The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has issued an Age-Friendly Challenge to help make Greater Manchester the best place in the UK to grow older. Greater Manchester is already the UK’s first age-friendly city-region according to the World Health Organization. Great news! But what does that look like in reality? Through the Mayor’s age-friendly challenge, it will find practical examples of what age-friendly really means and share best practice across the city region. 
The Mayor of Greater Manchester wants to hear about those practical schemes and projects already in place in Greater Manchester, which are helping to make your community and neighbourhood more age-friendly.
Your scheme doesn’t need to be perfect and finalised – but you do need to be able to demonstrate that you are:
• actively working to make your neighbourhood age-friendly
• involving older people in the development of your scheme
• committed to future age-friendly goals
The challenge is open to the voluntary and community sector, public services, and older people's groups working together to make their community and neighbourhood more age-friendly.
Successful entries will be those places that have most improved the quality of life of older people in their communities, and which provide shining examples of age-friendly practice for others to learn from.
This award is for age-friendly communities and neighbourhoods, and as such, individual projects are encouraged to work with partners to apply on behalf of their neighbourhood.
Successful schemes will be awarded with accreditation – official recognition from the Mayor and Combined Authority that your community or neighbourhood is age-friendly.
Applications should be submitted by 1 December 2018.
For further information, visit: www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/agefriendlychallenge, or contact 0161 277 1001, or email: [email protected]