Building dementia friendly communities in Illinois is of significant importance to the families and persons living with or at risk for dementia.
Based on the 2026 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, it is estimated that 250,600 people in Illinois have dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease . If all the people with dementia lived in a single Illinois city, it would be the second largest after Chicago.
Four Phases for Planning and Implementation
Dementia Friendly America provides a community toolkit that outlines 4 phases for dementia friendly community planning and implementation:
- Convene key community leaders and members to understand dementia and its implications for your community. Then, form an Action Team.
- Engage key leaders to assess current strengths and gaps in your community using a comprehensive engagement tool.
- Analyze your community needs and determine the issues stakeholders are motivated to act on; then set community goals.
- Act together to establish implementation plans for your goals and identify ways to measure progress.
Developing a Dementia Friendly Community
The key to developing a dementia-friendly community is to engage multiple community sectors in the planning and implementation.
As local Illinois communities work through their planning and implementation processes, ICRN will highlight the lessons they have learned. If you are a community leader in need of more focused technical assistance, please contact ICRN at info@ilbrainhealth.org.