Message from the Executive Director

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When Presbyterian Senior Services (PSS) and the West Side Federation for Senior & Supportive Housing (WSFSSH) first began their long journey in 1998 to build affordable and safe housing for grandparents raising grandchildren, Laura Jervis, WSFSSH’s Executive Director, and I had hoped that the GrandFamily residence would become a model for intergenerational housing and encourage other communities to create similar housing.

Since opening its doors in June 2005, the GrandFamily residence has hosted international visitors from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, England, Canada and, closer to home Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Representatives from HUD, Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Clinton have all visited the PSS/WSF GrandParent Family Apartments. We also have been excited by the media coverage the residence has received in local, national and international news, including the New York Times, Washington Post as well as Dutch, French, and Canadian television.

Our group in Tanzania

David Taylor, Executive Director

In our goal to promote awareness to the needs of caregivers raising grandchildren PSS and West Side Federation for Senior & Supportive Housing (WSFSSH) began collaborating with Old Dog Documentaries, Inc., a non-profit production company; to do a documentary film on grandmothers raising grandchildren in the Bronx, NY (because of drugs, street violence, and incarceration) and in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (because of the AIDS pandemic).

In September 2008 two grandparents and their four grandchildren, two PSS staff members and the Old Dog Documentaries, Inc. film crew flew to the capitol of Tanzania to the complete the final filming of a documentary on PSS/WSF GrandParent Family Apartments..

We expect this unusual and compelling film to get national exposure in the U.S.  You can view a five minute preview of the film by visiting the website at: olddogdocumentaries.com . Click on "Grandmother to Grandmother Project -- View Trailer" in the upper right of the home page.

We expect the documentary to debut around the first of the year. Enjoy.