Greene CEP for older adults across Greene County
The Greene County Foundation and its partners are engaged in efforts to use the results of its Community Experience Partnership (CEP) assessments to advance civic engagement opportunities for older adults by providing senior adults the opportunity to connect with others who feel civically isolated or powerless, and work collectively toward a common good.
The work centers on an effort to create a civic renewal movement across a variety of sectors, populations, initiatives, and fields to revitalize the community by linking emerging community-based efforts to engage in public work, collective decision-making through deliberation, and/or collaborative problem-solving.
This entire effort is envisioned to become an older adult citizen-centered and older adult citizen-driven approach that moves away from defining civic engagement as a set of tactics or outcomes. Instead, it is focusing on creating opportunities for ordinary citizens to come together, deliberate and take action collectively. Using this approach, the foundation is working with its partners and the community to address public problems or issues that older adults define as important and in ways they decide are appropriate and/or needed. The work encompasses political action, community service, volunteering and organizing.
Surging toward retirement age
As the foundation began looking at population trends, it became evident that Greene County must begin to prepare for the huge number of aging adults who reside in the county—a community population that in the next decade will become statistical members of an “older adult population tsunami.” Currently, 15 percent of the residents in Greene County are over the age of 65 and more than 26 percent are between the ages of 45 and 64. This means that within the next handful of years, approximately 41.6 percent of the residents in Greene County will be in or approaching retirement. This surge will test the limits of the services and programs designed with these older adult populations in mind.
The foundation is partnering with two local entities—Generations and the CAPE Consortium—to carry its work on aging forward. This is being done using five strategies. Through a grant awarded to Generations, a statistical sampling of residents participated in conducting an initial survey. It is the desire of the foundation and its partners to be able to statistically evaluate all information and compare the needs of area residents with state and federal needs.
Community meetings were held across the county to encourage further local input. Tools such as the World Café were used to host the conversations necessary to ensure new insights into the questions and issues that are most important in older adults’ lives, work and community. These focus groups were led by trained volunteers and were held throughout the county at different locations and times, thus allowing for flexibility for personal schedules.
Next steps
Based on findings, the foundation is pursuing several programs that help Greene County seniors be more active in our community.
- Work for pay. The foundation is exploring options for an AmeriCorps Senior Corps grant that helps more seniors supplement their retirement income.
- Provide increased information about services available for seniors, including respite care.In conjunction with the Generations program, 211 service has been implemented in Greene County and is being publicized through senior centers.
- Develop a volunteer labor network to remodel senior homes. Nearly 100 percent of county seniors prefer to stay in their own homes but are unable to do so because of the expense of modification. The foundation’s most ambitious program to come out of this project is the development of a volunteer network (anchored by senior participation) that provides labor to modify existing homes of low to moderate income seniors to make them more senior-friendly. The foundation is working with the Greene County Habitat For Humanity organization and its Long Term Disaster Recovery Committee to launch a ‘Rehabitat’ program.
- Facilitate ongoing use of senior centers. Most of our seniors know about the county’s senior centers and have some contact with their activities. The foundation secured grant funding in fall 2008 to help remodel, and in one case expand, the four senior centers in the county. This has led to increased participation and variety in senior center programming.
- Promote increased capacity for nonprofits to engage, supervise and support the volunteer experience of seniors. Five years ago, in conjunction with the Greene County Community Learning Center, the Greene County Foundation launched a leadership training program called Citizens Academy. The foundation is working to develop a project with its Citizens Academy alumni organization that focuses on volunteers designing and implementing volunteer projects based on county needs. This program is modeled on the ‘small group project’ component of the Citizens Academy program. Projects that have been completed by the Citizens Academy to date include a tourism campaign launch, County Pride Day (county-wide cleanup), community asset inventory, an annual publication of county elected and appointed officials, a school-based junior leadership program, and many others. As of April 2009, there were 60 graduates of the Citizens Academy, 55 of whom remain in the county and involved in community affairs.
