SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, also known as Food Stamps, are being interrupted because of the federal government shutdown.

On Jan. 17, 2019 Virginia SNAP beneficiaries will receive their February SNAP dollars. There will not be any funds distributed in February. Participants should plan and budget their SNAP dollars accordingly.

Without a resolution to the government shutdown it is possible that no SNAP benefits will be distributed in March. Similar safety net programs like WIC and TANF should operate normally through February, but the future of these programs is uncertain if the government continues the shut down through February.

Our friends and neighbors throughout the greater Richmond region are going to be affected by these benefit distribution changes. In Virginia, 1 in 11 families rely on SNAP benefits to eat.  One third of SNAP beneficiaries are older adults or persons with disabilities (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2018).

In Congressional District 4, where Richmond City is located, there are more than 37,500 households using SNAP, and 29.9 percent of these households include an individual over the age of 60. Additionally 44.7 percent of these households include a person with a disability (United States Department of Agriculture, Profile of SNAP households).

Virginia SNAP use
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Based here in Richmond, Feed More collects, prepares and distributes food to neighbors in need. To help those in need as a result of the partial shutdown, Feed More is doing the following (from Feed More):

• We will be holding a Pop-Up Distribution this Friday on our campus from 2 pm to 4 pm in Building 2.  Nonperishable boxes, fresh produce and proteins will be provided. Monitor Feed More’s social media channels for details.
• We have engaged 9 agencies in our area who have agreed to be focal points for those affected.  These agencies will provide nutritious food during their normal distribution days/times. The specific agencies involved along with other important information will be made available through various channels in order to reach those who need help.  Feed More will supply the agencies with additional food as needed throughout the shutdown. Please call our Food Referral’s Hunger Hotline 521-2500 ext 631 or ask for “Food Referral.” Our Food Referral office is available Monday – Friday 9 am - 3:30 pm.
• Should the shutdown continue, we are preparing to hold several more Pop-Up distributions on our campus.  There is also the possibility of holding other Pop-Ups at some of the 9 focal agencies already engaged with us.
• Please feel free to give out our Food Referral’s Hunger Hotline number and clients can be directed accordingly to an agency. 521-2500 ext 631 or they can ask for Food Referral (9-3:30pm)

Have you heard of other efforts to help those in need? Does your agency have plans in the works? Age Wave is aiding in resource sharing and cross sector information, and it’s important to spread the word during this crucial time. Please let Age Wave know about other efforts: email macdonaldcs@vcu.edu.

“What can I do?” Talk to your friends and neighbors about this issue. Rally together to support our neighbors. Help plan meals and conserve resources. If you are concerned you will not have enough to eat, call the hotline at Feed More: 804-521-2500 ext 631

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, make time in your day to vote! Polling hours throughout the Commonwealth are from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. As long as a voter is in line by 7 p.m., the voter will be able to vote.

Resources
Look up your polling place: www.elections.virginia.gov/poll 

Voter FAQs here: https://www.elections.virginia.gov/registration/election-day-faq/index.html

Transportation and Accessibility
If you or someone you know needs a ride to a polling place, Uber and Lyft are offering free rides that day.

Radio One Richmond and Miss Community Clovia will provide rides to the polls for voters on election day: Call the Poll Patrol Hotline at 804-501-0415. Leave your name, address, and telephone number.  Click here for more information.

If you or someone you know might have difficulty with accessibility at their polling place, there are options for curbside voting listed midway down this webpage.

Did you know? Richmond City Council approved free GRTC rides on November 6, per the minutes from the October 8 City Council Meeting.

Richmond Green Park Project Awarded AARP Grant 
Selected out of nearly 1,600 applications nationwide, Greater Richmond Age Wave, Six Points Innovation Center, the Richmond City Office on Aging and Persons with Disabilities, and the Office of the Honorable Ellen Robertson are pleased to announce their collaborative 2018 AARP Community Challenge grant program award. The project was developed to facilitate social connectedness through neighborhood talents. It will provide for the installation of self-watering garden boxes in the neighborhood of Green Park and the Highland Park Senior Apartments, as well as for educational gardening programs.

Save the Date! Sept. 28 Leadership Meeting at 3'Notched
We'll be wrapping up Active Aging Week with an Age Wave Leadership event 9/28 at 3'Notched at 3 p.m. More details to come!

Introducing New Age Wave Staff
Please join us in welcoming two new members of our team: Director of Outreach Annie Rhodes (rhodesas2@vcu.edu) and Age Wave Administrative Coordinator Geunmi Kwon (kwong4@vcu.edu).

Advocacy Update
Age Wage would like to extend thanks to the Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Ralph Northam for creating and passing the recent legislation to enable Medicaid expansion within the state. Our thanks also to the Age Wave action team members and staff who successfully advocated on behalf of this effort to benefit our fellow community members.

(Written by the Greater Richmond Age Wave Team for United Way)

Ingredients:

• Gerontologists
• Urban planning researchers
• Statewide and local aging and disability service providers
• A fast-growing online case management system

Add a big scoop of innovation and pour into a person-centeredness framework. Fold in passionate educators, students and boots-on-the-ground expertise. Invite communities to join us at the table for an information potluck and contributions to the cookbook.

This has been our recipe for the Social Isolation Risk Index (SIRI) project for the past three years.

What is Social Isolation? Click here to learn about the issue.
​
The SIRI project combines evidence from scientific literature, regional data analysis and community-based engagement to transform how we define and address social isolation and social connectedness in the Richmond metro area. The project kicked off in 2015, when project partners brought national experts together with aging and disability service providers in a region-wide symposium called Come Together. The symposium was attended by 150 key stakeholders, 97 percent of whom identified at least one action they could take to prevent or reduce social isolation among older adults.

