2023 AARP Livable Communities Economic Development Workshop (Day 1)

Mike Watson: Welcome. We're so glad that you've joined us for the 2023 AARP Livable Communities Workshop, Economic Development, Connecting to Opportunity. I'm Mike Watson, director of Livable Communities and Enterprise Lead for Livable Communities at AARP. It's a real pleasure to be here with all of you and to be here in AARP's broadcast studio with my colleague, Coralette Hannon, director of Livable Communities for AARP Government Affairs.

 

Coralette Hannon: Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here, and it's fantastic to see so many people with us for this important discussion. You will see Mike and me periodically throughout the program to help facilitate our speakers, and more importantly, facilitate your engagement with our speakers. And we're so glad that you took the time to participate in this two-day virtual event featuring dozens of speakers discussing the people and place elements of economic development for people of all ages sharing best practices, challenges, and more. Now, every year, AARP hosts a national workshop on an issue that's top of mind for the communities we work with. And in past years, we've focused on topics like housing, community engagement, transportation, placemaking, and rural livability. And this year, as we sought to determine a topic, there was one that kept emerging.

The economic vibrancy of our communities. Now, to share why we're addressing this important topic, it's my pleasure to introduce Nancy LeaMond, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer and Executive Vice President for Community, State and National Affairs here at AARP. Hello, and welcome to the 2023 AARP Livable Communities Economic Development Workshop.

 

Nancy LeaMond: I'm Nancy LeaMond, AARP's chief ddvocacy and engagement officer. One of my top priorities is making sure that the issues facing older adults get the attention and action they deserve from leaders at the federal, state, and local levels. In recent years, that has included fighting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, expand transportation and housing options so people can age in place, help family caregivers get the support and resources they need, and increased access to high-speed internet.

Many of you have helped champion these and other AARP priorities. Thank you for your partnership. And thank you for your commitment to today's topic, Advancing Economic Development in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities.

Our nation's cities and towns have changed a lot because of the pandemic, global economic conditions, and a shift in how and where people of all ages live, work, and play. Many downtown areas are struggling to fill vacant office space, impacting local economies. Some small towns with growing populations are struggling to keep up with infrastructure and housing needs, and other communities are looking for new ways to help, to support current residents.

These are pressing challenges and action is needed. The good news is that creating communities where people of all ages can thrive is also good for business and economic growth. Things like vibrant main streets and walkable neighborhoods, affordable high-speed internet, educational and training opportunities, and an engaged community.

AARP can make a real difference. We are committed to supporting your work on the ground to turn these ideas into action. AARP programs like the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities and the AARP Community Challenge grants are providing direct support to make communities more livable. and economically vibrant.

We are also working with businesses and employers to highlight the importance of building a multi-generational workforce that includes and values the expertise and skills of older adults. Finally, resources like the AARP Livability Index and other free AARP publications provide information that empower leaders and inspire them to act.

Over the next two days, you'll learn more about these tools and hear about inspiring work from across the country. And perhaps most important, we will have the opportunity to listen and learn from you. So, with that, thank you for joining us and contributing to these important conversations.

 

Coralette Hannon: As Nancy shared, a vibrant economy is a critical ingredient to a place that is great for everyone, no matter their age. Throughout this workshop, we'll examine that topic by unpacking four key elements. First, the built environment, including transportation options. A range of housing choices and downtowns that are designed for our people positively impacts local economies.

Second, digital connections, including access to high-speed internet, increases economic development, provides opportunities for business growth, advances upward mobility, and promotes independence. Third, workforce upskilling and support of small businesses can be a strategy and tool for revitalizing communities.

And finally, enabling opportunities for residents to support the economy through paid and unpaid contributions such as volunteerism, caregiving, and charitable, no, excuse me, charitable donations. As you can see, we'll be covering a lot of ground that is a lot of ground, and we're looking forward to digging in on all of those topics.

 

Mike Watson: And we see this issue and the themes that Coralette just mentioned reflected in the nearly 800 communities, 10 states, and one U.S. territory that are part of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. We also see them reflected in the work of the nearly 1,400 projects that have been funded through the AARP Community Challenge grants since 2017.

