Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly

Through LBFE Boston’s recent program evaluation and strategic planning process, we examined the Boston community of older adults and considered how we may best meet community needs. Our major goals/objectives for our clients and our organization include:

Both older and younger program participants will learn and grow from having mutually beneficial intergenerational relationships.

Organic, one-to-one relationships will form between students and older adults through informal conversations and activities.

Older adults will be given a platform to meet their neighbors, make new friends, and build social support within their own housing community, creating nearby lifelines in times of crisis.

LBFE Boston’s programs will help to prevent and relieve isolation and loneliness among older adults and students.

LBFE Boston will utilize volunteer resources to serve a greater number of non-English speaking older adults, including “linguistically isolated” adults – those who live in homes in which all members age 14 and older have limited English proficiency.

LBFE Boston will offer flexible opportunities for today’s volunteers.

LBFE will achieve greater visibility in communities.

Through cost-efficient community-based programming, LBFE will reach more seniors while utilizing fewer financial resources.

In the last three years, LBFE has reimagined our program model to best serve the next generation of older adults. A major part of our strategy was based on our participation in the Age-Friendly Boston initiative data collection and focus groups. One recommendation of the initiative was to offer adults more opportunities for informal sharing and interaction in their neighborhoods; we at LBFE Boston recognize the importance of community involvement and purposeful engagement. Our new model, based off of our CitySites program, is designed around PREVENTING isolation and loneliness rather than just RELIEVING it. This is done through building up micro-communities and moving programs to where older adults live - senior housing buildings. Further, the state’s recent Aging in Massachusetts initiative recommended encouraging cross-generational opportunities for interaction and connection through partnerships; our new model focuses on building relationships across generations, recognizing that each program participant, regardless of age, has something to teach, contribute, and give.

Specifically, our CitySites program brings youth and older adults together on a weekly basis for programs chosen by the participants. The programs include tech cafes, arts and crafts, games, language exchange, conversation circles and more. The CitySites program is growing; in the last several months we have expanded the number of program sites from ten buildings to 17, and we are now engaging 375 older adults weekly. Our goal is to continue expanding CitySites this year and be operating in 20 buildings by next fall.

In 2021 we launched our Digital Dividends program to work towards bridging the digital divide. Older adults living in public senior housing are invited to join a semester long digital literacy class. Students receive a Chromebook free of charge, and are loaned a hotspot with internet connectivity for the duration of the program. College students come weekly for instruction and support.

In 2015, LBFE Boston conducted a thorough program evaluation and transformed our program model from the traditional one-to-one Friendly Visiting model to community-based programming. Our vision for this new and innovative model is to build inclusive communities that span generations and cultures to prevent and relieve isolation and loneliness. This shift introduced our new core program, CitySites, through which university students host weekly, intergenerational social activities at public and private senior housing buildings across the city of Boston. The CitySites program brings youth and older adults together on a weekly basis for programs chosen by the adult participants, on-site where they live. LBFE is the only organization in Boston focused on bringing older adults and college students together for mutually beneficial social interactions.

LBFE Boston administers surveys to CitySites older adults and student volunteers at the beginning and end of each semester. For older adults, we measure social isolation, loneliness, self-reported health, and health service utilization. Surveys are available in multiple languages. For student volunteers, we request information about academic pursuits, health behaviors, perception of age stereotypes, and self-esteem.

In addition to evaluation surveys, senior participants and volunteers are asked to complete a satisfaction survey at the end of each semester. While the evaluation surveys measure outputs and outcomes, the satisfaction surveys measure the quality and relevance of programs. They are used to make the individual experience more enjoyable and enriching.

At the conclusion of a recent CitySites program, 100% of surveyed seniors indicated that:

They feel like they are part of a community.
It feels good to get out of the house.
They look forward to the CitySites program each week.
They feel more connected to their neighbors.
The activities improve their mood.
They would help a neighbor or ask a neighbor for help (up from 52% at the beginning of the program).
62% of seniors also indicated they noticed improvements in their physical health.

This coming year we are working with Northeastern's Public Evaluation Lab to continue our program monitoring and evaluation efforts to more accurately measure our impact, and to replicate our success in 24 senior housing communities in Boston.