Skip to main content

Making Manchester Age-Friendly

By 3 September 2019Borough Care News

In 2010, Manchester became the first UK city to join the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities.

Despite bucking the world trend, Manchester has a growing population of younger people, fuelled by the city’s large student population and its appeal to younger professionals as a place to live and work.

However, this has resulted in more older people feeling isolated and experiencing inequality. The city of Manchester is trying to change this through a number of measures. One of which is the creation of the Age Friendly Assembly, made up of older people across Manchester, who are consulted by the Council on issues such as housing, transport and culture.

The Assembly has also produced a new, quarterly, printed newsletter that contains lots of useful and interesting information relevant to older people living in the city.

The first edition is available to pick up free of charge in cafes, shops, libraries and other public areas. Or, you can read it here online. It contains news about age friendly events in and around Manchester, details of how to get involved in the assembly, as well as important policy information that affects older people.

We are thrilled that Greater Manchester has taken such a progressive approach to tackling age inequality and we would encourage anybody who wants to get involved, whether that is becoming part of the assembly, becoming a culture mentor or embarking on their own age friendly project to get in touch with the South Neighbourhood team. You can find more information here.