Sarasota: A Community For All Generations

Attorney Mary Alice Jackson is chairing the Leadership Council for Sarasota: A Community for All Generations. This interview originally appeared in the May 2008 Prime Times, published by the Herald-Tribune for Senior Friendship Centers.

What is Sarasota a Community for All Generations and how will it change what we see as the face of Sarasota now?

Think of a jigsaw puzzle that has hundreds of parts. The puzzle includes opportunities for personal education and enhancement, civic engagement and volunteerism, human service programs which provide information and assistance with health issues, socialization, culture, safety, transportation, advocacy and assessment.

Sarasota a Community for All Generations works to arrange the pieces of the puzzle so that community needs are identified and met, and to glue the pieces together for a seamless entry to these community opportunities. We don’t operate specific programs, but we do examine what is available in the community, what is missing, what the community needs are, and how to fill unmet needs.

Life is a continuum of transitions: early education, work life, family development, career satisifaction, traditional retirement, volunteerism and health challenges. Sarasota is a place where all of thses things happen, and we are also a community where many people have chosen to spend the second half of their lives. It should be effortless to live in Sarasota County because we have anticipated what people need at all stages of life. Let’s eliminate stumbling blocks and create convenient transportation routes, information and referral at a touch of a button, adaptable housing and user friendly zoning, targeted human services, creative opportunities, the harnessed knowledge and energy of one generation to assist another.

Why is it important to address this now?

First, no matter the timeframe, we all want our community to be the best that it can be. Everyone counts, irrespective of age, income, or heritage. And everyone has something to offer - our role is to ensure that those offerings have a place to land. Personal enhancement, professional enhancement and civic engagement create an energized society.

This community has it all right now, and leads the country in the number of people who are transitioning or have transitioned from work life to “retirement”, or to another phase of work. We can create a model for other communities to follow - a community that serves the personal and collective needs of its residents.

Sarasota a Community for All Generations is a facilitator, behind the scenes. We have three subgoups that work at the connectedness efforts I’ve described: the Community Engagement subgroup, Creative Aging, and Aging in Place. Those subgroups thak an indepth look at what is currently available, and work to encourage streamlining of existing efforts and organizations, as well as to identify areas in which the Leadership Council needs to advocate for policy change with local, state, or federal governments.

Leadership members include representatives from our Community Foundations, SCOPE, county government, citizen activists, Economic Development, leading service providers and aging experts.

What can we do now that will have an impact on the future?

For some of us, the future is here. We don’t want to create an infrastructure of community life that works for the next generation, we want to identify and highlight what we have now, and push the agenda for today’s residents. In doing so, we will be able to recognize what activities, services and research makes a community work for the residents of future generations, too.

None of this is meant to be abstract. Personal relationships are the foundation of human life, and communitites always need to step up and respond to the needs of their residents - for educations, health care, housing, jobs, socialization, recreation. We have a large county and residents with diverse interests and needs. Let’s be certain that our needs and interests are recognized and that there are opportunities to meet them. SCOPE has worked on the concept of Asset Based Community Development: our citizens are our assets, they have individual talents and experience which can be used to strengthen neighborhoods and serve one another. Our role is to make sure they have the opportunity to do so.

May is Older Americans Month. This year’s theme is Working Together for Strong, Healthy, and Supportive Communities- how does this tie into a Community for All Generations?
The two themes are interchangeable - and Working Together perfectly describes what works to facilitate Sarasota a Community for All Generations. Harnessing talents for the strength, health and support of one another.

I want to emphasize that while the work of Sarasota a Community for All Generations is to identify, define and create, we are not implementers. The actual community creation is done right now, every day, by people who are already engaging in civic work, volunteering or working in ways that enhance health, economic security and personal satisfaction. Those residents are shaking the trees, looking to meet existing needs and identifying new ones.

Everyone is part of the effort, and everyone needs to step up to the plate and see themselves as important to this community, regardless of how minimal they view their contribution to be. We know that it is a coalescence of individual contributions which makes a community happy and successful.

Now is the time to increase, or initiate your personal involvement with libraries, human service organizations, environmental groups, development issues, job training, or whatever your particular talent or interest might be.

Mary Alice Jackson is a Florida native, board certified by the Florida Bar in elder law and a partner in the firm of Boyer & Jackson, PA. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Senior Friendship Centers, as well as chair of the Leadership Council for Sarasota: A Community for All Generations.