Age-Friendly Minnesota

As we age, each of us is presented with an opportunity to create solutions to support older adults, their families and caregivers across Minnesota. These investments we collectively make in creating an age-friendly state benefit each of us.

With Minnesota experiencing a time of unprecedented changes, we have an important opportunity to elevate conversations about aging to the forefront of our shared work. Our state is currently home to more than a million people over age 65 who bring a diversity of lived experiences and find home across a broad span of geography.

We're all aging, yet public perception around aging and older people is often a cycle of negative stereotypes, assumptions and misconceptions. Ageism — discrimination based on age — is a reality that impacts older adults every day with 82 percent of older adults experiencing ageism daily. We invite you to explore our approach to reframe what it means for Minnesota to be a great state to age and join our inclusive efforts using evidence-based strategies and an age-friendly framework.

There are many allies in this work, and each of us plays a crucial role. Age-Friendly Minnesota provides a unifying framework to catalyze and coalesce this work across multiple sectors, including state and local government, non-profit and private sectors, as well as research, philanthropy and more.

Background

At our 2019 Summit, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed Executive Order 19-38 establishing an Age-Friendly Minnesota Council.

In August 2020, this group submitted their preliminary report of Eight Recommendations to make aging a state priority.

In the 2021 Special Session, the legislature approved continuation of this Council through 2024. Learn more about state efforts on the Age-Friendly Minnesota website or continue to explore below.

By January 2022, Governor Walz submitted an official letter accompanying Minnesota's application to join the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities and as outlined in this January 2022 Press Release, Minnesota became the 10th state to do join the network.

In 2023, we actively worked alongside the Age-Friendly Minnesota Council on efforts to ensure the ongoing work of the Council through 2027 to provide technical assistance and grant funds to communities.

Today, we continue this work to develop a Multi-Sector Blueprint on Aging as part of a 10-state cohort convened by CDCS, and convening stakeholders across the age-friendly ecosystem. 

What is an Age-Friendly Community?

An Age-Friendly community is one that enables all residents to thrive at every age and life stage.

Age-Friendly communities help us to be more resilient during a crisis. For example, Minnesota cities and towns focused on Age-Friendly work prior to COVID-19 were well-prepared to meet the needs of their aging residents because they had already created the infrastructure, partnerships and communications channels needed. 

The availability and quality of certain community features commonly referred to as the “8 Domains of Livability” have a powerful impact on the well-being of older adults.

In an Age-Friendly community, this framework is used to organize and prioritize the shared work needed to become a more livable place for people of all ages.

Age-Friendly Care and Education Collection

This curated collection from the Minnesota Northstar Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program highlights educational and clinical resources for educators, health professionals, learners, and others interested in improving care for older adults. This fully searchable collection includes full citations and links to resources deemed of high quality by experts in aging care, education, and research.