CAPITOL HILL VILLAGE
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Mission Statement
Capitol Hill Village helps older adults navigate and embrace the opportunities of aging. Through the efforts of volunteers, members, partners and staff we provide a wide range of services and programs that promote the well-being of all older adults in our community.
About This Cause
Villages are community-based organizations (not residences) designed to serve older adults and adults with disabilities within specific geographic boundaries. They focus on leveraging senior assets and preserving health, wellness, mental acuity and feelings of worth among older adults, while reducing social isolation and loneliness. Socializing, learning and engaging in community are all proven to delay or reduce the negative health impacts of aging. Villages are volunteer-first organizations where volunteers and members provide services and supports to other members as a first line of response. Capitol Hill Village (CHV) is a national and local model of excellence among Villages. CHV was one of the very earliest villages and remains today as one of the largest and most programmatically robust. At Capitol Hill Village (CHV) professional staff recruit, train and manage / deploy volunteers (many of whom are also members) across a range of tasks and functions. CHV also has professional social workers and social work interns who provide care coordination and educational programs. CHV is passionate about training new social workers to understand the needs and value the contributions of older adults. CHV’s mission is to build a community that supports older adults aging on their own terms. This includes ensuring accessible and safe physical spaces, supporting older adults with services that enhance their quality of life and ensure wellness, fostering a community that is learning about longevity and its impact on individuals, families, communities and institutions. We also ensure that older adults are socially and civically engaged through a range of activities. CHV has six program areas: a) social programs; b) educational programs; c) advocacy; d) volunteerism e) transportation and f) care services. The first three of those programs engage older adults to stay socially active, mentally alert and to feel valued in the community. These elements are keys to preventing or delaying the physical and cognitive losses of aging. The last three areas support older adults with services and empower them to navigate and make decisions that align with their goals. Social Programs: We have 25+ social groups. On average, there is at least one social activity a day, five days a week. Social groups include: travel, books, fitness, hiking, philosophy, cooking, film, knitting, games and puzzles, etc. These groups are initiated, managed and designed by our members and volunteers, who see a need or want for something, and bring it to fruition. The goal of social activities is to keep members social and engaged with others. They have the opportunity to discover & do different things while meeting a range of people. Educational Programs: As described above, we have an average of 1.5 educational activities a week, ranging from lunchtime discussions and presentations to day-long symposia to afternoon technology clinics to full courses. About 60% of the topics focus on issues around aging. The other 40% vary, from films and lectures, to current affairs, to historical discussions. Educational programs goals are to increase knowledge and skills around various issues. We also work to exercise ways and methods of learning to increase mental acuity and mental flexibility. Advocacy: CHV engages over 100 seniors a year in civic issues, ranging from decorating and marching in a parade, to testifying in front of city council, to reviewing local building code and zone allowances and meeting with zoning commissions, developers and others. Recently our advocacy work has been centered around growing and supporting the long-term-care workforce, and creating neighborhood supports for adults with dementia. Our goal of increasing civic engagement among seniors is two-fold. First to leverage the knowledge, wisdom and skills of older adults to give back to our society. This also increases their sense of value, positive outlook on the world and overall health measures. Second, we work for engagement in community issues in order to increase overall awareness of older adults and longevity issues. In the same way that persons who are differently-abled are taking more roles in everyday life, older adults are doing the same. This is Grey Panthers 2.0, with a focus on local policy and advocacy. Volunteerism: The fourth service area provides thousands of hours of volunteer service a year that helps older adults remain in the community. Volunteer services are varied, but include cleaning gutters, conducting handyman tasks like replacing light bulbs, moving furniture, raking leaves. We even have volunteers that specialize in pet care for older adults who can’t walk their dogs or change the litter box. Some volunteers provide driving services, taking people to the grocery, the Senior Center or the hair salon. Sometimes we match elders and youth to conduct oral histories or to digitize photos. We have volunteers who drive to the doctor’s office and take notes during appointments. We also have recurring activities like household hazard waste pickup, where volunteers pick up old paint, TVs, light bulbs and take them to the DC hazardous waste center. Likewise, we have weeks where volunteers can help do major household clean-out of old books, files, furniture. Volunteers work in a range of formats: one day a month, two hours a week, one week in the summer, etc. We think of our volunteer services as “concierge.” When we are recruiting volunteers (which we spend a lot of time doing) we lead them through a process to think about what they want to achieve by volunteering and then we help design an experience to match that. This effort leads to highly satisfied volunteers and creative projects. Volunteers all have background checks, go through an orientation training and have ongoing trainings and resources towards continual improvement and growth. Care Services: Care services support 20% of our members but take 80% of our time. These are the intensive care coordination services described above. CHV has professional social workers and social work internsthat provide a spectrum of care management services to community members. Our care services team provides one-on-one personalized care for our members, and creates an interaction were members wants and needs are at the forefront of the process. As with all of our programs, our goal in care management is preventive—to keep people from harm or hospitalization. Or if individuals are returning home, we keep them from going back to the hospital. We serve seniors in parts of Wards 6, and small sections of Wards 7 & 8 in a 2.5 mile area, from H St / Benning Road NE, to M St SE and from 23rd St NE/19th SE and to New Jersey Ave SE (at the bottom of the Capitol). The population we serve drives the work we do. Our members are actively engaged in conceiving of, designing and implementing our social and educational programs as well as our advocacy work. Likewise, members are active volunteers and regularly provide feedback about service improvements or additions. Our members help us build relationships not only in Capitol Hill, but DC that lead to several opportunities to strengthen our work. We base educational program design on four criteria: 1. Input from members, or an analysis of trends and issues; 2. Observations based on care services and research data around longevity; 3. Emerging city-wide issues and activities. 4, Post event feedback and surveys. Elders are active in creating agendas and topics, soliciting presenters and crafting the panels or activities for educational programs. We have a cohort of approximately 40 trained volunteers who provide some aspects of care services to frail older adults. These individuals are the eyes and ears of the social workers engaging with members at least once a week. They provide feedback on needs and opportunities for members. The group also serves as a peer-to-peer cohort to work together to address challenges or share tactics for supporting older adults in home. Organizational management: the board of directors of CHV are all members of the organization, and 80% of them are over 65 years old. Individually and as a group they provide oversight around programs, finances, staffing and governance. They recently adopted a 5-year strategic plan. Current work highlights: 1. Continuing to build our hybrid program capacity to reach older adults in multiple ways, . 2. Addressing infectious disease challenges for seniors, including continuing to provide COVID tests, vaccine clinics, masks and other supports for staying healthy. 3. Growing our Help Desk program which offers on-site support to older adults living in subsidized senior housing communities. The Help Desk program deploys Peer Health Educators who work one-on-one with building residents to identify and address needs from accessing transportation, to submitting health insurance documents, to being a comforting ear to individuals who don't often share with others. From the relationships built through this one-on-one work, the Help Desk staff identifies resources and helps to support residents to create community-building programming out of their personal interests and needs. 4. Outreach and programming for our LGBTQ elders to foster inter-generational mentoring, learning & social engagement, and increase the availability of safe spaces in the community. 5. Growing our Village Connections Volunteer program that supports members who need more 1:1 time to meet their goals around aging on their terms in their community.