Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington, Inc.

<div><p><strong>Rose &amp; Harold Kramer Center on Transportation: &nbsp;</strong>Last year, our fleet of handicap-accessible ElderBuses traveled 110,774 miles and made 42,000 passenger trips to the JCA Misler Adult Day Center, JCC senior nutrition programs, grocery store and other destinations.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some of our passengers lived in long-term care facilities while many more lived in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (&#8220;NORCs&#8221;) &#8211; buildings and neighborhoods that weren&#8217;t designed for older adults but over time became havens for them.&nbsp;&nbsp;Through Coming of Age, a multi-agency collaborative, we helped grateful NORC-dwellers in Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland reconnect to the communities they cherish. &nbsp;Over 90% of our passengers rated their experience &#8220;excellent&#8221; or &#8220;very good.&#8221; &nbsp;We served a large and growing clientele of special trip customers, too &#8211; synagogues, churches, party planners and schools, including the Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax, for which we provided regular student transport.</p> <p><strong>Connect-A-Ride Transportation Resource Center: &nbsp;</strong>We helped 2,005 seniors and disabled adults of all ages learn about transportation services that included MetroBuses and Metro Access, Call &#8217;N Ride taxi programs, and private drivers. &nbsp;Our Ride Smart Mobility Workshops helped older people become familiar with the ins and outs of using public transportation. &nbsp;We also chaired a Transportation Providers Roundtable to foster communication, collaboration and joint program development.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Smooth Riding: &nbsp;</strong>We coordinated and confirmed dozens of rides for older adults in Montgomery County, who established Individual Transportation Accounts with us.</p></div>

<div><p><strong>50+ Employment Expo:&nbsp;</strong>On May 21, 2012, 3,700 eager jobseekers jammed the Bethesda North Marriott to meet with representatives from 53 employers and 38 community service organizations.&nbsp;They networked with colleagues and employers while hundreds got a resume review and hundreds more attended educational sessions, all for free.&nbsp;Their hard work (and ours) paid off:&nbsp;An estimated 900 attendees landed a job within 6 months.&nbsp;We didn&#8217;t rest on our laurels, though.&nbsp;Within days of the event, we began planning the next Expo, which will convene on May 17, 2013.</p> <p><strong>The Career Gateway:&nbsp;</strong>Gateway is a JCA University program for serious jobseekers age 50 and better.&nbsp;It offers 30 hours of intensive classroom training in small groups, take-home materials, a long-term mentor and individual attention. During Fiscal Year 2012, Gateway served 45 men and women, many of whom had been unemployed a year or more.&nbsp;Within weeks of graduating, however, 70% of those actively looking for work found it.</p> <p><strong>Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP):&nbsp;</strong>SCSEP served 128 men and women in Montgomery and Frederick counties with incomes at or below 125% of the Federal poverty line. During the year, we helped 23 of those participants land regular, paid jobs through which they earned an average of $11 an hour for 27 hours of weekly work. &nbsp;Thus, those once unemployed seniors are now making $355,212 in annualized, taxable wages, contributing to their families, their nation and their self-esteem.</p> <p><strong>Montgomery Works&#8217; One Stop Employment Center:&nbsp;</strong>Older job seekers need and deserve older worker specialists, and JCA was their specialist at the Montgomery Works&#8217; Center in Wheaton.&nbsp;There, we made referrals to job search resources and education and training programs including our own award-winning SCSEP.</p></div>

<p><strong>Albert &amp; Helen Misler Adult Day Center:&nbsp; </strong>Activity and engagement are the hallmarks of the JCA Misler Center in Rockville, which serves older adults with physical, cognitive or emotional challenges.&nbsp; The day&#8217;s schedule might include a volleyball competition (with a balloon, of course) or a rousing game of &#8220;You Be the Judge&#8221;; a field trip or a musical performance; or a poetry workshop or sing along.&nbsp; Yet every day is a day of fun with people who care &#8211; nurses, social workers, activity professionals and aides.&nbsp; During Fiscal Year 2012, our Misler Center provided 8,000 participant days of care, serving 100 participants who returned to their loving families at night. </p><p><strong>Kensington Club, A Samuel J. Gorlitz Social Day Program:&nbsp; </strong>The Kensington Club is a social club for men and women with diagnosed early memory loss. &nbsp;For the 24 members that JCA was privileged to serve during the year, that meant coffee, conversation and structured programs to foster friendships in an atmosphere of acceptance. And what fun they had -- guest speakers, instructors, and musicians; intergenerational activities; field trips; daily exercise; current events discussions; challenging group games; and more.</p> <p><strong>Caregiver Support Groups:&nbsp; </strong>Our caregiver support group meet twice a month, enabling family members to talk with one another and with specialists in geriatric care about caregiving responsibilities.&nbsp; Each meeting is filled with fellowship, laughter and tears. &nbsp;During Fiscal Year 2012, we inaugurated early-stage dementia support groups as well.</p>

