Arbor West Neighbors - AWN -  is a non-profit organization in Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park building a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-generational community where all older adults are valued, age with dignity, and enjoy opportunities for growth and engagement.  

 

Our members participate in a variety of activities: events such as member meetups, programs on a wide variety of topics of relevance to older adults, interest groups and many advocacy efforts with local and wider impact.

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We invite you to earn your Civics service learning credit by doing something with us.  If you decide to work with us, we will ensure you have a meaningful experience, including:

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•  Supervision by one of our members

• Clarity of expectations for a specific task

• Feedback during and after your assignment

• Any further assistance you might wish in preparing for your class presentation, posting a note about your experience,                          or providing a reference for a college or job application.

 

Bottom line – we want this experience to be of mutual benefit to Arbor West Neighbors and to you.

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Joseph DiMaso, OPRFHS Class of 2023 completed a student internship with us the summer of 2024.  He created this video about his experience to encourage others to get involved in volunteer activities serving the community.

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Here is a sampling of some of the assignments we’re thinking about. This list will keep evolving and we welcome your suggestions as well.

 

Programs

Eight times a year we produce a program relevant to older adults on a variety of topics. These programs are open to the general public at no cost. We would welcome your participation in a program. Our expectation is that you would interact with members and guests during and after the presentation to get a sense of what and why this topic is important to older adults in our community. Sometime after the presentation, we’d expect the student volunteers to meet with 2 -3 AWN members to share your reactions and ideas in a rich, intergenerational discussion. Additional help might include registering participants, room setup/cleanup, help run AV equipment.

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Asset Mapping

A few years ago, AWN did a survey of organizations that provide services for older adults in our community. Services run the gamut from food access to health services to transportation services and much more. We are in the process of verifying and updating this information. There are many possible ways to help:

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• Help create a script to use for contacting service provides

• Contact service providers to verify and update information

• Help prepare materials to share this information

• Help develop a resource guide for print or web distribution

 

Community Outreach

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• Help us get better known in the community. This might include writing articles that could be submitted to newspapers

• Help us identify organizations in our community to share information about AWN and possibly develop partnerships

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Technology

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• Train us how to better use Google Drive, including creating a simple training manual for new users – especially for email, calendar, surveys

• Help us determine if and how to use SignUp Genius

• Provide technical help for our members with phones, computers, general software and applications

• Website – WIX – check functionality especially links; search how to create members-only pages to reduce trolls and bots

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Engagement

AWN members would value the opportunity to engage with young people and share each of their perspectives on any number of things. 

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• Just listening and sharing one on one or in a small group is a valuable way to create community. Even about one hour each with one person would be powerful. This might be of particular interest if you are thinking in majoring in psychology or gerontology.

•  Interview members to help them tell their life story – then create documents and media that they could share with their family and friends. This might be a good way to utilize your interest and skills in journalism.

• Work with a member to create a photographic or videographic experience of their life in Oak Park. This might be for someone who is no longer able to get around town easily, but wants to remember what their house looked like, or how downtown has changed. 

 

Next steps

Gil Herman is AWN’s designated overall student volunteer coordinator. If you are interested in earning your Civics service learning credit with us, text or call Gil at 708-207-1879 or email him at Gil@ManagingHorizons.com. Let us know what it interests you and why and when you might want to schedule something.  

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Thanks so much for your interest. We look forward to working with you!