In December of last year, our congregation provided a grant to AgeWell Middle Tennessee and United Way of Greater Nashville to fund a planning initiative for Financial Empowerment for Older Adults in our community. We have received the following update from AgeWell Middle Tennessee.
AgeWell and United Way of Greater Nashville convened a kick off meeting late January to begin a six month collaborative planning effort. 27 individuals from 16 organizations including nonprofits, faith communities and government departments met to discuss the economic insecurity facing older Nashvillians, and to create a vision for, building upon the successful Financial Empowerment Center, a coordinated support network that empowers older adults to improve their financial well-being. Our vision includes core services of
individual financial counseling,
benefit enrollment assistance,
resource navigation support,
legal advice and
help generating supplemental income.
Following the initial meeting, AgeWell partnered with Vanderbilt’s Qualitative Research Core and conducted four focus groups with older adults in different areas of Davidson County. The participant feedback is being compiled and coded at this time, and a summary report will help our collaborative develop a person-centered, coordinated network that better serves older adults. We are busy reviewing model programs from around the country, mapping the landscape of services and imagining what an ideal system would look like for Davidson County. We are also exploring funding opportunities to support the new network.
Thank you to the members of the Vine Street congregation for your trust in us, and the support to help build a collaborative financial empowerment solution informed by and designed with older adults.