Although Miami-Dade County is no longer perceived as a “retirement” destination, it is home to approximately 400,000 older adults (60+). Another 260,000 people will join them by 2020. However, retirees migrating from the north no longer fuel these dramatic numbers. Rather, this projected growth reflects the aging of a diverse local population.

Max Rothman, left. discusses an issue at the Southeast Florida Center on Aging.

According to the 2000 census, Hispanics represent 62 percent of the older population, white non-Hispanics 25 percent, and black non-Hispanics 11 percent. They are equally as diverse in terms of socioeconomic status, age, religion, levels of activity, family support, and geographic location. Many are immigrants who have experienced varying degrees of integration into the larger community. The population 85 and above, at greatest risk of increased frailty, has more than doubled since 1970, and will continue to increase through 2020. These data have ramifications for students, working professionals, and the community-at-large.

Community demographics influence employment options for graduates as well as the broader marketplace. In an aging society, the most obvious area that will be affected is health and long-term care. Many experienced professionals are discovering opportunities and benefits from working with an older population that they never considered as students. For example, professional care management, a field that did not exist 20 years ago, has attracted significant numbers of social workers and nurses in Miami and throughout the United States. Similarly, nutritionists, occupational and physical therapists, psychologists, recreational specialists, and administrators in many organizations that serve elders are experiencing increased opportunity.

Furthermore, healthcare and social services are not the only markets with opportunities available for working with a diverse community of older adults. The marketplace dictates that other professionals also understand and possess the personal skills to work effectively with older consumers of: financial services, including banking, investments, and insurance; leisure services, including hotels, restaurants, and the cruise and airline industries; and many other products and services. Lawyers, accountants, clergy, journalists, and professionals of all types will find that diverse groups of older adults constitute a significant percentage of their clients.

Today’s students will reside in an urban community that is in the vanguard of learning how to adjust to unprecedented numbers of older Hispanics and African Americans. Indeed, the aging of this diverse population will affect the community and its quality of life in many different and yet unknown ways. Given differences in perceptions among them about important issues of civic concern, including education, transportation, housing, property taxation, crime, arts and culture, and the environment, we need to learn much more about how this older population will respond. The “healthy community” of the future will be challenged to proactively address these and other issues in the years ahead.

Fundamentally, this diverse older population will desire opportunities to participate in and contribute to the life of their community. They expect to live long, healthy lives, but want access to quality, affordable health and long-term care services. They wish to remain in their own homes as long as possible. When they require assistance, they want options so they can choose which services they want and who will deliver them.

As middle-aged and older adults contemplate retirement, they will be much more focused on quality of life than the previous generation. They are interested in pursuing work, volunteerism, education and culture and leisure and recreation, as well as financial security and good health. They also want meaningful social roles and opportunities—they fully intend to be engaged in the mainstream. Many, particularly those with education, professional experience, and substantial resources, will choose to remain in Miami-Dade County if the community is prepared to address issues of importance to them. Others, without resources, inevitably will have little choice. Thus, the community–individuals and their families–needs to plan for the aging of its own population. How effectively Miami-Dade County prepares will determine the continuing health of the community well into the 21st Century.