"Yes, we care," say officials, residents and supporters.

The county Livable Communities Initiative has just entered its fourth year with reason to celebrate. The initiative is on its way to meeting its major goal: supporting Westchester seniors who want to grow older in their own homes.

The initiative is about little things – like making sure seniors in a specific neighborhood can safely cross a busy street. It’s about big things – like addressing transportation issues that challenge seniors who choose to stop driving. And, it supports family members and neighbors who pitch in to help older people stay in the communities they’ve helped build.

Significantly in these economic times, it’s about doing more with less: The initiative builds on what already exists and encourages grassroots involvement.

The groundwork for this comprehensive Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services’ effort was laid at the 2005 White House Conference on Aging – a conference held every 10 years to set federal policy for seniors. A key conference resolution urged municipalities across the nation to create “Livable Communities” aimed at supporting seniors who chose to “age in place.” The resolution, which subsequently became part of the reauthorized federal Older Americans Act., struck a chord with the Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS), its commissioner, Mae Carpenter and other government officials.

“With the aging of our population and public funds not keeping up with the increasing need for services, a grassroots movement was started to empower citizens to work together to improve their own lives,” said Carpenter, a nationally recognized authority on seniors who is spearheading the initiative. The Westchester Public/Private Partnership was with the initiative from the start, and AARP was a critical partner in helping with its expansion.

“We could not have achieved what we did without their support and the strong support from the county when the initiative was kicked off in June 2006,” added Carpenter.

The issues surrounding this initiative have special urgency because of the rapidly growing number of older people in the county. Today, the 187,000 people over the age of 60 in Westchester make up 20 percent of the population. By 2030, the county Planning Department projects that 25 percent of the population will be 60 or older. Many seniors are vocal that they want to remain in the county – and live independently – as they grow older. For that to happen, seniors’ needs must be met in a variety of areas, such as housing, transportation, public safety and recreation. And to do that, DSPS is building on what is already out there and involving government, nonprofits, houses of worship and neighbors.

“Our ultimate goal is to fill gaps of need using assets and resources that already exist,” Carpenter said. “Older persons want to remain in their homes and communities and Westchester relies upon their contributions.”

As the project began, DSPS shared its plans with the community and strategic partnerships were formed. There were meetings with groups of civic organizations, business leaders, members of the clergy, representatives from academic institutions, consumers and others to ask for their ideas and support. Other input came from AARP, which conducted three “visioning” sessions to help residents set priorities.

The initiative reached its first milestone in 2007 when DSPS set up a network of nine regional Livable Community Connection (LCC) sites headed by a coordinator who works with a regional advisory council and local municipal task forces. Since they began, the LCCs have presented a broad array of programs on topics that range from elder law to fall prevention, health and wellness, personal safety, crime prevention, consumer issues and money management.

The LCCs also became involved in their communities. An early success occurred when the New York State Department of Transportation installed a new traffic light at an  intersection of Tarrytown Road (Route 119) and Manhattan Avenue in Greenburgh that appeared dangerous.

Bishop Dr. Wilbert G. Preston of Christ Temple - Greater International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Greenburgh had noticed that seniors had trouble crossing that intersection to get to the shopping center on the other side of the road to do their marketing.

“There were no walk or yield signs,” Preston said. “It was one area that seemed to have been forgotten.” He contacted a number of people, including the LCC that serves unincorporated Greenburgh and its villages.

As a result, AARP wrote to the state transportation department to request the new signal. Not only did the department install a new traffic light, it also installed poles with countdown signals for seniors to see how many seconds they have to cross the road before the light changes.

Said Preston, “It’s now a much safer crossing for seniors.” AARP was also pleased that the transportation department approved the work and completed it so quickly, said Will Stoner, associate state director of AARP-New York.

Wanting to build on this success, about 140 LCC volunteers sporting bright red T-shirts took a “walkability” survey with AARP to evaluate 12 busy intersections in eight Westchester municipalities. Armed with stopwatches, tape measures and clip boards, they assessed 60 items at each intersection, such as whether it needs a traffic signal, if roads with two or more lanes have a median strip and if the sidewalks have curb cuts for individuals who use wheelchairs.

The survey findings were forwarded to the LCCs, which were asked to review and share them with their regional councils.

Public safety is a hallmark of a Livable Community, notes Carpenter, whether that means safe streets or feeling safe in your own home.

The need for safe neighborhoods is a major concern for Mount Vernon residents of all ages, agreed Jean Williams, coordinator of the LCC site that serves that city and a district administrator for Family Services of Westchester. So she is bringing “youth, seniors and all of those in between” together to address that issue.

“The goal of supporting intergenerational activities and communities will benefit all community residents,” Williams said. “The combination of problem-solving skills in a diverse group, with a number of stakeholders, is more effective than the ability of a single group attempting to solve problems.”

Another milestone came this year with the start of the Livable Community Villages. Villages are groups of people with shared interests and goals. Many already exist throughout the county, such as neighborhood associations, houses of worship and social organizations.

Today, more than 70 Livable Community villages have been formed, and that number will continue to grow. Some villages have physical boundaries; others do not. They range from the Lewisboro Seniors, the Pleasantville Lions Club and the Peekskill Nutrition Center to Westchester Disabled on the Move and the Church of St. Simon the Cyrenian in New Rochelle.

Carpenter coined the Livable Communities motto of “Yes, We Care” because the outreach of village members to each other is essential for their success. A key component of villages is that ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ is a way of life,” Carpenter said. Something as simple as neighbors take turns picking up groceries for an elderly woman on their block can make the difference between her being able to age at home or having to relocate.

“If everyone who can reaches out and touches someone’s life in the spirit of ‘Yes, We Care,’ no one will miss a meal or ride to the doctor or be isolated to the point of loneliness and depression,” she said. “In our society people don’t like to say ‘I’m lonely.’ Some see it as a sign of weakness if you need people. We must break down those barriers.”

Bishop Preston of Christ Temple said the church has become a village as a result of seeing what the Livable Communities initiative had done with the traffic light.

David Juhren, executive director of The LOFT – the GLBT Community Services Center in White Plains, said the center became a village because it’s a good way to serve niche groups within the population, such as gay seniors.

“We’re trying to reach out to other villages who don’t know that our village exists,” Juhren said.

Karen Gordon, program director at The Preservation Company, a state-funded community group that addresses issues such as housing, said becoming a village offered networking and outreach opportunities.

She said in one instance, The Preservation Company joined with other agencies and community groups and the regional LCC to do a program on how to improve energy efficiency in the home.

“It’s great to have villages set up,” she said. “It’s great to have these networks set up because it makes it easier to transfer information.”

An LCC can have many villages within the municipalities it covers. The LCCs, in turn, help the villages with technical support and coordinating programs. But their goals are the same.

Information about Livable Communities has long been on the DSPS Web site, but with the introduction of the villages, the site was expanded to include a “Village Tool-Kit” with information visitors can download if they want to start a village.

Among those items is a power-point presentation about the Village Approach as well as a color brochure about villages in English, Spanish and Mandarin.

Carpenter said that in the past three years the initiative has made tremendous headway, and she is sure the program will continue to gain. A case in point, she said is the newest program under the big Livable Community umbrella: the Livable Communities Caregivers Coaching Program (L3C).

That new initiative will start this fall with volunteers being trained by professionals to help family caregivers better care for an older or disabled person. The coaches are trained to help the caregivers make informed choices, and thereby directly contribute to helping seniors remain in their homes.

Communities, in general, have gotten so far away from the basics of extending helping hands that Livable Communities will help to recreate a mindset of caring for each other.