Target all Council Members with a personal focus. You Can:

• Email each Council Member

• Leverage personal relationships

• Attend Ward Meetings

• Attend Council Meetings

Please review the Modern Ager Advocacy talking points below and weave into your personal stories whenever possible:

Overall Target Message: Our typical Montclair modern agers, currently representing 26% of our population, have lived here for more than 20 years, have paid taxes, and are now asking for your support. We have proven to be reliable voters, and eager volunteers in support of Community activities. Our population is the fastest growing demographic in our nation, and a community that does not prepare now to support our numbers and needs is sure to falter. The Lifelong Montclair Modern Aging Center, located in the middle of our business improvement district (B.I.D.), is central to that Community planning.  From that Center will radiate a wealth of services and resources designed to make this an age-friendly community, not least among them: providing reliable and timely information; access to resources for modern agers and their caregivers; health screenings, as well as providing a hub for: overcoming isolation; organizing volunteers; and training for digital inclusion. Under this one umbrella, the efforts of all our community non-profits who are aligned with modern aging will be consolidated under a new organization called The Collective.

Quotable Statistic; Loneliness can cost 15 years of longevity

What Division of Senior Services Center will facilitate:

• Modern agers are reliable volunteers and want to give back to Community; our population is 26% of population and is growing. A Senior Ctr. is a location for leveraging this resource to organize volunteers to give back to Township in myriad ways to offset current financial crisis.

• A physical Senior Center is a hub for organizing volunteers to be a resource and to harness efforts of all non-profits that help total population.

• A physical Senior Center will offset loneliness. In order to increase access, identify a shuttle bus service for people who do not drive.

• A physical Senior Center will consolidate needed services and information for modern agers and their caregivers in a centrally located resource center.

• Support local economic growth in our B.I.D. (increase tax revenue from small business activities)

• Modern agers shop locally and support small businesses and that’s why it is imperative to help this demographic remain as Town residents.

• Transportation – We appreciate the current Township pilot project which provides for…20 rides per month (equals only ten round trips in our local area). We recognize that Mtc is the only Township in Essex Co. that has this type of transportation pilot project; we are grateful for these resources but given the current Federal directives, we have to plan for additional needs like facilitating transportation to social security office trips outside Township.

• For that reason, Township Division of Senior Service (SS) is investigating potential resources for more fully functional future, e.g. linking development with MSU for a greater regional vision. There are opportunities to use College vans which are currently linking MSU’s Bloomfield Campus with MSU Upper Montclair campus. Such a solution will offer positive opportunities for intergenerational connections.

• SS working with Senior Buildings which have their own vehicles to explore how to provide rides to other senior residents throughout Community

• We appreciate fact that Susan S. Andersen is Chairing Task Force to create a vision to meet the mobility needs for all residents including Seniors. A Town-wide solution will bolster BID and local economy in general and reduce environmental stress.

• A comprehensive transportation vision will explore partnerships with city, county and state to develop and promote a regional transportation plan. A comprehensive plan will Link transportation planning with safety and security, environmental protection, and quality of life goals for seniors.

Housing Recommendations

• Age-Friendly Blueprint

• Older adults overwhelmingly prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. However, 13.6% of NJ residents aged 65 and older reported difficulty living independently. Age-friendly efforts can focus on empowering people to age in place.

• Offering support and resources for home maintenance tasks to offset both physical and financial challenges. (e.g. garbage removal; Lawn Care; Snow & Leaf Removal; Seasonal Maintenance)

• Empowerment Issue: Township charges a fee for transferring garbage from backyard to curb; but Township fee will not cover recycling transfer.

• There is a private company in Town that facilitates trash transfer. Charge is currently $100 a month. How do we make this known to people who need and can afford it?

• Support proposed change to local zoning laws to increase footprint of ADUs – an effective housing alternative for seniors.

• Support state action to create a senior-specific financial program to help fund ADU construction.

• Incorporate universal design, climate resiliency, and emergency preparedness plans into new construction.

• Improve accessibility of existing housing stock.

• Incentivize age-friendly designs in competitive building projects.

• Reserve lower-level units of existing rentals for older adults.

Programs

• Improve communication of existing services, e.g. reason why we’ve established the Collective and are working on a consolidated event calendar of all senior-friendly programs and promoting the development of the Lifelong Montclair Center for Modern Aging.

• Increase support for family caregivers (facilitated by having a one-stop Senior Center)

• By virtue of having a dedicated digital training room, the Center will expand hours and accessibility to for training modern agers in digital skills vital to tele-health, e-commerce, e-government and e-banking.

• We must not forget to support digital communications with non-digital outreach including local newspapers, phone calls in order to disseminate key information to people who prefer these formats.

• A physical Center will Increase access to health blood pressure screenings, etc. at a central location.

• Mountainside Hospital representatives are poised to hold health education sessions at our physical Center.

Aging in Place

• The term “transfer trauma” was first coined in the 60s, when gerontologists started to worry that involuntary relocation of older people from private homes to institutions or between institutions could have an adverse effect on health and even cause death.

• April 8: Montclair Town Council Conference Meeting, 7pm, 205 Claremont Ave.

• April 10: Ward Mtg -Council Members-at-Large Susan Shin Andersen & Carmel Loughman, 6:30 pm, Edgemont Park House

• April 22: Montclair Town Council Meeting, 7pm, 205 Claremont Ave.

• May 6: Montclair Town Council Conference Meeting, 7 pm, 205 Claremont Ave.

• May 20: Montclair Town Council Meeting, 7 pm, 205 Claremont Ave.

• June 10: Montclair Town Council Meeting, 7pm, 205 Claremont Ave.

And, please watch for announcements of the following Ward meeting between now and

June:

• Ward 1: Eric D’Amato at Belleville Library Branch

• Ward 2: Eileen Birmingham at Edgemont Park House

• Ward 3: Rahum Williams at Montclair Public Library (main branch)

• Ward 4: Aminah Toler at Firehouse on Pine Street

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