Turning Strangers into Neighbors, and Neighbors into Friends
Coronavirus Update: Join our Virtual Community Connector Network, with an array of online and phone offerings – workshops, writing groups, social hours, exercise, and more . Follow along from home with Kyra’s dance and exercise videos. Connectors continue to reach out to neighbors by phone and email to connect and see if they need anything delivered.
If you or someone you know lives in San Francisco use this Stay Healthy & Connected survey to share your contact information and preferences so that we can stay in touch.
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.
The Community Connector program supports neighbors in coordinating a range of local activities and outreach for seniors and people with disabilities, from exercise classes and walking groups to potlucks and volunteer projects.
We have thriving Community Connector programs in the the Cayuga, Inner Sunset, Merced Extension Triangle, Midtown Terrace, Miraloma Park, and Sunnyside neighborhoods, and recently launched a network in Crocker Amazon. Potrero Hill is coming soon. We also support slightly different models of neighborhood networks in the Western Addition and Sunset-Parkside neighborhoods.
Community Connector Networks
COME ALONE, LEAVE IN PAIRS. Neighbors gather at a local church for Always Active Senior exercise classes, presentations on healthy living, computer tutoring, community celebrations, and much more.
STRENGTHENING NEIGHBORHOODS. Together with long-time residents and community groups, Cayuga Connectors recently earned the title of “Comeback Neighborhood of the Year.”
In neighborhoods across San Francisco, local Community Connectors have helped build lively, inter-generational groups of neighbors to support older adults and people with disabilities in their community. Most of these neighborhoods don’t have a senior center or community center in walking distance. Instead, neighbors meet at local churches, parks, and in each others’ homes.
Community Connectors organize a wide range of activities and events each month for older residents – including Always Active Senior exercise classes; multi-lingual hearing screenings and presentations on brain fitness, diabetes, home health care, bone health, overcoming depression, recognizing signs of elder abuse, de-cluttering, preparing for emergencies, and finding transportation options to name a few. And there are plenty of opportunities for fun: potlucks, sing-alongs, yard sales, and other events that bring together neighbors of all ages.
Whatever the activity, neighbors are getting to know each other — often for the first time despite years of living close by. They’re building the friendships and the support they need to be there for one another as they age in their community. See our calendar for upcoming activities or email our Director of Neighborhood Networks, Lauren Bactad, for more information.
Neighborhood Network in the Western Addition: The St. Francis Square Cooperative
NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS. St. Francis Square residents volunteer to carry groceries and laundry up flights of stairs, walk dogs, help with computer questions, share meals, and visit or call older neighbors.
At the St. Francis Square in the Western Addition, neighbors come together to support aging residents in their apartment cooperative. The CLC Co-op Committee now organizes residents to help each other, arranges regular educational and social events, a walking group, and regularly publishes helpful tips for healthy aging in the cooperative’s newsletter.
Longtime volunteer Betty Trainer now coordinates the St. Francis Square Network. See our calendar for upcoming activities at St. Francis Square or email Betty for more information.