Senior Citizens Group

Senior Citizens Community Breakfast Comments, May 12, 2005

What trends will affect the way you do business in 5 years?

Economy	Higher inflation/costs. Housing needs - costs; decrease in affordable housing Growth in number of seniors - greater demands on services seniors need, medical in particular. Global competition; outsourcing of jobs In the next five years there will be an older population, fewer school age children and more development pressure, adding more asphalt and unaffordable (to the average citizen) housing; those citizens will be moving out into rural areas for housing; the earlier unique beauty of the area will be compromised. The helping professions need to attract males and females; males are not going into the helping professions We need to make sure there are young people who are willing to provide services not only to the rich but the not so rich; right now mostly the trend is to help the rich. The middle aged are not prepared for retirement financially, therefore not able to pay for services when old. I work in the tourist business and I see well-trained students being hired by local businesses-that's good for all of T.C. Employment needs upon retirement - good area for service and summer jobs. Emphasis on recreation and entertainment. Traffic congestion. More travel with Cherry Capital Airport. More big boxes - small businesses gobbled up. Less community interaction with growth. Less charm. Need for recreation opportunities. Need for infrastructure improvements.
Government	Decreased State/Federal funding Concern about lack of people running for elected office.
Technology	Increasing use of technology/computers; growing reliance on technology. There will be more technical facilities operated through computers and Internet; employees will be eliminated. Reading or use of books will be limited. Students will be sitting & operating these technical devices Greater need for tech support.
Demographics	Higher senior citizen population; more older seniors; more younger retirees. Increase in Grand Traverse County population Shortage of young people to take care of the baby boomers, including the helping professions. Retirees and senior citizens want to be active; need to use their gifts and talents. Some seniors want to sit back and let others do all the work-want to be taken care of.
General	Connect or expand partnerships in community. Base of interest and talent coming in to tap into. Walk the area daily; I am a neighbor to NMC, living on Indian Woods Drive. Use the facilities-Museum, Theater, Library, love the Barbecue, attend functions at Oleson Center. My daughter attended NMC for three years and went on to Ferris.
Education	Growing need for adult training-re-training. To seniors, a local college becomes more interesting and helps keep us up-to-date, our minds active. A good college attracts young people into a community or keeps them here. Need for cremation education - 54% aging population. Stay active in learning - 10% of population suffer from dementia. Public/private partnerships - need role model. Intergenerational - what are the goals that we are all involved in? Third age (second half concept) - what are the developmental tasks? Collaboration between NMC & Interlochen, i.e. ensembles to come where seniors are.

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