The Mission

A joint project of AP and APME, Aging America will tell the story of aging baby boomers. The oldest among them are reaching retirement age, and there are millions to follow. We will look at the impact – costs, strains and positive influences – that this so-called silver tsunami will have on the communities in which they live.

There is a members-only forum for editors to discuss this project.

The Stories

With the expanded resources of a joint project, we should be able to drill down to the state and local level to tell the story of what happens when the population ages. And aging it is: 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 20 years or so. By 2050, 1 in 5 Americans will be seniors

The project will examine health, business, transportation, recreational and residential issues, among others.

Aging America stories already have started moving, accompanied by a logo.

Although we anticipate that a large portion of the series will be enterprise, we will fold in spot, breaking news where appropriate.

The reaction thus far has been positive. One editor called it an "incredible series” on an important topic

Branding

Stories will carry "Aging America” as part of their slug. In addition, we have created an Aging America logo that will be linked to the stories.

Structure

Terry Spencer, news editor in Miami, will be the news editor for the project. He will oversee the content, but stories will be edited on the regional desks.

Ebony Reed, assistant chief of bureau for New England, is taking the lead among the bureau chiefs, and Alan Miller of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio will be liaison with APME. Carole Feldman, director of news operations and finance in Washington, will be the overall coordinator.

The goal is to set up a team of reporters for the project – at AP and in member newsrooms around the country.

As with the Broken Budgets series, this will be a rolling, ongoing series with contributions from the AP and from members. In many cases, the stories will be structured in such a way that members can localize them, and we will seek to give advance notice of stories and offer advice on data or other resources to aid in localizing them.

The project to date:

The following Aging America stories already moved:

· Aging America-Age-Friendly Cities

· Aging America-Fewer Kids

· Aging America-Boomer Poll

· Aging America-Boomer Poll-Health

· Aging America-Boomer Poll-Finances