Article Source: District 5 Supervisor Canepa
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Time for cities to become ‘age friendly’
Dear friends,
Find out what's happening in San Brunofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Would you like to live in a caring community that encourages people of all ages to live active lives? Me, too. That’s why I’m sponsoring a first-of-its-kind Age-Friendly Cities Summit this month that will lead to groundbreaking projects in the future to accommodate our rapidly aging population. Please join me at a free event Thursday, Nov. 9 all about how we can make San Mateo County and all the cities in it “age-friendly cities.”
The Age-Friendly Cities Summit is hosted by Peninsula Family Service in collaboration with 70 Strong, a free personal service to activities for older adults in southern San Mateo County (website: 70Strong.org). I will discuss aging initiatives my office is undertaking such as ending elder financial abuse and Medicare fraud. I will also introduce keynote speaker Anabel Pelham who will talk about how to create age-friendly cities. A gerontologist, Pelham led the initiative to get all 15 cities in Santa Clara County certified as age-friendly by the World Health Organization.
This is an initiative I will promote over the next two years. I can’t wait to celebrate having every one of our cities certified as age friendly by WHO. It will take a concerted effort by the county, our cities and nonprofit partners to bring this initiative to reality. The summit takes place Nov. 9 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (including a boxed lunch) at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits, 330 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood Shores 94065.
I hope to see you there! RSVP today to info@peninsulafamilyservice.org. Join us. And keep this fact in mind: Nearly 30 percent of our county’s population will be over 65 by 2030. The American Experience citizenship workshopI relished the opportunity to partner with the San Mateo County Human Services Agency and The New Americans Campaign to conduct a free “American Experience” citizenship workshop at Jefferson High School in Daly City Saturday, Oct. 14. More than 330 individuals applied for citizenship at this event. I’m pleased to say of those who did apply, 266 of them are expected to become new citizens. Attendees who qualified were eligible to sign up for a fee waiver, a $725 value. Free legal services were also be provided to help attendees complete the citizenship application. A total of 201 applicants were eligible for a full fee waiver and one other qualified for a reduced fee waiver.
This was a huge investment by San Mateo County and its partners to offer full participation in the American experience. Applicants listed their countries of birth as Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia and South Korea. Of those who applied, 61 were 65 and older. There were also 24 applicants ranging from 18 to 24 years old who sought citizenship that day. I’m overwhelmed with how successful this event was especially considering 166 applicants listed the Philippines as their nation of origin. I look forward to celebrating with many of them the day they become naturalized citizens and take the plunge into living the full American experience.
Mental Health Awareness Poetry Slam
Mental illness is an issue we must discuss in our community considering the rate of people diagnosed with a mental illness has increased rapidly. To get this conversation started, my office is hosting a Mental Health Awareness Poetry Slam to be held at the Philz coffee in Westborough Square. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 43.8 million adults in the United States had experienced mental illness in a given year. While suicide is the third leading cause of death in youth ages 10-24 and 90 percent of youth who died by suicide had an underlying mental illness yet there are many cases that have gone unnoticed. As a community, it is our duty to prevent and help others who may show signs of mental illness. It is crucial that we start a conversation about mental health with our friends and family because someone in our own circles might be undergoing desolation. The poetry slam is an opportunity to acknowledge mental health among youth and adults through the arts. Everyone undergoes a moment of distress in their lives and this event informs the community that we stand together in treating and battling mental illness. The poetry slam is 6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 17, Westborough Square, 2248 Westborough Blvd., suite 603, South San Francisco. I can’t wait to see you there.
David in District 5
In friendship,David J. Canepa
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Robert Riechel
E=Mail: SanBrunoPatch.Robert@Yahoo.com
My Posts: http://patch.com/users/robert-riechel
Photo Credit: San Bruno CA Patch Archives
Source Credit: San Mateo County CA District 5 Supervisor David Canepa
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