Welcome back to the Sustainability Series-where we are exploring strategies for sustaining intergenerational community building work over time. Many sites are completing their initial round of funding over the next two years, and have been planning strategically about their next steps.  In order to expand impact and identify new funding opportunities, they have been developing new ways to move their work forward.  Below are some of the paths they are taking...

Going deeper on a selected issue: Some groups are continuing to work on the same issue that was initially identified in their planning and assessment phase—but expanding and linking together a wider range of opportunities and resources that support intergenerational interaction, promote community leadership and  contribute to well being for all generations. Below are some examples of how sites in Mississippi are going deeper with their health-focused work, funded by the Foundation for the Mid South. 

CFAA example East Jerusalem, MS : Creating more opportunities The CFAA team in East Jerusalem has been working on reducing diabetes and obesity by providing increased access to healthy affordable food through an intergenerational farmers market.  This year they will build on that work by developing an intergenerational food cooperative in collaboration with local farmers.  In the early phase of the initiative, the farmers market provided a venue to connect nursing students with older adult residents who needed home health visits.  This year the students will also train community members to use blood pressure machines and hold screenings at church meetings.

 

 CFAA example Itta Bena: strengthening ties with institutions.  The CFAA team in Itta Bena has been working on reducing obesity and diabetes by providing increased access to opportunities for physical exercise and healthy food.  In the first phase of their work they began strengthening the relationship between the University and community residents through several important community events focused around physical exercise.  During their next phase they will embed on-going physical exercise opportunities for all ages and community gardening to service learning classes that will take place on a weekly basis.  

Going Broader: Expanding Geographically

Has your team had  local success building collaborations, supporting intergenerational leadership, creating opportunities for intergenerational interaction and working on critical community concerns from a lifespan perspective?   You might want to explore how your local work could be a model for other communities. 

 CFAA example : San Clemente, California The team in the Los Mares neighborhood has shown many positive outcomes in a hard to reach, low-income neighborhood of recent immigrants.  Gang violence has been reduced; reporting of crimes has increased; residents of multiple generations, trained as community leaders, are addressing neighborhood concerns; new community police officers have been assigned to the neighborhood based on the collective action of the residents.  The community organizers for this group from the Orange County Human Relations are now building on these successes by applying for grants to replicate their intergenerational model in other neighborhoods with similar challenges.   

Reframing Your Issue:  Sometimes your issue needs to be reframed in order to successfully apply for funding.  Because the CFAA efforts work on many different issues, there are many ways to frame the work.  

California CFAA teams, funded by Orange County Community Foundation, are engaging older adults as community leaders and volunteers in supporting educational opportunities for youth in gang injunction areas.  They can rightly frame this to other potential funders as positive youth development, crime prevention, improving educational outcomes AND healthy aging.   What are some of the different ways your group can you frame its work?  

To find out about potential funding opps--CFAA sites can check out a range of new  Funding Opportunities  in the Learning Tools Intranet portion of the site.You can now sort opportunities by a number of different categories to quickly and easily find items of particular value to your team.