Who are the people you serve with your mission? Describe briefly.

WPV is part of a nationwide movement of over 200 local Villages formed to help seniors remain active in their communities, leading independent lives in the comfort and security of their homes. Villages are not physical locations or caregiving agencies. We are organized networks of local volunteers, staff and community partners from different backgrounds that help seniors stay engaged by providing a wide array of services, connections, and activities. We primarily serve individuals over the age of 55 or if they have a chronic condition and disability that could place them at risk for premature institutionalization out of the home.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Paper surveys, Case management notes, Community meetings or town halls, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, Suggestion box/email

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve

With whom does your organization share the feedback you got from the people you serve?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship with them or shifted power - over decisions, resources, rules or in other ways - to them?

Asking for feedback has provided the community a voice to be part of the planning and decision-making. We always take into consideration the responses from the community members to inform our programming, and/or take responsibility when there are some decisions from the nonprofit board that may be less aligned with the wishes of the community-members. We have proactively involved a development director to be able to transition our organization to rely less on membership dues, and reduce the burden on the people we serve. This has been especially true during the pandemic in which people are able to request services at no cost.

What challenges does your organization face in collecting feedback from the people you serve?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is hard to come up with good questions to ask people, It is difficult to get honest feedback from our clients, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback

Briefly describe a recent change that your organization made in response to feedback from the people you serve.

Recently in 2020, our organization has responded to the broader senior community's needs during the coronavirus pandemic, and we have developed a free emergency response program to service all seniors in our areas as well as some expanded adjacent regions. This program is called WPV CARES (COVID-19 Active Response for Elderly Support) and it began in conjunction with a Community Coalition for collective impact and partnerships to address the growing needs of older adults during the global pandemic and strict safer at home orders which exacerbated the impacts of the loneliness epidemic which was already affecting many of our existing community-dwelling older adults that we served. This change has resulted in a complete restructuring of our services, membership, programs and administration.