What started in Boston's Beacon Hill and then as a movement in D.C.'s Capitol Hill has now spread to neighborhoods in all corners of the District, and it's coming to Burleith and Georgetown. But it's not a trendy restaurant, and it's not a fitness craze. It's creating a "Village," bringing services for the aging to existing communities, and even though it's not glamorous, it's incredibly popular everywhere it goes.
Dozens of people showed up to the first Citizens Association of Georgetown meeting to discuss the creation of such a Village in Georgetown—more than could comfortably fit in the CAG office, CAG Executive Director Betsy Cooley said.
CAG kicked off the idea of bringing such a movement to Georgetown in late 2008 when it brought two national experts on the subject to a monthly meeting. Now, it's Sharon Lockwood, a resident of the thriving and original D.C. Village in Capitol Hill, who's leading the charge to bring social activities and services which, when they are finalized, could potentially range anywhere from member discounts for coveted theater tickets to in-home health care and computer tutorials. Working with her are seven Georgetown residents who serve as her board of directors and a six-Georgetown resident advisor board as well as a fund raising board. Together, they plan to roll out a business plan by Fall.
Currently, Dupont, the Pallisades, Northwest D.C., and Bethesda all have Villages, to name a few. Georgetown is right for a Village—and Cooley said that Burleith and other neighborhoods will probably be part of the movement—because like Beacon Hill, where these projects started, it has access to all the amenities.
Ultimately, the movement will lessen the need for elderly residents of a Village to move into assisted living or even nursing homes. Relatives, Lockwood explained, are less and less able to care for older residents as they are tending to live further away, but many assisted living conditions "are quite costly and in fragile financial condition."
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