NEW YORK: The people and organizations behind a more than $26 million development in Warren County hope to create a “lifelong village,” or intergenerational community they say will be the first of its kind in the region.
Hopkins Commons is envisioned as a development featuring a restaurant, a banquet centre, 160 apartments for senior citizens and a senior centre. The three-building complex will connect to a neighbouring subdivision of single-family homes, an assisted living centre and downtown Maineville.
The result? An intergenerational community where senior residents would mix with the younger families living in the Regency Park subdivision, the neighbouring Otterbein campus and other people visiting the restaurant and banquet centre.
“This could be a very powerful, collaborative endeavour, something relatively unusual,” said Scott Markland, vice president for regional centres for Sinclair Community College.
Sinclair students in the culinary and other hospitality management programs would help operate the restaurant, run by an area restaurant company through a profit-sharing agreement with Warren County Community Services. Hopkins Commons’ senior residents would interact with the students and other people visiting the restaurant and banquet centre.
This is the power of an intergenerational community, according to experts.
“They are capitalizing on all the assets of the community,” said Sheri Steinig, special projects director for Generations United, an advocacy and research organization. “There are skills young and old have that can be used to help each other.”
Studies from the National Institute on Aging show there is a strong correlation between social interaction and health and well-being among older adults.