Category: Community

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05.27.21 | Community

Four Ways to Help Maintain Healthy Bones

As we age, bone health becomes increasingly important. Older adults often experience bone loss (low bone density that makes the bones weaker), which leads to increased risk of fractures. Luckily, to help combat this risk, there are habits and behaviors you can adopt to help protect your bone health. Here’s four ways for older adults to help maintain healthy bones:

Include physical activity in your daily routine

Those that are physically inactive are at higher risk of osteoporosis (a condition in which the bones become weak and brittle) compared to those that are more physically active. To help promote new bone growth and maintain existing bone density, doctors recommend physical activities, such as strength training and weight bearing exercises. For older adults, this translates to incorporating walking (whether leisurely or at a brisk pace) and using light dumbbells if possible.

Eat high-calcium foods throughout the day

Calcium is the main mineral in your bones, and the most important mineral for bone health. A diet low in calcium contributes to diminished bone density, early bone loss and an increased risk of fractures. Therefore, it’s important to eat high-calcium foods throughout the day. For men ages 51-70, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day. That recommendation increases to 1,200 mg a day for women age 51 and older and for men age 71 and older.

Maintain a stable, healthy weight

People who are underweight have a higher risk of developing bone disease, while excess body weight places added stress on a person’s bones. Dieting — and regularly gaining or losing weight — also places undue stress on your bone health. Additionally, low body weight is the main contributing factor for reduced bone density and bone loss in postmenopausal women, due to the loss of the bone-protecting effects of estrogen. This is why the best way to maintain healthy bones is to maintain a stable, healthy weight for your body.

Get plenty of Vitamin D and Vitamin K

Vitamin D and Vitamin K are both important when it comes to building strong bones. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, while Vitamin K-2 aids in reducing calcium loss and helping minerals bind to the bone. You can get Vitamin D with plenty of sunlight exposure, as well as through a diet full of oily fish, mushrooms, eggs and fortified foods, such as milk and cereal. You can get Vitamin K-2 from foods such as dairy products (especially hard cheeses), fermented foods such as sauerkraut, natto (a Japanese soybean product), egg yolks, and chicken. You can also consult your doctor about taking vitamin supplements. 

With the right adjustments to your regular routine, you can help maintain healthy bones and enjoy the perks of a healthier fitness and food regimen. 

A dinner plate with salmon and a vibrant assortment of toppings and seasonings
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05.20.21 | Mental Wellbeing

Can faking a smile really make you happier?

Throughout our lifetime, we’ve all heard the old sayings like “turn that frown upside down” and “fake it till you make it.” But does the simple act of smiling really provide a mood boost? Science says yes.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Over two centuries ago, Charles Darwin was the first to suggest that the facial expressions you make have an impact on your overall disposition. This theory, dubbed “facial feedback hypothesis” by scientists, states that the contraction of facial muscles not only communicates what a person is feeling to those around them, but also communicates what that person is feeling to themself, too. Ergo: by contracting your facial muscles into a smile, this physical act will communicate to your brain not just that it should feel happy, but that it is.

As the Studies Suggest

In an early study, published in 1988, testing the facial feedback hypothesis, participants were made to hold a pen between their teeth (thus mocking the muscle contractions of smiling without being told what they were doing was indeed smiling in order to remove cognitive bias). From those whose pen helped them to mock smiling, to those whose pen helped them to mock scowling, the results demonstrated that those smiling did indeed report more pleasant emotions.

Other studies conducted since then have replicated these findings. A recent study, published in 2020, also asked participants to hold a pen between their teeth (once again mocking the musculature of smiling) and yielded similar results — those that smiled were indeed happier. In fact, one study published in 2009 even suggested that botox users — due to their inability to frown — were happier than those without fillers, who naturally have more facial elasticity.

The Health Benefits of Smiling

Scientists have also suggested that, in addition to lifting your mood, smiling can also lower stress, boost your immune system and possibly even prolong your life. That’s because when you smile, your brain releases neuropeptides, which help fight off stress, and neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphins, all of which play a critical role in emotional regulation.

And while smiling no doubt has a positive impact on your own disposition, it also has the added benefit of positively impacting those around you. Afterall, smiling is contagious. American spiritual teacher, Peace Pilgrim, famously said: “Life is like a mirror: Smile at it and it smiles back at you.”

