Announcing New Partnership! Friends Foundation for the Aging

by | Jul 24, 2019 | Financials, National, News, QVS Boston, QVS Minneapolis

We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Friends Foundation for the Aging!

In QVS’s current program model, we strive to offer young adults immersive service experience in line with their vocational calling. Our goal isn’t to invent or create new service work, but to increase the capacity of organizations already invested in their communities. In this model, QVS relies upon site placements to pay a fee to host a QVS Fellow. The revenue from these sites allows QVS to invest our time and funds into our programming work rather than allocating a majority of time and funds to fundraising. Yet, this financial commitment can be a barrier for smaller community based organizations with less resources.
 
During the site placement recruitment/application process in our program cities, we learned about new sites interested in hosting a Fellow, but who lacked the funds to do so.
 

This coming year, we are partnering with Friends Foundation for the Aging (FFA) to sponsor two new site placements: FriendshipWorks in Boston, and NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul. FFA is stepping in to help share the cost of the site placement fees. This partnership feels especially worthwhile because the particular social service partners we have identified recognize this as an opportunity to build capacity. Both organizations are piloting work they’ve never done before to expand and institutionalize services that they would not be able to do without the direct service of a QVS Fellow. Furthermore, we’re investing in community and social service partners who support aging adults, offering young adults an opening into this field and broadening the type of service opportunities we offer.
 
We will be sure to share news and updates once the year gets going!
 
Click on the pictures and site placement logos below to learn more about the Fellows and organizations that will be engaged in the FFA partnership this year!

(She/Her) If you ask where she’s from, Grace Beavin will tell you it’s complicated; but she lived a total of 13 years in Berea, Kentucky and is a member of Berea Friends Meeting. She graduated in May of 2019 from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana with a degree in Spanish and Hispanic Studies and Theatre Arts. At Earlham she was a member of the Quaker Fellows Program. She worked for West Richmond Friends Meeting as a First Day School teacher; she became a leader for the Lightseekers after school program; and her senior year, she was the Sound Board Operator and Sound Engineer for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. Spring Semester of 2017 she had the opportunity to study abroad for five months in Granada, Spain and in August of 2019 she went with members of the Earlham College Theatre Department to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform a new work, The Misadventures of Martin Hathaway, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Grace loves to sing and play the piano (Billy Joel’s her favorite), she devours fictions of all kinds, dabbles in creative writing, and is learning how to knit. As an autistic woman, she also has a vested interest in autistic self-advocacy, and disability advocacy in general. This year she is beyond thrilled to put her passions and creativity to good use at FriendshipWorks Inc.

FriendshipWorks mission is to reduce social isolation, enhance the quality of life and preserve the dignity of seniors in Boston and Brookline. We accomplish this mission by recruiting and training volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to provide a range of services including: long-term social visitation, short-term task assistance, and accompaniment on medical appointments. Our PetPals, MusicWorks and Relaxation Through the Arts programs bring the joys of pets, music, artistic expression and movement to older adults in senior buildings, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. We serve adults 60+ (55+ if they have vision or hearing loss) who live in Boston or Brookline.

In 2014, FriendshipWorks celebrated its 30th year of service to elders in Boston and Brookline. Since its inception, FriendshipWorks has assisted over 23,400 Boston-area elders, providing almost half a million hours of donated care.

Position Description: The Outreach and LGBT Program Associate engages in overall agency outreach to raise awareness about FriendshipWorks’ programs and mission. They play a key role in overseeing our community ambassador team, scheduling presentations and tabling events, providing support for agency events, and reaching out to faith communities. Additionally, they will spearhead our LGBT Elder Advocate project. Working with our Medical Escort and Friendly Helping staff, they will develop inclusive and accessible programming the addresses the needs of LGBT seniors in Boston. The best way to share about programs is to have direct experiences, thus this position will set aside time to provide direct service to seniors in Boston (medical escorts, short-term friendly helping and potentially be matched for long-term social visitation).

This partnership is made possible by generous support from The Friends Foundation for the Aging.

Zephyr Sheedy grew up in a rural area of Leesburg, Virginia. She attended school in Richmond, Virginia where she earned a degree in Filmmaking at VCUarts. Zephyr grew up going to Goose Creek Friends Meeting and for the past few years she has worked as a counselor at Opequon Quaker Camp. These communities have had an large impact on her, establishing her connection to nature and passion for working with others. After spending her last four years in art school, Zephyr is excited for this very new year in Minneapolis where she will be working with NorthPoint Health and Wellness as a Community Health Navigator.

NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, is a community-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing integrated access to a broad array of social and human services designed to meet basic needs and promote health and self-reliance. NorthPoint Inc. is co-located on the campus of NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center (NorthPoint Clinic), a full-service Federally Qualified Health Center operated in partnership with Hennepin County and the community. The two organizations share an integrated mission and report to a common CEO and Board of Directors, providing “one-door” access to integrated medical, dental, behavioral, housing, food, education, employment and other services and supports.

NorthPoint’s primary service area, zip codes 55411 and 55412, is a culturally rich, ethnically diverse area that is home to more than 56,000 residents, 73% of whom are people of color including 44% Black/African American, 14% Southeast Asian, 7% Latinx, and 6% multiracial. Centuries of structural racism that have excluded people of color from equal access to housing, community supports, and opportunities for economic mobility have led to concentrated levels of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, chronic illness, chemical dependency, low graduation rates, and other individual and community challenges in North Minneapolis. NorthPoint was launched in 1968 as part of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty. Originally called Pilot City, NorthPoint was one of 13 neighborhood service centers established by and for low-income communities across the U.S., with the goal to eliminate poverty and racial injustice and build The Great Society through targeted, long-term investments. Neighborhood service centers offered access to affordable health care along with innovative programs to promote economic development, education, and social justice. We continue today as NorthPoint.

Community Health Navigator
Care coordination for our Living Well at Home program for elders. To assist adults age 65 and older to stay healthy and in their homes and community. This will involve working with our primary care and human service teams in providing and connecting seniors to needed services. There will be a need to make home visits to better understand the whole person. While this program serves all of our elder clients, it also targets Latino and Hmong patients. A Spanish language speaker would assist us in this work. Previous health care or community health work experience is helpful but not essential. There will also be some ongoing work as needed with our food shelf and mobile food shelf and our produce distribution program, as well as other organizational needs but the primary work will be with the elders.

This partnership is made possible by generous support from The Friends Foundation for the Aging.

FFA is a Quaker endowment focusing on support for aging Friends and the issues/transitions that come with that process. They are excited about inviting young adult seekers into meaningful work and relationship with aging adults in their communities. 
 
For more information about Friends Foundation for the Aging and their work, mail:
Friends Foundation for the Aging | PO BOX 1081 | Langhorne, PA 19047.

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