Celebrates Age 2017 Annual Report Selfhelp | 2017 I Contents
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SELFHELP COMMUNITY SERVICES, INC. & SCS FOUNDATION, INC. BUILDING A WORLD THAT CELEBRATES AGE 2017 ANNUAL REPORT SELFHELP | 2017 I CONTENTS Executive Letter 02 Mission 04 Selfhelp by the Numbers 08 Holocaust Survivor Program 10 Virtual Senior Center 12 Living Independently 14 Senior Centers 16 Case Management 18 Bricks and Services 20 Housing Research 22 Community Guardian Program 24 Home Care 25 Press Highlights 26 2017 Gala 28 Program Descriptions 30 Financials 32 Founders Society 36 Providing Support 39 Working Together 54 Contact Information 58 Officers, Directors, and Management Staff 60 DEAR FRIENDS, Through our work, and the commitment of We want to tell you a story about John. Russian, and Spanish. Over 400 older our partners this year, we made New York a John was a member of Selfhelp’s adults have opportunities to stay connected in their native language, better place to age for our 20,000 clients, and Maspeth Senior Center for years, we look forward to another successful year. attending classes, enjoying meals, and through classes that interest them. being part of a caring community. One We are excited by the challenges day, he suffered a stroke, making it and opportunities of working with a difficult to continue attending the center generation that is living longer – a trend on a regular basis. we all know will continue.This means He was referred to the Virtual Senior developing innovations, technologies, Center (VSC), a Selfhelp program created caring solutions, and more that will to ensure that homebound seniors can enable older adults to stay engaged and stay connected through classes on a live healthy as they age…advances we can Raymond V.J. Schrag (Left) and interactive platform. all hope to benefit from as we age too. Stuart C. Kaplan (Center) Dennis Baum (Right) We are excited by the challenges and of programs and services. Through Join us! Keep in touch through social opportunities of working with a generation our work, and the commitment of our media, join our email list, make a gift, partners this year, we made New York volunteer at a coffee house, facilitate a that is living longer. a better place to age for our 20,000 class on the VSC, or stop by one of “I’m a helper. Being a helpee was very At Selfhelp, we already know what clients, and we look forward to our senior centers. We’d be happy to difficult for me,” John shared. researchers, social workers, and doctors another successful year. hear from you! agree on – a sense of purpose is key to However, John quickly learned that he staying healthy and living a long and can have both roles as a member and meaningful life. John found support and Sincerely, facilitator on the VSC. “It enhanced my meaning through his involvement with life. I gained knowledge. The world is the VSC. Our 20,000 clients also find open. I can go anywhere.” John is also meaning through our affordable housing able to share his knowledge and passion and other active aging programs. with other participants. In the following pages, you’ll learn more With your support, Selfhelp has been about the ways in which your support Raymond V.J. Schrag Dennis Baum Stuart C. Kaplan able to expand the VSC, which is now enables our clients to thrive at home and President, Board of Directors Chairman, SCS Foundation Chief Executive Officer also available in Chinese, Korean, in their communities through a variety 02 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 03 MISSION Selfhelp is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the independence and dignity of seniors and at-risk populations through a spectrum of housing, home health care, and social services and will lead in applying new methods and technologies to address changing needs of its community. Selfhelp will continue to serve as the “last surviving relative” to its historic constituency, victims of Nazi persecution. 04 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 05 We believe in making New York a better place to age. Through new programs that address unmet needs, advocating for government funding and policies, and working with our partners to conduct research, we’re constantly growing and improving. “ A VITAL, SAFE, AND EQUITABLE AMERICA CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED WITH A VISION THAT SEES EVERY AGE AS CENTRAL TO OUR SOCIETY.” – STEPHEN BURGHARDT, PhD [Keynote Speaker at Selfhelp’s Best Practices in Geriatric Social Work Conference, March 2017] 06 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 07 SELFHELP BY THE NUMBERS STATEN ISLAND LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT 27Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Nassau County 20,000 24 CLIENTS LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN BY OUR STAFF 413 923 STAFF STAFF AND HOME CARE WORKERS SPEAK A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH 1,416 HOME CARE