West Lincoln, Township of

The AFC work is led by a municipal advisory committee. The Age Friendly Committee is in the very early stages of formation. To date, they have held only 5 meetings. After asking for members of the public to apply, six members of the public responded, not knowing anything at all about the expected role.

• Meeting 1:  There was a presentation by Dominic Ventresca and Doug Rapelje so as to begin to create a common understanding about what Age-Friendly Committees were all about and to inform members what things were happening in other areas of the Niagara Region on this topic.
• Meeting 2: The Committee developed the Terms of Reference for the Committee and it was decided that one of their roles would/should be to gather information about resources and programs available to residents in the mainly rural municipality and to be the conduit to get that information to the older adults in the municipality.
• Meeting 3: They did a re-cap of the first two meetings and an overview of where the committee fits in the grand scheme of the various Age-Friendly initiatives. Four new members were added to the committee and approved by Council.
• Meeting 4: The Committee hosted a widely advertised “Open House” for residents. A guest speaker from the Niagara Region provided information about the programs and services available for older adults or those caring for older adults. The Committee also asked for input from the approximately 50 people who came to the open house about three key areas of concern: Housing, transportation and programming for older adults at all stages of interests and abilities.
• Meeting 5: Mario DeDevitiss, from the Niagara Workforce Planning board, presented information to the Committee regarding the up-to-date demographics of the municipality. The Committee invited the Library CEO and the Supervisor of Library Program Planning and also the Coordinator of Recreation Services for the municipality and her assistant to attend  the meeting to hear what Mario had to say and then to take part in the follow-up discussion regarding what programs, activities and services the members and those from the public attending would like to see in place to address the needs of older adults as well as those of the youth of our area.

The Committee is presently in the process of building a new recreational complex (including a new arena, gymnasium, community rooms, library, skateboard park, splash pad etc.), which is due to open in the near future and they wanted to have some policy and program input before others make decision regarding the use of the facility. The community presently does not have a place for seniors to meet and socialize other than the Legion and the Committee is hoping that this new complex will provide the community hub that they so badly need in place.

• Age-Friendly Advisory Committee