Villages Receives Grant from the Community Health Funder Alliance

Villages is a recipient of a grant awarded in the category of Senior Health, by the Community Health Funder Alliance,

which consists of Anchorum, Christus St. Vincent, and the Santa Fe Community Foundation. The grant extends our community outreach of our online exercise, mental health, and technical programs to senior centers. The pilot program, in development at Los Alamos and White Rock Senior Centers, is funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Triad National Security, LLC.

Falls are THE leading cause of death for seniors in New Mexico (Christus St. Vincent Community Health Needs Assessment 2020-2021). Regular physical activity is vital for healthy aging. It can help delay, prevent, or manage many costly chronic diseases faced by adults 50 years or older. Physical activity can also reduce the risk of premature death (CDC.gov). The need is to keep our senior community healthy, active, and energized. It is about a safe space providing regular, scheduled exercise, a place that fights isolation and supports both physical health and mental resiliency.

Villages is committed to helping our community by offering no-cost or low-cost online classes for seniors. This grant allows us to focus on expanding the online programs into senior centers located in Colfax, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos, with a focus on rural areas. This plan has the potential to reach seniors in an exponential way in rural and underserved communities.

The program will identify online exercise classes and lifestyle workshops of value to the local community and provide:

· Technical assistance to evaluate necessary hardware, internet, and communications,

· Training to personnel at the centers, giving them the required knowledge to run online classes,

· Ongoing support to help with administration and reporting

The Community Health Funder Alliance awarded $1.8M to 50 community organizations working to improve health and wellness in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico (for the 2021-2022 fiscal year).

In April 2020 in response to COVID, Villages of Santa Fe began online exercise classes for the senior community across New Mexico. Core Circle Program provides regular, online scheduled healthy lifestyle programs, including free weekly exercise classes that support physical health and mental resiliency for our senior community. Portions of the program are promoted nationally by Villages partner, AARP New Mexico.