Community Living Campaign

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

Events & Celebrations

Inner Sunset Community Fosters Holiday Connections

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The Inner Sunset Community Connector Networks gathered on December 23rd to share food, conversation and a lively raffle.  Community Connector Marina Lazzara with her daughter and friends as a back-up crew, help make for a lovely party after the regular Always Active Exercise class.   Special thanks to Judy Goddess and other leaders in this community for make this past year such a success.  This includes local leaders who have offered to provide a 100% match to donations up to $10,000.  You can help by visiting this link and making a donation.  

And enjoy some of the pictures from the party!


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St. Francis Square Community Celebrates

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St. Francis Square Co-op was the first neighborhood network, inaugurated with the support of CLC and the Board of St. Francis Square Co-op.  The Community Living Campaign Committee of the Board and network members celebrated their first ten years with a special event on December 8th.   Early founders greeted many new neighbors and remembered those who have passed on who helped create the community ties.  Music, poetry and a visit from Supervisor Valli Brown highlighted the afternoon.  A photo collage brought back memories of activities over the past 10 years that helped weave community.    Take a look below…


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Cayuga Community Celebrates the Holiday in Style

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Cayuga Holiday Potluck is an annual community gathering rich with food, fun raffle prizes, music and of course, Santa.   Thanks to Patti Spaniak and all the leaders and neighbors who pitched in to make this a grand gesture of community living.   Enjoy the pics!


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Inner Sunset Community Connectors Reflect on a Successful Year

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group photo of Inner Sunset participants

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Neighbors and Always Active Instructors celebrate one year of Inner Sunset Community Connectors

Before we opened the doors last October 22nd at St. Anne of the Sunset, we had hoped 15 people might attend our our Monday and Thursday afternoon exercise/community building program.  Instead 35 appeared, ready to enjoy the Always Active exercise program. Though most of us lived in the neighborhood, few of us knew one another. The number of participants, and our friendships have only grown from those early days. 

 
One day last summer, when 53 people tried to fit into our summer space at St. John of God, we were in the awkward position of turning away people at the same time we were committed to building community. After several weeks of this, the Community Living Campaign convinced the SF Department of Aging and Adult Services (the city agency that provides the primary funding for this program), to send a second Always Active instructor, allowing us to serve up to 60 people a session.   More recently, CLC convinced DAAS to earmark extra funding for a third day of classes.  On Tuesdays, beginning November 5, we will offer chair yoga and creative dance on alternative weeks.
 
Note from a participant

MAKING FRIENDS: “I feel healthier which is great but I feel most excited about meeting my neighbors. I don’t feel like a stranger out here anymore.” (Note from a participant)

But we don’t only exercise when we come together. About a month into the program, Marina Lazarra, the community connector from the Community Living Campaign, began offering after-exercises activities. The first classes were on gardening and healthy herbs – Marina’s interests – an ongoing memoir writing class, classes on “finding your style,” earthquake safety, how to get most out of your cell phone, a three-session series on Stroke Awareness, and an evening meeting on Loneliness and Social Isolation engaged participants and brought in new members. More than 10 of us participated in a letter exchange with the fifth graders at the SF Friends School, and were thrilled to attend the children’s dramatization of our life stories.

 
It’s all coming together, the way we had hoped. The Always Active exercise program and the after-class workshops have led to the development of new friendships. People arrive before class and stay after to exchange gossip. The more able-bodied members look out for those of us who move slower or are less steady on our feet. We are no longer strangers working out, we’re becoming friends. Thanks to this program, retirement and aging are taking on new meaning in the Inner Sunset.  
 
Want to help? Right now, we have a matching gift of up to $10,000. Please donate now to double your impact!
 
(Enjoy a few pictures from the November 4th Anniversary Celebration and Thank You Event)
 

1000 People Participated In San Francisco, Call For A Bold Response On Aging

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(From press release by Erin Saberi) 

More than 1000 seniors, people with disabilities and citizens concerned about quality of life for the fastest growing age group – older adults – turned out at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco on September 20.   The gathering was the largest event to be held in California to date, with information shared and big ideas offered for the California Master Plan on Aging, called for by Governor Newsom in June 2019. 

Policymakers, activists and foundation leaders, all called for a robust response to the Governor’s executive order to develop a CA Master Plan On Aging by October 2020. “This plan poses an historic opportunity to move beyond a patchwork approach to supports and services,” said Marie Jobling, Co-Chair of the Dignity Fund Coalition, a co-sponsor of today’s event. “We need to build an effective, holistic response that assures the growing number of older adults get the services and supports they need to live with dignity at home and to continue to have a vital role and presence in our communities.”

