The Commission on Aging invited a guest speaker for a subcommittee meeting to develop a strategic plan for senior service in town on Monday, June 24.

The guest speaker for the meeting was strategic planner Lyn Kobsa, who was recommended by COA member Michael Stern for her past decades of experience with strategic planning in the Yale New Haven Health system and various nonprofit organizations.

As a fellow member of the United Way board, Stern said that Kobsa is “very dialed in” about the needs and organizations of the Western Connecticut area and that she would be an invaluable resource to help the commission coordinate and “move things up a notch.”

When formally introducing herself to the group, Kobsa said that she was there to talk to everyone about how to develop a strategic plan for senior services in Newtown.

She added that when they develop a strategic plan for the community, they work with everybody who cares about it, including residents.

As Kobsa was doing research before the meeting, she said that she learned that Newtown is connected to Western CT Area Agency on Aging and that they should be starting, if they have not already, their own strategic plan development. Their current strategic plan covers from early October 2021 to the end of this September.

In crafting the plan, Kobsa said that they did a lot of research on all of the towns in the western Connecticut area that they cover. She added that she imagines they did surveys, talked to people, looked at demographics and data, and developed their goals around that.

“My thinking was that we should connect through Natalie [Natalie Griffith, Director of Human Services], who’s now on their advisory committee, find out where they are on their process, and get this group involved,” Kobsa explained.

For the COA to do a strategic plan, Kobsa then elaborated on the typical strategic planning process she uses. She said that they should start with an “environmental assessment” to evaluate what is going on with Newtown and the residents as they stand now. This includes demographics, their needs, and what types of services they have to take care of those needs.

After assessing their mission and vision for the future, Kobsa said that they can evaluate where they should be going, establish goals and objectives in response to that, and then finally implement their plans.

COA Chair Anne Rothstein, as well as several other members on the committee, noted that their main issue is that they have difficulty getting people to engage. As an example, she pointed out the Chore Services Program provided by Friends of Newtown Seniors, and that it is “very difficult to get people to use the service to ask for help.”

“And I don’t know why that is,” Rothstein added.

Fellow COA member Barbara Bloom also pointed out that even with the Newtown Rides transportation program that they are not getting as many people calling when they know there are people that need rides and want to have rides to get to places in town.

“It’s reaching those people that we don’t know if they’re not on the internet, if they’re not reading the newspaper, even when it comes to vote … it’s that kind of thing, we don’t know why they’re not reaching out and how to reach back out to them,” Bloom said.

Rothstein bounced off of that point and said that one of their goals would be to try to reach out to more of the senior population in Newtown, and that they want to understand what their needs are. Beyond transportation, the commission also noted housing as an issue, specifically when it comes to downsizing.

As for how they should move forward in the future, Kobsa says that since the town already provides great services, that it is important that they look for potential gaps in the services they already offer.

“You don’t need to reinvent the wheel if you’ve got great programs,” Kobsa explained. “Maybe some are just communication issues, things you might need to advertise more or just send a mailing to people who don’t have e-mail, but others might be a gap for something that you don’t provide and have no solutions for.”

The commission discussed potentially putting together some sort of survey, mailing, and other alternate means to reach out to residents who might not otherwise reach out to them.

June 17 Meeting

As for the previous meeting they held on Monday, June 17 Griffith said that Mitch Bolinsky and his co-chair on the Aging Committee plan to make a trip to Newtown to talk about the $100,000 fund that he plans to donate to the town for transportation. Griffith said that while they are coming, they are still waiting on a specific date for that visit.

Griffith also said that they have not heard back on the other grant for transportation that they submitted to WCAAA, and that their grant application is “still pending.”

Beyond that, the senior center partnered with assisted living facility Church Hill Village to raise money for Alzheimer’s Association. So for the week of June 17-21, they added a suggested donation to some of the events they held.

“And all that money went to the Alzheimer’s Association, and obviously to research and ongoing support to individuals and families living with Alzheimer’s,” Griffith said.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.