step 2: Build Your List of Local Resources

    You now have a good idea of what leaders at the state and local level say they are doing or want to do. Now, it’s time to find out what is actually getting done, and who is doing it. In this step, you will assess the resources, infrastructure, programs, and services available in your area to support older adults.

    Convene your Development Team to develop a list of resources, infrastructure, programs, and services. Cast a wide net – think of as many sectors, demographic groups, and domains of livability as you can.

    • Start with resources available through your own organizations.
    • Expand to resources you know of/refer to regularly.
    • Incorporate all resources from your Network Development Spreadsheet.
    • Survey appropriate contacts from your network to identify additional resources.
    • Conduct desk research to identify additional resources.

    Sort your results. Collate the resources you gathered in step 1 into the eight domains of livability. 

    Scan for gaps and good examples. Convene your Development Team again to review your resource list, one domain at a time. For each domain, ask: 

    • Is this list accurate? Do all the resources exist as described? 
    • Is this list complete? What resources are not yet on the list but should be? 
    • Is this list inclusive? Does this list accurately reflect and meet the needs of all communities it serves? If not, what resources are missing?
    • Is this list effective? Are there one or two resources that emerge as particularly effective with demonstrable results? 

    Finalize your resource list. Revisit each domain and add any new resources suggested by your Development Team. If any resource gaps remain, conduct follow-up desk research to determine whether the resource exists or if there is truly a gap.

    Aging Our Way, PA Core Tenet Spotlight: Person-Centered Planning

    The policy tactics in Aging Our Way, PA were developed and refined to ensure that they could meet the needs of older Pennsylvanians in a person-centered way.

    As you identify resources to highlight for each domain in your Landscape Analysis Spreadsheet, focus on ones that take a person-centered approach where possible.

    Step 3: Build a Best Practices Bibliography 

    For your MPA to stand on a robust foundation of research, you will need to pull from a variety of sources, including academia; think tanks; other local, state, and national governments; and primary sources.

    The Landscape Analysis Spreadsheet contains a starter kit of resources related to the following topics: 

    • Aging Our Way, PA Core Tenets
    • Multisector Plans for Aging 
    • Aging Our Way, PA Priorities
    • Multisector Plan Evaluation

    In addition to these resources, your Development Team is encouraged to research the following topics:

    • Best practices for including and supporting the demographics of your area
    • Promising models for meeting the needs expressed by your community members
    • Resources for addressing specific opportunities, challenges, or circumstances unique to your community

    You will reference and update your bibliography in Act Four as you draft your Local MPA.

    Tool Spotlight: Research Report Template

    The Research Report Template organizes your public engagement data and background research into eight Research Reports, one for each of the 8 Domains of Livability.

    In Act Four, these Research Reports will guide the drafting of of policy recommendations for your Local MPA.

    Step 4: Synthesize your Research

    In this step, you will synthesize and organize all of the research you have done in Acts One and Two into a set of eight Research Reports, one for each of the 8 Domains of Livability. These Research Reports will be the keystone of your Local MPA drafting process.

    In Act Three, you will assemble your “Cast” — the multisector coalition that will draft the policy recommendations for your Local MPA. In Act Four, you will present your Research Reports to the coalition to orient them to their task. As you prepare your Research Reports, think about the partner agencies, advocates, public officials, and others who will be reading them: what is most important for you to convey about each Domain?

    Use the Recommendation Report Template to guide your work.

    Domain Snapshots

    Part 1 of each Recommendation Report is a Domain Snapshot. This section synthesizes the work you did in Act One, drawing on your Population Profile, Public Engagement Plan, and public engagement data.

    As you prepare each Domain Snapshot, consider:

    • Is it accurate? Do the contents align with the results of your data collection and research in this Domain?
    • Is it inclusive? Does this list accurately reflect and meet the needs of all communities (ethnicities, racial identities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, abilities, etc) it serves?  If not, what resources are missing?
    • Is it resonant? Does the section convey the most important data points and themes that emerged from your public engagement research in this Domain?

    Landscape Analysis

    Part 2 of each Research Report is a Landscape Analysis. In this section, you will synthesize the outputs of your planning efforts research, local resource list, and best practices bibliography. As you prepare each Landscape Analysis, consider:

    • Is it consistent? Is the analysis responsive to the narrative presented in the Domain Snapshot?
    • Is it clear? Is the content straightforward and the language easy to understand?
    • Is it comprehensive? Does the narrative provide all the context necessary for coalition members to prepare policy recommendations for the Domain?

    Step 5: Scan Your Research Reports

    Your Research Reports are the foundation of your Local MPA, so it is crucial that they reflect a rigorous standard of quality. Once you have completed your Research Reports,  circulate each one to a different Development Team member for a thorough final review. Answer the following questions:

    • Transparency:
      • Does the report capture the needs and concerns expressed by the community? 
      • Is the report clear in stating why specific resources were included, and how they can serve a local need for the community?
    • Diversity, equity, and inclusion:
      • Was the report developed without favoritism toward a particular segment of the community audience? 
      • Were representatives of underserved populations due to minority status (racial, ethnic, religious), sexual orientation, gender identity, or other factors included in the development of the report? 
    • Person-centered planning: 
      • Does the report align with the goal of improving quality of life for all older people in the Local MPA footprint? 
      • Are resources and best practices included for the benefit of people, rather than for convenience of an agency or institution?
    • Creation of a living document:
      • Does the report communicate flexibility where needed, taking dynamic landscapes into context?
      • Does the report prepare its readers well to develop policy recommendations that can change over time? 
    • Reframing aging:
      • Does the report present older Pennsylvanians as vital and necessary parts of community leadership? 
      • Does the report use age-positive language throughout?