Government Agency

New York State developed its action plan through a coordinated effort spearheaded by New York's Department of State, Office on Aging, and Department of Health, building off the New York State Prevention Agenda and Health Across All Policies initiative. The age-friendly action plan centers on the idea that state government, through its active leadership, can create a coordinated, integrated process to embed age-friendly and livable community principles into government work, create organizational change to improve population health and the built environment, and demonstrate that this approach is inclusive of all stakeholders. The age-friendly work has enjoyed successes in several areas, including promoting economic development, expanding transit-oriented development and affordable housing options, and mitigating environmental impacts on older adults.

New York State's age-friendly progress report focuses on improving the health of all people, with the goal of making New York the healthiest state in the U.S. It highlights how the Livable New York initiative helps local communities build a policy environment to strengthen residents' connections to each other, improve health, increase physical activity and support economic development through proactive community design and future-based planning. The report outlines the initiative's launch and its development of resources for communities related to housing, universal design, development, planning, zoning, energy alternatives, green building, transportation and mobility. The initiative's work helped launch the nation's first mobile app to connect more than 4.3 million older adults to community resources, helping them age in their homes. The initiative will continue to work with state and local partners to create places where residents can succeed throughout all ages and phases of life.