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.

SCAN

Seniors Step Up As Agents for Change

by

For the past two years, the SCAN Foundation provided funding to several California senior-serving organizations to explore ways to move participants and volunteers into action.  They also funded the California Association for Retired Americans (CARA), in partnership with the Community Living Campaign, to provide training and on-going technical assistance.  The Agents for Change interviewed in the attached video, produced by New America Media, paint a rich tapestry of the values, experience and commitment at the heart of this initiative.

 

 

Interested in being an Agent for Change, too?   Sign up for the CARA Leadership Academy.  The next session will be held in San Francisco February 27 and 28th. For more information, visit http://www.californiaalliance.org or download a 2013 CLC leadership academy flyer .

SCAN Foundation Promotes Collaboration For Creating Change

by

SCAN Foundation hosted a number of workshops and sessions focused on Creating Change for Long Term Care Services and Supports Through Social Action in Grassroots, Regional Coalition and Statewide Collaboratives.  With a series of panels, and interaction with workshop participants, leaders shared experiences and insights from their work at many levels and in diverse communities.  The image I kept seeing as folks talk about their efforts was a hanging mobile of circles within circles, always moving, with a thin thread to connect them.  The SCAN Foundation and its funding and support is currently helping provide this thread.

To learn more about these presenters and their presentations at the Aging in America Conference, or to tap into the SCAN Foundation’s  excellent research, analysis and plain talk about long term services and support, visit their website at www.thescanfoundation.org.

Creating More Community Leaders

by

This question was one of the first posed to recent participants in the California Alliance for Retired American’s (CARA) Leadership Academy, co-sponsored by St. Barnabas Senior Services in Los Angeles.

“Good listener”, “concern for others”, “vision” were among the qualities identified.   When asked for examples of leaders they admired, their answers  were as rich and diverse as the group, many highlighting famous leaders in local and worldwide efforts to protect and to expand human rights.

The two-day training, funded in part, by the SCAN Foundation, is an on-going effort by CARA and its partners, like the Community Living Campaign,  to expand the number of active leaders and advocates in local communities.   Over the two days, individuals learned how to develop an organizing campaign, the nuts and bolts of direct action, ways to  add social media as new tools for advocacy, and tips for how to strengthen their public speaking skills.    My part of the training (besides taking pictures) was basic social media.  It started where everyone feels comfortable – with the telephone – and moved on to highlight a sampling of free social media tools.  Folks mostly enjoyed seeing how some of the morning’s organizing activities had already been made part of the AGEnts of Change Facebook page and other sites by the afternoon social media session.   We have 3 more trainings on tap – in Santa Clara County, Alameda County and up north in Humboldt County.    You can see additional pictures of the folks whose active role-play turned them into the advocates for a safer Seniortown, including their lively meeting with the local traffic engineer and police captain (played by fellow trainers Al Chin and Janet Canterbury.)  Just go to the CARA, AGEnts of Change or Community Living Campaign Facebook pages.

10 Things You Should Know About Aging

by

Over the past few years, the SCAN Foundation has become a more visible and active leader in the movement to expand long term services and supports in California.   Through research, demonstration projects, active convening and education of policy-makers and the general public, they have already amassed a wealthy of resources, much of which can be found on their website at www.thescanfoundation.org.

One recent piece – 10 Things You Should Know about Aging with Dignity and Independence.  The starting point for discussion – aging with dignity and independence is the ability to live life to its fullest in the place you call home, regardless of age, illness, or disability.

Last Friday, a delegation from San Francisco joined others in Sacramento, at the invitation of the SCAN Foundation, which is building a movement of informed, connected and active organizations and individuals.   The San Francisco Long Term Care Council is one of twelve regional coalition grantees, who was represented by Anne Hinton, Bill Haskell, Donna Calame and Susan Poor.  James Chionsini, Sarah Jarmon, and Jodi Reid represented the California Discharge Planning Collaborative from Planning for Elders and the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) as the lead.    In addition, Jodi and I are also providing Technical Assistance to another SCAN Initiative, the AGEnts of Change Initiative, which is funding 4 Agencies in California as they work to turn volunteers and participants into more active advocates and leaders.  The final network represented on Friday was the California Collaborative, an on-going group of statewide organizations with an interest in improving long term services and supports.

These representatives from groups across the state came together for thought-provoking speakers, intensive, interactive workshops and general, all purpose networking.   Watch this space to see how things develop.