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In 2008, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Blueprint for Aging Partnership held an art show. But this was no ordinary art show: Instead of a modest event featuring a few pieces of art from local hobbyists, Blueprint for Aging linked up with the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design and put out a national call for artists to submit their works that “challenge and expand the perception of aging.” The event, “Aging with Attitude,” opened in a local gallery to a packed house marveling at the art submitted by scores of artists from around the country.
“The art was fantastic and edgy and hip, and we attracted a great crowd and a lot of press,” says Jill Kind, the project director for Blueprint on Aging. “Working with the university gave us a street credibility that we as social workers don’t usually have.”
Indeed, spreading the word about the issues and challenges facing the local aging population is one of the most difficult tasks for Blueprint for Aging. A Partnership comprised of individuals, businesses, non-profits, social service agencies and other parties, Blueprint for Aging has been working for more than a decade to bring attention to the needs of the aging population in Washtenaw County, both now and in the future.
In recent years, the Partnership has taken a decidedly non-traditional approach to raising awareness through events such as the “Aging with Attitude” art show. Blueprint for Aging has discussed the issues facing aging adults with university students and business owners, and with local leaders and schoolchildren. “It’s a stronger partnership if we can bring all of these groups together,” says Kind. “We need to be thinking of these older adults in a different way to make it meaningful to families and kids and business owners.”
Making the message meaningful to many different groups also requires taking a unique approach. For Blueprint for Aging, it meant collecting and analyzing reams of data on older adults in Michigan’s Washtenaw County. That data was compiled as the Older Adult Data Book in early 2009, and in the last year has proved to be an invaluable resource in helping to illustrate the particular challenges and issues facing older adults in Washtenaw County. “It’s given us a place to describe the aging population in a way that people really understand,” says Kind.
Building the book
The Blueprint for Aging Partnership created the Older Adult Data Book in large part to fill a major void in information about the aging population of Washtenaw County. A county-wide health improvement survey collected just a few data points on older adults, and for years the Blueprint for Aging Partnership had to cobble together information to better explain the challenges faced by older adults. “We had a lot of data about who we served and a lot of anecdotal information, but we didn’t have data about the kinds of issues older adults are facing,” says Kind.
The lack of data made it difficult to explain to the community why improving services for older adults was so important. And it was downright troubling when the Partnership applied for grants or tried to advocate for older adults with local leaders. “If you’re asking for funding, you have to have some way to demonstrate why it’s important to pay attention to the issues of our aging population; and show the potential for outcomes that matter,” says Kind. “That’s a pretty big deal. And since there wasn’t much information about older adults, we had to start it all ourselves.”
The Partnership modeled its data book in part on the Kids Count Data Center, a national nonprofit clearinghouse that slices and dices a wide variety of demographic and social data on U.S. children. Starting virtually from scratch, Blueprint for Aging recruited two university students to collect stacks of data. The Partnership then spent months analyzing the data.
When the data book was wrapped up in January 2009, the Partnership finally had a powerful collection of findings that would help explain the challenges faced by Washtenaw County’s older population. Among the findings:
- The data found that Washtenaw County’s population aged 55 years or older makes up a smaller percentage (19%) of the overall population compared to the state of Michigan (24%). But this statistic is misleading: Ann Arbor, the county seat, has two major universities that attract tens of thousands of younger students, effectively skewing the demographic data. Blueprint for Aging dug deeper into the data, separating out non-student populations, and found that Washtenaw County’s percentage of older adults is actually closer to the state percentage than numbers suggest.
- Washtenaw County’s population of older adults is expected to double by 2025. Several factors are contributing to this expected growth, including Washtenaw County being a popular destination for retirees. That growth will create an even greater need for services and infrastructure. In fact, the Older Adult Data Book argues that without significant changes, the needs of this population will overwhelm support services and other programs aimed at older adults.
- The Partnership expects that the diversity of the older adult population will change significantly over the next few decades, resulting in “language and cultural challenges to delivery of older adult services.”
- Nearly half of Washtenaw County’s older adults live in single-person households, and the data book notes that elderly people living alone need the greatest amount of community support. “Many older adults can’t afford to live alone,” says Kind. “That got us thinking about whether aging in place is really so great if the older adult is very isolated.”
Spreading the good news
The data book allowed the Blueprint for Aging Partnership to use hard numbers and astute analysis to highlight the necessity to better serve the older population. The data book also uncovered some good news about the area’s aging adults, including that median household incomes are considerably higher among older adults than for the state as a whole. The data book also found that a relatively large percentage of adults 70 and older (38%) report being in good to excellent health, combating the stereotype of all older adults as frail and needy; and showed the potential for them to “give back” as a significant volunteer force invested in the community.
These statistics help paint a more complete picture of the local aging population, and that has helped the Partnership connect the larger Washtenaw County community to the issues of aging. Kind says that the community is less likely to respond to a portrayal of older adults as frail and needy. Instead, the Partnership aims to connect the community to older adults by making the issue more relevant to their personal situation. For example, during conversations with business owners, Kind often asks how they handle older employees, or whether they’ve experienced an impact from younger employees caring for older family members. “It used to be that you lost worker productivity because they had family responsibilities for kids,” says Kind. “Now, it’s just as likely that they’re taking care of their parents.”
The Older Adult Data Book has played an important role in the Partnership’s efforts to create personal ties between the Washtenaw County community and its older population. For example, local newspapers have highlighted key findings from the data book on front-page spreads, creating a much wider audience for that information.
The data book, says Kind, also has been integral in keeping Blueprint for Aging funded. “Part of our mission is to bring money into the state,” she says. “We needed some statistics we could use in our grant writing, and this has made it much easier to do that.”
The success of the data book has helped Blueprint for Aging continue its work advocating for and helping to serve the aging population in Washtenaw County. “And while working in a partnership structure has had its challenges, the collaboration between all of the stakeholders has brought about better results,” says Kind.
“With a partnership, there’s nothing easy about the process,” she says. “It’s easier to work by yourself and come up with a plan you think will work. But the problem is that you won’t have buy-in from the rest of the community, and there’s typically an issue you haven’t thought of. That’s the reason to work with a partnership: The solutions are better, and they really work.”
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