Pennsylvania recently joined AARP’s “Network of Age Friendly States & Communities”. Membership provides research and policy for state officials, and is another tool communities can use to put Pennsylvania’s “Aging Our Way” 10 year plan into action.

“The only thing we're doing every day is getting older, every one of us,” said Ray Maholtz, director for the Greater Erie Area Agency on Aging.

Maholtz says people 65 and older are the fastest growing demographic in the Commonwealth. By 2034, senior citizens will outnumber kids under 18 in the United States, according to AARP.

To prepare for this demographic increase, Pennsylvania published it’s Aging Our Way plan in 2024. The plan identifies 8 needs for senior citizen’s to maintain quality of life: affordable housing, transportation, accessibility in buildings and outdoor spaces, civic participation, technology & education, respect & inclusion, social fun, health services & community supports.

“It's housing, it's transportation. It's curb cuts and ramps, so that things are accessible to older adults,” said Matthew Trott, vice president of operations for Greater Erie Area Agency on Aging.

The plan identified the needs. Now communities are assessing if they can meet those needs… and what it will take to get physical and social infrastructure into place.

Pennsylvania has 52 area agencies on aging, who are coordinating communities into action.

“We all need to come together to make it possible for senior citizens to live valuable lives,” Trott said. He said older Pennsylvanians must see themselves as part of the solution to that goal— not the burden to be carried. Their participation can bring solutions to other community challenges, even as organizations work to meet their needs.

Three of the eight needs in the plan require physical infrastructure: affordable housing, transportation, and walkable public spaces (wheelchair ramps and traffic lights with more time to cross the street).

“In rural areas especially, if you don't have reliable transportation, it's hard to get to work. It's hard to get to the grocery store, and do the errands, and doctor's appointments,” said Tiffani Warner, executive director for the Bradford/Susquehanna/Sullivan/Tioga Area Agency on Aging.

Warner said affordable housing is also a major shortage in the counties she serves, clarifying that affordable does not just mean fiscally cheap.

“We have to think, can people afford to take their trash out? Can they take care of their yards?” Warner said. “We need places for people to live even as they have lower incomes with retirement and are losing their physical capabilities."

Other needs focus on education, fun socials, civic participation, and ways to keep senior citizens plugged in.

“If they stay at home and are just sitting on their couch watching television, they're too isolated,” Trott said. "And that's when you get bad outcomes.

The state has made a plan to protect senior’s quality of life; but the state has not increased funding for area agencies on aging in years (except for COVID American Rescue Plan funds that dried up last fiscal year).

“We're trying to serve more people on the same amount of money that we, you know, we've been receiving since 2015,” Warner said.

Governor Josh Shapiro has proposed a $20 million increase in this year’s budget. Senior citizen advocacy groups, like AARP, say that area agencies on aging need a $30 million boost to keep up with cost of living adjustments and preparations for the future.

Trott from Erie says the services agencies provide— such as check ins, information on home care, hot meals, social activities— keep older Pennsylvanians healthier for longer.

“The preventative services that we provide, save dollars in the long run,” Trott said. "It keeps people out of high cost nursing home. It keeps people out of high cost hospital stays."