Community Building with Aging and Old Lesbians

Descriptions of innovative methods of responding to the concerns and needs of aging and old lesbians are scarce in research literature. This paper describes the creation of the Elder Initiative, a community building effort for aging and old lesbians in a major northwest city. With the aims of providing support networks for the women and ensuring their involvement in the development of the local lesbian community, the Elder Initiative adopted the Kretzmann and McKnight model of community building to guide its objectives. In the 3 years since the group formed, membership has grown to over 550 women and several successful projects have been undertaken. The importance of the Elder Initiative and similar groups for successful aging among lesbians and areas of future research are discussed.