Health Foundation of South Florida was awarded a $120,000 grant from the Pfizer Foundation and Grantmakers In Aging (GIA), a national association of funders, as part of a third year of funding totaling $1.49 million for Community AGEnda, an initiative aimed at helping American communities become great places to grow up and grow old.
As part of the grant, Health Foundation is required to raise at least $40,000 in local matching funds for its Miami-Dade Age Friendly initiative, which is now in its third year.
Health Foundation will use the award to expand on current age-friendly accomplishments, which include the creation of an agefriendly business district in Little Havana and age-friendly programs in county parks. Plans include launching a community planning process to identify age-friendly priorities, developing a three-year action plan, continuing age-friendly work on Miami- Dade County’s master and transportation plans, expanding the age-friendly business district, developing an awareness campaign, and convening an age-friendly summit for the region.
As more than 10,000 Boomers turn 65 every day, communities need to prepare to meet the challenges and embrace opportunities presented by a growing number of older adults.
According to Health Foundation president & CEO Steven E. Marcus, EdD, “This grant complements Health Foundation’s success in putting age-friendly principles into practice, as we did with the Healthy Aging Regional Collaborative that enabled more than 25,000 older adults in Miami- Dade County to age strong with evidencebased programs since 2008.
“The funding from Grantmakers in Aging/ Pfizer Foundation, combined with support from our community partners, advances efforts to address the needs of a rapidly growing population of older adults,” he added.
“Supporting age-friendly development is a natural role for local philanthropies because of their unique knowledge of the people and particular needs of their own regions,” said Grantmakers In Aging CEO John Feather, PhD.
“The movement to make communities more age-friendly is a smart and forwardlooking response to our changing demographics,” said Pfizer Foundation executive director Oonagh Puglisi.
For more information about Grantmakers In Aging, visit <www.giaging.org>. For more information about Health Foundation of South Florida, call 305-374-7200 or visit www.hfsf.org.
