Launching a Village to promote aging in community: human, social, and financial capital

Villages are an innovative, community-based approach to help people thrive as they age. Operating primarily as community-based membership organizations rather than actual "brick and mortar" locations, Villages commonly facilitate services through neighbors-helping-neighbors volunteer programs, offer social events and programs, and serve as a trusted source of information for local resources. Since the first Village launched in 2002, the model has expanded to hundreds of communities, yet the start-up of Villages remains limited in many regions. This paper explores the development period (2022-2025) for one of very few Villages in New Jersey (U.S.). It highlights how local leaders and residents collaboratively mobilized diverse assets-including human, social, and financial capital-to design, develop, and launch the Village. It presents the development work across three phases: establishing the core team and administrative foundations; building the infrastructure; and preparing for launch. Lessons learned include the importance of adopting an asset-based approach and learning through doing, embedding local efforts within larger systems levels, and designing for sustainability and scalability.