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Selection Criteria
Award Guidelines and Entry Rules
- Excellence in Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Application
- Definitions
- Eligibility
- Minimum Criteria
- Selection Criteria
- Application Instructions
- Entry Deadline and Submittal Information
- For Further Information
- Fill and Print Entry Form (PDF) (9 pp, 164K, About PDF)
- Alternate format: Fill and Save/Print Entry From (DOC) (8pp, 77K)
- Alternate format: Entry Form (HTML)
In addition to the minimum criteria, we will consider the following criteria when selecting winning awardees:
Effectiveness. What are the goals of the project, policy, or program? Is there tangible evidence of "on the ground" success? How well does the activity reflect the coordination of smart growth strategies and active aging programs? Is it part of a wider strategy to encourage smart growth and active aging? While the entry need not address each of these specific questions, successful applications will highlight results, not simply process.
Outreach and Community Involvement. What public outreach and education has occurred as part of the activity? How have citizens and stakeholders, especially older adults, been educated about the activity, encouraged to give input, and engaged in making decisions? How well does the activity foster collaboration among local and state governments, federal agencies, communities, non-governmental or nonprofit organizations, or businesses and the aging network? Applicants should submit as supporting materials relevant products of the education, outreach, and community involvement activities.
Innovation. Does the project, policy, or program break new ground? Does it represent a new approach to a common problem? Could this new idea be adopted or replicated elsewhere? What were the key components of successful implementation? Successful applications will include new and innovative ideas that could be applied in other jurisdictions, as opposed to ideas that are too location specific or resource intensive to work in a variety of areas.
Environmental and Health Impact. How does the project, policy, or program improve environmental quality and help increase active aging? The following are examples of some of the potential impacts to highlight:
- Reduce air pollution from motor vehicle use
- Preserve habitat and sensitive environmental areas
- Minimize storm water runoff
- Protect water quality
- Reduce proportion of older people who are inactive in your community
- Increase proportion meeting Surgeon General’s recommendation for physical activity (30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, more than 5 days per week)
- Increase number of physical activity programs available in underserved areas
- Increase number of physical activity programs available for frail and/or homebound older adults
- Increase overall perceived quality of life
- Decrease reported unhealthy days due to physical or mental health concerns
- Reduce the proportion of older adults who report functional limitation or disability
- Reduce health care utilization and costs associated with physical inactivity
- Enable older adults to stay in the least restrictive home-like environments
- Improve lighting in public spaces
- Take steps to ensure public safety from crime and/or injury
- Make sidewalks more accessible and usable
- Improve connectivity of sidewalks, bike paths and greenways
- Increase transportations choices
We would like to hear more about how the designated project, policy, or program improves the community’s quality of life. One example would be making physical activity more accessible to older adults in the community, or by taking advantage of community assets—trails, sidewalks, bike paths, in developing active aging programs or by designing the community in a way that encourages physical activity by older adults in their everyday lives (creating, compact, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods).