St. Barnabas has been awarded a grant from The SCAN Foundation, through the AGEnts for Change Program. AGEnts for Change is part of a statewide movement to build a Community of Constituents supported by The SCAN Foundation.

The purpose of the grant is to help us build our capacity to advocate for programs, services and policies that will improve the quality of life for older people in our community. We will be building a network that supports older people being able to live in our communities, with dignity and independence.

We are facing some very challenging times. The economic downturn has impacted city, state and federal budgets resulting in devastating cuts to the services and programs upon which many older people depend. A great number of individuals and families are also suffering from job loss, reduced retirement income, foreclosures and loss of stable housing. It is in times like these that we need to come together as a community to support one another and to develop solutions that will help us today, and prepare us for the future.

We need you to help us with this effort. We are looking for people who are interested in coming together to identify the issues that older people and their families depend on and care about. We want to talk to people in our community – friends, neighbors, family members, colleagues – and find out what concerns they have and what goals we share. We want to work together to develop the best strategies to achieve these goals. And we want to have fun and support one another as we do this important work.

It is our hope that you will help us develop this advocacy project– and offer your ideas, talents, relationships, and passion to this effort. We will coordinate our work with other organizations and coalitions to strengthen and expand our efforts when needed and appropriate.

We hope you will join us in this adventure. We promise to offer you a caring and supportive place to share your ideas, to provide training and education to inform our work, and to find meaningful roles for every participant to play. And we promise to have fun, while we improve the services and programs that older people depend on in our community, our state, and our country

The time is now to get involved. Please join us to build a movement that supports seniors and families as we age in our communities with dignity and support.

For more information, or if you are interested in being a part of this new and exciting journey, please contact: Sherry Revord @ 213.388.4444, ext. 236