The Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE) is a forum through which nonprofit villages in the Washington D.C metropolitan area share experience and ideas. It works with senior serving and inter-generational organizations and agencies, and encourages the growth and improvement of the village movement within the Washington area.

WAVE has multiple meetings each year hosted by member organizations on a rotating basis in the three jurisdictions of DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The meetings include speakers covering topics of interest to the member organizations with time for questions. After the main presentation, specific time is provided for a couple of concurrent discussion groups focusing on areas of interest to member villages.

Contact us at:

Washington Area Villages Exchange

P.O. Box 7464

Alexandria, VA  22307-0464

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Message from WAVE Board President Leigh Sempeles

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

 

Dear WAVE Villages and Friends,  

First of all, let me tell you how honored I am to be serving as the President of the WAVE Board for 2020. WAVE is the largest regional consortium of Villages in the U.S. and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work on behalf of the organization and the Village movement. More than ever before, our movement’s mission is essential to developing, coordinating, and delivering home and community-based services through a core of volunteers that help older adults remain in their homes and communities as they age.

In light of the coronavirus crisis, the Board of Directors has decided that we are postponing the quarterly WAVE meeting originally planned for April 27, 2020. Rather than rescheduling at this time, we will do so as the public health landscape clears and reliable sources such as the CDC as well as state and local Departments of Health reassure the entire population that it is indeed safe to gather.

I encourage you to share information and Village best practices. You will find a link on the WAVE website (“About Us” tab) to all WAVE member Village websites that include newsletters and other materials. Also, the Village to Village Network Facebook page has a wealth of information that is being posted from Village members across the country.  

As an example of communication sharing, the Villages of Kensington has taken these specific actions regarding virus information dissemination:

  • Phone tree calls to members to reassure, to find out member-specific needs and to discover who is particularly isolated or in some other way adversely affected by this situation.
  • Communication via email and snail mail encouraging members to check the Village website and the posted links to CDC, Departments of Health and Hotlines.
  • Creation of a dedicated coronavirus site listed on the website.

Thank you all and take good care.    

-- Leigh

Montgomery County Village Coordinator
Monthly Update for June 1, 2015

​​Hello all,

Please find June's updates below:

1. County Council and County Executive grants and County budget decisions
2. World Elder Abuse Day
3. Updated website
4. Bethesda Chevy Chase quarterly meeting
5. Faith communities survey
6. Livable Communities report
7. AARP livability index
8. Vacation

1. County Council and County Executive grants  and budget decisions

For those of you who are interested in such matters (and all of you should be!) the next FY budget for the County has been approved. You can read about it here: http://montgomerycomd.blogspot.com/2015/05/county-council-adopts-508-billion-total.html 

In relation to villages, for FY 16, County Council has provided a grant to The Village of Takoma Park and County Executive has awarded a grant to Silver Spring Village and Olney Home for Life.

In addition to that, County Council has approved a $10,000 fund to support budding village initiatives in diverse communities. This fund was advocated for by the Commission on Aging and we thank them deeply for their support. The details on how to access this fund are forthcoming. It will be available starting July 1st, 2015.

2. World Elder Abuse Day  June 10

June 10th is Elder Abuse day. Please see flyer and inform your membership about this event which will take place at Holiday Park Senior Center. This is a very important subject that deserves your attention as you are connecting with many older adults in your community. The County has recently developed more resources around financial exploitation which you may want to know about.

3. Updated website

I have added all the Montgomery County Village Gathering photos, handouts and PowerPoint presentations. Please check it out, and let me know what you think. http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/HHS-Program/ADS/Villages/Villagegathering2015.html

4. Bethesda Chevy Chase villages quarterly meeting

The next BCC villages meeting will be help next Monday, June 8th 9:30-11:00am at the BCC Regional Service Center, room A. All BCC active and emerging villages are welcome to join. 

5. Faith communities survey

I have connected with Kasey Kaseman, who is the County's Interfaith Liaison, in an effort to reach out to the County's faith communities. Kasey has been very supportive and together with his interfaith workgroup called "Neighbors in Need Work Group" we have developed a short survey which will be sent out to faith leaders in the County. The goal of the survey is to have a deeper appreciation of what faith communities think about their aging members, what programs and services they already offer and what else they would like to do. If you are involved in a faith community, please feel free to share this Survey Monkey link with the person who can represent your congregation on this issue:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5SMD8Q5
 
6. Livable Communities report
n4a, which is the national organizations that represents the Area Agencies on Aging, has recently published a wonderful report on what communities around the nation are doing to improve their livability. The author of this report, Stephanie Firestone is a Montgomery County resident and also attended the village gathering event last month. This report is popular online, they already have 80,000 hits. Click on it yourself!http://www.n4a.org/files/n4aMakingYourCommunityLivable1.pdf
 
7. AARP livability index 
Another interesting national resource has come out of the AAPR Public Policy Institute. This online tool takes into account many factors that contribute to a community's "score" of livability. What is your community's' score? My take on this tool is that there are several variables that cannot be incorporated into the score and yet do impact the livability of a specific location. I welcome your thoughts on this.http://livabilityindex.aarp.org/?cmp=LVABLIDX_MAR25_015 

8. Vacation

I will be away 6.12-7.3. Please make sure to connect with me before 6.12 if you need anything that is time sensitive. Otherwise. I will get back to you in July!

 

My best wishes to all of you,

Pazit Aviv
Village Coordinator
Aging and Disability Services
Montgomery County Health and Human Services
401 Hungerford Dr. 4th floor
Rockville MD 20850
phone: 240-777-1231
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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