Tim Stanley
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Stephen Pingry
Tulsa World Staff Photographer
With American retirees now living longer, becoming more active and ranking tops in disposable income, Tulsa is preparing to make a serious bid to bring more of them here.
The city of Tulsa will officially announce a resolution this week declaring Tulsa a “retirement destination city,” while stepping up efforts at the same time to better support the community’s existing retirees and aging adults.
One of the key pieces of that broader effort, officials said, will be to achieve an Age-Friendly City designation. The designation, from AARP, recognizes communities that adapt their services and physical structures to be more inclusive of older people and improve their quality of life as they age.
Aqua Fit instructor Pauline Marks directs residents of Tulsa’s Montereau retirement community during an exercise class. The city of Tulsa will officially announce a resolution this week declaring Tulsa a “retirement destination city.”
There are over 600 AARP Age-Friendly communities in the U.S. today. None are currently in Oklahoma, although Duncan and Guthrie have begun the process.
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While the process to achieve the designation can take up to five years, the larger initiative in Tulsa won’t wait on it to get started.
It begins now, officials say, and will start with building a coalition and partnerships locally to promote Tulsa as a retirement destination.
Montereau residents participate in an exercise class with Better Balance instructor Kelsey Blubaugh.
‘Wise strategy’
Tulsa City Councilor Jayme Fowler believes retirees are already discovering Tulsa, and that an organized effort to recruit them can build on what’s begun.
“A day doesn’t go by I don’t run across someone (who’s recently moved to Tulsa),” Fowler said. “They’ll be like, we just got tired of this or that, you fill in the blank, about our previous city or state. Or we wanted to be closer to our parents or our children.
“The organic migration to the city is already occurring. And I think through this process here it will continue to heighten. Build some branding around it, and it’s just a natural.”
Scott Nield, president and CEO of Tulsa’s Montereau retirement community, is leading the effort with Fowler.
“I think this is the next big thing and next best thing for Tulsa, and I think it’s a wise strategy for not only our city, but our state,” Nield said.
Nield said the economic clout of seniors — they have most of the nation’s disposable income and contribute trillions to the economy — and the fact that they are living longer, more active lives thanks to medical advances make them a logical solution to some of the state’s challenges, including its needs for population and economic growth.
Neither Tulsa nor Oklahoma as a state are projected to grow very much in population over the next few decades, he said.
“Tulsa’s population growth over the last dozen years has only been 0.7%. That’s going to put a lot of economic burden on people, and so we do need to attract people,” he said.
And where retirees go, younger people usually follow, Nield said, adding that migration patterns bear this fact out.
“People want to be close to their family,” he said. “If we can attract their parents, we are going to attract that youth.”
Cardio Drumming instructor Jennifer Hayden works with Montereau resident Victor Kulp during an exercise class.
‘An easy sell’
The Tulsa initiative has found a big supporter among the state’s top leaders. Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell praised the effort and said he hopes the city can lead the way in helping make the state a destination for retirees.
“The best state, the ‘it’ state for retirees, was Florida for decades. And I think Oklahoma can be that place,” Pinnell said.
Promoting Tulsa to retirees “is an easy sell,” Pinnell said. “Here in Tulsa, we compete with any major city in America when it comes to quality of life that any senior citizen is going to look for. We have so much more to offer. The arts programs are truly world-class. We have world-class health care.”
The timing is also right for Tulsa, officials said.
America’s aging population is projected to grow significantly in the coming years.
The migration of retirees from oversaturated traditional havens, like in Florida, has already begun and will continue.
Cities and states bordering Oklahoma are already trying to benefit from this migration and promote themselves to retirees.
“We’re a little bit behind the curve, but I think we have time to catch up,” Nield said.
With a coordinated effort, Tulsa is positioned to not only make up ground on its neighbors, but also put itself in a leading place in attracting retirees, he added.
“People want to be close to their family. If we can attract their parents, we are going to attract that youth,” said Scott Nield, the president and CEO of Montereau.
Aging population
The new effort to recruit more retirees to Tulsa comes as the state is already facing challenges to support its growing aging population.
With adults over 60 expected to outnumber youths under 18 by 2034, Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services recently announced Aging Our Way, a 10-year plan to improve the state’s ability to respond to the challenges presented by that growth.
Tulsa leaders say recruiting more retirees on top of the seniors already here won’t impede that effort, though.
“The kind of target person that would migrate to Tulsa as a retirement destination would be upper middle (class) to affluent,” Fowler said. “They have a much higher amount of disposable income. And then, not only that, you can spread health care costs across more people.”
Moreover, supporters say, the Age-Friendly designation process will ultimately benefit all Tulsa seniors — both those who relocate here and those already here.
The process to achieve the Age-Friendly designation includes assessing community needs and aspirations, developing a plan of action, and implementing and measuring impact.
The movement started with the World Health Organization in 2010. The WHO Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities currently includes 1,114 cities and communities in 44 countries.
‘Great citizens’
Joy McGill, AARP associate state director of advocacy, said: “The Age-Friendly program seeks to ensure that we are looking at every avenue possible from policy to civic engagement to social inclusion to make sure that everyone is being taken care of, especially as they age.”
McGill said Tulsa is already doing well in some of the “age-friendly” areas, giving it a head start toward achieving the designation.
“The process will look at the infrastructure that is existing, and the opportunities that we see to grow some of those things and to truly be age-friendly,” she said.
Pinnell said he will do what he can to support Tulsa’s initiative on the state level, including identifying possible funding as warranted.
“I commend Tulsa for stepping up on this,” he said. “As statewide elected officials we need to be honest with ourselves about where we are and where we want to go, and where we want to go is be the No. 1 state in the country for retirees.”
“Other communities are getting aggressive on this,” Pinnell added. “They are courting senior citizens because they know senior citizens are great citizens. They volunteer, they go back to work there. And we want those citizens here, but it is going to take a commitment.”
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