About Age-Friendly Minnesota

Who We Are

Mission:
The Age-Friendly Minnesota Council champions vibrant communities where we thrive as we age. We do this through collaborative partnerships, community engagement, and innovative strategies. Age-Friendly Minnesota creates and nurtures systems that include and value all Minnesotans as we grow older. 

Vision:
Our bold vision sees a Minnesota where our systems and communities respect, empower, and embrace aging.

Led by the Age-Friendly Minnesota Council, AFMN drives development of Minnesota’s Multisector Blueprint for Aging, administers the state’s first age-friendly grants program, and provides a unifying framework for age-friendly work across sectors.

The State of Minnesota joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities in 2022, becoming the tenth state to do so, and joining the 30 city and county network members across Minnesota.

How We Got Here: Age-Friendly MN Timeline

  • 2019-2020: Governor’s Council on an Age-Friendly MN established; releases initial recommendations 
  • 2021: First age-friendly legislation, includes funding for grants program and two staff 
  • 2022: MN joins AARP Network of Age-Friendly States & Communities; MN joins first cohort of Multisector Plan for Aging Learning Collaborative 
  • 2023: AFMN launches first round of grants dispersing over $2.3 million to over 100 grantees through Community Grants and Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) grants, Hosts Regional Exchanges to gather input for Blueprint 
  • 2024: AFMN holds Action Team Convenings – four in-person events, each one focused on a Blueprint domain, releases first version of Blueprint 
  • 2025: Action Teams launch to lead implementation; Blueprint Data Resources released
  • 2026: Action Teams to release initial recommendations and Blueprint Implementation Tracker to be released