Community Building

Our model is grounded in the power of volunteers–especially including our senior leaders–in our work. Practically, we rely on volunteers to provide services, advocacy and beyond. However, we also purposefully draw on a diverse range of such workers to achieve our deeper aim of building caring, just, and inclusive community, to help us get to know one another past boundaries like race, class, religion, sexual orientation and language. The neighborhoods we serve are in the midst of dramatic transition, with gentrification transforming our seniors’ lives. While these changes can bring long sought after benefits, the simultaneous rising cost of living can also threaten our seniors’ ability to remain in their homes.

The community we help build through concerts, film showings, community walks, book discussion groups, and other social and educational events not only provide day to day support for our seniors, but also solidarity in their struggles to survive on their meager incomes in a rapidly changing city that does not always seem to value or make space for them. As we get to know one another, and are enriched by our diversity, we are more likely to fight to make sure no one is forgotten or displaced.