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Evolve Projects

"In all of us there are undiscovered
gifts, untested strengths."

—John Gardner in On Leadership

Evolve: Re-igniting Self & Community combining learning with concrete action. A civic leadership project gives you an opportunity to test what you are learning about leadership, practice new skills, and possibly find some new strengths in yourself. In the class, you will plan and implement a civic leadership project that:

1. Connects to something you have passion about
2. Requires your leadership
3. Requires that you work collaboratively with others to achieve your goals
   
4. Addresses a public issue, “individual or collective action . . .[that] address[s] a public concern or an unmet human, educational, health care, environmental, or public safety need.” (from Older Americans Act 2006)
5. Produces measurable results
6. Is doable within eight months to a year

No need to worry, though. We will help you each step of the way. By time the class is done you will be amazed what you can accomplish. Take a look at what people have done in the past:

2010-2011 Projects
Download a list of 2010-2011 Evolve Projects (Word format)

2009-2010 Projects
Download a list of 2009-2010 Evolve Projects (Word format)

2008–2009 Projects
Download a list of 2008-2009 Evolve Projects (Word format)

Look below for stories about Evolve projects. The menu on the right has links to additional stories.

A Guide for Life Planning

Peggy Gaard and Gail Skoglund believe that people can make meaningful and purposeful choices throughout their lives. They created Proactive to Stay Active: A Blueprint for Aging by Choice, to make it easier for people to do so and to be sure that those around them support their choices.

Gaard and Skoglund are used to moving in lock step. They share the job of director of Open Circle Senior Day Center in Hopkins.

Last year, they took the Evolve course together, and when it came time to develop their leadership project for the course, they teamed up once again to produce the guide.

Their work at Open Circle gives Gaard and Skoglund insight into the need for individuals to be intentional about what they want as they age. “Too often adult children are not in tune with their parent’s wishes and desires. This lack can lead to disastrous results,” says Gaard. “But people need help in planning. That’s what this guide starts to do.”

The guide asks questions and provides spaces to write answers about home and community, finances, legal status, wellness, staying connected, and what ifs.

Download a copy of the guide or contact Jewish Family & Children's Service of Minneapolis for a printed copy.

The Evolve: Re-igniting Self & Community program helps participants apply their leadership to work that makes life better for all of us. In the course, participants plan and implement a civic leadership project. These are some of recent projects.

Connecting Generations through Story

Stories have tremendous power to shape our lives. Elders are a particularly rich source of stories that can provide valuable insights into personal and cultural history. Joy Gordon, a storyteller herself, was keenly aware of this fact when she started the Evolve class last October. She fashioned her leadership project around finding a way to create environments that invite our elders to tell their stories. Joy developed a set of prompts on story cards, each with a topic and related words, to help families collect and share the stories of their elders. After an intensive development and production process, the cards are now being printed.

“Being witness to a person’s story is one of the greatest gifts you can give,” says Joy. “These cards make it easier to engage elders. As they tell their stories, they affirm their identities—who they have been and what they have contributed. For younger generations, the process is informative and fun.”

The beautifully designed set of 20 cards includes conversational topics such as “The Best,” “Your Essence,” and “Time of Your Life.” Joy suggests using the cards on birthdays, at gatherings, during the holidays, at home with loved ones, or wherever stories are told.

The set sells for $10 plus $2.50 shipping and handling, and is sold through the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis. To order a set for yourself, email jgordon@jfcsmpls.org, call 952-542-4819, or download the order form to print and mail.

Slow, Smooth, and Soft: Tai Chi for Everyone

Steve Rukavina has studied the principles and techniques of Tai Chi for over 10 years. His love for the discipline is the foundation of his Evolve project. “I want to help people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s get the benefits of Tai Chi,” says Steve.

