Cambridge joins WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities

Cambridge, Ontario. (December 5, 2022) – The City of Cambridge has become a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities. As a member, Cambridge will be part of a growing global movement of communities, cities and other sub-national levels of government that are striving to better meet the needs of older residents.

By joining the Network, Cambridge commits to sharing and promoting the values and principles central to the WHO Age-friendly approach, implementing the four steps to create age-friendly local environments, and actively participating in the Network, including sharing experiences with other members.

“Our new membership will help us elevate the work we have been doing to value and support our older adult community,” said Nicole Cichello, Supervisor of Older Adult Services. “We are excited to join a group of like-minded teams, sharing and learning together as we develop programs and services to help them live safe, active and meaningful lives.” 

“This is an important development for Cambridge,” said Mayor Jan Liggett. “As an Age-Friendly City, we commit to listening to the needs of our older adults so that we might  better serve our aging population;  while ensuring that local policies, programs, and services are inclusive and support social and physical environments.”

The WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities was established in 2010 to connect cities, communities and organizations worldwide with the common vision of making their community a great place to grow old in. As a response to global population ageing and rapid urbanization, it focuses on action at the local level that fosters the full participation of older people in community life and promotes healthy and active ageing.

The mission of the Network is to stimulate and enable cities and communities around the world to become increasingly age-friendly. The Network seeks to do this by:

• inspiring change by showing what can be done and how it can be done;
• connecting cities and communities worldwide to facilitate the exchange of information, knowledge and experience; and
• supporting cities and communities to find appropriate innovative and evidence-based solutions.

Membership to the Network is not an accreditation for age-friendliness. Rather, it reflects cities’ commitment to listen to the needs of their ageing population, assess and monitor their age-friendliness and work collaboratively with older people and across sectors to create age-friendly physical and social environments. Membership is also a commitment to share experience, achievements and lessons learnt with other cities and communities.

The City of Cambridge is already committed to offering a variety of health services, volunteer programs, and recreation programs that are geared towards the 50+ population. This membership signals an even stronger commitment to the quality life of the aging adults in the community.

 The City has a Service Accountability Agreement (required by the Local Health System Integration Act) with the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to ensure residents have access to high quality health services including Adult Day Services, Visiting-Social & Safety and French Language Services. For more information about programs and services for older adults in the community visit the senior services page on our website.