Introduction
Our introductory session covered the basics of Lifelong Community programs and provide practical examples from Maine communities on their journey to become better places for people (especially older residents) to live healthy, active lives. 

• Overview of Lifelong Maine and Introduction to Age-Friendly Communities

• Panel: Lifelong Community Innovations

  • Liz Breault - Director, Abbot Memorial Library and Chair Dexter Age-Friendly - described a number of accomplishments and then provided details about one of the programs started to address isolation - Furever Friends. The program matches older cats with older people. Click here to view a video about the program. Liz emphasized the important role of the municipality and the number of partnerships they were able to develop as people became excited about the age-friendly program.  

  • Mary Beth Paquette - Chair, Monmouth Lifelong Community,  Monmouth Lifelong Community - described the work they did to bring together a large number of partners to form their core team. Toward the end of her presentation, she offered some great tips for keeping the core team engaged:

    • Make a personal ask when recruiting new team members

    • Be an encourager, allowing everyone to contribute their passion

    • Listen to diverse opinions

    • Brainstorm--all ideas are important

    • Remember, there is no need to invent the wheel--copying successful programs from other states encourages the team and moves your work forward efficiently.

    • Use consensus unless it is impossible and a vote is needed

  • Ardis Brown - Town Manager, Danforth Livable Communities - described the approach they used to engage the community in age-friendly and the process of gaining the funds necessary to open the Danforth Livable Communities Center. She noted that no town is too small to make change.  

• Tour of Lifelong Maine
  Kathryn Harnish - Age-Friendly Houlton, - gave us a guided tour of the LifelongMaine.org website. She inspired us with all there is to explore and learn! 

• • Community Impact with the Eight Domains of Livability

  • Community Panel

    • Housing
      Vanessa Newman - Director, Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition & Chair, Age and Ability-Friendly Bucksport - shared a partnership with Habitat for Humanity that is increasing access to home repairs and modification. 

    • Transportation
      Jean Saunders - Chair, Age-Friendly Saco - described Age-Friendly Saco's evolving work to address the needs of residents to rides for medical appointments, errands, and social opportunities. 

    • Outdoor Spaces and Public Buildings
      Anne Krieg - Director of Economic and Community Development, City of Bangor & Co-Chair Bangor Livable Communities - presented information about several initiatives Bangor Livable Communities has done to start a conversation with residents about making Bangor Town Hall and public spaces in the city more accessible, convenient, and welcoming. 

    • Community Supports and Health Services
      Lori Johnson - Healthy Aging Coordinator, Healthy Peninsula & Coordinator, Age-Friendly Coastal Communities - gave us a quick tour of the many different initiatives Age-Friendly Coastal Communities has implemented to increase access to community supports and health services that promote active, healthy, engaged aging. 

    • Civic Engagement
      Dot Grady - Co-Chair, Age-Friendly Chelsea - explained how their programs to increase civic engagement have evolved in response to the preferences of residents. 

    • Respect and Social Inclusion
      Nancy Davis - Chair, Age-Friendly Community Initiative, Bethel Area - gave a brief history of AFCI's approach work to bring the generations together for fun, learning, and sharing. She provided several things to think about when developing intergenerational programs.

  • Tips that we heard throughout the presentations on the eight domains:

    • • • Be patient. Building relationships takes time but is essential for community engagement, particularly to attract volunteers.

        • Start simply and build on what is available in your community (including volunteers, funders, partners, regional programs) to address the needs. 

        • Find partners willing to support your mission and vision. Each of our presenters shared a list of partners that ranged from the municipality, aging services, health care, regional volunteer programs, businesses, schools and MORE!

        • Communicate, communicate, communicate. We will have the opportunity to hear more ideas for effective communication during our Media Module (March 13, with advanced topics on March 20 and March 27). 

        • Volunteers are critical to all of the communities. The tried and true methods for recruiting volunteers were through positive impact stories and personal asks. We hear more ideas during the Volunteer Module (January 31, with advanced topics on February 7 and February 14). 

  • Resources Shared

    • Renee Wheaton  is the coordinator of "Staying Warm, Dry, and Safe", a home repair program offered by Mount Washington Valley Age-Friendly

    • Two programs in the Bath area to help people with simple home repair and modification are:

      • • Comfortably Home

        • Habitat for Humanity Seven Rivers

• To learn more about volunteer transportation programs throughout Maine, https://www.lifelongmaine.org/volunteer-transport

• For more information about Assisted Rides, https://assistedrides.com/

• To learn more about the Tele-Friends program, https://neu.campuslabs.com/Engage/organization/rhi

• • Structuring Age-Friendly Teams for Maximum Impact

  • Community Panel

    • Linda Weare - Executive Office of Elder Affairs, Portland &
      Chair, Age-Friendly Portland - described some of the work they have completed and stressed their unique organizational model. Linda leads the work as part of her role as the Director of the Office of Elder Affairs and has engaged some strong partner organizations to form the core leadership team. Many other organizations, businesses, and residents are involved in part of the age-friendly initiative, but not all. 

    • Lisa Joyce - Outreach Librarian, South Portland Public Library &
      Co-Chair, Age-Friendly South Portland - shared the perspective of a municipally appointed committee. Toward the end of her presentation, she offered some great tips that apply to all committees, regardless of structure:

      • Keep lines of communication open and always be willing to see other points of view.

      • Use local media whenever possible

      • Partner with as many groups as you can

      • Give credit to everyone involved, no matter how small the participation was

      • Thank everyone involved. Do it repeatedly and publicly.

    • Elizabeth Singer - Community Relations Coordinator, Cary Medical Center &
      Chair, Age-Friendly Caribou - explained how the work of Age-Friendly Caribou is structured. Elizabeth, as part of her work with Caribou Medical Center, provides leadership and coordinates the many successful activities undertaken by Age-Friendly Caribou. She emphasized the importance of partners in all of their work and communicating regularly with elected officials and other partners about successes. 

    • Kathy Chaiklin - Board Member, Grateful Undead - introduced us to the Grateful Undead and to the 501c3 structure that they (reluctantly) adopted. Her "lesson learned" was, "succession, succession, succession". She emphasized the importance of managed growth, only implementing the programs that have strong support and engagement by volunteers.  

    • Candy Eaton - Chair, Age-Friendly Sullivan - spoke about the loose organizational structure they have adopted, while maintaining very close ties to their municipality. Because they are not an appointed committee, anyone who comes to one of the monthly meetings (permanent and summer residents, people in neighboring communities). Candy also stressed the important role that partners play and emphasized the importance of different committee members taking leadership in a particular initiative to avoid one person shouldering the responsibility of all the age-friendly work .