6 important to note here that forum participants did not sug- gest they wanted to volunteer for the sake of recognition, but rather they felt the need to be valued—not taken for granted. The message that was communicated by forum participants was that they desired both the organization/community in which they served as well as themselves to view their contri- butions as meaningful. While speculative due to a lack of spe- ciﬁc data on age, the older participants appeared more settled in their roles as volunteers, as many of them had held these roles for some time. Younger adults (boomers) appeared to have more concerns about the meaning they derived from volunteer opportunities and how that may be accomplished. 6.3. Structural Needs/Barriers. While the majority of partic- ipants provided feedback on what or how they could con- tribute to their community to enhance social connectedness, a similar number of people voiced substantial frustration with the lack of either organized opportunities or communi- cation with potential organizations with which to volunteer. These issues were impediments to social reciprocity as well as to meaningful interaction, and as such were labeled as structural needs or barriers. Structural (infrastructural) needs or barriers were those things participants viewed as currently lacking in the community but, if present, would facilitate social reciprocity both in terms of physical and social venues. For example, many forum participants expressed the need for improved methods by which potential volunteers could be connected to opportunities (community entities). These sentiments were expressed more strongly by younger participants. The examples that were given included organizations that needed volunteers should return phone calls more promptly to potential volunteers, as well as the need for more personal connections between those requesting volunteers and the people who might be willing to give of their time. Again, the importance of the value of time was communicated by the participants. They were not interested in having to make numerous inquiries to potential organizations in order to volunteer. The feeling expressed was that there was a lack of reciprocity from the very beginning on the part of agencies or organizations with which these individuals might wish to volunteer. Transportation was described as an additional structural barrier and was mentioned frequently in all table conversa- tions. Transportation was viewed as an essential element of social connectedness. In areas of both volunteerism as well as overall social connectedness, transportation issues associated with public transit and walkable communities were voiced. Issues concerning transportation included that a lack of reli- able, frequent, and accessible transportation created barriers for participants within the community. As one individual said, “[a] lack of transportation isolates seniors.” The view communicated by these participants was that improved transportation can foster and enhance social connectedness by decreasing barriers of distance and reducing the need for use of one’s personal vehicle. One important distinction between younger and older participants was noted relevant to transportation. While younger participants voiced interest in improved transportation as a means toward improved social connectedness and as an environmentally friendly Journal of Aging Research alternative to automobiles, older participants expressed a more urgent need for improved transportation, as well as having a more speciﬁc personal need. For example, one couple who was likely in their 70s expressed the need for improved transportation services for their parents (in their 90s) as they identiﬁed gaps in transportation services as personally problematic. 7. Discussion The purpose of this research project was to analyze data gathered from aging individuals (including baby boomers) on the importance of social connectedness in the creation of elder-friendly communities through a naturalistic method of inquiry. By engaging in a more naturalistic conversation utilizing the World Cafe´ format, the participants in the study were able to utilize conversation in meaning making without the conﬁnes of any a priori assumptions about social connectedness. The ﬁndings from this community forum and the subsequent focus group reinforce earlier data from the original AdvantAge Initiative as well as other literature on elder-friendly communities and point to the utility of several important theories. First, these ﬁndings echo the origi- nal framework from the AdvantAge Initiative [17], which emphasizes the importance of social and civic engagement. The individuals from this community forum, as well as the elder counterparts in the original study, underscored the importance of meaningful connections to family, friends, and neighbors as part of civic engagement. An elder-friendly community needs to ﬁnd new ways to promote active and continual engagement in community life. The ﬁndings from this study parallel the view of Scharlach [14] who suggests that as “we get older and ever closer to the end of our lives, maintaining social connectedness and deepening existing relationships becomes a priority” [14, page 9]. These ﬁndings also reinforce the importance of participation and integration, which is a critical element of social exclusion theory [8]. Forum participants identiﬁed multiple activities associated with social inclusion/exclusion including produc- tion (economic or socially valued) activity, political activity to improve or protect the social environment, and social activity that involved engagement with family, friends, and community. Scharf and colleagues [8] deﬁne participation and integration as “older people’s embeddedness in social networks and the extent to which older people contribute to or draw upon social capital that exists in their neighbor- hoods” [8, page 316]. Thus, our ﬁndings related to social reciprocity appear consistent with the major theme from social inclusion/exclusion theory. Our ﬁndings also reinforce the importance of Lawton’s [12] environmental function of support. A community needs to be dynamic in order to support changes in the older citizenry. While the concept of support is typically relevant to adjustment to altered or lost competencies, the concept of support can be extended to include the need for continued and changing modes of social and civic engagement. This study also reinforces both the importance of volunteer opportunities and that those opportunities be