Age-Friendly Sarasota

What Is AFS?

Age-Friendly Sarasota is a countywide effort in Florida to promote active, engaged, and healthy living for people of all ages. By learning and sharing about Sarasota County's age-friendly features and the aspirations of its residents, this initiative is amplifying and bringing enhancements to the community. These enhancements align with factors identified by the World Health Organization that influence the ability to live well at any age.

Age-Friendly Sarasota is part of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities, an effort of more than 600 communities in 38 countries worldwide benefiting more than 190 million people, and was the first community in Florida to be recognized as an age-friendly community by WHO and AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities, a national affiliate of the global effort. Age-Friendly Sarasota works with its seven founding partners to propel its progress. For additional information on this initiative, see FAQs about Age-Friendly Sarasota.

World Health Organization logo
AARP Florida logo

History

With the full support of Sarasota County Government, Age-Friendly Sarasota officially launched in May 2015. This was a strong indicator that Sarasota was ready to begin a shift in culture and to help pioneer our region in the longevity revolution.
The community movement is well underway, and AFS has recently completed a two-year assessment of Sarasota County's age-friendly assets (May 2015 – May 2017). The assessment explores aspirations of Sarasota County's older residents (age 65 and older) and Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) — as they relate to the World Health Organization's 8 Domains of Livability.

As part of the assessment period, a community must undergo a research phase to determine what the community’s current age-friendly assets are and what the community aspirations are. Age-Friendly Sarasota did this through resident and provider surveys conducted from May 2015 – March 2016. We are pleased to share the findings in our 2016 analysis: Age-Friendly Sarasota Community Report. This research was then combined with the data collection of existing community assets by domain to create a roadmap (an "action plan") for next steps.

The Implementation Phase has recently started (June 1, 2017 – May 31, 2020). Efforts will now focus on community sector contributions to the goals, objectives, and strategies identified in the Age-Friendly Sarasota Action Plan.

Philosophy

Age-Friendly Sarasota embraces the following as its driving philosophy for our community’s age-friendly movement:
Connect, Learn, Share, Evolve, and Strengthen
To truly create this movement, we must come together and connect as a community. We need to learn from each other, share experiences, and evolve to strengthen our community so that it is livable for all ages.
Active Aging
To reduce ageism, we must identify and pursue possibilities for the well-being and participation of people as they age, including the incorporation of intergenerational activities between youth and elders.
It Takes a Village
To develop our collective future, we must aspire to engage multiple community sectors — People, Business, Nonprofits, Government, and Media.
An Age-Friendly Movement
To foster a livable community for all ages, we must develop a comprehensive sustainability plan by addressing the 8 Domains of Livability.
photo of a woman taking notes at an age-friendly conference

Guiding Principles

Age-Friendly Sarasota seeks to advance supportive social and physical environments that promote active, healthy and engaged living for persons across all ages and abilities in order to foster social, civic, and economic participation throughout the life course.

Age-Friendly Sarasota’s guiding principles summarize our approach to building upon our community’s assets and citizens’ aspirations to optimize active, healthy, and engaged living.
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Age-Friendly Sarasota
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info@agefriendlysarasota.org
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(941) 702-4619
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Sarasota, Florida
Age-Friendly Sarasota
|
info@agefriendlysarasota.org
|
(941) 702-4619
|
Sarasota, Florida
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