If your business was evaluated for how well it accommodates customers of any age — but particularly seniors — how well would it do? 

It’s a question that the owners of several popular downtown bars and restaurants are tackling, with assistance from a new free program provided by Age Friendly Des Moines. 

This past spring, a team of volunteer evaluators visited some of the pubs owned by Full Court Press, among them the Royal Mile, High Life Lounge and El Bait Shop, scrutinizing things like the readability of the menus, adequacy of lighting, fall hazards and parking lot conditions. 

Getting a view of the establishments through the eyes of older patrons has been a meaningful process, said Jeff Bruning, a co-owner of Full Court Press. 

“No one gets younger,” said Bruning, who celebrated his 40th birthday four years ago. “We want to absolutely make sure everyone feels welcome when they come.” 

The Business Evaluation program is one of several projects underway by Age Friendly Des Moines, an initiative that AARP Iowa joined two years ago when Des Moines became the third U.S. city to be designated an Age Friendly City by the World Health Organization.  

Launched in 2012, Age Friendly Des Moines’ goal is to make the city an inclusive and accessible urban environment that promotes active aging. 

“Our basic tenet is that as people’s needs change, the community should change,” said Kent Sovern, executive director of AARP Iowa. Sovern co-chairs Age Friendly Des Moines with Joel Olah, executive director of Aging Services of Iowa, and Dr. Yogesh Shah, a geriatrician and associate dean for global health at Des Moines University. 

Keeping people more active longer not only makes better communities, it also makes a strong economic argument. Active older residents will not only avoid or delay high care costs, they’ll also be out and about shopping and eating out, Shah said.  

Bruning said he had not yet received an evaluation of the restaurants that had been visited but feels confident he’s on the right track. His team has recently made some upgrades at the restaurants, among them a new ramp for El Bait Shop and the High Life, as well as upgraded lighting for the Royal Mile. “I’m pretty sure we’re doing pretty good, based on our conversations,” he said. “I’m sure there are things we’ve got to work on.” 

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3 Age-friendly EFFORTS: 

Business Evaluation program: Businesses can sign up for evaluation of their retail location, website or customer service program to determine how age-friendly they are. Businesses that receive at least a 3.5 ranking on a 5.0 scale can display an identifying blue Age Friendly logo. 

Evolve leadership program: 
AARP Iowa is working with Polk County’s 18 senior centers to develop a leadership training program for people 55-plus. It’s now seeking volunteer trainers and seniors interested in participating in the program. 

Complete Streets mini-grant program:
Provides grants of $10,000 to $15,000 for projects such as crosswalks, restriping or improvements to provide better safety and walkability. 

Contact:
Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Mike Armstrong marmstrong@dmampo.org. Details are available on the MPO’s website at http://dmampo.org/complete-streets/

Contact for all Age Friendly programs: 
Connie Eastman   
Phone: 515-697-1008 
Email: agefriendlydsm@gmail.com
Facebook:  facebook.com/AgeFriendlyDSM
Twitter: @AgeFriendlyDSM

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Key leaders of Age Friendly Des Moines are pursuing several projects to make Greater Des Moines a more accessible and inclusive environment for all ages: 

Business Evaluation
Barb McClintock, an AARP volunteer, is  leading the rollout of the program. McClintock, who led the Polk County Community Services Division before retiring three years ago, has trained an initial corps of 12 volunteers who have begun evaluating retail and service establishments. She had heard about such evaluations in other communities while working for Polk County, and adapted a program that has been used for years by another Age Friendly City — Portland, Ore.  

Businesses that receive a score of at least 3.5 on a scale of 0 to 5 are awarded a blue sticker to place at their entrance identifying them as an Age Friendly Business. A business that does not earn at least a 3.5 initially can be re-evaluated in six months. The entire evaluation process takes about two months. 

“This is not going out and finding what’s wrong with them,” McClintock said. “It’s looking at the business through the lens of an older adult. We compile the information (to say), ‘Here are the things you’re doing that really benefit an older adult; here is what you can do to improve.’ “ 

About a dozen evaluations have been completed so far, and the majority of businesses received certification. 

The evaluations can also be applied to a business’s website or to service businesses that operate primarily by phone. Among the first service organizations the program evaluated locally was AARP’s Des Moines-based headquarters. “We found that AARP’s phone system was not perhaps the best in the world, so we gave them feedback,” McClintock said. 

She said her committee is seeking more volunteer evaluators for the program and expects to conduct additional training sessions soon. 

Leadership Classes for 55+

One program still in its early stages emulates a 55-plus  learning program that has operated for many years in Minneapolis, said Martha Willits, AARP Iowa’s state president. 

Willits recently traveled with Connie Eastman, AARP asociate director for community outreach, to Minneapolis to attend a daylong leadership class in the program, which is known as Evolve. AARP Iowa is now working with Polk County to establish the program at each of the county’s 18 senior centers. 

“For quite some time we’ve been thinking about having a leadership/personal development course for people 55-plus,” Willits said, noting there are several opportunities for students of various ages and young professionals, but no comparable programs for older adults. 