A panel of policy experts and elected officials – State Senator Scott Wiener, Assembly member David Chiu, San Francisco Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer and longtime elderly advocate San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee – discussed the enormity of the challenges posed by California’s growing population of older adults. California’s senior population will increase by nearly 90 percent or 4 million people in the next few decades, according to the Public Policy of California.  Currently, 1 in 5 seniors in California lives in poverty, 3 in 10 older Californians do not have enough income to cover basic needs and 1 in 4 older adults is facing housing cost burdens with many falling into homelessness.

In San Francisco, older adults and persons with disabilities represent over 25 percent of San Francisco’s population. By 2030, nearly 30 percent of San Franciscans will be age 60 or older.

Speakers also noted that as the CA Master Plan develops, policymakers will look to learn from San Francisco’s decades long leadership in providing critical supports to older adults and people with disabilities. Local activists and policymakers observed that San Francisco has made great strides, but a statewide vision is necessary to make lasting gains.  “We welcome this opportunity provided by the Governor,” said Anne Quaintance, Co-Chair of the Long Term Care Coordinating Council of San Francisco, a co-sponsor of today’s event. “We know from our experience that state involvement is critical to building the integrated and sustainable vision necessary for age-friendly cities and communities to become a reality in the years to come.  We look forward to contributing to the CA Master Plan and collaborating with the state to identify opportunities and solutions.”

Participants also acknowledged that the large public turnout today is indicative of widespread public interest in meeting the needs of older adults and persons with disabilities. Two recent surveys conducted by the “We Stand With Seniors” campaign found that 86 percent of voters support the state investing in more caregiver services for older-adults and their families and 73 percent of voters say they are concerned about their own ability to pay for long-term care.  9 out of 10 voters surveyed across party lines feel it is important for California to have a Master Plan for Aging to invest in services that allow seniors to age in place.

This  public forum was the first of a series of public forums to be held in San Francisco during the CA Master Plan development process.  Continued public input will be key to identifying ways in which the CA Master Plan can build environments that promote healthy aging and potentially revolutionize how Californians age for decades to come.  Look for our hashtag. #BePartOfThePlanSF

For more information, visit: www.sfdignityfund.org and https://www.sfhsa.org/about/commissions-committees/long-term-care-coordinating-council-ltccc.

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Older Adult Job Fair A Huge Success

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1040285So much to be happy about – 404 people registered, almost 500 job seekers attended, nearly 30 employers present, 375 job cards filled out, 116 interviews done, the Mayor and Supervisors Sandra Fewer and Valli Brown spoke, along with DAAS Executive Director Shireen McSpadden and OEWD’s Josh Arce.   

Learn more at a recent post on www.SFSeniorBeat.com.  

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Good Neighbors Gather To Celebrate and To Honor

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The Annual Good Neighborhood Event brought together an even bigger group of leaders on Saturday, June 8 as we gather at the ARC. Each year, staff and participants in each of the CLC programs picks a community member who has gone above and beyond to help their neighbors and provide leadership to the community. We are pleased to present this year’s list of honorees. They include:

  • Mary Crenshaw, Bayview
  • Deb Padilla, Cayuga Community Connectors
  • Esselene Stancil, Computers & Access
  • Marlene Olivencia , Inner Sunset Community Connectors
  • Reiko Hatakayama, Merced Extension Triangle Community Connectors
  • Evernease Cook, Midtown Terrace Community Connectors
  • Guido Van Rijn, Miraloma Community Connectors
  • Leroy Lindo, OMI Food Network
  • Judy Goddess, Community Catalyst
  • Rose Sharkey, St. Francis Square Network
  • Alice Guidry, Sunnyside Community Connectors
  • Michael S. Silver, Vision & Hearing Program 
  • Robin Evans, SF ReServe / Senior Beat 

See these and other “good neighbors” in the photo album below. 


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Rose Sharkey, St. Francis Square Good Neighbor

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Each year, our Good Neighbor Awards honor some of the dedicated neighbors who volunteer their time to help seniors and people with disabilities get the resources and support they need to age and thrive in their own homes and neighborhoods. We are delighted to honor Rose as our 2019 Good Neighbor Honoree for the St. Francis Square Neighborhood Network.

We chose Rose for the Good Neighbor award,” says Betty Traynor,” because when she joined St. Francis Square Co-op as a new member about two years ago, she jumped right in and joined our Community Living Campaign Committee as well as other Committees. She is someone I know I can rely on to help our CLC Community Connector group.  This year she took on a major project at the Square: updating our Handbook.  Plus, she makes dynamite brownies for our meetings and events!”

From Rose:
“My husband and I were very fortunate to join the St. Francis Square Co-op when we moved to San Francisco from the East coast. I volunteer because I recognize that there are things that need to be done, and I am blessed with the time and talent to do them. My work has made me feel more connected to this very special community.”