National Blueprint
Increasing Physical Activity in Adults Age 50 and Older

In 2001, a coalition of national organizations released a national planning document in the area of aging and physical activity. The National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 50 and Older was developed to serve as a guide for multiple organizations, associations and agencies, to inform and support their planning work related to increasing physical activity among America's aging population.

“The Blueprint was designed to engage organizations in multiple strategies geared toward increasing physical activity among older Americans,” says Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, Ph.D., head of the Kinesiology Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Chodzko-Zajko directs the National Blueprint Office with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Currently, the Blueprint partnership is made up of 50 national organizations that have a shared interest in increasing physical activity among Americans age 50 and older. A key priority of the Blueprint Project is to foster local partnerships among community organizations and private sector agencies in the areas of health, environment, transportation, and social services.

Major activities of the Blueprint Project include:

• October 2002 meeting of partners to prioritize the Blueprint strategies and to develop specific tactics in the areas of home and community, marketing, medical systems, public policy, and research. They selected 15 strategies with an additional three strategies identified as "cross-cutting," relating to more than one of these areas. (Details on the strategies are available at www.agingblueprint.org.)
  
  
• January 2004 meeting of partners to discuss further ongoing activities related to carrying out the Blueprint strategies.

• October 2005 meeting for partners to identify strategies for engaging the aging network and building private sector commitment.

“There is a substantial body of scientific evidence which indicates that regular physical activity can bring dramatic health benefits to people of all ages and abilities, and that this benefit extends over the entire life-course. Increasingly, evidence indicates that physical activity offers one of the greatest opportunities to extend years of active independent life, reduce disability, and improve the quality of life for older persons,” says Dr. Chodzko-Zajko.

Active for Life is part of the National Blueprint and is responsible for the cross-cutting strategy on developing a National Resource Clearinghouse (Learning Network).