The state of Illinois is in the early months of implementing an ambitious 10-year plan in which multiple state agencies, local governments and the private sector will collaborate to make life better for older adults and their caregivers.
If all goes as planned, caregivers will have more resources, older adults will enjoy more affordable and accessible housing and transportation, and dozens of local communities and the state itself will be designated as “age-friendly.”
That’s just for starters. A 57-page report released early this year, EngAging Illinois: A Comprehensive Plan for Aging Well, has four major focus areas, 10 priorities and dozens of ideas and action steps. The report admits this effort is “ambitious” but declares it is designed to be “realistic” with measurable outcomes. Input for the report, which was mandated by a 2024 gubernatorial executive order to create a “multi-sector plan for aging,” came from 15 state agencies, a 25-member community advisory council and many experts and advocates who participated in nine public-engagement sessions.
Overseeing the plan’s implementation is a commission led by chief planning officer Michelle Hoersch, who started at the Illinois Department on Aging last year.
“We have no choice but to prioritize preparing for the aging of our population,” Hoersch said. “We must act boldly and immediately.”
To implement the 10-year plan, the commission has established eight working groups. One focuses on housing and will consult with appropriate state agencies and the private sector as it develops goals and strategies.
“When we use the term multi-sector, we mean it,” Hoersch said. “The private sector has as much of a stake in the success of EngAging IL as anyone. We are already building relationships with developers of housing for older adults, municipalities that determine zoning, and administrators of older adult housing, to name a few.”
That collaborative approach permeates the early efforts of the eight working groups, all of which address one specific aspect such as transportation, health or social connection.
Another group is concentrating on the report’s findings about challenges facing caregivers. The report found that more than 2.2 million Illinoisans are providing unpaid care to aging loved ones, people with disabilities and others in need, and these caregivers often have health issues of their own as well as mental distress, including depression. “At the same time, paid caregivers – direct care workers, home care aides, home health aides, certified nursing assistants and personal attendants – deliver essential frontline care but often work part-time, are paid low wages, receive limited benefits and face excessive workloads,” the report said. “This leads to high turnover.”
To support them, the commission will create a centralized online portal for caregivers and modernize home and community-based services, looking for more ways to spread information and provide resources. Developing the EngAge Central portal is a complex task and still a year away from reality, Hoersch said, but it is expected to make it easier for caregivers, older adults and health and social service providers to identify resources to assist them.
The state has applied to be an Age-Friendly State, an honorary designation awarded by AARP to recognize efforts to help older people live easily and comfortably in their homes and communities. AARP values initiatives focused on housing, caregiving, community engagement, volunteering, social inclusion and combating isolation among older citizens, and it calculates “livability scores” based on certain criteria.
The state-level designation matters, Hoersch said, because it “helps build an expectation and motivation for municipalities to strive to become and be recognized as age-friendly communities.” The commission wants local communities to apply for the Age-Friendly Community designation, and so far, 15 Illinois cities have been recognized as such in the total of 1,037 nationally.
The state commission has short-term and long-term plans and hopes to raise the visibility of its ambitious initiative through its website, working groups and communication with partners, local governments and the Illinois public. It will engage elected officials, health and social services providers, community-based organizations, philanthropic groups, businesses and employers, Hoersch said. For example, Mary O’Donnell, president and CEO of the Chicago-based RRF Foundation for Aging, co-chaired the Community Advisory Council and remains active.
Asked if the plan might be too ambitious to implement, Hoersch replied, “No, I don’t see failure as a possibility or an option. We fail if we do nothing. We are very intentional in how we are moving forward. So far, we have met with tremendous support and enthusiasm.”
Ed Wojcicki has a degree in journalism, worked for print publications for 26 years and now freelances from Springfield.
This article appears in October SBJ 2026.