10:50:45  ANNIE MIKAL: Welcome 
everyone.
10:50:48  Thank you for joining.

10:50:58  My name is Annie McCall and 
I'm a program manager with 
10:50:59 FREED. 
I will be facilitating the 
10:51:02 session. 
This is the AARP local 
10:51:05 communities breakout room. 
Hopefully you find yourself 
10:51:07 in the right place. 
I will just give a minute 
10:51:11 while people join.

10:51:13  I want to direct your 
attention to the chat, if you 
10:51:17 would like to use closed 
captioning there are 
10:51:20 instructions there. 
On how to access the closed 
10:51:23 captioning function. 
And we will get started in 
10:51:25 just a moment.

10:52:09  It looks like we have 
everybody in the room at this 
10:52:12 point.

10:52:13  I will get things started by 
introducing Rafi Nazarians.
10:52:17  He will be our presenter 
today.
10:52:21  He is a associate state 
director for community AARP 
10:52:25 in California. 
Just a little introduction
10:52:29  and bio here on Rafi before 
he begins. He worked for 
10:52:33 United States Senator

10:52:35  Barbara Boxer for many years 
in various capacities, most 
10:52:38 recently a senior field 
representative, serving as
10:52:44  senators representative to 
local governments, elected 
10:52:46 officials, businesses, 
organizations, and 
10:52:47 constituents.

10:52:51  Rafi also served Senator 
Boxer as statewide liaison 
10:52:54 for areas of health, Public 
Works, and LGBT issues.
10:52:57  Recently, Rafi worked in the 
health sector, healthcare 
10:53:00 sector, serving as a first 
ever manager
10:53:02  of government affairs and 
community partnerships for 
10:53:05 federally qualified Health 
Center. In that role,
10:53:11  he was responsible for 
government affairs, advocacy 
10:53:13 and policy efforts at a local 
state and federal levels. 
10:53:17 Rafi joined the AARP caliper 
and your team in 2016. And he 
10:53:21 will be talking to us about 
livable communities, so I 
10:53:25 encourage you to join in the 
discussion. Typing your 
10:53:28 comments or questions into 
the chat. We will leave 
10:53:31 sometime at the end to 
address the comments and 
10:53:34 questions, and you can also 
raise your hand.
10:53:38  If you are on the phone, you 
can raise your hand by 
10:53:42 dialling start number nine, 
that will put you into the 
10:53:46 queue for questions.

10:53:49  With that, thank you Rafi 
for being here.
10:53:52  Take it away. 
RAFI NAZARIANS:
10:53:55  Thank you so much Annie. 
Good morning everyone.
10:54:05  It is nice to be with you 
all. As Annie said, I am here 
10:54:10 to talk about the AARP 
Livable Community Model. More 
10:54:13 specifically, the AARP 
Network of Age-Friendly 
10:54:15 States and Communities. 
Let's get started. Again, if 
10:54:18 you have any questions, type 
them in the chat. We will 
10:54:22 have some time at the end for 
discussion. This is really 
10:54:26 about building your own 
local, age friendly and 
10:54:29 disability friendly action 
plans. That is what we are 
10:54:32 going to be talking about. 
The AARP Network of 
10:54:35 Age-Friendly States and 
Communities, we have about
10:54:38  - we have over 500 members

10:54:41  across the country.

10:54:46  And 55 here in California, 
so we have 55 local 
10:54:50 jurisdictions. 
From the town of Fairfax
10:54:56 , with just a couple thousand 
people, to Los Angeles County 
10:54:59 with 11 million people.

10:55:09  And in fact, hot off the 
presses,
10:55:12  just last month, the state 
of California
10:55:14  joined the age friendly 
network
10:55:20  as a part of the 
recommendation from the 
10:55:23 master plan for a drink, that 
I am sure you are all 
10:55:27 familiar with. 
It was developed by the World 
10:55:30 Health Organization, and it 
developed because of the 
10:55:33 increasing number of older 
adults. And particularly,
10:55:36  the increasing number of 
baby boomers
10:55:38  that were getting older.

