What if a community could be a positive intervention, create work force development opportunities, provide elders opportunity for purposeful interactions, address needs of at-risk youth, embrace the community at-large, and include families as part of the fabric of an intentional, integrated neighborhood? Live Together™ is a multi-generation community concept that includes an Engagement Center with training, education, and socialization opportunities for at-risk youth, elders, and families. Apartment living with concierge and coordination services and assisted living care are part of the living model. It is time to stop losing generations of youth aging out of the child welfare system, stop warehousing older adults, and stop segregating multiple generations. Healthcare is having a staffing crisis and at-risk youth need opportunities – education, training, and mentorship. Partnerships with local colleges and health systems with a wrap-around of a supportive community model and reasonable cost housing is a formula for success. The Live Together™ education model provides “person-centered” focus to care services as the norm in all healthcare settings. Leading with the heart can make a difference in many people’s lives – removing silos and supporting systemic initiatives that reflect community needs. The opportunity is now!
Live Together – An Intergenerational Community takes into account the full picture of why we have not reached a tipping point for providing person-centered care environments. For the last 8 years, JSR Associates, Inc, the Facility Guidelines Institute, and the Mayer-Rothschild Foundation has been breaking down barriers within the regulatory environment to improve the care and physical environments for elders. JSR Associates, Inc. has volunteered with The Children’s Home for over two decades. Jane Rohde, the principal and visionary of Live Together and a volunteer parent for two young women who lived at The Children’s Home from the ages of 13 through 19, still sees these young women struggle to further their lives and their children’s lives at their current age of 41 years old. If Live Together can support young people aging out of foster care and social services and older adults to have an opportunity for purposeful living to encourage their success and future well-being, this is an enormous step forward for providing solutions to existing problems within our aging services and child welfare systems throughout our country. With Live Together as a successful model, there is the opportunity for replication and more importantly promoting quality of live for two of our most vulnerable populations – children and older adults.