Working to make the Richmond region a great place for all people to grow old.
New for 2020/2021: Our Strategic Plan Update. Throughout the Fall of 2020 we will be engaging in surveys and focus groups with our partners to refresh our mission and goals. In addition to moving from the Greater Richmond Age Wave to the Longevity Project for a Greater Richmond, we can look forward to new virtual events in response to the pandemic, as well as re-invigorated efforts to make our communities Engaged, Livable, Stable and Well.
The Longevity Project for a Greater Richmond is a collaborative between VCU's Department of Gerontology and Senior Connections. Previously called Age Wave, the Longevity Project is comprised of public and private organizations, businesses, and community members working together to make the Richmond region a great place for all people to grow old. More than 150 regional stakeholders have come together as a catalyst to support this mission. Older adults represent the fastest growing segment of the region’s population. This demographic shift beckons us to transform the practices and policies, systems, and structures that have created and continue to maintain inequities in longevity and health outcomes. One must only travel a few miles across our region to see a 20-year discrepancy in life expectancy. This is a longevity equity crisis. As a university-community collaborative, the Longevity Project's approach toward community change seeks equitable individual outcomes and removal of structural barriers so that quality of life is improved now and in the future. We work to achieve longevity equity through: · Systems-level change to increase access to support and improve outcomes for older adults · Deep neighborhood engagement and community voice · Person-centered, trauma-informed training & programming · Community convening and partnerships to share knowledge and tools of transformation The Greater Richmond Age Wave Readiness Plan provides a map of components essential to preparing for the challenges and opportunities of our demographic shift by defining the goals, indicators, objectives and strategies to achieve an inclusive community. The Plan provides a tool for strategic planning coordinating efforts, achieving economies of scale and measuring progress. Assistance is available for individual communities to implement their own versions of the Plan. Welcome to our new Longevity Project Scholars! Natalie Mansion recently moved to Richmond and is a first-year Masters in Gerontology student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed her Bachelors degree from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2019, where she studied Human Development and Gerontology. Natalie is excited to work with the Longevity Project this semester! Ilonka J. Walker is a 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)with a Bachelors Science in Psychology with a Minor in Sociology and Medical Humanities. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Gerontology at VCU. She has aspirations of becoming an Occupational Therapist. 
Members of our community enjoy a presentation from Longevity University (Longevity U).
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Publications
Strategic Update
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Managing Partners |
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Virginia Commonwealth University | College of Health Professions - Department of Gerontology
Phone: 804-828-1565 | Fax: 804-828-5259
Phone: 804-828-1565 | Fax: 804-828-5259