10:55:40  It was developed

10:55:44  so that cities, counties, 
towns, townships, whatever 
10:55:47 you want to call it, would be 
prepared
10:55:50  as folks were aging. 
And that agent cohort was
10:55:53  coming up more and more a 
bigger part
10:55:56  of the community.

10:55:58  So they took these eight 
domains of livability.
10:56:02  I will quickly go over them. 
Starting clockwise at the top
10:56:06 . 
Outdoor spaces and buildings, 
10:56:08 transportation,

10:56:10  communications and 
information, civic 
10:56:11 participation and employment,

10:56:15  respect and social 
inclusion, health services 
10:56:17 and community supports, 
social per dissipation,
10:56:20  and housing. 
Those were the original
10:56:22  eight domains

10:56:25  of livability. 
And when a city, state, 
10:56:28 county joints that were, they 
take
10:56:30  stock of all of these 
domains.
10:56:32  Most of them work on all 
eight domains.
10:56:36  Some say a couple do not 
apply to them so they will 
10:56:41 work on six. 
Others you will see on the 
10:56:44 outside, some other domains

10:56:47  that they have added to 
their own work, so equity and 
10:56:50 inclusion, disaster and 
emergency preparedness,
10:56:52  climate, public safety, 
dementia friendly, so on.
10:56:55  So what they do in the 
network's take stock of 
10:56:59 everything they are doing.

10:57:00  Let's take an example, 
outdoor spaces and buildings, 
10:57:03 and say

10:57:05  city XYZ wants to join the 
network.
10:57:07  They will look at their city

10:57:11  and they will look at the 
outdoor spaces and buildings 
10:57:14 and say

10:57:16  "We have 17 parks. 
We have three senior centres.
10:57:22  We have two youth centres." 
They will look at all of the 
10:57:26 things that fall under that 
domain. And they will look at 
10:57:30 the programming that they 
have. And the assets that 
10:57:33 they have. 
And take stock of that. And 
10:57:36 what the process will be, is 
looking at ways
10:57:40  either continuing it, 
continuing
10:57:41  if they like what is going 
on, or improving it.
10:57:45  So how does all of that work?

10:57:47  This is the overall

10:57:49  enrolling in the network

10:57:54  slide that we will go over. 
Again, it is four steps. 
10:57:58 Number one is entering the 
network.
10:58:01  In order for a city or 
county or town to enter the 
10:58:06 network we just need an 
application, and a letter 
10:58:09 from the highest elected 
official
10:58:11  in that jurisdiction. 
If you are a city, your 
10:58:14 mayor. 
If you are a county, it can 
10:58:17 be one of your county boards 
and supervisors. That letter 
10:58:20 and application gets the 
clock started, and you are in 
10:58:24 the network.

10:58:25  Step two is a planning 
phase. So what I talked about 
10:58:29 a minute ago, deciding which 
ones you want to work on, and 
10:58:33 taking inventory and stock of 
everything you have going on 
10:58:37 in the domains. 
And a couple of more steps we 
10:58:40 will go over next. 
Step three is implementation 
10:58:43 and evaluation. 
And the final step is 
10:58:46 continuous cycle of 
improvement.
10:58:52  Step two when we are talking 
about taking stock, what you 
10:58:56 also do is conduct a 
community assessment. You 
10:58:59 will see on the screen, the 
community assessment that the 
10:59:03 city of Fremont in Alameda 
County did.
10:59:05  AARP has

10:59:06  very, very long

10:59:08  survey,

10:59:14  that we make available, free 
of charge. In fact, 
10:59:17 everything in this program is 
free of charge.
10:59:20  The survey is really long 
because there are questions 
10:59:23 and therefore rural 
communities, suburban 
10:59:25 communities, urban 
communities, ex-urban 
10:59:27 communities.

10:59:27  For small towns,

10:59:32  major metropolitan areas.

10:59:35  You would look at that long 
survey,
10:59:38  and choose the questions 
that you think apply
10:59:41  best to your community.

