Traverse City: Aging in Community Initiative is a community-wide evaluation project that involves public and private sectors, community leaders, volunteers, and those who work or reside in the Traverse City area.

The purpose of the project is to help encourage Traverse City to take a new look at our community and our neighborhoods. Although the evaluation is written from the perspective of older persons, the assets, features, and services addressed promote livability for persons of all ages and abilities. The Traverse Livable Community Survey is based on the AARP Livable Communities Evaluation Guide with added enhancements designed to better meet the unique aspects and challenges of Traverse City.

A key component in the Traverse City: Aging in Community Initiative is a strong emphasis on partnering with business to better serve older adults and boomers and boost private-public ventures that improve community livability in our area. This is reflected in the Traverse City: Aging in Community Survey in three new survey sections:

1. Senior Sensitive Marketplace
   
2. Arts, Culture, and Education
   
3. Volunteerism and Civic Engagement
   

The Traverse City: Aging in Community model is being embraced by a highly progressive local community actively engaged in constructive, long-term collaboration with a track record of creating community features that promote livability for all ages. The overall community plan is to:

• Conduct a community-wide online survey to identify livability assets and needs,
  
  
• Build and strengthen existing community livability assets,
  
  
• Identify area gaps and opportunities for increasing livability,
  
  
• Prioritize objectives and activities for a Year One Action Plan, and
  
  
• Extend and support these efforts as part of the Traverse City plan for the next ten years.
  

Three incentives are being offered in a random drawing for participants who invest their time in taking the entire ten-section survey and providing some general demographic information. Opportunities for comment and community input on specific assets are continually available throughout the general survey. The entire survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Project outcomes will be published online and will benefit all generations. The Traverse City: Aging in Community Initiative will also help plan and prepare for the enormous impact that Seniors and Baby Boomers will have on Traverse City and the greater Grand Traverse Region while creating a lasting legacy for future generations.