Frequently Asked Questions
What is Lifelong Strong New Jersey?
Lifelong Strong New Jersey is an advocacy campaign to prioritize policies that ensure New Jerseyans can thrive in the Garden State as we age.
What are Lifelong Strong New Jersey’s goals?
Lifelong strong New Jersey has two goals. The short-term goal is to prioritize aging in the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign. With our partners, we aim to educate and be a resource so that the next administration will understand the need to prioritize aging and be prepared to effectively include our changing demographics in policy and programming. Our long-term goal is for New Jersey to join many other states in adopting a Multisector Plan for Aging (MPA).
Why should aging be an urgent priority for the next governor of New Jersey?
Like all age groups, older New Jerseyans are important contributors to the state’s economy, infrastructure, and communities. As demographics rapidly change, we ask that the next Governor recognize our increasingly older population and include aging as an important consideration in all policy discussions, so that New Jersey can become an even better place to age well. Afterall, what’s good for older adults is good for everyone.
How does a Multisector Plan for Aging complement the expanding work in age-friendly initiatives in New Jersey?
Age-friendly communities—sometimes described as great places to grow up and grow old—have been a priority for many in aging and philanthropy since the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the global initiative in 2006. The age-friendly movement focuses on eight domains: housing; transportation; respect and social inclusion; social participation; outdoor spaces and buildings; community and health care; civic participation and employment; and communication and information.
An MPA gives communities, particularly states, a way to codify past age friendly successes and then expand on them, by engaging more partners, breaking down administrative and operational silos, drawing upon a wider array of funding sources, and tracking the impact of a coordinated effort to improve wellbeing in later life.