PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: CAMBRIDGE NEIGHBORS

A nonprofit virtual retirement community, called Cambridge Neighbors (formerly called Cambridge at Home), was launched in November 2007. For an annual membership fee, people 60 and older throughout Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont, Somerville or Watertown have access to free and discounted help with shopping, transportation, information and referral, as well as specially tailored exercise classes and social activities including book clubs and writing groups.

Cambridge residents designed the program to allow people to grow old in their own homes. Over the last five years CN has serviced 200-225 member households per year. Cambridge Neighbors is modeled on Boston's Beacon Hill Village, which opened in 2002 as the first virtual retirement community in the nation that is organized by residents and scattered across neighborhoods. Other similar programs opened in Washington, D.C., and Palo Alto, Calif., this month, according to Beacon Hill Village, and at least 10 others are in various stages of planning.

Unlike Beacon Hill Village, which raised money to subsidize membership and offered discounts for low-income members, Cambridge Neighbors is operating primarily on fees. An individual can join with a full service membership for $1,000 a year, a couple for $1,300. Steven Stadler, a retired electronics industry executive, who helped set up Cambridge Neighbors and serves as the organization's president said "We intend to offer a subsidy once we have a few years under our belt."

Cambridge Neighborse also partners with the Cambridge Health Alliance and Mount Auburn Hospital, entitling members to a little extra attention at those facilities and extra help with discharge planning after a hospital stay, said Kathleen Spirer, the executive director of Cambridge Neighbors.

For information on Cambridge Neighbors, go to www.cambridgeneighbors.org or call 617-864-1715.

-Adapted from: “Help comes home: Cambridge residents launch virtual retirement community”, By Alice Dembner, The Boston Globe , October 20, 2007 at http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/20/help_comes_home/, cited in The Margolis & Associates Weekly, November 12, 2007.

Rev 7/19