There’s an old myth that while it takes 43 muscles to frown, it only takes 17 to smile. So next time you’re feeling down in the dumps, give these scientific hypotheses a try — if we see you around, we’ll be sure to smile right back!

An African American woman smiling in a leopard print dress and black jacket smiles while holding up her cell phone to take a picture; she's contrasted against the red wall behind her.
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05.11.21 | Community

Announcing Sage Collective’s Vibrant Living Manifesto

Sage Collective is thrilled to unveil our Vibrant Living Manifesto. This manifesto lays clear our approach to vibrant living, and invites all those who think and do similarly to join us. Read the full manifesto below: 

Aging isn’t just a biological process — it’s also a cultural process. Our cultural perceptions of aging have a profound impact on the experience of growing older.

We rebuke the traditional American model of valuing novelty and youth above age, experience and wisdom. We instead call upon other exemplary models for inspiration: Native Americans herald their elders as the keepers of tradition and storytelling, and in many Eastern civilizations, filial piety (to be good to one’s parents) is deemed an essential duty. 

At Sage Collective, we believe that humanity is at its very best when we connect and engage with one another. We believe that elders have boundless knowledge to share with youth, and vice versa — because we believe that life is a constant, collaborative journey for all ages. 

So we’re here to disrupt the status quo, to catalyze change in the way people understand the role of older adults in society. We’re here to create an innovation lab — to test new ideas, processes and products and expand our ways of thinking and doing — as a way of establishing a radical new framework where older adults are valued and engaged, where they experience a life lived vibrantly.

Freedom, flexibility and joy… access to high-quality, affordable and vibrant living… We believe these are rights, not privileges. That’s why Sage Collective is providing residences, programming and ancillary services to manifest our vision. 

As with any vision, ours is nothing without the support that translates ideas into action. We need residents and participants who share our commitment to vibrant living and want to be a part of it. If you’re a collaborator, a disruptor, a changemaker, a change-seeker… we invite you to do better, for ourselves and others, to live more vibrantly, to be a part of the collective.

Graphic reads: Sage Collective Vibrant Living Manifesto. Aging isn't just a biological process — it's also a cultural process — and our cultural perceptions of aging have a profound impact on the experience of growing older.
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05.04.21 | Community

The Health Benefits of Gardening

At Sage Collective, our philosophy of vibrant living encompasses everything from engaging in moderate, regular physical activity to eating a primarily plant-based diet and having an active social life. Interestingly enough, gardening touches on all three of these facets of vibrant living at once. Adopting gardening as a hobby brings a wide array of health benefits and beyond — let’s take a look:

Physical Health Benefits

Naturally, spending time outdoors gardening leads to higher levels of Vitamin D exposure. Adequate Vitamin D exposure is particularly important for older adults, as it increases calcium levels, therefore improving bone health and providing a boost to your immune system. The act of gardening is also an accessible, aerobic form of exercise that aids in increased flexibility, strength and stamina. Additionally, if you’re growing a vegetable, fruit or herb garden, all that fresh food is great for your diet! 

Mental Health Benefits

Growing and nurturing a living garden brings with it a deep sense of accomplishment, pride and self confidence. Just look at what you can do with your own two hands! Gardening is also believed to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. In fact, one scientific study even posits that inhaling M. vaccae, a healthy bacteria that lives in the soil, can increase levels of serotonin – the key hormone that stabilizes our mood, feeling of well-being, and overall happiness.

Social and Cultural Benefits

While it can be a solo activity, gardening is also a great way to spend time with family, friends or neighbors. Community gardens in particular help many older adults to combat loneliness, all while contributing to the greater good of their neighborhood. Gardening has long been a way for communities to come together, to nurture each other, and to practice healing, sovereignty and even resistance. 

At Sage Collective, we advocate for older adults to adopt gardening as part of their lifestyles for all these reasons and more. In support of this belief, we will continue to promote the adoption of community gardens in the residential environments in which we engage older adults (including our own residents currently in development in Bronzeville), as well as bringing farmers’ markets to such communities. Stay tuned for more!