As with the Minneapolis program, Evolve locally will emphasize personal development with a bent toward using new skills to pursue community projects, Willits said. AARP Iowa is currently seeking both interested potential participants as well as facilitators for the program. 

Promoting Livability Index Use  

Another tool that Age Friendly Des Moines is making available to community leaders and planners is called the Livability Index. The Web-based assessment tool provides scores in seven categories: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity at the neighborhood, city and state levels. For each category, the index evaluates current conditions as well as policies and programs that can enhance community livability over time. 

Developed by the AARP Public Policy Institute, the Livability Index assessment tool took about two years to develop before being rolled out in May by the American Planning Association during its annual meeting in Seattle. 

The free online tool enables users to plug in their address and see a score on a scale of 0 to 100 of how livable their neighborhood is; 50 is the average score. The tool is meant to stimulate debate about policy decisions that can be made to make communities more liveable for people of all ages, Sovern said. The online tool also enables community leaders to easily adjust the relative importance of each factor for their particular city or neighborhood to customize the evaluation, he said. 

“Our plan is now to (promote this tool) far and wide through professional associations, volunteer and neighborhood leaders and elected leaders, to have this be a common tool people will use when they think about creating great places for all ages,” 
AARP’s Sovern said. 

Overall, Des Moines averages a score of 60 on the index, which is comparable to that of most Greater Des Moines suburbs. Sovern stressed that the tool is meant primarily for communities to evaluate gaps where improvements can be made or to emulate programs other communities have, not for comparison or one-upmanship between communities. 

Collaborating with Current Planning Efforts

Age Friendly Des Moines’ efforts complement and seek to build on the planning that has already been conducted through initiatives such as the Tomorrow Plan, Sovern said. The Complete Streets initiative is a component of the Tomorrow Plan that meshes well with the Age Friendly objectives. 

As shown in a statewide survey conducted by AARP Iowa two years ago, the vast majority of older Iowans say they want to stay in their homes as long as possible and continue their daily routines — which is usually the healthiest and least-expensive option.   

“Survey after survey tells us that most people want to stay in their homes as long as possible, but  (the homes are) built for a very different demographic,” Sovern said. “Likewise, our transportation system has been developed almost completely without regard to other modes beyond the automobile.” 

Four Greater Des Moines communities — Carlisle, Des Moines, Norwalk and most recently, Windsor Heights  — have enacted Complete Streets policies. The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization released a draft Complete Streets policy on its website in June.  

“At its core, Complete Streets is making sure that our streets are planned, built, maintained and operated for everyone,” said Mike Armstrong, an associate transportation planner with the Des Moines Area MPO.  “They’ve also been called universal streets — is it suitable for children, the elderly, for mobility needs, different income levels, whether you drive or use transit?” 

Other than Windsor Heights, which followed the MPO’s model policy, none of the three initial cities’ plans call for immediate action with implementation steps, Armstrong said. However, each city is working to strengthen its policies, he said. 

Earlier this year, the Wellmark Foundation awarded the MPO $75,000 to fund a mini-grant program that will begin this fall, with the aim of advancing small-scale projects to improve safety and usability of streets for all users. 

“We’re hoping to support projects with grants of $10,000 to $15,000, Armstrong said. Some examples of the size of projects that could benefit are the recently completed re-striping of Ingersoll Avenue to add bicycle and turn lanes, and the sidewalk extensions that Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority added on the north side of Cowles Commons, Armstrong said.  

Sharing good ideas

Age Friendly Des Moines also benefits from networking with other Age Friendly communities throughout the nation, Shah said. For example, leaders of Age Friendly Des Moines participate in monthly conference calls with their counterparts in other Age Friendly cities. The calls spark learning and collaboration.

In another example, the city of Wichita has received national attention for developing a grandparent park out of what were two vacant lots. The park is used by grandparents in the neighborhood who care for grandchildren during the day.

“So that elevated that concept throughout AARP’s network, and many of them are looking at that concept,” Shah said. Similarly, several cities may potentially copy the business evaluation model that Des Moines and Portland, Ore., are doing, he said. 

In Iowa, AARP Iowa is also working with Johnson County and Dubuque in developing Age Friendly Cities. The organization hopes to expand the program to several more Iowa cities. 

Overall, the progress in getting Age Friendly Des Moines up and running has been slow and steady, Shah said. 

“Our next challenge will be having a clear enough picture of how we can integrate this (initiative) at the neighborhood level,” he said. “I hope that over the next year we’ll be able to engage the terrific neighborhood leaders in particular to get a really clear understanding of how the elements of age friendly cities work.” 

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Urbandale pursues seniors-helping-seniors programs

Urbandale provides a good example of a community that has already begun a process for regular conversations about filling gaps in services, Shah said. 

The Urbandale Chamber of Commerce has organized a group of its members who provide services to seniors, and has begun a quarterly senior roundtable to discuss the changing demographics and how they affect 
the neighborhoods.

There are some other examples of seniors-helping-seniors programs around Greater Des Moines, Shah said, and it’s a concept that needs to be further developed.

 “I think there’s a great business model for seniors helping seniors,” he said. “In some cities, members pay a monthly fee. Say, for instance, that I can’t drive but I can still cook, so I can help my neighbor with cooking while I get help with driving.”