10:59:43  And we can then send that out

10:59:48  to our membership in your 
area, and obviously
10:59:51  you would put it in your 
libraries,
10:59:54  or you would send it to 
people your own way as well.
11:00:00  On the online portion of it, 
we can do the data analysis 
11:00:04 for you. 
That is a big piece of it
11:00:07  that you do not have to be 
responsible for, and there is 
11:00:11 no cost on that front either. 
After you do your community 
11:00:15 analysis and your assessment 
and your
11:00:18  inventory, and kind of 
figure out
11:00:20  what you are working on and 
where you are going, and what 
11:00:24 you hear back from the 
analysis from your residence,
11:00:28  you start to develop

11:00:29  an action plan. 
Here on this screen you will 
11:00:33 see

11:00:35  cover pages of action plans 
from Oakland and San 
11:00:38 Francisco, both of whom

11:00:40  are two of the 55 members of 
our network.
11:00:43  An action plan is just that. 
It lists out
11:00:47  actions that your city, 
county, wants to
11:00:51  undertake to become more age 
friendly.
11:00:58  We ask that an action plan, 
what is a good action plan?
11:01:02  The action plan

11:01:04  is for three years.

11:01:06  The first two years

11:01:10  are joining the network and 
conducting your assessment 
11:01:12 and doing your inventory

11:01:14 , and then after that,

11:01:16  you write the action plan

11:01:20  which will be for three 
years. That is what the 
11:01:24 implementation period will 
begin. We encourage folks
11:01:26  to put in a range of

11:01:30  plans, a range of ideas and 
their action plans.
11:01:36  Somethings you can 
accomplish in six months, 
11:01:39 some you can accomplish in 
two months.
11:01:42  Other things could take a 
number of years to 
11:01:45 accomplish. 
But it should be a good max
11:01:48  -- mix of now, near, and 
long-term projects.
11:01:54  Some people joke and say 
"What if we want to build a 
11:01:58 subway?" That is great, you 
can do that but that takes a 
11:02:02 little more than three years. 
They should be achievable, 
11:02:06 measurable, and actionable. 
And things that your 
11:02:08 community can look at at the 
end of three years and say
11:02:13  "These are the actions that 
we have taken, and this is 
11:02:17 what has - this is how our 
community has become
11:02:20  more age friendly."

11:02:23  Once you write your action 
plan, you submitted to AARP, 
11:02:27 and we work with you on 
approval.
11:02:29  Generally, we will send back 
some ideas,
11:02:32  and we will do kind of a 
back and forth. But for the 
11:02:37 most part, we realize that 
each community is different.
11:02:40  And each community knows 
itself better than we do.
11:02:43  So there is no 
one-size-fits-all.
11:02:48  What is right for Fremont 
may not be right for San 
11:02:52 Diego. 
And what is right for 
11:02:54 Pasadena may not be right for

11:02:57  Arcata. 
Again, we encourage
11:02:59  each community to tailor this

11:03:00  to their own needs.

11:03:02  As you all know your 
communities
11:03:04  better than anyone else.

11:03:06  After the action plan

11:03:11  is approved, then we go into 
the implementation process. 
11:03:14 Again,

11:03:17  you will look at the actions 
that you have listed in your 
11:03:21 plan. 
And you will start your 
11:03:24 implementation. 
We encourage everyone to put 
11:03:26 together a solid, working 
group of people.
11:03:28  You could call it a 
commission, a committee,
11:03:31  a work group. 
Whatever you want.
11:03:33  But it definitely needs to 
include
11:03:39  a group of older adults, 
obviously, since we are 
11:03:42 talking about being age 
friendly.
11:03:44  Eight friendly does not 
necessarily mean only for 
11:03:46 older adults, because we found

11:03:50  as (unknown name) likes to 
say, what is good for someone 
11:03:54 who is 80 is also good for 
someone who is eight. When it 
11:03:59 comes to open spaces and 
buildings in housing and 
11:04:03 transportation. 
So just to include a good, 
11:04:05 diverse group of people who 
could work with you all and 
11:04:09 advise you as you work on 
your action plan.
11:04:12  and your five year

11:04:13 , each friendly process.

