Lifelong Learning Program

Summary

The Montclair Institute for Lifelong Learning (The MILL) began in the spring of 2016 following meetings among community seniors, the Adult School of Montclair Department of the Montclair Public Library, the Montclair Art Museum, the Montclair History Center, and Montclair State University. During these meetings, the group decided that The MILL would include six-week-long, high-level classes for people 55+ and that the classes would be free, thanks to funding by Partners for Health Foundation and in-kind support from the partner organizations. The intent of the six-week semesters is to allow engagement with the content and with fellow students, and the classes are open to people 55+ as that seems to be the age when residents are considering remaining in or leaving Montclair. The classes are located throughout the Township in an effort to encourage participation across various groups. In the first semester, there were seven classes offered.

Despite limited marketing, the classes exploded with popularity. Very shortly, all the MILL classes were filled by the afternoon the same day registration opened. To try to increase the number of classes offered, the partner organizations joined together in a joint fundraising effort with matching funds offered by Partners for Health Foundation. The Back to School campaign raised approximately $50,000 from the community. As a result of the overwhelming success of the campaign, there are more classes offered per semester, and additional existing programming offered by the Montclair Art Museum has been incorporated into the MILL. In 2017, there were 1926 registrations for 69 classes, representing a nearly 50% increase in number of students and classes from 2016.

Lifelong Montclair collaborated with partner organization Connections at Home NJ and the local television station to increase access to this programming for homebound older adults. The current events/foreign affairs MILL class is now broadcast live on the local TV channel and available to watch online using the senior-friendly technology provided by Connections at Home NJ. (To view a sample, see https://vp.telvue.com/preview?id=T01411&video=315351.) The Montclair YMCA also joined as a partner organization, to help respond to the demand for fitness classes.

A round table, consisting of students and partner organizations, meets regularly to respond to changing needs of the program. This group has evaluated and chosen new registration software that will help with the administrative burden of the program. The Montclair Public Library will provide training on the new system for interested students.

Website: http://www.lifelongmontclair.org/MILL

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): Homebound older people

Sector(s): Education

Desired outcome for older people:
Learn, grow and make decisions

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Accessibility
Ageing in place
Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
Inequities
Inclusion
Participation
Technologies

Contact details

Name: Katherine York

Email address: kyork@montclairnjusa.org

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Others involved in the project:

Older People’s Association
Social or health care provider
Private sector

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: Some students are involved in planning and implementation via a round table, and all students can provide feedback via a survey.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Feedback:
We conduct evaluations at the end of each semester. Overall feedback is very positive, but we have heard frustration regarding our growing pains. We take that feedback to the round table to discuss best courses of action.

Looking back

Challenges:
Many of the challenges had to do with the success of the program. One example is that we initially had registration open at midnight, and students who had computers at home would stay up until that time to register. Students who did not have computers felt as though the practice was unfair, so we moved registration time. We also continue to struggle with balancing in-kind contributions with smaller and smaller budgets of the partner organizations.