1685 Main Street, Room 209, Santa Monica, CA 90401 • (310) 458-8201 • [email protected] santamonica.gov • @cityofsantamonica • @santamonicacity August 12, 2024
Mr. Rafi Nazarians
Advocacy Director, AARP California
200 S. Los Robles Ave., Suite 400
Pasadena, CA 91101
Dear Mr. Nazarians:
On behalf of the City of Santa Monica, it is my pleasure to submit this letter committing to the mission, values and practices of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. The City of Santa Monica maintains a strong commitment to serving the diverse needs of our community, and we are excited to join the Network as we strive to make our city a more livable community for people of all ages.
The City of Santa Monica recently received a Local Aging and Disability Action Planning (LADAP) Grant from the California Department of Aging to develop a citywide aging-and disability-friendly action plan (Action Plan). To build our plan, we will engage our local aging and disability communities to identify areas to grow, improve and strengthen the city’s livability.
AARP’s Eight Domains of Livability, and the State of California’s Master Plan for Aging goals will be utilized as a framework to develop Santa Monica’s Action Plan.
The following objectives in Santa Monica’s LADAP project demonstrate the City of Santa Monica’s commitment to the AARP’s and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Age-Friendly Community Practices:
Objective 1 - Raise Awareness
The first phase of building Santa Monica’s Action Plan is community outreach to increase awareness among stakeholders about the benefits of planning and developing a cross-sector action plan to meet current, emerging, and future aging and disability-related needs. Interested community members will be encouraged to submit a statement of interest to participate on the Action Plan Advisory Committee.
Objective 2 - Assess Age-Friendliness
The Advisory Committee will review existing community data and best practices and inform additional assessment strategies to gauge the community’s age-friendliness.
Objective 3 - Build Local Plan
The Advisory Committee will study the results of the community assessment and select strategic priorities to address community needs and increase equitable outcomes for older adults and people with disabilities. These priorities will include measurable indicators of progress.
Objective 4 - Promote Plan & Measure Progress
We will promote the City’s Action Plan to community organizations, leaders and residents and develop an approach to routinely monitor progress towards the Action Plan goals.
We look forward to collaborating with AARP California and Network members as we continue the work to make our city an even more age-friendly community.
Sincerely,
Phil Brock
Mayor