[Convening] Implementation innovations and insights shared

Community leaders, planners, and advocates from across Rhode Island gathered at Rhode Island College for AFRI’s first convening of 2026. The program featured two presentations from established age-friendly initiatives, followed by a community conversation on local resource development.

Regional Planning in Action: Southern New Hampshire Sylvia von Aulock, Executive Director, Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission

Sylvia shared a decade of experience coordinating an age-friendly initiative across 14 New Hampshire communities, highlighting innovative approaches to transportation challenges and key milestones along the way. Download presentation slides

Community Engagement: Age-Friendly Westerly Lindsey Greene-Upshaw & Melissa Sigua, Office of Health Equity and Community Impact, Yale New Haven Health

The OHECI team which serves as the backbone organization for Age-Friendly Westerly offered strategies for engaging community members and sustaining that engagement over time. They outlined how they used the hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessment to guide the initiative’s priorities. Access their presentation HERE.

Local Voices: Developing Community Pocket Books

A panel conversation explored efforts to create locally tailored “pocket books” to complement the statewide Resource Guide for Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities published by the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging.

Panelists included Carmela Geer, Executive Director of the Edward King House Senior Center in Newport; Kathy Jackson, Senior Fellow at Newport for All Ages; Sue Ogle, Westerly resident and board member of The Village Common of Rhode Island; and Christina LoPresti, Salve Regina University student and intern for the Newport project.