A wintery Boston evening found an older man on the roof of his four-story home trying to break an ice jam that was causing water to back up and drip through his ceiling.  His wife was planted a few feet from the window with a sturdy rope wrapped around her waist and tied to her husband creating a belay of sorts or at least a safety line in the event of a trip or slip.  As she held tight, she was thinking…”there has to be a better way to do this”. 

A friend was trying to figure out how she and her husband could afford to stay in the house and neighborhood they loved where they had lived for years and where their friends and family lived. 

Another neighbor, recuperating from a fall and emergency surgery wondered how he was going to shop, clean and cook.  His children lived in another state and could only come for a short period to help—they had jobs and families of their own.

Together these residents of Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, along with others, decided that they could overcome these and other problems and find a way to assure that they, like 90% of adults over 50, could remain in their own homes and neighborhood. They decided that rather than waiting for someone to take care of them, they would find a way “to take care of themselves and each other”.  They created Beacon Hills Village a self-governing, grassroots membership organization and eventually another organization the Village-to-Village Network to help other communities establish and manage their own Villages. Today there are over 60 villages nationwide and the number is growing.

I was reminded of the Beacon Hill Village story when I read Alan Fallow’s interview in AARP with Malcolm Gladwell about his newest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/books/info-10-2013/malcolm-gladwell-david-and-goliath-interview.2.html.Gladwell talked about the hidden virtues of certain kinds of adversity that sometimes bring “…the strength and the tools to do something transcendent.”

The United States and the world are rapidly aging. Those born in the last year of the post-World War II birth boom will reach 50 (eligible for AARP membership) in 2014.  Today there are 3 million adults over 85, in 2020 that number will more than double to 7 million. Most of this population are set on staying in their homes as they age, a majority believe that their homes are not well suited to their future needs and about 30% of those 65 to 69 believe their communities don’t have the resources to provide needed services. 

What opportunities await us as we meet the challenges of this giant age wave? The Village concept is one of many inspiring, innovative ways to take care of our communities as we age.  This is the time to create sustainable communities…places for all ages and at all stages. Will local government managers be David-like, engaging and valuing the judgment and experience of our seniors to provide the housing, transportation, health care and social engagement needs of this growing, and demanding cohort?