Steve practices a type of Tai Chi that uses the three Ss—Slow, Smooth, and Soft. This type incorporates breathing techniques and movements that help people relax, loosen up and feel energy. “Tai Chi offers seniors the opportunity to increase their flexibility, range of motion and strength,” says Steve. “The practice is adaptable to a person’s physical ability and participants can perform the exercises sitting down or standing up.”

The support that Steve  found in the Evolve class led him to design his own Tai Chi class especially for the needs of people 50 and over. He teaches it Wednesday mornings at the Southwest Senior Club in Minneapolis. He is considering offering a second class this summer because his first class was so well-received.

Patio Gardens for the Elderly

Michelle Obama isn’t the only person thinking about fresh vegetables these days. Evolve student Joann Ellis is too. Last September, she attended an event about helping Hmong immigrants start community gardens.  Ellis left the event wondering how she could assist older adults in obtaining fresh vegetables. 

Joann works with the block nurse program in northeast Saint Paul and knows first-hand how fresh vegetables enhance the well-being of older adults. Seniors often tell her that they used to garden and enjoyed the opportunity to be outdoors. They also say that they find it difficult to afford fresh vegetables.

For her Evolve project, Joann developed a partnership with Ramsey County Master Gardeners. The project will help seniors in her block nurse program grow vegetables in their own patio gardens. She is excited because the effort will provide benefits beyond nutrition, giving older adults purpose and a reason to be active outdoors. The program brings another person from the community into the older adult’s life and reduces his or her isolation, a great benefit.

“Evolve has offered a chance for me to push myself a little bit, network with other people my age, and make a positive impact on the community and the elderly,” says Joann. The program gives seniors the opportunity to do some things they enjoy— gardening and being outside. She will implement her program this summer with six to eight older adults who she will match with Master Gardeners.

Vital Aging in Fosston, Minnesota

Bonnie Stewart worries about the future of her rural community of Fosston, Minnesota, with its population of 1,575. Bonnie notes, “In small rural communities, vital aging and resources are often limited or nonexistent. Services can be 45 miles away, creating challenges for people who want to age vitally in their own communities.”

Rural communities are dealing with declining populations and a rapidly increasing aging population. Bonnie’s Evolve project is titled The Art of Aging: Creating the Masterpiece. She is creating a high-level task force in Fosston to assess the community’s ability to help people live healthy, fulfilling lives as they age.

The task force includes the mayor and leaders from health care, business, and other organizations in the community. They will use the Vital Aging Network’s Vital Communities Assessment tool to measure self-sufficiency, community support, and quality of life in the Fosston community.

By May 2009, Bonnie expects that over 100 people will have completed the assessment or attended a focus group. Based on the results of the assessments and the focus groups, the task force will make recommendations to the City Council. Bonnie’s goal is to have the city council adopt the vital aging recommendations for inclusion in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. She would also like to have the City Council establish a permanent vital aging committee. “I want to be sure that what we put in place now still exists 30 years from now,” says Bonnie.

Ultimately, she wants the task force’s work to result in a replicable model that will help other small, rural communities assess, educate, and develop strategies to assure vital living for all their residents.

 

This section includes the following pages:

• Miriam Carter: Helping Hmong Elders Connect in Their Communities - Miriam's travels have increased her knowledge about cross-cultural connections. Now, she is applying that knowledge in the Hmong community in her Hamline Midway neighborhood in St. Paul. Miriam formed her approach to helping relieve isolation of Hmong elders in last year’s Evolve: Re-igniting Self & Community course.
• Bringing Fresh Foods to Over 200 Families - Cathy DeSutter's evolve project helped the Lakeville Resource Center, a local food shelf, secure storage units for fresh and perishable food. The food shelf serves over 200 families in Lakeville, Apple Valley, Rosemount, Farmington, and Burnsville.
• Helping Children of Prisoners Thrive - In her ALVA project, Mary Ellen Kennedy developed activities that help adults mentor children of prisoners.
• A Small Change in Community; a Big Change in Me - My ALVA project was straightforward. I wanted to get a number of older women together with high school girls to collaborate on a project.