Arlington Neighborhood Villages

Arlington Neighborhood Village (ANV) provides direct assistance to seniors aging in place as well as social support to foster connection and community engagement. 285+ volunteers deliver services including: rides to medical appointments, the grocery store, bank or post office; errands; friendly visits; tech help; and assistance accessing additional support. In 2023, 285 ANV volunteers fulfilled 4,095 services and gave 11,790 hours of their time. Volunteers drove a total of 43,820 miles at their own expense. 97% of member requests were filled. Hundreds of educational and social events were conducted with almost 5,000 participants.ANV membership is open to Arlington adults aged 55 and up. ANV supports 393 members, ranging in age from 58 to 102 years old. 72% of ANV members are female, 43% are aged 80 and up, and 61% live alone. 14% of ANV members represent diverse backgrounds and 31% use a mobility device (cane, walker or wheelchair) or have some degree of hearing or sight loss. 100% of the older adults we serve live in Arlington County, as do the vast majority of our volunteer corps.35% of ANV membership, or 137 seniors, are lower-income. ANV aggressively moved to serve more lower income seniors during the past 4 years, taking two critical actions: (i) serving at-risk and in-need seniors referred by nonprofit and County partners at no cost; and (ii) reducing ANV's membership fee by 80-100% (for some to nothing and many others to as little as $25 (annually) for residents with income less than $26,000) through ANV's Financial Aid Fund. ANV is dependent on volunteers to achieve our mission. Despite its small paid staff, ANV has a large impact because of the donated volunteer labor that helps run and manage the organization as well as provide direct services to seniors. All ANV volunteers are trained and vetted through criminal background checks, and when appropriate, driving record checks. In the words of our members and volunteers: "Thank you so very much. I didn't know I had such wonderful neighbors. I'm glad to know you and to be able to age in place in my apartment.""I have used ANV's transportation service multiple times for medical appointments & have found this service an invaluable help in navigating this new phase of my life. And, a very real bonus, [the drivers] are invariably interesting people, so that I've had an enjoyable conversation going back and forthWhat a great organization made up of very generous volunteers." "Participating as a volunteer when this vibrant non-profit was being created and molded counts as one of the most exciting and meaningful things I've done in my 84 years." The COVID pandemic intensified the demand for help staying safe at home especially from older adults on fixed incomes. During the most challenging early days of the pandemic and continuing to this day, ANV volunteers have stepped up and supported seniors throughout the County by delivering food from our local food bank, giving rides to medical appointments or to get vaccine shots, delivering prescriptions and supplies, and helping navigate technology challenges as we all switched to the online world for social connection and engagement. ANV is celebrating its Ten Year Anniversary in 2024. During that decade, ANV volunteers donated 74,008 hours, fulfilled 21,887 service requests and drove 255,987 miles at their own expense. ANV's organizational strength and flexibility was proven in our continuous operation through a deadly global pandemic and is evident as we grow to meet the need for support for those aging in place in Arlington.