Promoting age-friendliness: One college’s “town and gown” approach to fostering community-based and campus-wide initiatives for inclusiveness

Abstract

Rhode Island College has spearheaded state-wide age-friendly initiatives while simultaneously fostering three principles of Age-Friendly Universities on its campus. The principles consist of dialogue with advocacy organizations for older adults, enhanced student understanding of the impact of an aging society that includes its benefits, and promotion of gerontological research in higher education. The challenges encountered in grafting age-friendliness onto both "town" (the community) and "gown" (the campus) have been limited resources, small-scale endeavors, barriers to dissemination of information, and difficulties in mobilizing older adults to share governance. The enlistment of students addresses these challenges by the unpaid work they provide in exchange for course credit; their deployment as navigators for older adults to better utilize social media and as producers of age-friendly educational content; cultivation of their collaboration with community agencies to assist older adults via informal, temporary, flexible arrangements; and participation in intergenerational learning experiences that can bolster volunteering.

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