Carlene Davis, Co-Founder and Southern California Director
Sistahs Aging with Grace & Elegance
FOCUS
They say that “Black don’t crack”, but we recognize that Black women’s resistance, resilience, and brilliance belies the cumulative toll of cradle-to-grave educational, social, economic, and housing inequities that shape our lived experiences. Sistahs Aging with Grace & Elegance (SAGE) is committed to creating intentional community conversations, networks, and social support systems both to foster the holistic well-being of Black women as they age and to mitigate the impact of later-in-life social-determinant risk factors. In partnership with the California Black Women’s Health Project, and through establishing regional aging-focused Sister Circles, SAGE provides culturally specific and responsive programming to empower Black women with knowledge, tools, and resources to make choices and decisions to enhance their quality of life through their aging and senior years.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Sankofa Village Inquiry: Learning the Needs & Challenges of Aging Black Women
The Sankofa Village Inquiry, a partnership between Sistahs Aging with Grace & Elegance and Village Movement California (VMC), is an engagement to inform and build the capacity of VMC member organizations to implement programmatic approaches and model adaptations that are culturally responsive and specific to the aging-in-place needs of older and aging Black women. Our goals of the strategic initiative are to: capture and synthesize older and aging Black women’s experiences, perspectives, and needs for aging-in-place and community; engage older and aging Black women’s perspectives and opinions of the village model as a desired or viable option and support system for aging in place; and illuminate how social determinants of race, health, and aging impacting older and aging Black women might affect their willingness and ability to access the village model as a support system for aging in place.
MORE ABOUT CARLENE
As a collective impact leader and strategist for positive social change, my life’s work focuses on building the capacity of women, families, and communities to identify, navigate, challenge, and overcome policy and system barriers that prevent them from activating their agency, realizing their full potential, and achieving their desired goals.
Click here to watch Carlene’s Legacy Project video.