Ohio State’s College of Social Work is making the world a better place to age, thanks to the Age-Friendly Innovation Center (AFIC). The center innovates with older adults through research, education and engagement to ensure inclusion and build resiliency to make communities more age friendly. Through robust engagement with older adults in the lead, AFIC is improving social, built and health environments that support livability for people of all ages and abilities.
AFIC’s work includes:
- Research and evaluation in collaboration with older adults, practitioners, students and other scholars in areas such as transportation, housing, sustainability and climate resilience, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, community and health care, and age-friendly communities.
- Opportunities for undergraduates, graduate and doctoral students to engage through a semester-long AFIC Scholars Program that develops an understanding of aging and the international age-friendly movement and provides practical work experience with multi-disciplinary leaders.
- Community engagement through AFIC’s areas of commitment to issues like ageism, education and workforce development, housing, transportation and mobility, and more
- AFIC also engages the community through age-friendly messaging campaigns like “Aging: So Cool Everyone is Doing It,” by leading the Senior Services Roundtable of Columbus and Franklin County, and co-chairing the Coalition of Age-Friendly Communities of Ohio, the state’s grassroots-driven collaboration of existing Age-Friendly communities.