In 2016, our interdisciplinary team researched social isolation risk factors and identified their matching data fields in No Wrong Door, a statewide online case management system. The following factors correlated to perceived social dissatisfaction in our region: family or financial conflict, educational attainment of less than a high school degree, living in apartments/multi-family dwellings. By approaching social isolation consequences proactively instead of reactively, we can make Richmond a better, healthier and more sustainable place for everyone to grow old. To that end we have reached close to 2,000 individuals with research-based information about social isolation and reached media circulation of 3.5 million+ with public messaging.

In focus groups held in rural, suburban, and urban localities of our region, older adults identified transportation as their greatest barrier to social connectedness. These results, along with the SIRI analysis, led Age Wave to link social isolation to livability with a goal to increase mobility and transportation infrastructure to decrease social isolation of older adults and persons with disabilities. Age Wave’s 2017 Transportation & Accessibility forum, attended by 100 people, resulted in 90 percent learning about transportation resources and sharing information with others.

By then we were ready for a deeper dive. Last summer we mapped the SIRI findings to identify seven neighborhoods in the region where people might especially benefit from increased connectedness. Urban planning and gerontology students canvassed these neighborhoods and conducted assessments of the relationship between the built environment and social connectedness. This spring, students used these findings to research and present actionable community advocacy opportunities to guide and inspire stakeholders.

Age Wave has contributed to the national body of research on the topic by presenting findings to the Gerontological Society of America, Southern Gerontological Association and Aging2.0. The interdisciplinary research team from VCU Gerontology and VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis recently published an article in The Gerontological Society of America Public Policy and Aging report, “Social Isolation and the Built Environment: A Call for Research and Advocacy.” The article recommends the expansion of information collected in uniform assessment tools to include key variables that capture how the individual interacts with their physical environment such as: transportation options, sense of safety in the community and proximity to or preferences for community amenities.

There is much more to come from this project as we find new ways to expand and enhance this recipe and bring more groups to the table. Interested in contributing to this cookbook? Please contact info@agewellva.com.

The authors wish to thank the following project partners: Greater Richmond Age Wave, United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg, VCU Gerontology, Virginia Department for the Aging and Rehabilitative Services, Senior Connections, No Wrong Door and VCU’s Center for Urban and Regional Analysis.

​A beautiful evening with friends, celebrations and sharing of community projects and research by Greater Richmond Age Wave action teams and VCU Gerontology students -- what could be better than that? We added pizza and beer to the mix! Thank you all for a wonderful event!

Age Wave Scholar projects featured:
A NORC in Green Park, by Emily Daidone, Evelyn Beaumont and Caitlin Lange (Sponsor: Richmond Office on Aging and Persons with Disabilities)

Dreams are Forever, By Nicole Hunt (Marion Cotter King Award) (Sponsor: Anthem HealthKeepers)

Toolkit for Successful Downsizing Conversations, by Audra Backaitis (Sponsor: Legacy Navigator)

Homelessness Among Elders, by Raleigh Priddy (Iris A Parham Award)

Person-Centered Trauma-Informed Care, by Gigi Amateau (YWCA Pat Asch Fellowship for Social Justice)

View more pictures

VCU Gerontology master’s degree candidate Nicole Hunt's project to acknowledge, identify and carry out the wishes and dreams in long-term care facilities is underway! These wishes, from long-term care residents at the Trio Healthcare-Elizabeth Adam Crump Health and Rehabilitation Center, are sponsored by Anthem HealthKeepers Plus. 

So far, wish recipients have enjoyed chess lessons, a comedy show, a projector to watch movies, and dinner out with the family. Next up: exercise equipment requested for increasing strength and endurance.

To learn more about the Age Wave Scholar program or to sponsor a scholar, contact Catherine MacDonald:
macdonaldcs@vcu.edu.

VCU Gerontology master’s degree candidate Nicole Hunt has launched an innovative project in the name of person-centered care and good cheer. As the Age Wave Wish Advocate Scholar, Hunt will be working with older adults to acknowledge, identify and carry out the wishes and dreams in long-term care facilities that may not be addressed because of budget restrictions, transportation and/or physical limitations. 
​
Hunt’s Greater Richmond Age Wave project is currently carrying out a 2017 Elder Holiday Wish List, which will run through Valentine’s Day. These wishes from long-term care residents at the Trio Healthcare-Elizabeth Adam Crump Health and Rehabilitation Center are sponsored by Anthem HealthKeepers Plus. The first wish was fulfilled December 28, when a local comedian performed a show for a group at Elizabeth Adam Crump Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Generosity has been a common theme among the wishes collected by Hunt. Angie, who wished for the comedy show, requested the event with the everyone’s happiness in mind, including staff. Other wishes include exercise equipment for all to use, a screen for everyone to enjoy movies, chess lessons and dinner with family.

Hunt has named the project “Dreams are Forever.” To begin, she interviewed people at Elizabeth Adam Crump Health and Rehabilitation Center. “I encouraged them to think back and reflect on what makes them happy, and what they most enjoy doing if money, transportation and their health was not an issue,” Hunt said.

“I found that many of the residents have a strong desire to help and give to their fellow residents because they also see needs that require fulfilling.”

Wish fulfillment serves more than just a momentary purpose. Hunt aims to help reduce generalized decline caused by social isolation in long-term care facilities by promoting activity, socialization, engagement, fun and person-centeredness.
Hunt says, “What would these older adults dream of doing? What would put a smile on their face? What would make them feel warm and giddy inside? Without a doubt participation in the Dreams are Forever Project would.”
To learn more about the Age Wave Scholar program or to sponsor a scholar, contact Catherine MacDonald at macdonaldcs@vcu.edu.