Communities Overview

Dementia is a community issue that must be addressed at a community level. Every part of the community has a unique role in fostering meaningful engagement and access to community life for people living with dementia and their family and friend care partners.

A dementia friendly community is a village, town, city or county that is informed, safe and respectful of individuals living with dementia, their families and care partners and provides supportive options that foster quality of life. Joining DFA means a community is engaging people living with dementia, caregivers and multiple community sectors in a collaborative team to create positive change toward becoming more dementia friendly.

Key Goals Among Dementia-Friendly Communities include:

• Increasing awareness and understanding of dementia and people living with dementia
• Increasing awareness and understanding of brain health and risk reduction
• Collaborating with public, private, not-for-profit and health care sectors to better serve people living with dementia and care partners
• Addressing the changing needs of people with dementia and care partners
• Creating social and cultural environments that are inclusive to people living with dementia
• Improving the physical environment in public places and systems so that they are dementia friendly

To help communities work towards becoming dementia-friendly, DFA offers: