Development of a Community Needs Assessment for "The City for All Ages" Project

The New York City Deputy Mayor's Office of Health and Human Services is working within the World Health Organization's guidelines to transform New York City into a city livable for people of all ages, with an emphasis on the elderly population, a large and growing proportion of New Yorkers. Given the need to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of existing senior services, the Deputy Mayor's Office asked the Capstone team to develop and implement a community needs assessment. The team researched and produced a literature review of global, national, and citywide practices that best capture seniors' needs. Based on the findings, the team developed a pilot survey with several community stakeholders to determine the "age friendliness" of various services. Based on the survey results, the team made recommendations that would assist the Deputy Mayor's Office and its associated agencies in its future applications of the assessment tool.