Age Friendly Tucker: The Keys to a Stronger Community

LOIS RICCI

Astrong community is one where there is relevance, relationships, and respect. It is based on a willingness of residents to help and support one another, and exhibit a mutual interest in the area, from schools, transportation, and housing to health care, professional services, and socializing. Communities are complex to understand. A strong community requires constant care and feeding.

Communities must have good government that begins and ends with trust. Needed are public leaders working together to enhance the long-term future of the community, who can bring the community together to participate in open dialogue on important issues. Leaders should be representative of their community and be able to envision an economically secure, environmentally sound, and socially viable future. Leaders should empower community members to assist in resolving community issues.

Communities must have strong citizen participation where citizens vote, attend public meetings, and get involved in civic organizations and community activities. All citizens need to develop knowledge and skills to contribute to community life. Sharing in problem solving and planning for the future as a community increase local pride and commitment.

Communities face a variety of challenging social issues, such as substance abuse, domestic abuse, poverty, and other concerns related to the elderly, youth, and families. Addressing these concerns requires the efforts of support services such as child daycare, after-school, youth, teen, and senior programs, preventative health, substance abuse programs, parenting and family support programs, and human service networks. Essential to any community is quality education beginning in the home, continuing in preschool through high school, and then through lifelong learning.

Recreation and cultural activities are another key to building a strong community. Team sports, outdoor activities, art, crafts, music, dance, theater, and celebrations provide a variety of activities in which all community members can participate. Activities build a community's positive sense of itself and strengthen interactions within the community. Parks and greenspaces also contribute to a community’s quality of life. Walking trails, playgrounds, historic buildings, special places, wildlife, and open land help determine a community's personality and contribute to the everyday pleasures of community life. A successful community recognizes the importance of these areas and takes measures to support and maintain them.

Community services are essential to the community, including schools, parks, pathways and trails, roads, libraries, and services and utilities such as police, fire, ambulance, highway maintenance, and transportation. Access to health care and professional service providers reflect the strength of the community. Important to building overall area economic strength, a strong community works to grow sound businesses, industries, and services that provide decent salaries and benefits to workers, engage in family-friendly policies, provide workers with opportunities to develop marketable skills, and contribute to the overall wellbeing of the community.

A strong community is a diverse community, one which is made up of different people with different interests, experiences, and backgrounds. It works to promote a feeling of connection between all residents. People who work together in communities can achieve amazing things.

DR. LOIS RICCI Dr. Lois Ricci is a longtime resident of Tucker, where she chairs the Tucker Civic Association Lifelong Community Committee. She recently retired as an adjunct faculty member at Kennesaw State University, where she taught gerontology courses and the Professional Development in Gerontology Certificate Class. Ricci serves as an official representative for American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and co-facilitator for the Rosalyn Carter CareNet, as well as president of the Georgia Gerontology Society and on the board of the Atlanta Regional Commission Advisory Committee on Aging. Contact Dr. Ricci at loisricci@bellsouth.net.