SharePatricia Miller loved her flower shop in San Francisco, but her knees didn’t. Six years ago, after 35 years in business, Miller closed it.
“It was an abrupt change in lifestyle, so a friend suggested I look into the San Francisco Village to help me adjust,” said Miller, 79. “I’ve met so many interesting people. The staff is incredible—kind and helpful and they get back to me quickly.”
The San Francisco Village is part of a network of more than 300 “Villages” around the country; volunteer organizations that help people aged 60 and older stay connected and age in place. (More to come later.) Miller lives alone, like nearly three in 10 adults aged 65 and older, according to the Census Bureau. The social, emotional and physical support from volunteers and staff are invaluable to her ability to age in place even with mobility issues.
“Zoom made it even easier to stay connected and talk to people,” Miller said. “Some of the Village groups wanted to keep conversations happy all the time, so I started a group within the Village to talk about more difficult things in our lives.” Miller’s meetings became so popular that she’s now facilitating a group of other leaders to encourage members to engage in deeper conversations.
Organizations like the Village network and others that provide transportation for seniors and people with disabilities, respite for caregivers, meals for housebound individuals and pets for companionship all strengthen communities. But seniors aren’t the only ones who benefit from a supportive community. Afterschool activities, safe routes to school and programs that target at-risk youth are inclusive ways that neighbors pull together to assist each other. Many REALTORS® volunteer or start their own foundations to benefit their communities.
Many programs encourage interactions between multiple generations.
Best of all, many programs encourage interactions between multiple generations, a tradition lost in many modern communities where grandparents live far from family members and people in different age groups rarely mingle.
Strengthening Intergenerational Connections
For 25 years, CoGenerate, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, has worked to bridge generational divides.
“Our founder Marc Freedman saw the changing demographics in the country and wanted to see how we could look at our aging population as an asset in our communities,” said Marci Alboher, vice president of CoGenerate. “We provide research and education for people and groups that promote intergenerational relationships.”
CoGenerate supports innovators working on solutions to empower generations to work together, connecting them to share best practices, raise their profile and help them grow.
Among the many organizations they work with is “Stoop Stories,” a Brooklyn-based organization whose current project is connecting intergenerational neighbors for conversation to foster understanding. In West Philadelphia, CoGenerate works with the Writers Room at Drexel University, which publishes an annual anthology of photography and essays after students share meals and storytelling with long-term local residents.
“The Writers Room project grew into the Second Story Collective, which will be an intergenerational cohousing development for seniors and students in partnership with the city of Philadelphia, a developer and the university,” Alboher said.
Community Support for Families
A fundamental way for communities to help their neighbors is to provide a path to homeownership, which in turn generates stability and household wealth.
“Our nonprofit was started in 2006 by REALTOR® and lender members of the Greater Tampa Association of REALTORS® who wanted to help first-time homebuyers,” said Tom Scaglione, a REALTOR® with Future Home Realty and president of the board of directors of the REALTORS® Care Foundation in Tampa Bay, Fla. “Initially, we provided up to $3,000 in down-payment assistance. Now we go up to $7,500 to close the gap for first-time buyers.”
The REALTORS® Care Foundation provides a grant with a gift letter to buyers, whose applications are reviewed by the volunteer board. The applicants must have a home under contract, be prequalified for a loan, complete a HUD homeowner education class, and meet HUD household income limits. The foundation reviews all purchase and loan documents to determine how much the buyers need to close the transaction.
“We’re doing this to help first-time buyers, but the community, including REALTORS®, lenders, home inspectors, movers and contractors also benefit whenever a house is sold,” Scaglione said. “In 2023, we were able to help 31 families buy a home and start building generational wealth.”
Whether they are homeowners or renters, families often need assistance with the logistics of work, school and activities. While once a village of relatives could help, many families today lack that network. The Safe Routes Partnership in Washington, D.C., steps in to support local programs nationwide that provide safer conditions to walk to and from school, as well as to parks and libraries. Some programs promote crosswalks or crossing guards, and others have a “walking bus” or “bicycle train” with a designated route and adult chaperones so kids can walk or bike to school.
“These programs address the fears of parents who can’t walk or bike to school with their own kids,” said Vanessa Cascio, program and policy manager for Safe Routes Partnership in Washington, D.C. “This improves safety and addresses the decline in physical activity among kids who weren’t walking and biking to school.”
Safe Routes programs are in place in all 50 states for kindergarten through eighth grade and are part of a movement to create more walkable communities and bring together youth and seniors, Cascio said. “Sometimes programs are entirely volunteer led and sometimes city governments pay for staff coordinators. Community members, parents and teachers volunteer, sometimes with ‘corner captains,’ who keep an eye on the kids as they walk to and from school.”
Building coalitions is also the approach taken by Dr. Wanda Boone, CEO and founder of Pinnacle Community Development Center and Together for Resilient Youth (T.R.Y.) in Durham, N.C., a coalition of organizations that combat substance abuse, violence and mental and physical health issues. T.R.Y. supports programs that help families learn to communicate, such as through expressive writing classes, and youth groups that teach each other about the dangers of social media.
Working together, we can have an impact on community challenges affecting our children, youth, families and seniors.
“We bring stakeholders, including youths ages 9 to 17, young adults ages 18 to 24, businesses, community members, law enforcement, parents and school representatives, to meet separately and together,” Boone said. “Collectively we can have an impact on issues such as gun violence, chronic disease, suicide and substance abuse.”
Dr. Boone and members of the coalition are trained as “health ambassadors” to recognize Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), such as abuse, neglect, household disfunction, parental violence and racism, along with their potential impact. “People who experience four or more ACES are more likely to have issues such as obesity, substance abuse and depression,” Boone said. “If we address the causes, we can address the outcomes.”
In Phoenix, the Parks and Recreation department takes a comprehensive approach to keeping kids safe and engaged when their school day ends. Kids aged 6 to 13 can drop-in to Phoenix Afterschool Centers every weekday until 6 p.m. at schools in 12 districts.
“We have weekly themes for our programs and try to never repeat them since many of our kids participate every year from kindergarten through eighth grade,” said Paulina Bustamante, coordinator of the Phoenix Afterschool Centers (PAC). “At least one week every month has a cultural theme, such as Hispanic culture, plus we have themes such as geology and Disney.”
The program offers a mix of recreational, social, physical, and educational activities, including arts and crafts, Math Mondays, STEM Fridays, and reading. Partnerships provide dance classes and sport activities, along with trained tutors through AmeriCorps, a homework center, and guest speakers for educational enrichment, she said. The program costs approximately $260 for the entire school year, with some students eligible for scholarships or a fee waiver. Government funds are supplemented by donations. “One neighborhood association donates to the PAC at their school so that every child in the community can attend for free,” Bustamante added.
Services that Foster Connection
An important element for community support is transportation access. Whether the community is in a rural, suburban or urban location, using public transportation can be challenging for people with disabilities, for seniors or anyone without frequent, accessible and affordable options. Via, a transportation technology company founded in 2012, provides software to manage and operate transit systems. Unlike costly rideshare options microtransit typically costs around $2, similar to a bus ride but with personalized routes.
“Our goal is to make public transit a viable option that can work for everyone,” said Aparna Paladugu, Via’s director of policy and community engagement. “We designed ‘microtransit’ software that pairs riders for a shared route with a driver and a small bus.”
Via provides services to rural areas that lack public transit and paratransit services, which require ADA compliant vehicles. Riders can request wheelchair accessible cars and door-to-door service if they can’t walk to a pick-up location, Paladugu said. “Paratransit is notorious for being difficult to access because riders need to be certified as eligible and must book in advance, so we’re improving that with our software. Microtransit is available to everyone. On-demand transit provides flexibility for people who don’t drive.”
