Pittsburgh’s Age-Friendly initiative finds new home at JCC, boosting collaboration and community engagement
'This complements the work that we are all trying to do'
A growing partnership is helping Pittsburgh age.
Months ago, Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh moved into the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. Relocation afforded Age-Friendly a new office, but the change enabled something greater, Laura Poskin, executive director of the group, said.
“This is a multi-generational space that is just always buzzing with activity,” Poskin said of the JCC. “It’s kind of the world that we want to live in. Age-Friendly is all about making the region more inclusive and respectful of all ages, seeing the potential in every age, connecting with one another. And this space is that.”
Part of the World Health Organization Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh is one of 1,700 communities in 60 countries. The nearly 10-year-old initiative is supported by Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging and the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh is funded by several entities, including the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, the Jefferson Regional Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Family Foundation.
Poskin said that while moving into the JCC will spark new ways of working together, the groups are far from strangers.
For years, Age-Friendly and AgeWell at the JCC have collaborated on issues pertaining to transportation and digital access, according to Sharon Feinman, division director of AgeWell at the JCC.
Separate from AgeWell Pittsburgh — a collaboration between the Jewish Association on Aging, JFCS and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh — AgeWell at the JCC is a senior center located within the JCC that works with older adults who regularly access the building for programming, meals, socialization and fitness, Feinman said.
Now that Age-Friendly is located a few floors from AgeWell at the JCC it’s a “bonus for the community,” she continued. “This complements the work that we are all trying to do.”
Jason Kunzman, president and CEO of the JCC, praised Age-Friendly and called it a “convener and a voice for the kind of innovation we want to see.” Age-Friendly, through countless efforts, has helped “reframe what aging looks like in our region.”
One such project was launched early last month.
On Feb. 6, Age-Friendly began promoting its Age-Inclusive Photo Bank. The digital storehouse was created in an effort to demonstrate “real, local people, aging in community in western Pennsylvania,” Poskin said.
A boon to journalists, researchers and policy makers, the photo project was driven by a realization that too often stock images of older adults portray subjects as despondent, lonely or even unusually happy in nondescript locations. The photos in Age-Friendly’s collection are a “source of inspiration” by depicting the real ways older adults live and thrive in the region, Poskin said.
The demographic truth facing Pittsburghers and Allegheny County residents is this area is home to aging populations, she continued.
According to Allegheny County’s Area Agency on Aging, approximately 27% of residents are 60 and over — across the U.S. merely 23% of residents are similar age. Similarly, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging expects a 75% increase in the number of people aged 85 and over between 2030-2045.
Regional realities aren’t soon shifting, Poskin said. “That’s an asset. Let’s lean into it. Our older generations have so much to offer and so much to give and are such an integral part of our neighborhoods and all of our lives.”
Kunzman said he’s eager to continue learning from Age-Friendly and working with the initiative to foster a “truly intergenerational, inclusive and supportive community,” as well as partners including “the city, county and other longtime leaders in the aging space.”
Bettering the community requires community organizations working together, Feinman agreed. Having Age-Friendly inside the JCC is a “great example of how that can be done.”
Healthy robust communities are predicated on allowing everyone to “truly live life, their entire life,” Poskin said. “The JCC welcoming us into their space underscores their commitment to that too.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments