NEXT Village SF

Our largest program is our original Village program. In 2022, with the resumption of face-to-face contact, our most active Village program was our services and support to our members, largely provided by our trained volunteers who provided at least 4,000 hours of support and services. These included friendly phone calls, in-person friendly visits, transportation for grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions or getting to activities, technical support, friendship and companionship, walking partners, help with chores and much more.Isolation is a common problem for seniors and has been shown to be detrimental to both mental and physical health. In addition to services and support for our members, we also provide a variety of social, educational and cultural activities to address the problem of isolation. These activities include monthly lunches, reading groups and happy hours at various local venues; monthly watercolor and writing classes; different exercise and meditation activities; walking tours of the neighborhood; and presentations and lectures on topics such as health issues, de-cluttering, travels, San Francisco history, communications, financial issues for seniors, and aging.In 2022, we provided nearly 600 social, cultural and educational events. In addition, we produce a monthly newsletter that lists our events and contains educational articles, information about resources and community events and activities, links to resources and other informative information including a Chinese language item.We also work with 3 contractors to produce a biweekly podcast that hosts guest speakers and discusses topics of interest to seniors.

Our other program is our District 2 University (D2U) program, a combination of Zoom and live programs. D2U is a program funded by San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS) since 2020. It was funded after a study revealed that the District 2 Supervisorial District in San Francisco had among the lowest number of social and educational services per senior population of all the districts in San Francisco.Therefore, our mission for this program is to provide educational, cultural and social activities for seniors in District 2.An Advisory Committee of District 2 residents advises our staff on program ideas. Several times a week, we organize tours in San Francisco of D2U resources for seniors, historical sites, nature tours, or other San Francisco landmarks.Weekly language conversation groups include French, Italian, German and Spanish. A mens or womens group takes place 2cea month.Monthly programs include a Stress Busters workshop and an improvisation class. Examples of education and cultural meetings include financial planning, and speakers on the history of aspects of San Francisco.Social activities include coffee and conversation at local, District 2, cafes and restaurants. Depending on the topic and type of activity, attendance at each program can range from 4 or 5 to between 80 and 100. All programs are free of charge and open to all. Based on our contract with SF DAS, we must serve a given number of seniors from District 2. We have exceeded all the goals in our contract.In 2022, we served 87 unduplicated seniors from District 2 and many of them attended multiple programs on a regular basis.Our total DAS contract does not cover all of our expenses.We use our private fundraising to fund those expenses not covered by the contract.