For example, in Wilson, N.C., a town of 50,000 people, Via’s on-demand public microtransit service is available throughout the entire city, not just fixed routes, connecting more people to jobs. Fifty percent of all riders report that the service helped them gain or maintain employment. Similarly, Sioux Falls, S.D., now has 100-percent bus coverage with Via’s help revamping their routes, along with microtransit options.
For those who are housebound, Meals on Wheels has been providing meals and connection to seniors in need for more than 50 years. There are 5,000 independently operated Meals on Wheels organizations, said Jenny Young, vice president of communications and chief of staff for Meals on Wheels America, based in Arlington, Va. Depending on the program, the meals are free or require a small fee.
Volunteers deliver meals to people 60 or 65 and older, typically five times per week with a hot meal and a cold meal, Young said. “Often, the volunteer is the only person the seniors interact with all week. Our volunteers reach out to their emergency contact or to services if they notice a senior not doing well or if someone doesn’t answer their door.”
Volunteers include REALTORS®, families who deliver meals together, offices that rotate volunteers and college students, Young said. “Some of our volunteers develop a deeper connection with the seniors. One man discovered that the widower he was delivering food to shared a passion for cars and they became fast friends.”
Community connections also are a vital part of Adult Day Services, which provide social interaction, activities and respite care for caregivers for people with intellectual disabilities and seniors with dementia, memory loss or post-stroke needs.
“Adult Day Services vary by location, but the concept is that this offers support for people who want to age at home with family members,” said Kathleen Kolenda, vice president of Adult Day Services and Easterseals Southern California. “A day of Day Services costs less than in-home care or assisted living, plus it offers more engagement and activity for people.”
Many Adult Day Services incorporate intergenerational interaction such as walks with a neighboring preschool and bringing seniors and children together for baking, crafts and music, Kolenda said. “This interaction helps kids accept people with disabilities or memory issues. We also bring in college students as interns. Interactions between seniors and people with intellectual disabilities can also help the seniors feel more purposeful. People with early onset Alzheimer’s often volunteer to help us with people who have a greater intellectual disability.”
Seniors Helping Seniors
The Village concept is successful across the nation. In 2001, a group of seniors in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood formed the first “Village” to do what comes naturally: take care of each other. “These seniors didn’t like the idea of what’s expected as you age, such as losing your independence and giving up your home,” said Barbara Sullivan, executive director of the Village to Village Network. “They created a system with volunteers to help each other, along with social programs to keep people connected.”
Village members volunteer to help each other alongside volunteers of all ages who help seniors with errands, rides to medical appointments and tech support, said Jessica Da Silva, communications and fund development director of the San Francisco Village. Volunteers and members go for walks, play board games and practice new languages. “We host about 70 programs a month including lectures, cultural activities, exercise classes, dance classes and book clubs. We have a Solo Ager group, an LGBTQ+ circle, an over 90 group and neighborhood groups,” she added.
Members pay monthly fees on a sliding scale for affordability. About 60 percent of the Villages have a small staff, while the rest are volunteer operated. Many volunteers are REALTORS®, Sullivan said. “It’s a natural way for them to get to know the community and their neighbors. There’s just a natural marriage between REALTORS® and community.”
Pets also provide additional companionship for seniors. In the 1990s, long before researchers identified the health benefits of pets, Cleveland businessman Avrum Katz, who understood how important pets are to combat loneliness, founded Pets for the Elderly, said Susan Kurowski, executive director of Pets for the Elderly Foundation.
Pets provide additional companionship for seniors.
Pets for the Elderly, which is affiliated with 59 shelters in 39 states, offers discounted veterinarian care, or retention care, which includes services such as delivering pet food and medicine, dog grooming and home visits, to anyone age 60 or older. They also provide discounts on the cost of adoption to anyone age 60 and older regardless of their income at shelters that are senior-friendly. “Ageism is not as much of an issue now, but it still happens sometimes that an older person is turned down when they try to adopt a pet at a shelter not affiliated with us,” Kurowski said.
