Hi Folks,
I wanted to share more about "the Village Movement."?
These are not "The Villages" of Florida fame.?
The Village Movement --- encompasses communities in different cities/regions -- that offer various ways to stay healthy as you age.? Yes, they offer some classes. They offer a whole lot of things including connecting members with volunteers, in person events, and online events.?
Right now they are looking to expand to more places and have started an "incubator" (see the attached screenshot of a social media post).?
Membership in the Village is sliding scale. The SF Village is as low as 20 a month.?
NOTE? ?-------------- I don't see the Villages as in competetion with Adult Education - as offered through either Adult Schools or Com College Non-Credit.?
They are much bigger than "just classes" and could potentially advocate for a return of state funding for OA classes.?
My mom - who lives with me and is 88 - and i both belong to the SF Village.?
I will reach out to the SF Village and see if it might want to sign the letter supporting a return of state funding to Adult Ed for Older Adults.? ?
I might be helpful if some CCSF folks reached out to them, too.??
In terms of my experience - as a senior (I'm 62) and the senior daughter of a frail elder and a former teacher of OA classes when they were state funded (at San Mateo Adult School), I find the SF Village system pretty easy to use and help my mom to utilize.? ?
I have not found all systems easy to utlize when it comes to helping my mom take classes. Maybe more on that in a different post.?
I think it is very important for systems to be easy to use. If they aren't, we need to work to make them easeir. If they're easy to use, make sure legislators and others know how easy to use they are.?
In my experience, legislators and their aides think a lot of things but don't share what they think when meeting with you. When meeting with you, they are courteous (most of the time) and listen. They don't often ask hard questions - but they think them - and those questions have a role in how they vote on things.??
Maybe something good to do is to ask a legislative aide or legislator what hard questions come up for them when they think about regaining state funding for Older Adults Adult Ed.? Posting it sort of as a hypothetical... or "what question do you hear come up in discussions of ... ?"?
That way, we know what we need to work on -- either our messaging or actual, real issues that need to be addressed.?
Sincerely,?
Cynthia
