Civic Participation & Employment
DOMAIN DESCRIPTION Paid work and volunteer activities for older residents and opportunities to engage in the formulation of policies relevant to their lives. Brief Statement of Survey Responses A majority of survey respondents for both AARP Arizona and Pima Council on Aging rate their community positively on having access to a variety of volunteer activities that are easy to find.A plurality of respondents provided negative ratings for how well their community is doing in terms of employment opportunities for older residents. Pima Council on Aging’s Needs Assessment responses: • Twenty-two percent of respondents rate access to volunteer opportunities as a concern. • Sixteen percent of respondents surveyed have concerns about employment opportunities and age discrimination. • Thirty-four percent of respondents report concern that their voice may not be heard in the community. AARP Arizona’s survey responses: • Forty percent of AARP Arizona’s survey respondents rank job training opportunities for older adults as fair or poor. • Thirty-nine percent of respondents rank policies that ensure that older adults can continue to have equal opportunity to work, regardless of their age, as fair or poor.
Community Challenges • Transportation to and from volunteer activities and/or work can be a barrier to employment, especially for people with limited mobility of all ages. • In today’s rapidly changing job market, job training opportunities for older adults are critical to building new skills, such as working with technology. Intergenerational job training opportunities are vital to ensuring that younger adults get the professional mentorship they need, while older adults continue to develop new skills essential to the modern workplace. • It can be difficult to hire and retain older adults because of their often-expressed desire for flexible or reduced work hours. Providing a range of flexible job opportunities for older adults is vital to ensurin that every older adult who wants to remain in the workforce has the ability to do so and schieve their full potential.
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