On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, the Life Course Scholars cohort had its first site visit of Spring Quarter. We returned to Casa de Manana in La Jolla, California, where we held a LEG meeting with several seniors on a panel.
During a LEG meeting, the LCS cohort pairs off with two or more seniors and we discussed our vision for a truly age-friendly community/society. My group was paired with three women: Alice, Cecelia, and Billie. I had met Alice twice before during our previous visits to Casa de Manana, but I had never met Cecelia or Billie before.
During our discussion, our group came up with numerous ideas for an age-friendly community, including different types of homes and yards in one area to prevent age segregation, a mix of areas that are commonly and individually owned, housing above businesses for people who wish to live near the city center, eco-friendly transportation, trains, metros, buses, and trolleys for public transportation, mental health resources, community colleges and/or a university extension, a fire department, police station, and medical services nearby, neighborhood schools, protected bike lanes, relatively flat land, houses with front porches and balconies to encourage social interaction between neighbors, benches, public parks and gathering places of various sizes, age specializations, and that are fenced in, pet parks, shopping centers, disability accommodations, ramps, a community center, a recreational center/gym, public safety, cleanliness, and good quality sidewalks. These communities would preferably have smaller to medium-sized populations and a radius of ten miles or less in order to maintain a “small town” feel and maintain interaction between residents. In addition, sound must be present at crosswalks in order to help blind individuals be sure that they can cross and that the buttons and lights are working properly. In addition, our group suggested that a community council be instituted to help give residents a voice to address issues and concerns in the community. In addition, education and personal outreach personnel would help ensure that residents regularly attend the council meetings and participate in public discourse and debate. In addition, we suggested community advocates to bring light to unique, specialized issues or interests within the community.
After creating our age-friendly community models, the groups presented their projects to the other groups. I served as our group’s spokesperson. Afterwards, the elders discussed their motivations for participating in the program and their insights from the LEG experience. Many of them echoed sentiments of enjoying collaborating with young people and encouraging intergenerational understanding and communication. In addition, several elders stated that they placed their hope for the future in young people like ourselves. However, after this experience, I am reminded that the future lies in the hands of every person, regardless of age. The key to a better future, however, lies in what we engaged in during this activity: Combining the wisdom and ambitions of younger people and elders to create a better society, and world, that benefits everyone.
During a LEG meeting, the LCS cohort pairs off with two or more seniors and we discussed our vision for a truly age-friendly community/society. My group was paired with three women: Alice, Cecelia, and Billie. I had met Alice twice before during our previous visits to Casa de Manana, but I had never met Cecelia or Billie before.
During our discussion, our group came up with numerous ideas for an age-friendly community, including different types of homes and yards in one area to prevent age segregation, a mix of areas that are commonly and individually owned, housing above businesses for people who wish to live near the city center, eco-friendly transportation, trains, metros, buses, and trolleys for public transportation, mental health resources, community colleges and/or a university extension, a fire department, police station, and medical services nearby, neighborhood schools, protected bike lanes, relatively flat land, houses with front porches and balconies to encourage social interaction between neighbors, benches, public parks and gathering places of various sizes, age specializations, and that are fenced in, pet parks, shopping centers, disability accommodations, ramps, a community center, a recreational center/gym, public safety, cleanliness, and good quality sidewalks. These communities would preferably have smaller to medium-sized populations and a radius of ten miles or less in order to maintain a “small town” feel and maintain interaction between residents. In addition, sound must be present at crosswalks in order to help blind individuals be sure that they can cross and that the buttons and lights are working properly. In addition, our group suggested that a community council be instituted to help give residents a voice to address issues and concerns in the community. In addition, education and personal outreach personnel would help ensure that residents regularly attend the council meetings and participate in public discourse and debate. In addition, we suggested community advocates to bring light to unique, specialized issues or interests within the community.
After creating our age-friendly community models, the groups presented their projects to the other groups. I served as our group’s spokesperson. Afterwards, the elders discussed their motivations for participating in the program and their insights from the LEG experience. Many of them echoed sentiments of enjoying collaborating with young people and encouraging intergenerational understanding and communication. In addition, several elders stated that they placed their hope for the future in young people like ourselves. However, after this experience, I am reminded that the future lies in the hands of every person, regardless of age. The key to a better future, however, lies in what we engaged in during this activity: Combining the wisdom and ambitions of younger people and elders to create a better society, and world, that benefits everyone.