The first time I heard the term NORC (short for Naturally Occurring Senior Community) was from my 81-year-old mother, who is determined to live out her days in her comfortable cul-de-sac home rather than moving to a retirement community.
In a NORC, I learned from the file that my mother and a neighbor had pulled together, a neighborhood evolves over time and ends up with a large concentration of seniors, who then organize -- generally with the help of a community agency -- to share services and support. A lead agency coordinates with community programs, ranging from hospitals and Area Agencies on Aging to local catering and home repair businesses, which seniors can then access with a single phone call.
I found the concept so intriguing that I wrote an article for Caring.com about NORCs and other "aging in place" communities. Meanwhile, my mother and her neighbor never got past the keeping-a-file stage. Figuring out what steps they'd need to take to launch their own NORC just seemed too overwhelming, even for two very independent and enterprising women.
That may change, though, with the launch of a new website, norcblueprint.org. Not only does the site include a toolkit and 5-step strategy for creating your own NORC, one of the first things you see when you enter is a feature that lets you make the type size larger by 2-4 times. Clearly, the site's designers -- the same folks who started the first NORC in New York in 1986 -- know their demographic.
Today, there are 54 formal NORCs up and running nationwide. But with a tool like this one newly available, and an aging population, many of whom want what my mom and her neighbor do -- to age with a sense of community, without having to give up control over their daily lives -- that number is a surely a rapidly moving target.
I'm logging off now to go tell my mother about norcbluepring.org. Check back in a bit to see whether her neighborhood becomes NORC No. 55.
Image from Flickr User dbking , under a Creative Commons attribution license.
Santa Cruz, California started a formal revival of the Granny Flat in 2002 with their new ADU (accessory dwelling Unit) zoning ordinance. Essentially they removed the barriers set up from a time when people were more worried about overcrowding than how to encourage people to move back into the close-in residential areas. Times have changed, and Santa Cruz saw this move as one way to help families come together to nourish their aging citizens, to provide affordable housing and to bring back the population lost to their city during the great flight to the suburbs. The entire state of California followed the path set by Santa Cruz and Oregon and Washington state is in the process. In my home state of Colorado we have a minimum of 12 cities that have adopted similar regulations and more join in each day. NORCS are one choice for aging parents, and the Granny Flat is another. My local Washington Park neighborhood in Denver is currently starting a program called, Washington Park Cares, which will give seniors access to services right in their own neighborhood. The program is modeled on the lead set by the Beacon Hill project in Boston. I believe we are just beginning to see the creation of a wide range of housing choices for aging seniors, many that have never existed before in history.
What a great idea. If anyone out there knows of a NORC or something similar that is just starting up please let me know -- I'd love to hear how it's going. Nell
Nell, This is really exciting. I'd love to see this movement take off. It's one of my favorites uses of the web - to propagate good ideas. I'd love to hear from folks who might be trying to do this in their communities. Maybe you could find a neighborhood like this and help us track their progress? Thanks for the post.