THE PURPOSE OF PARKLAND VILLAGE

• Help our neighbors age in place
• Build community
• Pay it forward

 

WHAT IS PARKLAND VILLAGE?

The primary goal of Parkland Village is to organize a network of volunteers to assist our older or disabled neighbors with transportation to medical appointments, church services, senior activities, and shopping; light household tasks that are no longer possible for our neighbors to perform themselves; and social contact for those who now find themselves alone in their homes. In doing this, we want to make it possible for our aging neighbors to remain among us as long as possible (and, of course, ourselves too, when the time comes).

As an important secondary goal, we hope through our interaction with both recipients of services and other volunteers to get to know each other, establish friendships, and work towards building community in its most basic sense, that of a village, in which we know each other, appreciate each other, and help each other.

Inspired by the national village movement, which consists of almost 300 villages across the U.S. and is supported by the Village to Village Network, Parkland Village was established in 2017 by a number of determined residents in the Parkland Hills neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico. First known as Parkland Hills Village, it was expanded to encompass the two City neighborhoods of Southeast Heights and Parkland Hills as well as some contiguous areas.  (See the description and map of the service area under the tab "About".)  Accordingly, the name was changed to better reflect this larger area.

As of January, 2019, Parkland Village is a New Mexico nonprofit corporation with 501(c)(3) status (so donations to the Village are tax deductible). We have a board of directors, several committees, and a set of bylaws. We have had many social events since the time of incorporation, both in person and on Zoom.  We began to receive membership dues and to provide services in August 2022. 

The services we provide to members are as follows:

• Local transportation (e.g. to doctor appointments, grocery stores)
• Light chores in the home
• Yard work
• Technical assistance (computers, phones, etc.)
• Friendly visits

Annual membership dues are $150 for an individual and $200 for a household.  If you wish to become a member and cannot afford the full dues, let us know, and we can arrange to allow you to pay discounted dues.  We do not turn anyone away for lack of funds.  Members and volunteers must either live in the service area or live within a few blocks of the service area.  If you are interested in membership or volunteering or both, please do not heistate to contact us.

We welcome as members, volunteers, and other participants, regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual and affectional orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, creed, marital status, veteran status, immigration status, religion or political affiliation.

WHAT IS THE VILLAGE MOVEMENT ?

The village movement is an innovative grass-roots effort that has emerged in the last two decades to coordinate support services for older adults and enable them to age in place in their communities.  (See the work of Professor Andrew Scharlach, University of California, Berkeley). The village movement provides one of the most viable options for older adults and people with disabilities, given our increasingly aging society. 

 

 
Aging at Home but not Alone! 

We looked beyond conventional solutions. We wanted more freedom and control than we found in models that focus on single issues, such as housing, medical care, or social activities. We wanted to be active, taking care of ourselves and each other rather than being “taken care of.”

A PROVEN MODEL

Beacon Hill in Boston was the first "village," having its inception in 2002.  Its continuing success inspired the development of almost 300 villages throughout the United States, and it laid the groundwork for the village movement.  There are many variants of the village model.  More than ten years ago, the national Village to Village Network emerged to support the village movement.  You can find the Network's website at https://www.vtvnetwork.org.

A modern and efficient village 

Today, various villages across the nation, including Parkland Village, are using or testing advanced Silicon Valley technology to make villages super efficient and even more valuable to seniors in our local communities.

 

Contact information for Parkland Village: 

505-417-8799

info@parklandvillageabq.org

P.O. Box 8738, Albuquerque, NM 87198