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Crossing the Digital Divide: Infusing Technology in the Everyday Life of Older Adults |
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The United Hebrew Geriatric Center in New Rochelle has a new computer lab designed, installed, and maintained by students at Westchester Community College. Here older adults, each with his or her own instructor, learn how to use the computer with the help of college students enrolled in Pace University’s Intergenerational Computing course.
With patience and understanding of seniors’ unique sensory challenges, the Pace students teach their elderly charges how to send and receive emails, use Google searches, and research topics of interest in the vast landscape of the internet. The Pace students gain first-hand knowledge of the challenges of growing older, as well as an introduction to the emerging field of gerontechnology.
But the computer classes serve another purpose: While the seniors learn practical computer usage, they also experience brain exercises designed to help researchers understand how technology can improve cognitive functioning in the elderly. Current research is supported through a grant from the Westchester Community Foundation to The Westchester Alliance of Academic Institutes for Aging Related Studies and Workforce Development, a program of the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services. http://westches2.ipower.com/index.html.
On December 1, 2008, the program learned it had received the American Society on Aging’s MetLife MindAlert Award for the General Mental Fitness category. The MindAlert Award program recognizes innovation in mental fitness programming for older adults. http://www.asaging.org/asav2/mindalert/
The Westchester Community Foundation congratulates all of the senior learners, the Westchester Community College, and Pace University students, who are participants in the program, as well as Professor Jean Coppola of Pace University, Professor Barbara Thomas of Westchester Community College, Linda Forman of United Hebrew Geriatric Center, and Colette Phipps, Research Analyst with the Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services. |
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Saw Mill River Coalition: Revitalizing a Hudson River Tributary |
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Most Westchesterites think of the Saw Mill River as a muddy, polluted creek that periodically creates traffic tie ups when it floods the Saw Mill Parkway. They would be astonished to learn that the river has been an important water resource in the County; that locals used to swim and fish in it, and that from 1903 to 1983, the City of Yonkers actually drew drinking water from the river! In fact, the Saw Mill is still a back-up water source for the city.
Over the years, the Saw Mill River's route, width, biodiversity, and health has been adversely altered by industrialization and the creation of the Saw Mill River Parkway. Today, the 19 mile river, located entirely in Westchester County, is one of the most polluted streams of any Hudson River tributary.
The Saw Mill River Coalition was begun in 2001 by Groundwork Hudson Valley with support from the Westchester Community Foundation. The Coalition brings together volunteers, schools, environmental and community organizations, local municipalities, and state and county agencies to improve the river. A supporter of the Coalition since its founding, the Westchester Community Foundation has continually supported the agency's efforts, including underwriting annual biodiversity studies, bi-annual seminars on river ecology, and projects that engage volunteers in invasive vine cutting and river clean-ups. This sustained funding has enabled the Coalition to successfully develop and implement an intermunicipal agreement with the watershed's communities, making it a model conservation alliance in the Hudson River valley.
On December 2, 2008, the Saw Mill River Coalition received national recognition: The Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Coalition one of only 15 Targeted Watersheds Grants . The grant of $899,183 will assist the Coalition's efforts over the next three years.
The Westchester Community Foundation is extremely proud that its continued support has enabled the Saw Mill River Coalition to receive this prestigious grant. More information on the work of Groundwork Hudson Valley and the Saw Mill River Coalition is at www.groundworkyonkers.org. |
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Bienvenidas Girls, Family Services of Westchester |
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Imagine being an immigrant teenager coming to Westchester to live with parents you haven’t seen since you were small. You are enrolled in classes taught in a language you can’t speak well, if at all, and you are surrounded by kids whose social codes and mores are alien to you. If you are a newly arrived teenage girl, you are likely feel culturally isolated and desperately lonely, leaving you vulnerable to an inappropriate relationship that could result in pregnancy.
The effects of teen parenthood can be devastating: 33% of teen mothers eventually graduate from high school. For an immigrant teen, parenthood may serve to further isolate her from the mainstream community, keeping her from educational and employment opportunities that could lift her out of poverty.
A Westchester Community Foundation grant to Family Services of Westchester to support its Bienvenidas Girls program in Port Chester High School, where 95% of pregnant girls are newly arrived Hispanic immigrants, is underwriting an innovative pregnancy prevention program that is having positive results. Within a few short years, the drop-out rate for pregnant teens has been reduced from 30% to few than 8%, and there have been no new pregnancies since the program started.
A weekly psycho-educational support group helps the girls understand sexual development, sexually transmitted diseases, and the importance of preventing pregnancy. The girls-only atmosphere allows them to discuss their values, the pressures they face, ask questions, and practice setting limits by role playing. The program also includes referrals to community services, tutoring and homework help, and sports and other recreational opportunities.
The program also has a support group that brings newcomer and former newcomer parents together, allowing the more experienced parents to mentor the others. Teens remark that they are more comfortable raising concerns with parents who have been part of this group. |
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Leviticus 25:23 Alternative Funds |
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A young mother who earns minimum wage at an office job has just turned the key to the door of her first home. As her two children excitedly explore their new apartment, she breathes a quiet sigh of relief. Thanks to the efforts of a Westchester County nonprofits affordable housing developer, she finally has an afffordable rental unit in which to raise her children with dignity.
An 80 year old widower on a limited income is also breathing a sigh of relief. He has just learned that at his new home – located in an affordable senior housing project built by a Westchester County nonprofit housing developer – he will be able to share meals with his new housemates. He hated the isolation and loneliness of living alone.
The lives of low and fixed income residents are vastly improved when they are able to live in safe, welcoming homes that are affordable.With the help of a $10,000 grant from the Westchester Community Foundation, Leviticus 25:23 Alternative Fund,a regional community development funder, is providing loans and leveraging federal dollars to lend to local nonprofit affordable housing developers. In 2008, Leviticus lent over $1.3 million to Westchester-based nonprofit organizations, which will generate 47 new affordable housing units, renovate of 185 existing units, and result in countless more sighs of relief. |
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