Local Seniors Project Brings In New Funding
By Contributor
For over a year, Nelson CARES has been working together with a community advisory committee to identify the most pressing needs of the growing seniors’ population in Nelson and the surrounding region.
Dubbed the “Age Friendly Community Initiative,” this work has brought together a broad cross-section of local players – seniors’ organizations, agencies that serve seniors, local government and others – to collaboratively identify service gaps and barriers and develop projects to address those needs.
As a result of that groundwork, the community is now poised to take advantage of new funding that might become available.
“We’ve been hard at work identifying priority needs for seniors and now that work is paying off,” says Age Friendly Community coordinator Corrine Younie.
The initiative recently received a new grant from the Vancouver Foundation to address the critical issue of seniors’ transportation barriers. Working collaboratively, advisory committee member groups have also raised additional funds to tackle seniors’ isolation and to make a local Rideshare website more accessible to seniors.
Applications are also pending for projects that will reach out to rural seniors who are falling through the cracks, and help connect them with needed services and supports.
“An age friendly community means that seniors have the ability to participate in activities and lead full lives.
To make that happen, we have to work together on barriers like transportation and better access to information about services,” says Younie, “We have various pilot projects launching in 2014 that will help us better meet the needs of seniors in the region.”
The Age Friendly Community initiative was launched with funding provided by the Osprey Community Foundation, with additional financial support from Columbia Basin Trust.
“Leveraging our local dollars to bring new funds into the community is good news,” says Osprey board member Nelson Ames. “Funders look favourably on communities that work collaboratively to tackle community challenges.”
For more information about the Age Friendly Community Initiative, contact Corrine Younie at 250.352.2708, Extension #11.
