BLING, a group of volunteers promoting an age-friendly New Gloucester, is pleased to announce the creation of a new GNG Community Connector position serving the towns of both Gray and New Gloucester. This is a one year part-time (approximately 20 hours per week) volunteer position with an annual stipend of $20,000.
The Community Connections program is a project of the Governor’s Cabinet on Aging in collaboration with the UMaine Center on Aging and Maine’s five Area Agencies on Aging. The goal of this program is to train and support a local resident who can link people to essential services and social opportunities. BLING has been selected as one of 11 sites across Maine to implement the new Community Connector program.
Gray and New Gloucester have a long history of collaboration and older residents in both towns share many of the same concerns – lack of nearby essential health and social services; difficulty accessing information about services; social isolation; and the desire to remain connected to and continue to live in their hometowns.
The GNG Community Connector will be responsible for:
- providing information in each community about available services and activities,
- connecting older adults and others to health and social service resources,
- working with the Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging to expand their reach into GNG,
- identifying and offering programs to meet any unmet needs in the community,
- and building partnerships with public and private organizations and programs.
The GNG Age-Friendly Community Connector will be trained in available resources in the region, best practices for connecting people to needed services and programs, and in leadership development. The program will also be supported by a Community Ambassador at the local Area Agency on Aging who will be specifically assigned to the Community Connector Pilot sites.
To learn more about the Community Connections program visit: https://www.lifelongmaine.org/library/community-connections. To learn more about the work of BLING, visit: https://www.blingnewgloucester.com/
If you are interested in being considered for this volunteer position, please send an email to the contact below by July 24th explaining why you are interested and a brief description of your background and experience in community service work.
A full description of the volunteer GNG Community Connector position is available HERE. The position will start in September and an all day training will be held in Hallowell on Sept. 5, 2024.
For more information contact:
Julie Fralich, GNG Community Connections Program Coordinator
blingnewgloucester@gmail.com
207-653-4823
