Our Commitment
Here at CHV, we honor the past, present and future of older adults. We are committed to supporting all older adults in our area to live in community on their own terms, supporting them to sustain or improve their health, their sense of connection, and sense of purpose as they age-in-place. We are committed to their families, and helping to support family caregivers with practical help, and reassure distant family members that friends are at hand. We are committed to keeping older adults in our area safe from exposure to COVID-19, and will work alongside to navigate the risks we're all facing. At the same time, we recognize the gross inequities in health and wealth between many of the older Black and other individuals of color, and White residents of our neighborhood. We cannot and will not pretend otherwise. Therefore, we will look at our work through the lens of racial equity, and how we can do our part to close gaps rather than expand them.
As the country moves toward a reckoning with its racism, CHV recommits to being a welcoming and inclusive community where race is recognized and talked about, where the interests of our members and neighbors of color are visible in affinity groups and other programming, and where individuals of all identities occupy positions of authority on our Board and Staff. There's a problem with racism in our country, in our city, in our neighborhood, and CHV commits to being part of the solution.
CHV Leadership
The Board of Directors of Capitol Hill Village is committed to the Village becoming anti-racist. The Board is working to ensure that this anti-racism will be reflected in the diversity of our Village community, including our membership, staff and Board, in the knowledge shared among our members on racial issues, in the actions taken as a Village to improve equality among races, and in actions taken by members to improve racial conditions and reduce inequities within our neighborhood. See the Ways to Get Involved and DEI Committee section below for more information about Village actions related to our committment.
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter is a movement mostly associated with youth, but older Black Lives Matter, too.
Capitol Hill has gentrified in the last twenty years. Many Black families have been forced to leave the neighborhood as rent, property taxes, and other costs have gone up, and the neighborhood has felt less accessible and welcoming. But while the Black population of the neighborhood has shrunk relative to the White population, the largest cohort of Black residents remains those over age 65. Many of these older adults among us now were leaders and activists 50-70 years ago. They carry the memories, hopes and fears of the early civil rights movement in their hearts, minds, and bodies. We also know that Black residents are more likely to have experienced inequities that can have life long effects on their physical and mental health. It is our commitment to provide support to all individuals and address physical and mental health challenges that people experience as they age on Capitol Hill.
Programs and Ways to Get Involved at the Village
Join the conversation on how we can better become antiracist individually and as a group together. To express interest in any of the programs below please contact info@capitolhillvillage.org or 202-543-1778.
