From San Diego to the Sierra Foothills to the Bay Area and beyond, communities are changing aging through innovative programs being run by individual villages.
Too often, villages and their successes remain known only to their members. Local village leaders have full plates running their organizations. Many are even volunteers, meaning they don’t draw a paycheck for their considerable efforts. They need a partner to galvanize their momentum and give voice to their impact. A statewide collective can better explore promising initiatives for better aging—inspiring, amplifying and disseminating the efforts of local villages through the power of scale.
All across California, villages are innovating new forms of community organizing, social engagement and caring services to enable members to thrive in their homes and neighborhoods as they get older. Many of these innovations are scalable or capable of being adapted by other villages in the state, and Village Movement California provides the connections and amplification to make this happen.
Community Connection's vision is to create a community culture where people contribute their skills and talents and in turn have access to support, resources and educational opportunities to meet their needs and interests.
ChaiVillageLA is the first synagogue-based village in the country, a bold partnership of two cutting-edge Reform synagogues — Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and Temple Isaiah — to challenge their congregants to rethink their paradigms of aging and use their accumulated experience, talents, wisdom and creativity to build a community of mutual respect, support, caring and concern. In ChaiVillageLA there is no distinction between members and volunteers. Rather, all members are expected to contribute approximately four hours per month to the health and vitality of the community. Service can be in a variety of forms, including serving on a committee, working in the office, organizing an interest group or program, or providing assistance to a fellow member.