As the U.S. population ages, Extension's need for associated organizational readiness increases. We conducted a needs assessment with a sample of 1,028 Extension professionals in the Extension North Central Region (NCR) to identify the current scope of aging-related community needs. Health care, chronic disease prevention and management, housing,…

Needs assessment is the process of identifying the gap between a target population's needs and its services. If a gap exists, a program can be designed to effectively respond to those needs. This article explores the needs of elderly African immigrants in Minnesota through the use of qualitative interviews. A convenience sampling was used to…

The Minnesota Senior Study, the first statewide survey of the elderly in nearly 20 years, was based on a telephone survey with a statewide sample of 1,500 non-institutionalized Minnesotans age 60 and older. Substantial numbers of Minnesotans age 60-plus were found to have low social contacts. Five percent, or about 33,000 older Minnesotans, fell…

This policy report is intended to be a vision, a design, for certain public systems that have significant involvement with an aging population. It focuses on the central question: What can be done to build community capacity for dealing with an aging society in Minnesota? The report focuses on these three topics: (1) life-cycle…

This briefing book and final report are products of Project 2030, a two-year Minnesota initiative to identify the impacts of the baby boom generation that begins turning 85 in 2030 and to prepare a state response to the changes that will accompany the aging of Minnesota's population. The briefing book, an introductory publication to Project 2030,…

A public policy study in Minnesota, conducted as part of Project 2030, looked at the impacts of the aging of the baby boom generation on the work force and the economic vitality of the state by the year 2030. The study found the following general trends affecting the work force and economic vitality and noted the relation of each to the aging…