<p><strong>Senior HelpLine and HomeCare Resource Center:</strong>&nbsp; Older adults and family caregivers hunger for information about aging well and for resources to help them.&nbsp; We delighted in bringing our knowledge to those who needed it. Volunteers contributed thousands of service hours, which enabled us to update our massive database of for-profit and nonprofit, public and private resources, answer inquiries and make referrals.&nbsp; Nearly half of those who called were 75 or older and more than two-thirds were women, many of whom lived alone or were caring for an ill or incapacitated loved one.&nbsp; Housing was callers&#8217; top concern followed by employment options and home health.</p><div><strong>JCA University Guidebooks:</strong>&nbsp; In collaboration with Washington Jewish Week, we expanded our series of consumer guidebooks, distributing printed guides at expos and in the newspaper while making downloadable editions available for free via www.AccessJCA.org.&nbsp;</div><p> </p><p><strong>Community Speakers Bureau and Eldercare-in-the-Workplace Programs: &nbsp;</strong>JCA experts on aging conducted educational workshops and supported special events for AARP, the Tikkun Olam Women's Foundation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, GTSI, IQ Solutions, The Beacon Newspapers and many more.</p> <p> </p><p><strong>SeniorTech Computer Training Centers:</strong>&nbsp; In 6 locations across the beltway, 60 volunteers &#8211; site coordinators, trainers, aides and other helpers -- enabled the graduation of 665 newborn &#8220;computer whiz kids&#8221; who embraced technology training to improve their job search or job performance, become better volunteers, expand their communication options, keep pace with the grandkids or simply enjoy learning. &nbsp;Through 5,732 classroom hours of instruction, they learned computer basics, word processing, spread-sheeting, cybersurfing, graphics design and more.</p><div><strong>JCA University courses:</strong>&nbsp; Technology training is only part of the picture! Indeed, our JCA University courses vary widely. &nbsp;We help families improve communication about eldercare, teach safety techniques to bus drivers who serve older or disabled adults, and more.&nbsp;</div> <p> </p><div><strong>Productive Aging Award Dinner:</strong>&nbsp; More than 400 generous friends joined us on May 7, 2012, to blast limiting stereotypes about aging, contribute financially to JCA, and cheer as Edgar M. Bronfman -- businessman, philanthropist and Judaic scholar -- won the Productive Aging Award of 2012.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Website:</strong>&nbsp; Website users came from scores of countries and every continent except Antarctica, and they logged a whopping 1.8 million hits during the year.&nbsp; Visitors to <a href="http://www.accessjca.org/">www.AccessJCA.org</a> accessed the Senior HelpLine database, downloaded informative publications, hyperlinked to helping organizations and learned about aging by reading our questions and answers for aging well.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><strong>Social media: &nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;We launched a Facebook page and LinkedIn profile. &nbsp;(Visit us online!)</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><strong>The National Center for Productive Aging:</strong>&nbsp; Via fee-for-service consultation, JCA helped other institutions make the National Capital Area and the nation be a great place to age.</div>

<div><strong>Heyman Interages Center:&nbsp; </strong>Interages&#8217; 200 volunteers and 6 staff merged into JCA on July 1, 2011, culminating&nbsp;9 months of planning and analysis by JCA leaders who were eager to build upon Interages&#8217; 25-year track record of nurturing meaningful ties between the generations. &nbsp;During the fiscal year, 203 older volunteers donated 5,005 hours to help 377 children from pre-K through high school improve academically, socially and emotionally. &nbsp;In addition, 241 youth volunteers supported 221 frail seniors living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. &nbsp;And we helped scores of professionals and organizations learn from our success in building age-integrated communities.</div>