Westchester County’s trail-blazing Livable Communities Caregivers Coaching program has won an Innovations Award from the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging in a competition that drew entries from across the country. The Innovations Awards recognize ground-breaking projects that bring fresh ideas to aging programs.

“The honored programs serve as models for other agencies looking for new approaches to serve the older population within their own communities,” the organization said.

The Innovations Awards are the highest awards that the association presents to Area Agencies on Aging – such as the county’s Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS).

The department also won Aging Achievement Awards from the association for two of its other programs: the Livable Communities Web Portal and the Livable Communities Walkability Audit. The Achievement Awards are presented for notable contributions to the quality of life of older adults and their caregivers.

The three winners are all part of DSPS’ Livable Communities initiative, which began in 2006 and is recognized nationwide as a pioneer in the field.

“We are deeply honored to receive this recognition and have our work showcased in such a wonderful way,” said DSPS Commissioner Mae Carpenter. “Our department takes pride in providing cutting-edge leadership to improve the quality of life for older persons – not only in Westchester but as a role model around the country.”

The Caregiver Coach program is a partnership between DSPS and Fordham University’s Ravazzin Center on Aging. The center developed the curriculum where professional nurses, social workers and geriatric care managers volunteer to train community volunteers to provide information and support to family caregivers. 

The Westchester Web portal project, the winner of one of the Achievement Awards, presents information from diverse sources in a unified format, which can be accessed from other sites. It is an outgrowth of the unique collaboration of DSPS, the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services and AARP on the Livable Communities initiative. Since the partnership began in 2007, it has developed a wide range of activities and projects led by volunteers from Westchester. The focus is on building places where people can grow up and grow old in their own homes and communities with independence, dignity and civic involvement.

The Portal’s DSPS site www.livablecommunitieswestchester.org and the AARP site www.aarplivability.org are connected in a way that says “Let’s create a livable Westchester together,” and they empower visitors to do just that. For example, by clicking the link to “asset maps,” users can easily identify resources such as libraries, transportation and cultural sites by municipalities and zip codes. In turn, this information can be used to see what assets a municipality has and what it may need. No taxpayer money is being used for the Web portal.

The “Complete Streets” Walkability Audit, which won the second Achievement Award, recognized the week-long survey DSPS and AARP conducted last April to evaluate the safety and accessibility of the county’s sidewalks, roads and traffic intersections for pedestrians. Complete Streets balance the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and public-transit users with motorists.

The regional Livable Community Connection (LCC) sites coordinated the survey in the county. More than 125 volunteers surveyed 14 intersections in nine municipalities to assess conditions such as whether there are properly marked crosswalks, unbroken sidewalks and traffic lights that allow enough time for people with limited mobility to cross the road.

Findings of the surveys throughout New York will be compiled in a report to underscore the need for Complete Streets legislation, which has already been introduced in Albany. The LCC sites will compile the findings of the Westchester surveys in a separate report for county and municipal leaders.

The Caregiver Coach and Web Portal projects are led by research analyst Colette Phipps. Dozene Guishard, program coordinator for Livable Communities, led the Walkability Audit. The Web Portal and Walkability audits projects won Achievement Awards in a separate competition in June from the National Association of Counties.