Regional Happenings -
Finger Lakes:  Genesee, Seneca, Livingston, Wayne, Monroe, Wyoming, Ontario, Yates, Orleans

• Genesee County
  • Grant funding has supported services in transportation, home repair, friendly visits, library services, recreation, and other non-medical assistance not provided by public funds.
    • A Handyman Program is run by the County Office for the Aging to provide small home repairs to older residents, including grab bars and handrails and other minor repairs.
    • Medical Transportation to Rochester is coordinated by the County Office for the Aging through the CATS bus services.
    • Social Transportation for small groups from 4 to 43 who are at least 60 years of age can be arranged through the County Office for the Aging. Groups need to make their own plans and pay any admission fees, but the transportation on school buses can be provided free of charge, or a pro-rated amount towards transportation via rented motorcoach can be arranged.
  • The County Transportation Committee and the County Comprehensive Plan Transportation Focus Group are working with community participants and the Office for Aging to ensure that the transportation needs of younger disabled and senior citizens are included in planning. Community outreach sessions are being planned to determine rider-specific transportation needs.
  • Two public hearings with the theme of Livable Communities were held on September 2009 in the City of Batavia and at Corfu Presbyterian Church in a rural area of the county. Roundtable discussions were used to illicit from attendees ideas and suggestions for what would make their communities/the county more livable for older adults and younger disabled individuals, primarily focusing on housing needs and community supports to enable individuals to age in place. The sessions provided excellent suggestions for ways to improve services and meet unmet needs; as well as pointing to the need for affordable supportive senior housing for middle income individuals. Additionally, the County strategic plan includes 10 focus areas that could incorporate the livable community model.
• Monroe County
• Rochester is one of thirty communities participating in the national Community Experience Partnership and includes a plan to increase the capacity of mentoring programs to attract and retain senior volunteers that will be launched in the fall of 2009.
• City of Rochester working on initiatives to make communities more livable. http://www.livablerochester.org/
• The following Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities are in place:
  • Good to Grow Old
  • Home Base NORC
  • NNORC at Kings Court
  • NORC CFC at Plaza Apts/Keeler Apts
  • Rochester Highlands
• Ontario
  • Partners for Community Solutions - workgroup consisting of AAA, DSS, DOH, and Geneva Housing. They have conducted a countywide needs assessment as part of their beginning steps to making communities more livable.
  • Ontario County Office for the Aging is participating in a transportation initiative to promote sensitivity training of all 75 CATS public transportation drivers in the county to be completed in 2010.

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