In case you couldn’t join us at our 8th Annual Statewide Conference! It was our biggest one yet, with more than 160 village members, volunteers, staff, and partners from across California and as far as Washington, DC gathering at the LA County Arboretum to explore this year’s theme: Resilience and the Power of Community.

Whether you couldn’t make the trip or are new to the Village Movement, we want you to share in what we learned. Here are the highlights:

• Disaster Resilience: Leaders from Kern River Valley Senior Citizens, Inc., Pasadena Village, and Village Santa Cruz County, moderated by Lauren Meister of ENLA, showed how villages become trusted hubs when disaster strikes. Their advice: get connected before the emergency happens.

• From Access to Ownership: Dr. Katrina Polk and leaders from the Washington DC Village Collaborative shared their model for moving older adults from neighbor to member to leader, and left us with a question to sit with: Who is not at the table

• Keynote: Dr. Michelle Martin of Cal State Fullerton invited us to see resilience as reinvention, built through authenticity, honest reckoning with loss, and the courage to grow.

• Renewment: Helen Dennis introduced conversation groups that help women 55+ navigate retirement, a great way for villages to engage younger members. If your village would like to explore bringing Renewment groups to your community, email Carolyn Ross at carolyn@villagemovementcalifornia.org.

• Village Voices World Café: Laura Peck guided us through conversations on how villages build resilience together.

• The Artful Conversation: The National Conflict Resolution Center gave us practical tools for staying in relationship, even when we disagree.

• State of Villages: Carolyn Ross shared where the movement stands today. Our 50 villages across California now touch the lives of more than 10,000 older adults, families, volunteers, and caregivers.

See the photos! Get a feel for the two days in our Facebook photo album.

Catch up on what you missed. Videos and slides from key sessions will launch in a couple of weeks, and we’ll share them with you as soon as they’re available.

The conversations didn’t end when the conference did, and there are plenty of ways to join in:

• Join us at the next Village Leader Roundtable on Thursday, November 12, 2:30–3:30 PM. Email Cassandra at tvsdbusinessmgr@gmail.com for the Zoom invite (for Village Movement California members).
• Join a new forum for Village Volunteer Coordinators on Thursdays 12/3, 1/7, and 2/4 at 10 AM. Email katie@pasadenavillage.org with topics you would like to discuss (for Village Movement California members).
• Look out for Accelerator and Learning Community sessions we will be scheduling this year and into next.

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors for making this gathering possible, and to Pasadena Village and 626 Village for helping host.

Villages are proving every day that when neighbors show up for one another, older adults can age with dignity, purpose, and belonging. We hope you’ll join us at next year’s conference in Northern California and be part of what comes next. Until then, we’d love to stay connected. Reach out anytime to learn how you can get involved.

With gratitude,
Carolyn Ross
Village Movement California

THANKS TO OUR CONFERENCE SPONSORS

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