BrooklineCAN Celebrates Brookline Age-Friendly businesses

Brookline Businesses Embrace BrooklineCAN’s Age-Friendly Business Campaign

Brookline businesses are embracing BrooklineCAN’s Age-Friendly campaign launched earlier this year. The campaign recognizes Brookline businesses for incorporating features that make them hospitable to seniors. Early participants include the Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline Booksmith, Eureka Puzzles, Caffe Nero, and Chobee Hoy Realty. All are businesses that serve people of all ages but are sensitive to special needs of various age groups. All participating businesses will be recognized at BrooklineCAN’s annual meeting on September 13.

The campaign, co-sponsored by the Brookline Chamber of Commerce and the Town’s Economic Development Advisory Board, encourages Brookline residents to patronize local businesses that incorporate age-friendly features. Shoppers should look for the "Age-Friendly" decal on participating stores' doors or windows.

The Coolidge Corner Theater, for example, recognizes seniors by offering discounted admissions on all shows one day a week and assistive technology for those with hearing and vision difficulties. Eureka Puzzles stocks items that appeal to all age groups including large-print jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, and crosswords. Its staff also provides individualized advice to seniors who are shopping for their grandchildren. The Brookline Booksmith is working with the Brookline Senior Center to offer special author readings on books of particular interest to seniors. The Booksmith has offered discounts to seniors for many years.

According to Frank Caro, Chair of BrooklineCAN’s Livable Community Advocacy Committee, businesses can offer practical features that will accommodate seniors, such as: providing print material in large sizes fonts, making web sites easy to navigate, providing bright lighting and doors that are easily opened, controlling noise levels, making rest rooms available to customers, and offering discounts to seniors.

All Brookline businesses are encouraged to apply for recognition as “Age Friendly.” Application forms are available on the BrooklineCAN website, http://www.brooklinecan.org/age_friendly_business.html. BrooklineCAN will publicize the age-friendly features offered by participating businesses and will call attention to their unique age-friendly features. Businesses have many reasons to be age-friendly:

• In 2010, Brookline had more than 10,000 residents who were 60+; they represented more than 18% of the Town's population.

  Between 2010 and 2030, the 60+ population of Brookline is expected to increase by 41%.

BrooklineCAN is seeking wide-ranging business participation. Street-level, retail businesses, “upper-story” service providers, and services delivered to people’s homes are encouraged to participate. Businesses are eligible if they are physically located in Brookline, have a valid business license, and strive to make their business hospitable to older people.

BrooklineCAN will arrange for training for businesses on ways in which customer-service employees can be sensitive to special needs of older customers. BrooklineCAN will also offer consultation on ways in which print materials can be designed for older readers with visual limitations.

This Brookline initiative follows previous BrooklineCAN projects that recognize businesses for specific age-friendly features such as rest rooms open to the public http://www.brooklinecan.org/restrooms.html and buildings with automatic door openers http://www.brooklinecan.org/autodoors.html.

The Brookline campaign is patterned on age-friendly business initiatives in New York City and Washington, D.C, which developed check lists of age-friendly business features.

For additional information about the BrooklineCAN Age-Friendly Business Campaign, contact Frank Caro at 617 739 9228 or frank.caro@gmail.com.

For additional information about the Brookline Community Aging Network and to request a copy of BrooklineCAN’s informative monthly newsletter, visit http://www.brooklineCAN.org or call 617-730-2777.