Age Strong Vermont reports year-one progress, looks to future ahead

By Ella Ruehsen for the St. Albans Messenger

Vermont’s population is rapidly aging, with its largest age group being in their 60s now, and one in three Vermonters projected to be over 60 by 2030. 

In response, the State of Vermont launched Age Strong, a 10-year roadmap to provide all people residing in-state the opportunity to thrive as they age. 

The plan aims to ensure all Vermonters can look forward to enjoying a secure retirement, good health, housing and transportation access, community connection and beyond. 

Though there have been years of work prior to the formal establishment of AgeStrong Vermont, the endeavor was officially founded last February. On Feb. 4, the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, in collaboration with the Vermont Department of Health, released its first-ever year-end report. 

Some of the major points of progress to have been accomplished in year one include the expansion of Medicare savings programs, funding for long-term care facility stabilization, increased access to Meals on Wheels, brain health promotion campaigns, the development of new intergenerational programs and micro-transit pilots, as well as new housing. 

VDH Commissioner Mark Levine has noted that while the work completed in year one “lays a strong foundation for an age-friendly state that will benefit all who call Vermont home,” there is still much to be done. 

DAIL Commissioner Jill Bowen believes the multisector approach of Age Strong Vermont in collaboration with its partners will aid in achieving the robust, collective, systemic impact needed. She said the state’s future depends on older Vermonters’ contributions, given their collective status as the fastest-growing demographic in the state. 

DAIL Deputy Commissioner Angela Smith-Dieng has been involved with Age Strong Vermont since before its inception — starting with the Older Vermonters Act of 2020, she said. 

Smith-Dieng is DAIL’s primary lead for the Age Strong Vermont initiative. 

“It certainly is a big undertaking, and I think that really emphasizes why it’s a multi-sector approach, and that the collaboration across agencies and organizations, public-private partnerships, are really so critical to be able to for this plan to be successful,” Smith-Dieng said. 

In year one, the team really tried to focus on the elements of the plan that were either on the cusp of happening or were easy to get rolling in a short amount of time, whereas other components are intended to happen incrementally over the next decade. 

Year one also involved a lot of conversation around how to create the right infrastructure for implementation to be successful, Smith-Dieng said. 

Her counterpart, Rhonda Williams, is the VHD’s point-person on the project, with the VHD serving as the secondary lead on the charge behind DAIL for the Age Strong Vermont initiative. Williams works closely with Smith-Dieng to support progress behind the scenes. 

Williams is the Program Director and principal investigator for Tobacco Control, Respiratory Health, and Alzheimer’s and Healthy Aging. 

She, too, has been doing this work alongside DAIL since 2020, ultimately culminating in Age Strong Vermont. Williams is the principal investigator for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention programs, including dementia awareness, risk reduction and care services. 

“I happily continue in this role, it’s one of the most exciting initiatives I’ve been privileged to work on because it involves so many components and partners,” Williams said. “And you know, it’s a 10-year roadmap — so it’s ambitious and it’s pretty exciting.” 

The surveys, listening sessions and focus groups Age Strong Vermont have done have been evaluated for main themes of concern among older Vermonters statewide, which are now woven into the plan, grounding the work substantially in terms of key concerns, she said. 

Age Strong Vermont also keeps an eye on the legislature and is working on developing ways to best participate in the legislative process and inform legislators on the Age Strong perspective. Further, Age Strong Vermont works to connect with other partners across communities, such as the Agency of Transportation, the parties involved in housing project development and more. 

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