PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — In May 2018, Presque Isle officially became an Age-Friendly Community within the AARP network, making it one of 70 such communities currently in Maine. Since that time, Presque Isle’s Age Friendly Community Committee has worked on numerous projects to benefit the community.
The first accomplishment was a survey to help establish priorities for a written action plan. The written action plan was completed in May of this year.
The mission of Age-Friendly Presque Isle is to promote healthy aging in the community, as well as to keep city officials informed of the needs of older adults. The vision for Presque Isle is to be a healthy, livable community for residents of all ages.
In 2020, Presque Isle was selected as one of 12 new communities to have a digital presence created to help people learn more about age-friendly efforts and to assist them in locating resources. This digital presence is known as the Age-Friendly Livability Dashboard. The dashboard lists information such as an interactive map with community resources for older adults, livability data on Presque Isle, community goals and activities (an interactive version of the written action plan), and information about the Age-Friendly Community project shown as tabs on the site.
Once on the dashboard, users need to pick the community they wish to explore from a drop down menu and then use the tabs to find the correct data set. From the Age Friendly Resources Tab, visitors will get an interactive map with color-coded dots showing resources.
On the map, the various types of resources are represented by color coded dots. Hovering over the dot will provide the name, address, phone number and website of that business or agency. The map includes several tools to help users navigate and get the information needed: a layering tool in the upper right will also allow the dots to be shown based on category by turning other categories off with a click of the mouse; a “plus or minus” box in the upper left will zoom the map in or out; and at the bottom left, users will find a color-coded “directory” to help identify which dots to examine more closely.
From the “Livability Data” Tab, visitors can access information on that particular community such as demographics (population, number of households, percentage of owners versus renters, the population of those 50 and older, housing affordability, availability of housing stock, transportation and connectivity, and community and health services).
From the “Community Goals and Activities” Tab, visitors will find specific information directly from the community’s Age-Friendly Action Plan. Each section shows topics with goals in color-coded tabs: green for those that have been completed, yellow for those in progress, and red for those that have not yet been started.
The Dashboard can be accessed at: https://fourtheconomy.shinyapps.io/mainelivabilitydashboard/
For more information on Presque Isle’s Age Friendly Community efforts, please contact Kimberly Smith, Resource Development and Public Information Officer for the City of Presque Isle at (207) 760-2722 or by email at ksmith@presqueisleme.us.
