San Francisco Village is proud to be at the forefront of the national Village Movement, helping to shape the conversations about aging in community and the intersection of health care and social care – the social factors that optimize well-being. During the past ten years, San Francisco Village has built an infrastructure of interpersonal connections and support, mutual aid, and resources to remain safe and secure at home, which serves as a model for villages across the country.
We extended our leadership to launch a statewide coalition of 50 villages last year, called Village Movement California, as a way to harness the collective power of this life-affirming model for social change. We are now well-positioned to respond to the historic changes we confront as a society. Within the next 10 years, over 20% of the state’s population will be 65 or older (over nine million people) and the fastest growing age group.
The exponential growth of this population, a public health epidemic of social isolation and loneliness, and a shrinking safety net for moderate to middle income older adults are cause to activate a solid strategy for our older population.
Our visionary leadership was prescient. In January, Governor Newsom signed an executive order calling for the creation of a Master Plan for Aging to be developed by October 2020. The Master Plan will serve as a blueprint that can be used by state government, local communities, private organizations and philanthropy to build environments that promote healthy aging. We’re making sure that villages are included in the Plan!
Shaping conversations and changing perceptions about aging is at the heart of what Executive Director, Kate Hoepke, will be undertaking this year as a participant in the Encore Public Voices Fellowship: a partnership between Encore.org and the Op-Ed project to accelerate the ideas of people working at the intersection of aging, longevity, intergenerational connection, and social justice. Kate hopes to contribute to a shared consciousness about aging in the 21st century that’s respectful, loving, inclusive and active – to meet people where they are, prepare them to embrace their future, transform vulnerability into vitality and harness the power of people working together.
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For information on how to get involved with San Francisco Village as a member or volunteer, email info@sfvillage.org or call (415) 387-1375 x 2.
Sara joined the team in 2018. She brings with her 20 years of experience in community development, philanthropy, and organizational management. She completed her bachelors at George Washington University and her masters at UC Berkeley. Her career focus has been on evaluating how community groups run from year-to-year and strengthening daily processes to increase institutional success. Sara loves travel and global development issues, particularly a non-profit she founded 10 years ago focusing on students’ access to school in Cambodia. Sara is raising her family here in San Francisco.
Maya is a public relations and communications professional with more than a decade of experience; her expertise includes consumer products and technology PR, as well as event management and content development. She has been a pro-bono consultant with the Taproot Foundation since 2012, and has participated in three service grants to date. Maya attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and graduated with a BA in mass communications and a minor in political science.