EngAGE changes lives by transforming affordable senior and multigenerational apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness, and creativity.
EngAGE is pleased and grateful to announce that we have received a grant in the amount of $41,530 from The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). This grant allows us to provide multi-week art workshops, including culminating events, for residents in our Los Angeles County communities.
Formed in 1925, DCA’s mission is to strengthen the quality of life in Los Angeles by stimulating and supporting arts and cultural activities, ensuring public access to the arts for residents and visitors alike.
We’ve been focusing on EngAGE in Northern California recently on social media. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to see what’s happening in all of our communities throughout California and in Oregon.
Laura Mason, Executive Director, EngAGE, Northern California, is responsible for developing strategic partnerships, projects, and resources to expand our award-winning program model in Northern California. As a member of the senior management team, Laura also plays an active role in developing and driving EngAGE’s overall strategy, governance, and vision for the future.
Earlier this year, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation renewed their generous one-year grant of $150,000 to EngAGE to support the expansion in the Bay area of our service model which works to reduce the isolation and loneliness of older adults. We are so grateful for their continuing support.
EngAGE Program Highlights
In May, Laura Mason sent a huge thank you to Home Depot for their generous donation of garden supplies. All would be used to beautify the community garden at The Huntington Senior Apartments in Morgan Hill, CA. Laura is pictured below with manager Angel Miramontes (right) and Yesenia Millan (left) of store 8752 in Morgan Hill.
And here are the results: The large fountain in the main courtyard that once held dirt is now filled with a lovely array of flowers! In addition to Home Depot’s welcome donation, Johnson Lumber gave a generous discount on products used for the beautification of the garden area. Program Director Cassandra (at far right) reports that the residents have been thrilled to see the colorful life that has been created in what was a very dry, brown area. In addition to the beautiful flowers, the garden now has multiple tomato, cantaloupe, green onion seedlings, and basil plants. To celebrate, an outdoor gathering was held on the Friday before Mother’s Day.
At Crescent Park in Richmond, CA, residents were introduced to a new tablet “rental” program hosted by EngAGE. In exchange for a tablet, they must participate in at least one EngAGE programming event per week. With these tablets, residents have been able to access not only virtual EngAGE programming, but also to enjoy other personal digital activities like connecting with family and friends while sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Program Director Liv visited each participating resident to assist with setting up their tablets with wifi connections, email, and Zoom login, plus any other tech assistance requested. The tablets are provided on a monthly basis with check-ins from Liv. Additional tablets were made available in May, allowing ten residents to have easy and vital technology access.
Also at Crescent Park, residents began a weekly art class earlier this year with Teaching Artist Hugh Leeman of Art with Elders. The organization also provides the art materials: colored pencils, sketch pads, pastels. Hugh, a well-traveled, experienced artist, asks participants to bring mementos and stories to the class, and to dig deeper to connect their personal histories to what they’re creating. Some residents have invited their younger family members, helping to shape this class into a special intergenerational opportunity. Pictured is Margie, who is delighted by her drawing of a lighthouse.
The second floor patio and garden at 808 A Street in Hayward, CA, has gotten a makeover! What used to be covered in dandelion weeds was cleared by Program Director Liv and helpful residents (and some of their family members) in efforts to prepare for a summer of gathering outdoors. Residents added new seeds to the community garden, including watermelon, tomatoes, thyme, chives, and oregano. Pictured here (bottom row), you can see the beautifully cleared space and detailed photograph of the watermelon garden marker. Also pictured is 808 resident George sharing a beautiful vintage gardening book owned by his mother, and helping in the garden. Gardening is a beautiful metaphor for how this property is beginning to emerge from a dark year into a year of light and growth as a community.
Also at 808 A Street, residents hold their freshly planted succulents during Program Director Liv’s “Build Your Own Succulent” event. Participants were able to select a pot and succulent, then were guided through tips and tricks to plant it. Materials were provided by EngAGE, and residents were able to bring their new plant-friends home. What a great launch for outdoor activities in the community’s newly-made-over garden and patio area!
This past spring was an exciting one for 15 artistic residents of the Empress, Le Nain, and Windsor communities in San Francisco. At their Swim Gallery group art show, John stood proudly in front of his two squares in the community’s Hope Quilt (one gold with his initials MH painted on them, and the second his re-interpretation of the American flag), and Maurice took in his photography of the city (made possible by EngAGE’s purchase of a disposable camera) with Program Director Mattie. A closing reception allowed artists to celebrate their success, and the quilt was subsequently exhibited at the Tenderloin Art Fair, along with individual artwork. Then, artist Bautista got back to work immediately on his birdhouse creation as art classes continued!
