Grant helps build bridges across generations to decrease social isolation
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly
For a couple of hours every week, the community room at the Back of the Hill Apartments in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, becomes a melting pot of people of all ages and from all walks of life. While the group might change each week, the consistent ingredients are conversation and connection.
"People are really nice, and you have fun," said Christine Jalbert, a resident at the Back of the Hill Apartments. "You can play games. Sometimes we just sit down and talk, and it's basically just keeping our minds off of stuff that bothers us."
Playing games, painting or just talking with others might sound simple on the surface, but for older adults like Christine, these are crucial activities to help combat social isolation.
"Social isolation has myriad effects on all of us," said Cynthia Wilkerson, executive director with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly (LBFE) Boston. "For older adults, it can affect cognitive health, physical health and overall mental well-being."
LBFE Boston opened their doors in 1979 with a goal to help alleviate and prevent loneliness and social isolation among this population, where 35% of older adults (age 60+) live alone.
"We bring older adults together in public and affordable senior housing, in senior centers to meet their peers, to meet their neighbors," Cynthia said. "We’re bringing neighbors together, peer to peer, so people are not only building, but maintaining their social network."
LBFE Boston has numerous programs geared towards older adults, but one of their more successful endeavors is Intergenerational CitySites, where LBFE Boston pairs local college students with those living in senior housing for weekly activities. To help expand the Intergenerational CitySites program, UnitedHealthcare provided a $90,000 grant to LBFE Boston to hire a second program manager and double the reach across the Boston metro area.
"This is a demographic that people tend to forget about," said Uju Onochie, an intergenerational program manager whose position at LBFE Boston was made possible through the UnitedHealthcare grant. "We tend to focus so much on physical illnesses or things that we can read and see and forget that the social part is just as important."
Olivia Benevento, a student at Northeastern University, took a six-month internship with LBFE Boston where she is a full-time intergenerational program coordinator and sees the benefits of CitySites firsthand.
"I just really like making connections. I think at the end of the day, that’s what life is about,” she said. “It feels rewarding because I love being able to help people out and serve people, but also in a way — they serve me. It’s a two-way street."
Cynthia said that dual benefit is what the program is all about.
"It’s something that makes a difference in the lives of younger people, too," Cynthia said. "They also feel a greater sense of connection. They have more positive ideas about aging. We are healthier in our aging when we anticipate it as something that is fine, natural and not something to be afraid of."
For older adults like Christine, LBFE Boston’s desire for meaningful connection doesn’t go unnoticed.
"It’s a good program. I can’t stress enough that they are very nice,” she said. “It’s like buddies being buddies."
Learn more about LBFE Boston and their Intergenerational CitySites program by visiting their website.
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