Community members benefit from both organized and informal social support. Receiving affection and assistance from family and friends makes people feel valued and secure. People with social support are more likely to be healthy and happy, and their families more harmonious. Children who feel connected to their ethnic and other communities are more likely to thrive, do well in school and stay out of trouble. Social support also yields tangible benefits in the form of financial assistance in times of need, or help taking care of children or elders. Informal support networks often exist among people isolated from the larger community: those who are disabled or infirm, elderly, homeless, new to the area, non-English-speaking or from cultures that discourage seeking help. Organizations that work with these populations can often enhance their services by building this peer support into their programming.
- Bring generations together to help kids and reduce isolation of elders.
- Encourage services that foster connection among participants, who can then support and advise one another.
- Help people develop social support by providing space, food, child care and other resources needed to help them build relationships over a period of time.
- Strengthen cultural programs or organizations that pass on traditions to young people.
- Expand mutual assistance associations, which bring together members of a particular community (e.g., a refugee or immigrant community) to support one another and build on strengths.
- Chinese Information Service Center hosts a playgroup for preschool children to bring together the often-isolated Chinese grandmothers who care for them. The grandmothers become friends and call each other for advice and support.
- St. James' English as a Second Language Program arranges tutoring groups to encourage friendships among participants, who then help each other with jobs, healthcare, transportation or child care. Some groups even hold welcoming parties for new immigrants.
- Horn of Africa Services provides social, linguistic and vocational support to low-income refugees and immigrants from all East African countries.
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