You know how important each of the 13 DC Villages are to building supportive communities for older neighbors to thrive. But you may not know about all of the work that goes on behind the scenes to help Villages collaborate and offer more services and programs to their individual communities.

In February, the DC Villages Collaborative (DCVC) hired its first executive director, Dr. Katrina Polk. Dr. Katt, as she is called, hit the ground running accelerating the development of programs and projects the 13 Villages had planned, while respecting the unique nature and independent operation of each Village. During her first 100 days, Dr. Katt laid a solid foundation for greater collaboration among the 13 Villages, greater visibility for DC Villages, awareness raising about Villages' impact, and deeper connections with city agencies working with the District’s older residents.

To strengthen the collaborative, Dr. Katt organized a retreat for the leaders of all 13 DC Villages to discuss community marketing, advocacy, fundraising, and collaboration. She’s also secured a grant to support each Village in assessing and developing logic models to guide their work and showcase their impact. Additionally, Dr. Katt facilitated the development of a comprehensive marketing plan for DC Villages that will help each Village enhance its visibility and engagement.

Similarly, Dr. Katt has worked with the Villages to identify issues for city-wide advocacy work, with a year-round strategy in development. As part of this, she has worked to build partnerships with a variety of District agencies and with AARP-DC.

While much of DCVC’s work supports Village operations, Dr. Katt has also started creating educational and social events for Village members across DC. These programs are designed to augment the offerings provided by each individual Village. This includes "Community Conversations", informational webinars about emergency preparedness, public health, and civic engagement - Click here to view the first recorded program on Smart 911. Additionally, Dr. Katt is working with a multi-Village committee to organize Village-wide trips and events. Stay tuned for more information.

It has been an exciting 100 days, and this is just the beginning! NNV is thrilled to work with DCVC to create more citywide programs, advocate in support of issues that are important to older DC neighbors, and encourage the founding of new Villages in unserved neighborhoods across the District.

We encourage you to visit DCVillages.org to read about our collective impact over the past few years, and to forward to a friend who may be interested in finding a Village in their neighborhood.