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The following three organizations and projects were selected:
Area Agency on Aging: The fellow will work on AAA's Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis Initiative, researching, defining and measuring the scope of the current challenge to finding and keeping workers who provide direct services to older adults in our region. In collaboration with a wide variety of partners, he or she will then propose solutions and develop strategies for building a sustainable, stable long-term care workforce.
YWCA Dayton: Building on the YWCA's "One Imperative: the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary," the fellow will lead a two-part initiative, evaluating each of the YWCA program's internal practices, policies and procedures around racial justice and convening a Dayton Region Coalition Against Hate. The first part will help the YWCA understand the impact of programs and services on people of color and how each program contributes to the elimination of racism. The coalition will promote inclusive values, assist victims, enable timely responses to hate crimes and bias incidents, and conduct community education on the causes and prevention of bias, bigotry, and racism.
Ruth Parker Frost Center for Abundant Aging/United Church Homes: The fellow will work with staff and volunteers to develop a curriculum and video for small-group education, aimed at reframing participants' perception of aging and challenging the prevalence of "ageism" in our culture. He or she also will organize focus groups and other means of evaluating the new tools, which will be used in community and faith-based settings.
“The initiatives we chose demonstrate the best opportunities for effectively using the experience of highly skilled older adults to make a major difference in our community. They target ageism, racism and the challenge of filling jobs serving vulnerable people – big issues, with the potential for big impact,” Noreen Willhelm, Senior Fellow, said in a statement.
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Candidates for the fellowships must be retired or career-transitioning older adults with professional, management or executive-level experience. During the fellowship period, fellows will commit 20 to 32 hours per week for a renewable 12-month time, for which they will earn a stipend of $25,000 each.
Applicants for the fellowships must send a resume with a brief cover letter to Noreen Willhelm at nwillhelm@daytonfoundation.org, or by mail to The Dayton Foundation, 40 N. Main Street, Suite 500, Dayton, Ohio, 45423. More information is available online at www.daytonfoundation.org/delmarencore.html. The deadline to apply is Friday, June 7.
Since 2017, the Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative has placed fellows with seven organizations, working on major projects, engaging older adults as Encore volunteers and changing the conversation around aging, according to the Dayton Foundation. The work is funded by a grant from the DMH-Dayton Fund of The Dayton Foundation.
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