Research Alert: October 11, 2021

Statewide Age-Friendly Initiatives: An Environmental Scan

View companion brief: Examples of Statewide Age-Friendly Initiatives

Age-friendly initiatives are generally recognized as policies, programs, and strategies that support the health, wellbeing, and independence of all people as they age. Typically, these initiatives have occurred at the local level but are becoming increasingly common at the state level, recognizing that this may help improve efficiencies and coordinated efforts to support older adults aging in place across entire states. This is of particular importance for rural communities as the share of older adults is increasing in rural areas faster than in urban areas, yet funding of and access to aging supports in rural areas may be more limited or disjointed.

The purpose of these policy briefs is to identify the extent of statewide age-friendly initiatives, and within those, to identify the extent to which such programs have an explicit rural focus. The "Examples" document provides an overview of the initiatives identified in the "Environmental Scan."

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guides: Rural Health Disparities, Social Determinants of Health