ETHOS RECEIVES $30,000 GRANT FROM THE BOSTON FOUNDATION FOR ITS JP@HOME PROGRAM
Grant to Support Outreach and Member Recruitment Efforts in Jamaica Plain
Boston, MA (August 14, 2015) – Ethos announced today that it has been awarded a grant of $30,000 by the Boston Foundation for JP@Home, a new aging-in-place initiative of the 41 year-old elder services nonprofit. JP@Home helps Jamaica Plain residents remain in their own homes as they age and stay connected to their friends and neighbors.
“JP@Home has had a positive impact on the lives of many Jamaica Plain residents by organizing activities such as dining clubs and outings to local cultural events; providing referrals for home maintenance and repair services; and spear-heading seminars designed to give members the information needed to age healthfully,” said Dale Mitchell, executive director of Ethos. “The grant from the Boston Foundation will enable Ethos to recruit new members and grow our capacity to reach out to the Jamaica Plain community.”
Jamaica Plain is one of the most economically, ethnically and linguistically diverse neighborhoods of Boston with more than 4,000 residents over the age of 60 accounting for 14.4% of Jamaica Plain’s total population. According to the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report 61.6% of the neighborhood’s residents over the age of 65 suffer from 4 or more chronic conditions, including 40.6% with diabetes, 48.3% with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis and 78.3% with hypertension, 36.9% have been diagnosed with depression, and 51.9% with anemia, all with rates higher than the state averages.
JP@Home not only provides access to discounted services but it also creates a community of like-minded individuals looking to stay active, build a network of support, share hobbies and interests and develop friendships.
JP@Home is a unique version of Village model, first developed by Beacon Hill Village. It was initiated and organized by a grassroots group of Jamaica Plain seniors who recognized that in order to successfully live at home as they aged they would need to have easy access to high quality and affordable home health services and providers.
JP@Home already has more than 90 dues-paying members and an active Advisory Council which meets monthly to provide advice, guidance, recommendations and feedback to Ethos. They also help generate new educational, social and community building events, assist with program operations, provide technical assistance and serve as community advocates for JP@Home.
“Those of us involved with this project grew up in the 1960s and we have very activist spirits,” said Elsa Bengel a JP@Home member and co-chair of the program’s Advisory Council. “I’ve lived in Jamaica Plain for 30 years and even so, my social connections were thin. JP@Home has introduced me to engaged, active and smart neighbors and expanded my network of friends.”
“My partner and I were thinking one day we would move to a continuing care retirement community. Then I read about JP@Home,” said Penny Yunuba, a JP@Home member who is on the program’s Advisory Council. “There was no doubt in my mind that this was what we need to carry out our plan: the support to stay in our home and a community of people with whom to learn how to grow older.”
Membership in JP@Home is open to adult residents of Jamaica Plain, based upon payment of an annual membership fee of $495. Membership entitles JP residents to effective, high quality, free or discounted benefits and services that promote successful aging-in-place. For more information about JP@Home or sign up to become a member, please visit www.ethocare.org or call 617.522.6700.
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of some $1 billion. In 2014, the Foundation and its donors made more than $112 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of nearly $112 million. The Foundation is proud to be a partner in philanthropy, with nearly 1,000 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.
ABOUT ETHOS
Ethos is a private, non-profit organization established in 1973 that is dedicated to promoting independence, dignity and well-being among the elderly and disabled through quality, affordable and culturally-appropriate home and community-based care As a state-authorized Aging Services Access Point (ASAP), Ethos administers the Elder Protective Services and Money Management Programs for the entire city of Boston and also coordinates all the non-institutional home and community-based services for elderly and disabled residents of the southwest Boston neighborhoods of West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Mattapan. For more information, visit www.ethocare.org.