EngAGE takes a whole-person approach to community and creative, healthy living by providing arts, wellness, lifelong learning, community building, and intergenerational programs to thousands of residents in affordable senior and multi-generational apartment communities in California and Oregon. We appreciate your interest and support!
We are pleased to announce the addition of Thomas Cudjoe, MD, MPH, to our esteemed EngAGE National Board of Directors. Please visit our website to see the entire list of dedicated board members.
Thomas K. M. Cudjoe, MD, MPH Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Endowed Assistant Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology Core Faculty – Center on Aging and Health Caryl & George Bernstein Human Aging Project Scholar – Center for Innovative Medicine
Dr. Cudjoe is a board certified internal medicine and geriatric medicine physician. In addition, he is a Major in the United States Army Reserves Medical Corps, a graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders Program, and Vice-President of the East Baltimore Community School – Henderson Hopkins school board. Dr. Cudjoe has served as a Commissioner to the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Foundation for Social Connection and the Administration for Community Living National Coordinating Center: Connecting Older Adults and People with Disabilities Clearinghouse, Scientific Advisory Group. Dr. Cudjoe is actively engaged in the medical care of homebound older adults via the Johns Hopkins Home Based Medicine program. He is also a recipient of the National Institute on Aging Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists’ Transition to Aging Research and a Johns Hopkins University KL2 Mentored Career Development Award.
Dr. Cudjoe is focused on understanding how social factors influence the health of older adults and developing strategies to improve the health trajectory of older adults. His research has focused on identifying risk factors for social isolation and currently examines the relationship between social connections and health outcomes.
Dr. Cudjoe received his undergraduate degree (summa cum laude) in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Hampton University and was active in the Honors College and Army ROTC program (Distinguished Military Graduate-Top 20% of Graduates in Nation). He graduated from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and earned his Master’s degree in public health in health policy at Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Howard University Hospital in Washington DC, and his clinical and research fellowship in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
At this conference, Tim Carpenter, EngAGE CEO/Founder, will be co-presenting the workshop, “Intentional Intergenerational Communities: The Ultimate Shared Spaces,” with Derenda Schubert, PhD, Executive Director, Bridge Meadows. EngAGE was instrumental in the development of our ACE/121 and PacArts intergenerational arts colonies, and we provide innovative, creative programming to Vermont Family Apartments, an intergenerational community developed specifically to provide homes for grandparents caring for grandchildren. Get details about the conference at https://www.guconf.org
Cassandra Iniguez, Program Director, Northern CA (Huntington) – Ms. Iniguez received her Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, and is currently working towards her Master’s degree in Public Health with an emphasis on Health Promotion and Education. Cassandra worked as a Program Leader at the YMCA of Silicon Valley for several years where she realized her passion for working with and for others, and in service to the community. In her free time, Cassandra is a dog mom to Reeses, her adorable Yorkie, and an avid CrossFit athlete.
Laura Mason, EngAGE Executive Director, Northern California, reports: “A huge thank you to Home Depot for the generous donation of garden supplies! All will be used to beautify the community garden at The Huntington Senior Apartments in Morgan Hill, California.”
Laura (center) with store Manager Angel Miramontes (right) and Assistant Manager Yesenia Millan (left) of store 8752 in Morgan Hill, CA
Yesenia Millan, Assistant Manager, with Program Director Cassandra Iniguez and Gloria, a resident of The Huntington Senior Apartments
DAVID QUAMMEN is an American author and journalist whose sixteen books include The Song of the Dodo (1996), The Reluctant Mr. Darwin (2006), and The Tangled Tree (2018). His 2012 book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, described the dynamics of viral spillover from wildlife into humans and predicted a coming pandemic, possibly caused by a coronavirus. Quammen’s magazine work has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and The New York Review of Books, among other magazines, and his Op Eds in the New York Times and other newspapers. He’s a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award and has received several awards for his books. He shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of the book American Zion, plus two borzois, a cross-eyed cat, and a rescue python named Boots. ~ Website here.
BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN is a historian, conservationist, and author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University and has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. Betsy lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. ~ Website here.
