What's among town officials' new year's resolutions? To make Dartmouth an "age-friendly" community.

The town and various agencies are endeavoring to better serve the senior population. In the new year, officials will continue progress in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities.

The World Health Organization-sponsored program, which the town entered into in 2015, developed standards for cities and towns to make communities better prepared for the growing aging population.

The program will hone in on one of Dartmouth's fastest-growing demographics:baby boomers.

"[Aging] is going to create a certain demand on the community," explained Town Administrator David Cressman. "The age-friendly program tries to understand that demand through the survey methodology and develops a response to it."

As examples, Cressman listed off areas including the walkability and accessibility of the town, public parks, and potential zoning changes that may be necessary to better accommodate Dartmouth's senior population.

But with administrative turnover at the Council on Aging, officials have not made much headway in the program, noted Director of Development Deborah Melino-Wender.

Now that Council on Aging Director Amy DiPietro has more than a year of experience under her belt, the town has renewed its commitment to the program. The first step? Collecting data and forming a steering committee to help the town navigate the process.

Starting on January 30, students from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth nursing program will be meeting with seniors at the Council on Aging building on Tuesdays from 12-3 p.m. The students will be conducting extensive surveys on the town's "livability" for seniors and will find out which issues are impacting the elderly in Dartmouth.

The aim is to align the town with the AARP’s “eight domains of livability,” which are areas the program identifies as key to allowing “aging in place.” Aging in place means that residents can continue living in their community as they grow older.

The eight domains include access to outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, and community and health services.

“We’ll analyze that information and strategize on our action plan to go forward,” Melino-Wender said.

Cressman added that the analysis will take a close look at services offered by the town, and if new services or realignment of existing services is necessary.

At the Council on Aging, DiPietro said the department already taps into all of the domains on a small scale, but the aim is to bring them to a much larger scale at a town and regional level.

“I’m hoping this initiative will bring a greater view of what the Council on Aging does,” DiPietro said.