The Williamsburg Community Action Plan on Aging: 2010-2020

Overview

The Greater Williamsburg Area’s 60 + population is expected to account for nearly 30 percent of the entire population by 2030. The Center for Excellence in Aging and Geriatric Health prepared this plan for the Senior Services Coalition (SSC) to provide goals, strategies, and action steps to be implemented in Williamsburg’scommunities over the next ten years that will create a more livable community for seniors.

Key Points

The main goal of this plan on aging is to improve the livability of communities in Williamsburg by coordinating seniors, healthcare and service providers, community leaders, and funding partners. The plan provides a framework for creating model communities, as well as implementation strategies based on four forums comprised of 240 community member participants. These forums provided insight on what is important to seniors in the community. Four priority areas were addressed as a result of the forums, including:

1. Seniors’ awareness of and access to resources.
2. Focus on vulnerable seniors.
3. Housing and neighborhood support.
4. Valuing seniors as a community resource.

Additionally, the plan provides an outline of other state and community plans that Williamsburg has used as a resource to produce this plan on aging.

The plan does an effective job of offering planning goals and strategies, but does not provide specific examples of the steps Williamsburg communities are taking to improve their age-friendliness.

How to Use

Taking older adults into account in community planning activities will become increasingly important as the coming age shift approaches. Since the Greater Williamsburg Area has become a retirement destination for many older adults, this plan on aging can be used to better understand some of the strategies the community has taken to improve its livability. Planners, community leaders, and local officials can use this plan as a resource when seeking guidance about what other areas are doing to enhance community livability and make their community a place for seniors to comfortably age in place.

View full report: The Williamsburg Community Action Plan on Aging: 2010-2020 (PDF – 414 KB)