11:04:16  After the implementation,

11:04:20  that is at the end of five 
years. What you will do is a 
11:04:25 continuous cycle of 
improvement. What do we mean 
11:04:31 by that? 
The action plans are not
11:04:32  set in stone. 
They are living, breathing, 
11:04:34 documents.

11:04:35  Because obviously, things 
change. For example,
11:04:39  as we all know, we are all 
living through this pandemic.
11:04:44  Communities that joined a 
couple of years ago, nobody 
11:04:47 could have foreseen

11:04:48  a global pandemic coming. 
So they had to go back
11:04:52  and adjust their action plans

11:04:54  accordingly, in order to 
deal with that.
11:04:56  Other things that change 
pretty frequently that people 
11:04:59 have to go back

11:05:01  and update or change, 
technology.
11:05:03  Technology moves really 
quickly.
11:05:08  Some things you put in an 
action plan in 2021 may be
11:05:13  obsolete a few years later. 
But also,
11:05:17  the reason it is a living, 
breathing document is because 
11:05:21 it is trial and error. 
And you try things and say
11:05:25  "You know what, these three 
things worked really well. So 
11:05:29 we are going to

11:05:33  continue on, we are going to 
build out and build upon it. 
11:05:37 But these other two things, 
we thought they would work, 
11:05:41 but no, not so much." So you 
go back and take those out 
11:05:46 and adjust accordingly. 
And to do the continuous 
11:05:48 cycles of improvement. 
What this is, as you can see 
11:05:52 on screen, it is a framework 
for engagement. It is a 
11:05:56 framework for engaging your 
community
11:05:58  on age friendly issues, on 
disability friendly issues, 
11:06:01 dimension friendly issues. 
On the screen you will see 
11:06:04 the mayor of National city 
down in San Diego County, and 
11:06:08 our AARP state president

11:06:11  with the AARP tie and the 
white hair,
11:06:13  to the right.

11:06:15  That is when

11:06:22  a national city joined the 
network and we did a big 
11:06:26 press conference with them 
down there. It provides a 
11:06:29 framework for engagement, and 
that is what it is all about.
11:06:34  AARP provides tons of 
resources. Again, they are 
11:06:37 all for free. 
I mentioned the survey that 
11:06:40 we sent to you,

11:06:44  and even field for you, we 
have a road back to 
11:06:48 livability series, based upon 
all of The 8 Domains of 
11:06:52 Livability. 
So you can look at that and 
11:06:56 figure out what those things 
mean, and how they apply
11:06:58  to your own communities. 
We have an AARP rural 
11:07:02 livability workshop report, 
we have
11:07:03  pop up place making toolkit,

11:07:05  parks and open spaces guide,

11:07:08  a number of different things.

11:07:13  All of these resources are 
available
11:07:15  on our website.

11:07:19  Which is AARP.org/livable.

11:07:20  And there you can also

11:07:23  sign up for a weekly 
newsletter,
11:07:33  and you can find out about 
grant programs that we have, 
11:07:37 and other things that are 
coming up. Again, that is 
11:07:41 AARP.org/livable. 
With that, I am going to 
11:07:43 stop, and we can take any 
questions that you may have. 
11:07:47 I will stop sharing my screen.

11:07:49  Annie,

11:07:51  over to you for any 
questions that we may have.
11:07:57  ANNIE MIKAL:

11:08:00  Thank you so much.

