Mac users: Increase text size by holding command and +. Decrease text size by holding command and -.The Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (MABVI) and Boston University Innovate@BU have announced a partnership to develop a challenge open to BU students and alumni to solve community transit problems that will benefit society at large–and particularly for older adults and the blind and low vision community. Continue reading
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Report: UMass Studies Risk Factors for Older Pedestrian Injuries and Fatalities in MA
The number of pedestrian crashes in the United States has increased in the past two decades. According to a new report from UMass-Boston’s Gerontology Institute, the percentage of older pedestrian crash rates has also increased during that span. Continue reading
Boston Celebrates Age-Friendly Bench Program
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission, Public Works, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, AARP, Tufts Health Plan Foundation and WalkBoston celebrated the Age-Friendly Bench program in Grove Hall. The program expands the number of benches across the city, with a particular focus on raising the availability of resting locations for older adults. Continue reading
Governor Announces Announces $34 Million in Community Development Block Grants to 63 Communities
Governor Baker and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) recently awarded $34 million in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Awards to support a variety of housing, community and economic development projects in 63 cities and towns across the Commonwealth. Many of these projects are helping cities and towns become more Age-Friendly through improvements to a community’s physical environment. Continue reading
Healthy Aging in Motion: New Resource from MHAC, MassMobility Highlights Transportation Examples and Creative Partnerships
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative and MassMobility are partnering to help municipalities and organizations overcome transportation barriers – starting by recognizing the creative and effective work already underway in communities across the Commonwealth. Continue reading
Travel Training and Aging Service Providers: Three Example
If you are interested in learning how agencies are supporting older adults in learning to use fixed-route public transit services such as the bus, please join MassMobility at an upcoming event at Greater Lynn Senior Services from 10:00am to noon on September 24th.
Attendees will hear from aging services providers that have incorporated travel instruction into their offerings. Travel instruction is the professional activity of helping older adults or people with disabilities learn the information and skills they need to ride fixed-route public transit independently and safely. Continue reading
Nearly 20 Communities Awarded Complete Streets Funding
Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito joined Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack, Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, and local officials in Springfield to announce funding awards totaling $5.1 million to eighteen communities through the Complete Streets Funding Program to support local, multimodal infrastructure projects that improve accessibility for people walking, biking, taking transit, and using other forms of transportation.
The Complete Streets program is also an opportunity for Age- and Dementia Friendly Communities looking for funding support to improve the physical environment of their city or town. For those communities interested in becoming more Age- and Dementia Friendly that are receiving an award, this funding could be a good kick-start to a local initiative and help bring stakeholder together. Continue reading
Boston MPO Accepting Comments on Human Services Transportation Plan
The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will accept comments on the draft Coordinated Public Transit–Human Services Transportation (CPT–HST) Plan, also called the Coordinated Plan, (pdf) (html) until September 16, 2019.
The Coordinated Plan supports improved coordination of transportation for seniors and people with disabilities in the Boston region. This plan guides transportation providers who are developing proposals in the Boston region to request funding from the Federal Transit Administration’s Section 5310 Program. To be eligible for funding, a proposal must meet a need identified in the Coordinated Plan. Continue reading
Age-Friendly Funding Alert: MassDOT Workforce Transportation Program
Thanks to our partners at MassMobility, the Healthy Aging Collaborative is passing on a new funding stream from MassDOT, which announced a new workforce transportation funding opportunity, with applications due September 27. Continue reading
MassDOT Announces State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan
Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack recently joined Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, members of the Massachusetts Legislature, local officials, and transportation advocates at a groundbreaking event in Natick to release the State Bicycle Transportation Plan and State Pedestrian Transportation Plan and to celebrate the start of construction on the latest segment of the Cochituate Rail Trail.
Access the full Bicycle Plan and the full Pedestrian Plan. Continue reading