Published February 6, 2020

CELEBRATING the town’s status as an AARP Age-Friendly Community are (front row, from left): Rita Mullin of Parks and Rec. Com., Select Board (SB) member Liane Gonzalez, SB Chairwoman Kate Manupelli, AARP Age-Friendly Director for Mass. Mike Festa, Director of Elder Affairs Mary Prenney, Social Service Action Team (SSAT) Chairwoman Kim Manzelli, Admin. Assistant Sherri Greer, Diane Norris and Dave Doucette of SSAT, SB member Rich Wallner. In the back row, from left: State Rep. Brad Jones Jr., Town Administrator Mike Gilleberto, SB members Andy Schultz and Stephen O’Leary, Youth Services Director Jen Ford and Diane Downing of SSAT. (Maureen Doherty Photo)

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — When the town was recognized at last week’s Select Board meeting as an official member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities, it received more than a shiny new certificate to hang on a wall at Town Hall.

Mike Festa, the state director of Age-Friendly Communities for AARP, stressed that this organization recognizes that in order to be successful in creating communities where seniors can truly age in place, it will require “activists; thoughtful thought leaders who look at this issue and try to make sure there is a consensus around how to move forward. And then there is the commitment of the town itself — those represented by town government and each of the departments of town government. This is really a collective effort.”

Festa explained that the program’s success comes from each community’s ability to develop “what they consider to be the priorities. Sometimes we think we know, and I suppose in my position I should know, what seniors want, but I am always surprised at what the priorities are for all communities.

“You don’t have to do all eight domains. You may find that transportation or housing or social isolation are your critical objectives that need to be addressed immediately. That’s what will happen when you do this survey and do your other work in planning and determining what the next steps should be. That next step is going to be an action plan and (AARP) will provide resources to support you in this effort,” Festa assured the town.

Those resources include “items of action” he said, some of which could benefit from mini-grants or advocacy “on behalf of the town, either to state government or to other resources. We want to stand with you and support your efforts.”

“What the Age-Friendly network is about, as AARP envisioned it, and the World Health Organization, which started this program 10 years ago, is that every community is in a place to start the question that needs to be asked: What’s best, not for us as local officials, but for the community itself, the seniors themselves, the community of all ages, as they answer the question, ‘How shall North Reading look in the future in terms of its policies, its practices, to welcome people of all ages, and make sure that they have the tools and the policies and the opportunities to age in place which is dignified and engaged?’” Festa said.

“What we have right now, it is important to acknowledge, is all of the forces that need to be brought to bear to have this done well. You’ve got a state government that made a commitment; Gov. Baker made a commitment 18 months ago to have Massachusetts an age-friendly state, which unleashed a lot of effort and resources,” he said.

“The idea is, that when you look at a state government and all the different aspects of state government, there are many resources and opportunities to support communities as they embark on this age-friendly effort. Massachusetts is only the second state in the country that moved forward in this direction,” said Festa.

Since this initiative began, according to Festa, over 70 communities in the state have joined the network ranging from “big cities” like Springfield, Boston, New Bedford and Salem to suburban towns like North Reading down to the small “hill towns out in the Berkshires.”

Two state grants

In addition to the support provided by AARP and other advocates for the rapidly aging population, Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto shared more good news.

“We are here to celebrate and be recognized as an AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities but we have also been awarded a $35,000 Community Compact grant from the state to develop an implementation plan for setting a path to make us an age-friendly community,” Gilleberto said.

“The intent is to build upon the AARP and tools they have available and the work that we have been doing here through planning and other processes to set the course forward,” the T.A. added.

“And as a complement to that, we also have an additional $25,000 in state funding through the Community Compact program to help us plan for affordable senior housing at the location off Carpenter Drive, which we have been talking about for a number of years,” Gilleberto said.

Carpenter Drive was built off Chestnut street and it provides access to town-owned land between Chestnut and Mt. Vernon streets.

“We are really excited to be granted those two grants from the Governor. We had a great turnaround and I’d like to recognize Rep. Brad Jones for his advocacy on our behalf in funding for that program as well as Sen. Bruce Tarr. Our goal is to have some recommendations ready for our budget. Whether it is this upcoming budget or a future one, we want to chart that path now,” the T.A. said.

Gilleberto also recognized Town Planner Danielle McKnight, Director of Elder Affairs Mary Prenney and Chairwoman of the Social Services Action Team (SSAT) Kim Manzelli for their work for all their work of the past several months moving this AARP designation forward.

The contract for both state grants were signed last week as well, the T.A. said.

The entire board was unanimous in its support of the designation, which runs through October of 2021, and the state grants.

Select Board member Rich Wallner said this designation is very beneficial for the town, acknowledging that the fastest growing demographic is people aged 60 and older because currently 25 percent of the people are 60 or older and in 10 years it will be 40 percent.

“People want to live in their homes as long as they can; in their community as long as they can, and live with purpose,” Wallner said. “What is good for older age is good for the entire community.”

Select Board member Stephen O’Leary observed, “Mr. (Brad) Jones and I are proof we are aging in place in North Reading… and it is great to see this come to fruition.”

Noting that Father Time waits for no one, except perhaps Tom Brady, Select Board member Andy Schultz said he’d loved to see options enabling seniors to stay in town. “It is incumbent upon us to do that for the people in this community,” Schultz said.

“I agree with my colleagues. This is a wonderful thing. It is long-awaited and a lot of people worked hard. There is a lot of need here for the seniors— transportation and housing, and I could go on,” Select Board member Liane Gonzalez said. “This is a great step forward.”

Select Board Chairwoman Kate Manupelli agreed, noting that when the idea to pursue this designation from AARP was presented to the board last year by those in town who work in this field, such as Director of Elder Affairs Mary Prenney, she recalled that “it is one of the occasions when we were unanimous in our support and we told Mary to go get it…Those eight tenets of the program, I think they’ve worked on every single one, step by step…We appreciate you and your team for doing this.”

Rep. Brad Jones observed, “This is a great way to end a terrific day for North Reading,”  referencing to the visit to town earlier in the day by Gov. Baker, who helped the Little School celebrate its 2019 National Blue Ribbon School award.