Welcome

Kenneth Hartman, Director of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, welcomed the audience to the meeting.  He explained the purpose of the meeting was to build upon priorities established in the County Executive’s Senior Summit held in November, 2008.  He said the meeting was an opportunity for communities to share information and brainstorm approached to the challenges inherent in establishing a “Village” model.

Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner (District 1 - Bethesda, Chevy Chase, North Bethesda, Potomac) welcomed those present.  Mr. Berliner pointed out that many of the communities present were constituents of District 1.  He said that supporting villages and aging-in-place was a top priority of his and that he looked forward to working to support the initiatives getting underway.

Nguyen Minh Chau, with the Maryland's Statewide Empowerment Zones Seniors Commission, spoke briefly about the Commission which was established last year to develop recommendations for an “Empowerment Zones for Seniors” program that directs financial and regulatory incentives to local communities that offer Aging-in-Place services and facilitate the personal independence, and civic and social engagement of seniors in the community.

Presentation

A presentation was given by the Burning Tree Village on the strategic challenges facing village initiatives.

Other communities spoke briefly on the status of their initiatives and challenges they faced.

Discussion

Challenges facing new Villages.

·       Website Development

·       Liability Insurance

·       Volunteer coordination

·       Meeting Space

·       Leadership

·       Survey Response

·       Comfort in receiving services

·       Safety & Security

·       Economy

·       Know limits of the initiative's capabilities

·       Some do not wish to self identify as "seniors"

·       Lacking "organic" nature of relationships - need to foster a spirit of community

Elements of a Successful Initiative

·       Build Relationships between neighbors

·       Social interaction

·       Home visits

·       Individual outreach

·       Publicize resident profiles

·       organize Neighborhood Watch

·       Include focus on helping seniors in neighborhood communications

·       Require a nominal membership fee.

Potential Roles for Montgomery County in Support of Villages

·       Technical assistance in developing questionnaires to establish need and to identify neighborhood volunteers, and helping disseminate the questionnaire.

·       Technical assistance in analysis of the survey.

·       Assistance with photocopying.

·       Start-up grants.

·       Legal technical assistance to establish non-profit organizations and to help develop documents to achieve tax-exempt status.

·       Workshops for problem solving and information exchange.

·       Technical assistance in developing software to maintain and update a data base on volunteer capabilities, volunteer assignments, requested services, and request dispositions.

·       Emergency preparedness training.

·       Connect students who need community service credits.

·       Open lines of communication with communities

·       Facilitate utilization of existing public/private infrastructure

·       Provide consumer information

·       Legal resources - templates for by-laws, 501(c)3 filings, etc.

Next Steps

Communities agreed to meet quarterly to share their experiences.  Mr. Hartman announced the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center would look at creating a “toolkit” or “guidebook” for communities interested in beginning a village initiative.  The B-CC center would also establish a resource for villages on its website: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/bcc.