The village of Port Chester is located in Westchester County, 45 minutes from New York City. Despite the suburban setting of Westchester County, Port Chester has a much more urban feel. Including an estimate of undocumented residents, there are approximately 35,000 residents. The median income for a family of four (in 2000) in our community is just above 45,000. As a community we are proud of our many resources and assets including the diversity of our community, the many faith-based, civic and fraternal organizations, a school district which is engaged with the community, and our new political leadership.
In 2007 Our Communities for All Ages coalition was created to help create a new dialogue and begin organizing around some of the challenges that the Port Chester residents face. We began by engaging over 115 residents in “Community Conversations” about our local strengths and challenges, and how to draw on the resources of all ages in our community to create solutions. Out of these discussions we began to craft a range of initiatives that focus on creating opportunities for civic engagement in the community and places/events that intentionally promote interaction and connection across culture and age.
Over the past year, the Port Chester CFAA team had gained significant traction as well as learned valuable lessons. We implemented many great inter-generational activities and showed our partners how effective CFAA can be. We established strong relationships with leaders in government, the faith-based community, service providers, and the community. These relationships and partnerships are the key to taking our efforts to the next level (that being true community integration). Over the next year, we will work with all of these organizations to make them agents for CFAA. For example, we have learned that faith-based organization can bring people of all ages and backgrounds together around a community activity (in our case, God's Green Market). For next year, we will work with each faith-based organization to have them build inter-generational activities into all of their community outreach efforts. Additionally, inter-generational groups will work together to study the history of their faith-based institution and their congregation.