Our community-building work cultivates and strengthens the friendships and supports we need to be able to age and thrive in place. It also strengthens our neighborhoods and the entire city! When surveyed, 93% of our program participants report they are less isolated, 75% provide help to their neighbors throughout the year, 84% know more neighbors whom they feel comfortable asking for help, and 100% feel more engaged with their community.
- Our award-winning Community Connector program builds networks of neighbors and friends who can be there for each other – plus have fun and get more active together. We have thriving Community Connector programs in the Western Addition, the Cayuga, Crocker Amazon, Inner Sunset, Outer Sunset/Parkside, Miraloma Park, Merced Extension Triangle, Midtown Terrace, and Sunnyside neighborhoods, and a recently launched program in Potrero Hill.
- Our Food Delivery Networks bring groceries and human connection to seniors and people with disabilities who can’t get to food pantries on their own. We have networks in three neighborhoods: Oceanview/Merced Heights/Ingleside (OMI); Parkmerced/University Park (PUP); and the Bayview.
- We also help get ideas get off-the-ground in neighborhoods across San Francisco. We actively seek out small, neighborhood-specific projects to incubate and grow, since these can often go far with a bit of extra support.
Fostering Supportive Friendships and Connections
CREATING CONNECTIONS.
“I looked around the neighborhood where I had lived for so long…and a lot of people living here didn’t know each other — including me. I just though we should get to know each other.”
Glenda and her neighbors have grown the intergenerational Cayuga Community Connectors to nearly 200 people.
The Cayuga Community Connectors get together three times a week for Always Active senior exercise classes; hold potlucks and tag sales; gather for chair yoga, tai chi, and dance classes; bring in speakers on healthy aging; organize emergency preparedness workshops and supplies; and much more.
They’re doing what Glenda set out to do: “turning strangers into neighbors, and neighbors into friends.” Read more about how Glenda is building community in the Cayuga neighborhood.
Fostering these supportive connections and friendships is at the heart of what the Community Living Campaign does.
In everything we do, CLC’s goal is to create opportunities for participants to strengthen the friendships and neighborhood supports we all need to age and thrive in our own homes.
Getting Great Ideas Off the Ground
From the beginning, we have seen how the power of one person starting something small can transform a community. We work to nurture these efforts in every way possible in order that volunteer-led, neighborhood-based solutions can really take off.
Our Community Connector program, for example, grew out of the efforts of the Rev. Glenda Hope, who realized after retiring that she didn’t know her neighbors nor who she could call if she needed help. Glenda started coordinating local activities to build an intergenerational network of “Community Connectors” – and it took off! Another example is our Food Delivery Network. It started with Dolores McGee, a senior who was trying to help five older widows who couldn’t make it to the food pantry.
We actively seek out nascent ideas to incubate and grow, especially since these small, neighborhood-specific projects can go far with a bit of extra support. Contact us if you have a great idea!