SILVER SUMMIT
Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging Silver Summit – Call to Action!
By Cindy Johnson, Board Chair
Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging has been going strong for 3 years now. With that being said, it was decided to take this work to the next level. After finding a date, location, and other logistics, a SILVER SUMMIT CALL to ACTION was held on April 20, 2023, at the Life Together Center in Peoria, Illinois. ALL Community-based organizations that serve older adults and ALL interested community stakeholders were URGED to attend the summit. The purpose was to engage with stakeholders to be part of creating a community-based center for older adults in Peoria, Illinois. A place for socialization opportunities and renewed life purpose. A place for wellness programs to help with mind, body, and spirit. A place for connections to community resource information.
Here is an overview of Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging.
WHAT: Community-Based Center for Older Adults for the Peoria Area in the making.
A NEW nonprofit formed and achieved Nonprofit status 501c(3) in 2020
Mission
The mission of the GCPA is to enhance the lives of older adults through education, connections, and innovation.
The goal is to provide a place that celebrates the grace and dignity of older adults.
Purpose
The Purpose of GCPA is to promote continued vitality and dignity for older adults
The GCPA seeks to address two key problems connected with aging in the community.
1) Keeping older adults engaged and connected with their community.
2) Promoting the ability of older adults to Age in Place as they desire.
The Vision of GCPA is:
To advocate and create a culture within the Peoria community which
salutes aging as a privilege,
designs opportunities for older adults to give back to the community by sharing their gifts, talents, lived experiences, and
generates experiences to encourage the overall well-being of older adults in an inclusive environment
WHY: Facts and Need for Community Center for Older Adults (persons age 50 years and above)
Research consistently supports physical, mental, emotional, and social activity for healthy aging
Peoria is the 8th largest city in Il and the ONLY ONE without a center designated to promote the well-being of older adults
Graceland will be a COMMUNITY center with opportunities to socialize, take classes, exercise, and find resources to help.
Graceland will NOT be an adult daycare such as Senior World and NOT a residential location or a memory care facility.
WHO:
Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging seeks to serve those adults in the greater Peoria, Illinois area age 50 years and older.
WHERE: To be determine
As assessed per interviews and potential locations
Prefer central location on bus line.
Local churches and facilities until facility obtained feasible
WHEN:
Stepwise “organic” growth
Gather community support and interest
Funding resources based on interest, participation, feasibility
Funding and Support: Grants, presentation, interviews, service gap analysis, stakeholder buy-in
Short term goals 2022-2023
Graceland Showcases 2022 to inform the public of what the goal is; continue based on YOUR responses
Intermediate goals 2023-2024
Graceland Programs in the community in established locations, perhaps monthly.
Solicit support from grants, community stakeholders, and city/state/federal resources.
Long-term goals 2025-2030
Central Office with community programs in area locations with self-sustaining funding, staff, resources
Current Resources for the Community
Check our website often for resources and updates.
Gracelandcenter.com is our website, Graceland Center is our Facebook site
Call 833-503-7773 and leave a message. We will call you back shortly.
Highlights from the Summit:
There were about 80-90 attendees who registered to attend from various agencies and areas of expertise in attendance. Upon entering the Life Together Center everyone was checked in and confirmed their lunch order preference. Complimentary snacks, coffee, juice, tea, and water were available. As the summit began everyone listened to the Introduction with Program Overview and intended outcome from Founder and Executive Director, Peggy Jacques. Information was shared on Older Adults’ Role in the Social Fabric of Communities followed by an Overview of Graceland Center's purpose with rationale. There were wonderful examples shared from neighboring centers to help with the engagement and Call to Action from the Miller Center of Pekin and the Central Illinois Senior Services of Springfield.
Table discussions were held during the summit to capture responses to these questions:
1. Why is a Senior Center critical to Peoria?
2. Why is a Senior Center critical to the mission of their entity?
3. What are the true barriers of those you serve to get their needs met?
4. What outcomes would we measure for success?
5. What needs to happen to make the center financially sustainable?
6. What resources can be garnered to make this happen?
After about 30 minutes of table discussions, the summaries were shared with all in attendance, followed by lunch and other examples. Examples were shared from YMCA Macomb, Living Well in LeRoy, Illinois, and Humana Neighborhood Center.
After an engaging day of collaboration, ideas, feedback, and buy-in the Summit was closed with Next Steps, Resources, and closing. Feedback captured revealed that Peoria agencies and representatives greatly support the creation of a center here in Peoria and are willing to collaborate to make this a reality.
Currently, we are working on creating and finding satellite locations in 4 areas of Peoria to reach as many seniors as we can. We are recruiting volunteers and will be creating an Advisory Board to help us with this work. Now is the time to be visible in the community and connect with seniors to help meet their needs and provide the resources they may be looking for. This will also help us to obtain funding through grants and donations as we continue working for our own physical location. Until then, we will be on the move with satellite locations most likely monthly in the future. We will let you know when those are scheduled.