Communities for Healthy Aging Transitions

Project Overview:

Communities for Healthy Aging Transitions (CHAT) was a regional project to examine age-friendliness in Strafford County, as well as Brookfield, Wakefield, Newmarket, Nottingham and Northwood in Carroll and Rockingham counties, respectively. It was funded by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation and is in partnership with Greater Seacoast Community Health.

The mission of the project was to engage our communities in planning for and promoting diverse, equitable, inclusive, livable environments where people can grow and thrive, regardless of age.

Our steering committee consisted of a group of diverse partners that represent entities like the University of New Hampshire (UNH), the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (CAP), ServiceLink, ACT, Seacoast Outright, Dover Police Department, and others.

Now complete after 3+ years, this project included outreach, assessments, planning and implementation. We began with wide-ranging outreach events including online forums with communities, surveys, a postcard activity, and individually tailored interviews with residents of our 18 communities. Community assessments were created for each municipality, indicating how each community addressed the eight livability domains. Four communities (Farmington, Newmarket, Rochester, and Strafford) completed age-friendly action plans.

Another deliverable for this project was the creation of a regional Age-Friendly Resource Guide outlining all the available assets for community members. The Guide was set up to be an online and printed resource so it can be accessible to anyone.

Lastly, two implementation projects were completed in the region. The first was with the City of Rochester and consisted of an Accessibility Audit that assessed the walkability of downtown Rochester and accessibility of City Hall. The project started in July 2023 and the Final Rochester Accessibility Audit Report was delivered to the City in January 2024. The second implementation project was to develop a Community Engagement Toolkit for the Town of Strafford, to assist volunteers with implementation of their Master Plan, especially the Age-Friendly Chapter.

The Final Report for this project was completed in December 2023. Thank you to all of the participants and partners throughout this project. We look forward to continuing to plan for Age-Friendly Communities into the future.

Project Video: