Overview
According to the Older Oregonians story map published by Oregon's Legislative Policy and Research Office, there were an estimated 118,287 adults age 65+ living in Multnomah County in 2022. By 2030, there will be an estimated 143,817 adults age 65+ (an increase of 25,530 people or 22%). By 2050 the 65+ population is expected to further grow to 210,205, a staggering 78% increase from 2022. Forecasts were produced by PSU's Population Research Center.
To better serve our community and make it more age-friendly for our growing population of older adults, ADVSD is seeking to relaunch the local Age-Friendly Business Certification Program. This program, previously run by Elders in Action, would recognize businesses and service providers that make an extra effort to serve older adults in Multnomah County. The initiative would assist local providers and businesses in identifying and advertising age-friendly features that attract, serve, and retain customers as they age.
Over time, this project also aims to help identify communities for membership, social participation, entertainment, volunteering, and employment, so that Multnomah County can become a better place for older adults to stay active, be healthy, and live productive lives within their communities.
Program Goals:
Identify and certify businesses which are age-friendly ready
Promote age-friendly businesses to the local community
Connect businesses to older adults in the community
Maintain and expand to county wide area
History and Status
Recognizing the changing needs of our community, Multnomah County joined the AARP Age-Friendly Network in 2014. In harmony with our DCHS North Star, participation represents a belief that the places where we live are more livable, and better able to support people of all ages, when we commit to improving the quality of life for the very young, the very old, and everyone in between.
In November 2023, our team learned that the local Age-Friendly Business Certification Program has been inactive since the partner running it, Elders in Action, closed in 2019. We met with partner staff from PSU’s Institute on Aging and former Elders in Action staff, and discussed the possibility of Multnomah County restarting the program.
We then conducted research on similar programs nationally and engaged with those we could, to inform our program model. Our team carefully reviewed all examples of possible certification criteria, and identified those that best apply based on Multnomah County's older adult population and their needs.
Restarting this program would strengthen our commitment to making Multnomah County more age-friendly, reinforcing the other important work we do. ADVSD would take the lead among our team of coordinating partner organizations, including PSU's Institute on Aging and AARP Oregon, in running the program as part of our broader age-friendly area strategy.
Our team is working with network partners and community partner organizations to plan the launch of the program.
