Making Our Community Livable for All Ages Means Seniors Too

Almost 20% of Potomac residents are now age 65 and up, and most of them want to age in place in their own homes.

How to help make this happen and make our Potomac community more livable for all ages, from children to seniors, is the focus of a free program on Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. presented by Potomac Community Village. The topic is “Making Your Community Livable for All Ages,” and the speaker is Stephanie Firestone, Program Director of the Livable Communities Collaborative of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

Key to this is taking a hard look at transportation, with it clear that Potomac is very much a car-centric community. One planning expert, urban planner and architect Andes Duany, notes that “we design our cities so that the old and the young are completely helpless. Why? Because they can’t drive.”

The program, which is free and open to all, is part of Potomac Community Village’s series of monthly meetings, held from 7 – 9 p.m. at the Bolger Center, 9600 Newbridge Dr., Potomac, Room 111, Osgood Building. Use Parking Lot #3; and enter the Osgood Building’s side door directly from the parking lot.

In her work with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Ms. Firestone works with agencies, cities and counties around the country to create multi-stakeholder partnerships to develop plans and enhance their capacity to make their communities great places to grow up and grow old. She has also worked as an independent consultant to communities around the world as they plan for rapidly aging populations. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the public sector advancing environmental policy and sustainable cities. She earned a Master of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the State University of New York. She is married with three children and lives in North Bethesda.

Potomac Community Village is a nonprofit volunteer group striving to enhance the quality of life for older Potomac residents by creating social connections and providing services such as transportation, computer assistance and simple home repairs. We’re a network of neighbors and friends that enables people to remain vibrant members of our community and stay in their Potomac-area homes as they age.

Potomac Community Village is part of a nationwide movement of more than 400 Villages. For more information, to see about volunteering, or about getting some volunteer help, please contact us at 240-221-1370, email info@PotomacCommunityVillage.org, or see www.PotomacCommunityVillage.org, and our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/PotomacCommunityVillage.