Senior Citizen or Caregiver? Fill Out Tucker Lifelong Community's Survey

Residents of Tucker and Smoke Rise have an opportunity to make the community friendlier for senior citizens and thereby improve the areas for citizens of all ages. 

They can do so by simply filling out this survey. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) sponsors a Lifelong Communities program designed to help senior citizens stay in their homes rather than move to assisted living or leave their home town. 

Tucker Civic Association is exploring the possibility of establishing a Tucker Lifelong Community (TLC) effort.

The ARC program emphasizes three aspects: improving housing and transportation options, encouraging healthy lifestyles, and providing access to services and resources. The ARC model involves a diverse group of local organizations - such as senior citizen clubs, service providers, civic associations, business associations, churches, garden clubs, neighborhood associations, even youth groups such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops - to create a consensus on how to build a life-long livable community. 

The long-term results can range from constructing shelters at local bus stops, setting up a van-pool to transport seniors to doctor appointments or reconfiguring street intersections to encouraging development of a high-rise senior residence or a senior services center. 

TCA is building a network of stakeholders, including many local churches, to work on this initiative. Bruce Penn, chair of TCA's Proactive Planning, Land Use & Zoning Committee, is spearheading the effort. 

The first step in the process is to conduct a survey of senior residents, their caregivers and stakeholders, with a deadline of March 16. The results of this survey will identify services and street improvements that will be most beneficial. 

"We hope as many people as possible, of all ages, will fill out the survey," Penn said. "This first survey is a lengthy from created by ARC, and will give us a first-take on local needs. We may later do another survey, in a simpler form, to further define needs specific to Tucker and Smoke Rise."    

For more details on the project, email ppluz@tuckercivic.org.