Leiha Edmonds

Age Friendly Cities. I lead data collection, analysis, and evaluation of Orange County, NC’s 2022-2027 Master Aging Plan. I work across the seven domains of age-friendly collaboration: Housing, Health, Civic Engagement, Recreation, Employment, Communication, and Transportation to support workgroups that bring together local government staff and elected officials, nonprofits, and residents to coordinate and implement a community-informed plan to make the county a more inclusive and age-friendly region.

Caregiving Youth and Intergenerational Care. In collaboration with Dr Betsy Olson, I work with caregiving youth in Palm Beach County FL, young people under the age of 18 who take on caregiving responsibilities to support a parent, guardian, relative, or sibling who is chronically ill, disabled, or otherwise requiring care for medical reasons. Our previous project include training caregiving youth to use geospatial and sketch mapping methods to produce data on their experiences of place and emotion.

Preserving Affordable Housing for Low Income Older Adults. I currently work on projects (1) focused on the role of coalitional models of home repair to braid program funding for climate resilience, aging supports, and affordable housing preservation to fund the holistic repair the homes of low income older adults. (2) Examining the role of senior subsidized housing in urban neighborhood redevelopment and community placekeeping.