Affordable Housing Trailblazer, Housing for Seniors Report

Affordable Housing Trailblazer Reflects On Career Devoted To Empowering Seniors
For the week of May 10, 2010
By Judy Caldwell-Midero
Housing for Seniors Report
http://www.seniorsnews.net/emailstory/HSR/4076/7429

For 28 years, Ellen Feingold has served as president and CEO of Brighton, MA nonprofit Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (JCHE). Her June retirement spells the end of an era for JCHE, one in which Feingold led the organization to become one of the largest Jewish-sponsored, affordable senior housing providers in the nation. A nationally regarded expert on the topic of affordable housing, Feingold championed a supportive services-rife housing model now used by nonprofits across the country.  A strong, community-minded organization must be prepared to deconstruct stereotypes, says Feingold, whose early career in the civil rights movement sparked an interest in advocating for senior rights. "I had nothing much to do with seniors before I came here," she tells HSR. "I had the discovery that our culture treats seniors exactly the way we stereotype other persecuted groups. I thought to myself,  'the problem here is that this group of "others" is us'. We're going to be them one day."

Feingold's resolution to change the way society views seniors led to the implementation of Generations Together, an award-winning program that offers seniors the opportunity to connect with and mentor young people. "There's this whole notion that young kids have no idea what 'creaky, old ladies' are really like," contends Feingold. "The aim is to have young people value seniors, the things they can learn from them. By the same token, seniors get to have an entirely different
view of the young people."

Generations places seniors in a variety of mentoring sessions with their younger counterparts, including tutoring sessions and exercise classes. Feingold points to the sensibility of adopting an intergenerational philosophy to wellness. "Think about it,"
she proposes, "We're talking about kindergartners and seniors. Both groups share some of the same challenges, namely balance issues. The outcomes are phenomenal." The program now includes 20 distinct, intergenerational activities that challenge stereotypes on both ends of the aging spectrum, and has garnered support from Harvard School of Medicine and Brandeis University. In 2006, Generations Together received the RespectAbility Award from the National Council on Aging for
an Exemplary Program.  In a bid to educate the rising generation of doctors on how to successfully treat senior patients, Feingold and JCHE teamed up with Tufts University Medical School, whose students interview residents during 6-week-long field work stints. "80 years of medical history means you have to ask the right questions," she notes. "We're helping to teach a new generation of doctors how to care for senior patients."

Like Generations, and the Tufts exchange, JCHE's long list of programs and services is a testament to Feingold's unwavering belief in an affordable housing model that first serves to empower its residents. Educational and cultural programs, health and
wellness resources, transportation services, and aging-in-place support are a few of JCHE's nationally lauded hallmarks that bear the Feingold stamp.  Her summer retirement symbolizes the closing of a chapter for JCHE, the end of a thirty-year campaign for senior advocacy amidst sweeping social change. JCHE has established the Ellen Feingold Fund for Resident Services in its retiring leader's honor to preserve and enhance the supportive services that have become JCHE's calling cards under Feingold's leadership.

For Feingold, too, the summer will be the beginning of a new day, one that is squarely in the hands of providence. "I have been an extraordinarily lucky person. Everything good has fallen into my lap," she asserts. "I try not to plan too much."

Info: For more information on JCHE and the Ellen Feingold Fund for Resident Services, visit JCHE on the web at: www.jche.org.