Village Coordination

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Villages are grassroots community organizations that support their members’ aging in place needs through social engagement and volunteer help. The national movement’s inception was the Beacon Hill Village, launched in 2001 in Boston. Currently, there are nearly 200 such community organizations across the country.The Village Coordination is a one-of-a-kind program implemented by the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Area Agency on Aging in early2014. It was created in response to community advocacy efforts of the local villages and the Commission on Aging (COA)1.Its objective is to facilitate the growth and sustainability of villages across the community. Special effort is dedicated to capacity building among diverse communities Since January 2014, the program has facilitated the launch of six new villages. Eight communities begun robust planning for their villages and over 20 communities have expressed an interest in developing a village. Local faith communities are interested in the village concept and are either working on their unique village model or supporting a village in their community. Of the seventeen active villages, four serve a diverse or low-income community.