WORKERS 08 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 09 IF YOU WERE THERE THEN, THE PROMISE WE MADE WE’RE HERE FOR YOU NOW 81 YEARS AGO REMAINS TRUE TODAY. FOR US, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR PROGRAM THIS IS PERSONAL. We hold sacred the promise that we made in 1936 – to remain the last surviving With support from the Jewish Federations relative for survivors of the Holocaust. With approximately 45,000 survivors living of North America through the National in New York, and 50% living at or below the federal poverty line, the needs of this Holocaust Survivor Initiative, Selfhelp is population grow more intense every year. However, our commitment has never embarking on an outreach program to been stronger. We are honored to have touched the lives of 4,300 survivors last year identify and serve additional survivors of the through personalized case management, home care, and opportunities for dancing, Holocaust as well as train our community socializing, and more. partners to identify survivors and connect them to resources. Average85 age of Holocaust Emergency980 financial assistance grants survivors served by Selfhelp totaling just under $1.1 million were distributed Survivors970 approached us for services Two of the advertisements placed in newspapers as part of for the first time last year Opportunities159 for survivors to be our outreach effort. together, dance, and socialize at coffee houses and other programs SHANGHAI EVENT 11,726 On June 6th, Selfhelp hosted a gathering of Chinese Visits with clients in their homes and residents of Shanghai during World War II and Jewish our community-based offices 54% refugees who lived in the Shanghai Ghetto. Dvir Bar-Gal, Of clients are between the ages of a leading expert on the history of the Shanghai Ghetto, 80 and 100, and 22% are over 90 spoke of the history of Shanghai during World War II. Hours35,500 of case management This event celebrated the connection between Selfhelp’s services provided past and present – the Holocaust survivors who are Clients1,279 report living alone our historic constituency and the reason we were founded back in 1936, along with the Chinese- speaking community we so proudly serve Hours432,000 of home care and today in Flushing and throughout New York. housekeeping services provided Though there were differences in language to over 800 clients and culture, the two communities suffered side by side. They were, and continue to be, linked by a shared experience. The event gave voice to both communities to share their stories of adversity, strength, resilience, and survival. 10 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 11 GETTING CONNECTED THROUGH LIFELONG LEARNING VIRTUAL SENIOR CENTER (VSC) WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE VSC? In creating an online community of We’re excited about the progress seniors with limited mobility, the Virtual we’ve made in providing engaging and Senior Center serves as both a lifeline compelling socialization experiences for and an opportunity for participants to the participants, and we look ahead learn, share their passions, and have fun. to our next steps. We are currently On top of the personal relationships, the working with partners to establish the program serves as a link to the digital VSC as a tool to manage chronic world. Participants gain comfort with conditions and to deliver geriatric On top of the personal technology, utilizing the computer to join mental health counseling. relationships, the classes, email, Skype with their family, program serves read the news, browse the web, play as a link to the games, and more. digital world. Participants408 Of23% classes were facilitated in a language other than English Volunteer106 facilitators Of24% classes had a Jewish theme Classes3,234 in English, Mandarin, Korean, and Russian Average4.5/5 class rating People love the classes on the VSC! Class878 topics, including “10 Inventions Made by Mistake that Changed the World” and “Being Well: Mind Body Connection with Drs. Raik and Lampa” 12 SELFHELP | 2017 SELFHELP | 2017 13 WHAT DOES 有充分的資訊讓我知道如何自 LIVING INDEPENDENTLY 己解決問題, 或如何尋找協助解決問題。 MEAN TO YOU? Getting up in the Having sufficient information FROM SELFHELP CLIENTS morning in a safe place either to guide me to solve and being able to do a problem by myself, or what I want to do. I am knowing where to find help to in charge of my day. solve a problem. Do you know how old I am? I’m 100 and a half; I live in I am my own person and no my own home, have my one can dictate what I should aides come in, and I don’t 我覺得身心無憂無慮, do. I can plan my own day need to bother anybody. 就是生活獨立自主。 and schedule. I can take care Living my life of my own finances and pay on my own my bills. I do not have to Feeling physically terms despite depend on my children. I can and mentally worry There is nothing getting older. free. more important stay in my own apartment and I take care than having my take care of myself.