LeftLogo
RightLogo
   
 

 
 
Charlottesville, VA

When the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) launched its planning process in 2001, it couldn’t have predicted how that process would transform the organization and the community. What began as a plan to serve the growing number of older residents aging in -- or moving into -- the Charlottesville area has become a community-wide movement spearheaded by JABA to create viable futures for all ages. JABA, in fact, was a lead partner with JustPartners Inc. in the creation of the Viable Futures Toolkit.  

To get a glimpse of what’s happening in Charlottesville, view the Toolkit DVD.    To learn more specifics about how JABA, as the Area Agency on Aging for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, has been using the toolkit, click here or download the C'ville Case Study.

Here’s just a quick sampling of the kinds of changes that taking a Viable Futures point of view has either produced or has put into consideration by this community:

:



  • Youth input into the 20/20 Plan on Aging in Community, with a special chapter written by and devoted to how youth’s issues intersect with those of their elders.
  • Consolidation of community data on elders and families to allow for more comprehensive planning that benefits all age groups.
  • Revision of thoroughfare features to afford young and old alike a safer pedestrian experience, with changes proposed for adoption by the state department of transportation.
  • Growing use of shared sites for service provision across the generations.
  • Growing use of intergenerational programming.
  • Involvement of older adults in the local schools as tutors and teachers.
  • Community gardening with multi-generational participation and revenue production for neighborhoods.
  • Increased availability of nutritional products in school vending machines.
  • Transformation of JABA into an environmentally friendly organization.
  • Expansion of the range of JABA funders because of their broadened vision.
  • Preference by county commissioners for funding efforts that demonstrate “economies of scope” like those found in the Viable Futures Toolkit.



For more information on JABA's work towards a viable future, please contact Karen Beiber at kbeiber@jabacares.org.
Website: Jefferson Area Board for Aging www.jabacares.org
 
BottomLogo