Grants under this program have supported vibrant Main Streets, created spaces for local businesses to thrive, and so much more. Now many of these communities are tuning in today, so we want to take a moment to commend the actions that you're taking on behalf of older adults and the places that they live.

Now on that note, we hope that this experience is centered around your engagement and interaction. And we're excited to spend the next two days with the thousands of people who have registered to join us. Now, to get the most engagement and interaction, we're going to heavily lean on technology to help us connect.

We'll be using several digital tools to stay connected over these next two days, so I want to cover a few things that will make our experience a bit richer. First, you should see the instructions for engaging in the Zoom chat, which allows you to send messages to everyone or to specific attendees. Let's go ahead and get the conversation started there now.

Feel free to drop in the chat one economic development challenge that you're facing in your community. You can also use the chat for conversation throughout the workshop. Again, we invite you to begin now by dropping in one economic development related challenge that you're facing in your community today.

Now, if you have questions about the Zoom platform, you can enter those into chat and a Zoom expert will be able to help you. So, now that we've covered the chat and questions about Zoom, I also want to familiarize you with some of the accessibility features today. If you'd like to turn on closed captioning, please click on the CC button to turn on those captions.

And you should also see a box on your screen with our American Sign Language interpreters, Elle and Faith. And please join the other participants by engaging with us on social media platforms like Facebook and X using the hashtag #AARPLivable and following along on our handle at @AARPLivable. You'll see that hashtag and our handle on the screen throughout the event.

Now we're also going to be using the platform Slido for live polling and to facilitate your questions today and tomorrow. On your screen again, you will see the instructions for joining Slido. You can either log into your browser and type in Slido, S-L-I-D-O, and enter the event code Livable2023. Or you can pull out your phone and use the camera to scan the QR code that you see on your screen.

We're going to test this out now with a poll question, so follow those instructions and make sure you're on the Polls tab. Alright, so here's our first question: "What state or country are you joining us from today?" Already seeing some, some answers pop up, but if you're not there yet, please join us in Slido using the instructions on the screen and tell us what state or country you're joining us from.

Now, Coralette, already looking at this and I see a lot of different places from across the country popping up. There seems to be a very heavy contingent from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Also seeing Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, pop up, Kentucky, California. I could name all the states. It seems like we have them all reflected here. Anything you're seeing?

 

Coralette Hannon: It looks like almost every state is represented on the screen so far. I see some hometown states, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina for me and you. It looks like we have a lot of good representation across the country.

 

Mike Watson: Love it. And thanks, Coralette, for the shout out for my birth state of New Jersey and my home state of North Carolina, and my home state now of Maryland, so really glad to see everybody reflected in your home state of New Jersey. I think that gives you a sense of where we're all tuning in from and, more importantly, how to use the tool. We'll also use this platform to do some quizzes throughout. Don't worry, there's not going to be a grade, no A's, B's, C's, handed out here. Everybody's going to do well. So, let's try this out with our first one now. Coralette, can you tell us our first question?

 

Coralette Hannon: Sure. Thanks, Mike.

Our first question is: “According to the 2021 AARP Home and Community Preferences Survey, what percentage of baby boomers say they want to be near shops, restaurants, and offices?” Is it a., 72%? b. 65%? c. 41%? or d., 50%? Mike, what are you seeing?

 

Mike Watson: Well, looking down at this now, we have a pretty heavy response right there at the 72 percent. Only, almost 70 percent of y'all have answered. There's about 30 percent of folks who are coming in around that, that 65 percent answer. Um, so yeah, seems like a pretty heavy consensus. Some other folks have put in other responses. I think the the correct answer is “a. 72 percent of the baby boomer generation want to live near shops and restaurants and offices.”

I think we've got the hang of that, but before we move into our first panel, let's also cover how we'll use Slido to ask a question.

You should see the instructions on how to ask a question on the screen, and as before, you can either go to Slido, S-L-I-D-O, in your browser, and enter the event code, Livable2023. Or scan the QR code on your screen. Then make sure you're on the Q& A tab on the top of the page. Now I'm excited to kick it back to Coralette to introduce our first keynote.