FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 29, 2022
Belmont, CA – The City of Belmont on the Peninsula in San Francisco’s Bay Area has been designated as an Age-Friendly City by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its commitment to being a welcoming community for people of all ages.
WHO established the Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities to connect organizations worldwide with the common vision of making their community a great place to grow old as a response to global population aging. It focuses on action at the local level that fosters the full participation of older people in community life and promotes healthy and active aging.
Belmont received this distinction with the help of an Age-Friendly Community Task Force, comprised of community members, Councilmembers, and City and Belmont Library staff. The task force, with assistance from the Center for Age Friendly Excellence, facilitated workshops to receive feedback from the aging adult community in Belmont about the services, programs, opportunities currently available or needed in Belmont. The findings from these engagements informed the City’s application to obtain the Age Friendly City designation. The City will now prepare an action plan for implementing improvements to better meet the needs of Belmont’s aging adult demographic.
“What an honor it is for Belmont to be recognized by WHO, “ said Belmont Mayor Julia Mates. “This designation is a reflection of our dedicated team’s hard work of which I am very proud. As adults in our community age, it is important for Belmont to continue to be a place they can call home and continue to thrive.”
Belmont offers a variety of aging services through its Parks and Recreation Department and in collaboration with community partners. Learn more at https://www.belmont.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/adults-seniors.
Belmont’s designation is the culmination of a multi-year effort supported by San Mateo County and the Center for Age-Friendly Excellence (CAFE). The project, funded by the County and guided by the Office of San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, seeks to assist every city in the county in achieving Age-Friendly City status. This designation illustrates local cities’ commitment to listen to the needs of their aging population, assess and monitor their age-friendliness and work collaboratively with older people and across sectors to create accessible physical environments, inclusive social environments, and an enabling service infrastructure.
As a part of this project, CAFE assisted Belmont with conducting focus groups and a community survey to help Belmont raise awareness about the Global Age-Friendly initiative and developing plans, infrastructure funding ideas, and programs to successfully implement projects and initiatives in WHO’s eight domains:
• Outdoor spaces and buildings
• Transportation
• Housing
• Social participation
• Respect and social inclusion
• Civic participation and employment
• Communication and information
• Community support and health services
“Congratulations to the City of Belmont for achieving the Age Friendly City designation from the World Health Organization. This recognition is a testament to Belmont’s ongoing commitment to its aging adult residents and gets us one city closer to our goal of making the whole County more integrated, accessible, and enjoyable for older adults,” said San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa.
About CAFE The Center for Age-Friendly Excellence (CAFE), a project of the Los Altos Community Foundation (LACF), is advancing the understanding of Age-Friendly cities and communities using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) evidence-based criteria of eight domains of livability. CAFE drives transformational change to create healthy, active, sustainable, and inclusive communications for all generations. CAFE promotes policies, programs and services that improve the quality of life as we age, and enhance respect, understanding, and engagement in our diverse, multigenerational communities.
Press releases and more information about CAFE are available at www.cfafe.org.
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