11:08:03  If you have any questions or 
comments, feel free to raise 
11:08:07 your hand. 
Or enter them in the chat.
11:08:21  OK, I see Kelly, your hand 
is raised.
11:08:24  SPEAKER:

11:08:26  Thank you, that was great 
information.
11:08:30  As far as the assessment for 
our community is concerned,
11:08:35  would we need to do the 
application and letter to 
11:08:40 have access for that 
assessment?
11:08:41  Those are the steps that we 
would need to take? RAFI 
11:08:44 NAZARIANS: Correct. 
Once you do the letter and 
11:08:47 the application and become a 
part of the network, then the 
11:08:51 next step after that is the 
assessment.
11:08:54  Step one is running the 
network, and step two is the 
11:08:57 assessment. 
That is the first year of the 
11:09:00 process. 
That is when you would get 
11:09:03 access to the surveys, and 
that is when
11:09:06  we can help to field those 
for you as well. SPEAKER: 
11:09:11 Thank you for the 
clarification, I appreciate 
11:09:12 it. 
RAFI NAZARIANS: Thank you for 
11:09:15 the question.

11:09:20  ANNIE MIKAL:

11:09:21  You can join the discussion 
by
11:09:24  leaving a comment in the 
chat box.
11:09:26  Or raise your hand.

11:09:32  If you are on the phone and 
would like to make a comment 
11:09:37 or raise a question, you can 
dial*nine to be added to the 
11:09:41 queue. 
We would love to hear from 
11:09:43 you. 
RAFI NAZARIANS:
11:09:46  I see a question in the chat.

11:09:49  I believe all of the slides

11:09:52  are going to be made 
available.
11:09:56  Is that correct Annie? 
ANNIE MIKAL: Yes, they will 
11:09:59 be made available

11:10:03  and sent out probably next 
week after the conference. 
11:10:07 RAFI NAZARIANS: Rate. 
ANNIE MIKAL: To all 
11:10:09 attendees. 
RAFI NAZARIANS: And my 
11:10:11 contact information will be 
available as well,
11:10:13  so if you have any questions

11:10:16  come up after the fact feel 
free to reach out.
11:10:34  ANNIE MIKAL:

11:10:36  I am not seeing any other 
hands raised at the moment.
11:10:41  Rebecca is taking notes and 
will report on the session
11:10:44  back at the end of the 
conference closing
11:10:48 . 
The second session that will 
11:10:51 be coming up after this

11:10:53  is by Kelly, go ahead Kelly.

11:10:56  SPEAKER: How many small, 
rural counties
11:10:58  have you assisted?

11:11:04  RAFI NAZARIANS:

11:11:05  Out of the 55,

11:11:09  counties or cities? 
You said counties? SPEAKER: 
11:11:13 Counties. 
RAFI NAZARIANS:
11:11:14  There are probably 3 to 4

11:11:16  that would fall in that

11:11:18  category.

11:11:21  But also remember,

11:11:24  this is not just California.

11:11:28  So I am with AARP California 
and obviously if you are a 
11:11:34 California County we would 
work with you all. But there 
11:11:36 is hundreds of counties and 
cities from across the country
11:11:40 . 
So for example, in Iowa or in 
11:11:43 Maine, it is mainly rural 
counties.
11:11:45  So we have a whole wealth of 
information
11:11:49  of rural communities and 
counties that have done this 
11:11:53 work already. 
So you would have access to a 
11:11:56 lot of information just right 
out of the gate.
11:12:00  SPEAKER: That is super 
helpful. Thank you.
11:12:02  RAFI NAZARIANS: Sure.

11:12:20  ANNIE MIKAL: Thank you Rafi 
for being here. It is an 
11:12:24 honour having you to be a 
part of the process. The next 
11:12:28 session

11:12:30  that we will be going into, 
we will take another break 
11:12:33 coming up here in the next 
session will begin at 11:20 
11:12:37 AM. 
This is a really important 
11:12:40 session, stick around if you 
are in that county will stay 
11:12:44 right here in this breakout 
session on this Zoom screen. 
11:12:47 But if you would like to join 
either the US/Saturn meetings,
11:12:53  you can go back to the 
participant page and click 
11:12:56 that link to those specific 
counties.
11:12:58  We want to be able to

11:13:00  have those discussions about 
how each individual county 
11:13:03 and community is impacted by 
this.
11:13:05  So feel free to stay here

11:13:07  if you would like to join 
us. We will get started
11:13:12  at 11:20 AM.