Future East was established in 2004 with the following mission statement:

    ''The Future East project aims to heighten awareness of the impact and implications of an ageing society in the East of England, and to provide practical responses to them. Future East brings together organisations and companies to share knowledge, experience and best practice in developing policies, services, infrastructure and the regional economy, taking greater account of demographic change. In doing this it will reflect a wide range of views and aspirations, in particular those of older people in order to enable everyone to look forward to a future in which they can participate to the maximum."
 

Its objectives are to:

• develop greater understanding within the region of the nature and implications of demographic change, ensuring that the issues are taken into account at all appropriate levels
• promote the contribution that older people can make to social and economic life
• promote the "age-proofing" of policies, infrastructure and service delivery at all levels within the region
• improve communication between older people's representatives and regional policy makers
• act as a network within which partners and members can share experience and best practice
• act as a platform for partners and members to develop and carry out new initiatives collaboratively through thematic working groups, run by partners and involving members as appropriate, develop focused and practical initiatives in areas to be decided by the Project
• provide a wider forum for discussion and debate of issues and challenges, and for dissemination of the output of the project, by means of meetings, conferences and on line media.

Membership criteria:

Membership of Future East is open to all organisations and companies with a stake in the issues of concern to older people and the impact of demographic change. Membership is free. The core organisations involved at inception were:

•     Age UK
•    Government Office for the East of England GO-East
•    East of England Local Government Association
•     National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
•     Public Health Group Department of Health
•     Age Concern Regional Support Services Eastern (ACEast)
•     Eastern Region Older People's Advisory Group
•     Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing, (CIRCA) Cambridge University
•     Job Centre Plus
•     Eastern Region Public Health Observatory
•     East of England Development Agency (EEDA)
•     Planning Aid
•     Department of Health
•     Care and Repair England
•     National Health Over 50s Forum
•    Trades Union congress
•     National Pensioners Convention (Anglia Region)
•     Department of Work and Pensions
•    The Pensions Service
•     MENTER East of England Black and Minority Ethnic Network
•     PRIME Eastern Region.
•     Older people's representatives from each top tier local authority area

Representatives of member organisations and companies would be able to participate in the work of the project through:

•  involvement in working groups
• at least one general meeting per year
• themed events and conferences
• contribution to best practice guides
• an online virtual network.
   

Future East would also act as a means of dissemination of the project outputs.

Published research documents can be seen on our Library Page