HOPE Initiative helping older people engage
Cape Cod enjoys a large and growing retiree population. With that group comes opportunity. It also represents certain challenges. A great many civic engagement resources and opportunities currently are available to older adults on Cape Cod. However, they are scattered and disconnected from one another. The foundation, in association with its partners, is intent on harnessing these resources and opportunities, as well as facilitating access to useful information in innovative ways to meet older people on the level they feel most comfortable.
The Community Experience Partnership (CEP) is the Cape Cod Foundation’s first major civic engagement initiative. Building on its CEP assessment, the foundation is actively forwarding activities related to its Helping Older People Engage (HOPE) initiative. To generate awareness of the results, the foundation published a “Report to the Community” based on the assessment report, and spoke at a series of public events to share findings. It also conducted community forums in fall ’07 and spring ’09 (each witnessing more than 100 people in attendance), and hosted a smaller gathering in which fundholders and prospective donors were updated about assessment report findings.
To support the work, an advisory committee was created to have oversight of planning and activities. The committee is made up of representatives from the older adult population, nonprofit organizations and senior centers, the Regional Transit Authority, United Way, Cape Cod Community College, and county government. The advisory committee continues to meet and make progress on the HOPE initiative recommendations developed during the assessment phase.
Meetings and spreading the word
Communications is proving to be a vital component for dissemination of the assessment, which has received important media coverage—including articles in local newspapers and reporting on radio programs. It is anticipated that a marketing campaign will be important to the HOPE initiative. As part of its effort to forward the work, the foundation and its partners conducted a series of Volunteer Management workshops and hosted the first meetings to create a new “Volunteer Leadership Network.”
The foundation, with its advisory committee, is pursuing a two-pronged approach to increase access to civic engagement opportunities:
- an online network of information that can be accessed by individuals and groups
- regional sites—housed in locations such as libraries, town halls, senior centers, and the community college—that provide the face-to-face contact that many older people are looking for before they commit to becoming engaged.
Other activities associated with the work include:
Creating an integrated network of organizations and resources to promote and support engagement of older adults, and further enhance the coordination of civic opportunities
Establishing a robust system to more fully utilize the skills, talents and energy of older adults for the purpose of expanding access to civic opportunities and strengthening the infrastructure of towns and organizations
Increasing community awareness and understanding of the importance of older adults as change agents for Cape Cod and providing access to pertinent information resources
The foundation believes it is important to develop the capacity to build effective, connected mechanisms to better engage older adults in our community. The technical assistance made possible through CEP provides valuable demographic information, marketing and technology technical assistance, as well as other civic engagement-related expertise. Partnerships that leverage these kinds of enriching assets will be even more important as the work continues.
