Creating Community for a Lifetime

About Us

Overview

Our Mission

To ensure Kent County is a community that optimizes quality of life, independence and choice for older persons and all residents through collaborative planning and community action.

Our Guiding Principles

Creating Community for a Lifetime will promotes a holistic, successful aging perspective in the community.

Creating Community for a Lifetime will increase community capacity for successful aging through an empowerment model.

Creating Community for a Lifetime will develop a process for continuous community learning regarding successful aging.

Our Vision

Kent County will be an elder-friendly community that addresses basic needs, optimizes physical and mental health and well-being, promotes social and civic engagement, and maximizes independence.

Our Strategy

Creating Community for a Lifetime is a long-term, broad-based, community-wide initiative built on a foundation of community data-gathering and analysis and imbedded into the existing network of agencies addressing aging issues. The approach includes:

Our Measures

We measure success of Kent County addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by an aging community using the following benchmarks:

Basic needs of older adults are being met.

Social and civic engagement is promoted.

Physical and mental health and well being is optimized.

Independence is maximized.

Our Role

Our Governance

A 35 member Core Council governs the direction of the initiative. The Core Council is responsible for establishing the strategic direction and priorities of the initiative and ensuring community action on recommendations developed.

Our Leadership

The initiative is administered through a partnership between the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan and the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.