Abstract

State and local interest in creating age-friendly communities is increasing as communities look for ways to support their older residents in retaining their independence and living in the community for as long as possible. Yet, there are limited empirically based implementation frameworks on which to study how communities operationalize their age-friendly community initiatives and how team members’ perceptions and experiences inform the early stages of implementation. Sixteen retrospective interviews were conducted with four age-friendly community leadership teams on their perceptions about and experiences with age-friendly communities to identify how each influenced implementation and differed by how initiatives were structured. Analysis confirmed a shared motivation for age-friendly initiatives and highlighted the challenges faced including creating a vision, working with government, and including diverse and hidden populations during the planning stages. Recommendations for practice, policy, and research are provided through the use of a pre-planning framework for launching initiatives.