India Post News Service

FREMONT: The City of Fremont Human Services Department has received a grant award of $300,000 from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care.

This two-year grant will fund the development of a program called The Community Ambassador Program for Seniors (CAPS). The CAPS proposal was developed by a collaborative effort of five community organizations who have been working closely with the City of Fremont and the Tri-City Elder Coalition to identify how to better address the needs of underserved seniors within their communities.

These organizations include: the Centerville Presbyterian Church, the Muslim Support Network, Sikhs Engaged in Volunteer Activities, the India Community Center and the Taiwanese Senior Association. CAPS will build capacity to serve seniors in their own communities, in their own language, within their own cultural norms, and will do so where seniors live, worship, socialize and learn. "We are very pleased to have received this prestigious grant. It is a privilege to collaborate with such dedicated and caring partners to reach seniors who are currently underserved," stated Mary Anne Mendall, City of Fremont Human Service's Administrator of Aging & Family Services Division. The city of Fremont Human Services Department has a long history of partnering with community organizations in serving older adults.

Yet there remains a significant number of seniors who are underserved due to: lack of awareness of services, physical isolation, inability to speak English, and cultural barriers. "Awareness of local programs and services serving seniors is very low in our community, and oftentimes our seniors and caregivers don't know how to locate them," states Moina Shaiq, Program Director of the Muslim Support Network.

"This project will train volunteers from our own communities, who will then relay this information via events, fairs, home visits, and other avenues where older adults and their families congregate". The five community organizations will each hire a site coordinator who will recruit at least 10 volunteers per site. City staff will train site coordinators and volunteers to provide information and referral assistance to seniors in their respective communities, utilizing a curriculum developed and tested by staff from Stanford University Geriatric Education Center and San Jose State University. Site coordinators and volunteers will meet collectively across sites to collaborate with one another and to share best practices.