We’re reimagining eldercare alongside Northside neighbors to provide older adults and caregivers with respite in their own community. Our eldercare initiatives aspire to provide older adults and caregivers with respite, day care, and affordable housing in their own community. Our bold vision for community eldercare in Northside is community-embedded and community-led.
Eldercare is essential to prevent displacement of Northside elders. The Jackson Center has organized to resist the displacement of Northside residents produced by investor encroachment, inequitable property valuations, and, now, lack of affordable local eldercare. We hope you will support us in building the future of community eldercare in Northside.
Community-Embedded Eldercare
Northside is home to many long-term—and life-long—seniors aged 55-106, including 5 centenarians.
Unfortunately, many Northside elders struggle to afford care while living on a low, fixed income, and Medicaid-designated beds have long wait lists. Accessing eldercare outside the community also requires older adults to leave the social networks they have fostered in Northside. This displacement contributes to social isolation, gentrification, and deterioration of Northside’s richly interconnected social fabric.
Northside residents desire place-based, affordable care that will allow older adults to age safely alongside neighbors.
Aging in place enables Northside elders to remain connected to their beloved community of care. In Northside, we build community and connection across lines of difference through celebrations of place—from large-scale gatherings, to block-level porch parties, to simply waving when you pass. Northside’s long tradition of neighboring drives strong community support for eldercare initiatives embedded in and shaped by the Northside community.
Community-First Development Model
Our community-first development model amplifies the leadership of neighbors who have long led organizing and resilience within the Northside community.
The Northside Compass Group, comprised of 15-20 neighbors, guides our community landbank and develops neighborhood strategy to preserve the future of Northside.
The Aging in Community Team of Northside neighbors, project partners, and Jackson Center staff, enacts the Compass Group’s vision.
Our eldercare initiative is guided at every step by Northside neighbors, realizing a bold vision of community-first partnership.
Continuum of Eldercare
LINKing Generations in Northside: Connecting Students with Elders
The Linking Generations in the Northside (LINK) Program offers students and elders opportunities to build reciprocal and abundance-based relationships. Through this program, students learn about and engage with the historically Black Northside, Pine Knolls, and Tin Top communities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, while elders gain the opportunity to connect with and mentor young people.
LINK is a year-long program coordinated by the Jackson Center. The program’s goals are to cultivate multigenerational relationships that integrate an age-embracing and equitable view of elderhood and community development.
Learn more about the LINK program.
308 Lindsay Street: A New Community Respite Space in Northside
308 Lindsay Street will be an innovative model for eldercare that is rooted in Northside vision, history, and longstanding networks of mutual care. We’re transforming 308 Lindsay Street into a group respite space and home-base for community eldercare, located right in Northside. Through shared meals and versatile programming, older adults and caregivers will break bread, share stories, and find fellowship. Touches of home will create a sense of belonging, welcoming neighbors to find and create connection in familiar spaces like the living room and the front porch.
Respite should be designed in a way that is aligned with how we do things here in Northside. We imagine 308 Lindsay Street as an extension of home in our beloved community.
—George Barrett, MCJC Executive Director
The vision for 308 Lindsay Street emerged from the Northside community, especially Ms. Velma Perry. In 2018, Ms. Velma and her family sold 308 Lindsay Street to the Northside Landbank, designating that its primary future use be a space for affordable eldercare in Northside. To fulfill Ms. Velma’s vision, we are transforming 308 Lindsay Street into a group respite space and home-base for community eldercare.
Learn more about 308 Lindsay Street.
605 Church Street: Envisioning Eldercare
Northside community members have expressed interest in developing the vacant half-acre at 605 Church Street into an eldercare facility that offers a higher level of care as part of the Jackson Center’s community eldercare continuum. This initiative will help Northside elders age safely in place, maintaining connections to their beloved community.
The Jackson Center is currently seeking an operational partner to help bring this vision to life. If you are interested in supporting this project, please contact aging@jacksoncenter.info.
This initiative is ongoing, and more information will be provided as it develops.
We Need Your Support
We are asking you, our partners, neighbors, and friends, to reimagine eldercare in Northside as we plan for respite care and day care programs that honor Northside’s legacy of intergenerational communal support. Gifts of any amount can help us ensure eldercare in Northside is accessible and affordable to all.