An older African American woman smiling while holding flowers she is about to plant in her garden
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03.16.21 | Community

Our Guide to Spring Cleaning

With spring just around the corner, it’s time to talk about that dreaded annual task: spring cleaning. Luckily, spring cleaning doesn’t have to be something you dread. With the right planning and strategy — and the right people to help lend a hand and brighten the task — spring cleaning can be a breeze. To get you started on the right path, we present: Sage Collective’s guide to spring cleaning.

Partner Up and Plan

Spring cleaning is a much easier — and much more fun — task when you have someone else to do it with you. Whether it’s a neighbor, friend or family member, invite someone over to take on the job with you. Start off by boiling a fresh kettle of tea and putting on a favorite record to set the mood. Together, work to create a checklist of everything that has to be done and to dole out responsibilities accordingly. That way, you can tackle the challenge together, and maybe even sing along as you go.

Choosing the Right Cleaning Supplies

First and foremost, you should always consider your safety when going about cleaning the house. That’s why choosing the right cleaning supplies is essential to getting the job done right, and done without incident. Things like long-handled brooms and stand-up dust pans ensure that you won’t have to constantly bend down when sweeping. Meanwhile, when it comes to those hard-to-reach places, an extendable duster will help make getting to every nook and cranny much easier!

Not Just Cleaning — But Decluttering

In addition to getting your home spotless, sparkling and shining, spring cleaning is the perfect time to tackle decluttering. From cleaning out the medicine cabinet to remove clutter and the safety hazards posed by expired medications, to cleaning out the pantry and refrigerator of any expired or unused food objects, to tackling those piled up stacks of bills, you’ll thank yourself later! These things stack up throughout the year, but by tackling declutter each spring, you can ensure a home where what you want and need most is easy to store and find later. 

Thinking About Safety

Spring cleaning is also a great time to check-in on the safety initiatives you have in place in your home. Plan to check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms to make sure their batteries are still good and everything is in working order. And did you know fire extinguishers have an expiration date? Be sure to add checking those to the list! Because checking these things often requires climbing a ladder, consider enlisting a younger neighbor, caregiver or loved one to traverse the ladder for you in order to avoid fall risks. 

Other safety considerations to add to your spring cleaning checklist: check in on, or put together, a simple emergency kit. This can include first-aid kits, flashlights with spare batteries, and an easily-accessible list of numbers to call in case of an emergency. 

With these tips in mind, and with the right helping hands, spring cleaning might even become something you look forward to each year! 

A clear plastic spray bottle filled with yellow fluid. Lemons sit on the countertop next to the bottle
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03.09.21 | Sage Advice®

Vibrant Living Breakdown: Engagement in Family Life

Nine Ways of Vibrant Living is Sage Collective’s innovative model that champions more meaningful, engaged lives for older adults, and that serves as the backbone of our philosophy. We celebrate and uplift components of vibrant living that span from health and wellness, to arts and culture, to spiritual enrichment — but tying it all together is an underlying feeling of connectedness, care and love. That’s why our eighth component is engagement in family life.

We believe in the deeply transformative power of being part of a community. At Sage Collective, we are committed to providing a genuine sense of community for everyone involved with us, from program participants to building residents to our partners and beyond. Family doesn’t just refer to the bloodlines you’re born into; it also incorporates the loving connections you make throughout a lifetime and the people that you choose to surround yourself with. 

When it comes to our plan for programming and housing, we want to take an active role in developing meaningful friendships and embracing existing family ties. To do so, we intend to provide opportunities such by creating camaraderie-generating participant activities, offering family support activities and policies for our residents as well as the incorporating intergenerational teaching, learning and cultural activities.

The latter piece of this, intergenerational teaching, is particularly important to us when we think about engagement in family and community life. Older adults have a wealth of wisdom and experience to pass onto younger generations — but in the other direction, so too do the youth have much to teach their elders. We believe that honoring and encouraging relationships across generations is the key to creating more unified, meaningful lives for all.

From interpersonal family dynamics, to a more expansive view of community, we’re excited to begin fostering these relationships with and for our participants.

A young African American woman embraces an older African American woman who wears a silk headscarf
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03.04.21 | Sage Advice®

Vibrant Living Breakdown: Engagement in Spirituality or Religion

At Sage Collective, we believe in meaningful and engaged lives for older adults. Nine Ways of Vibrant Living is our innovative model that champions just that. Our model incorporates everything from health and wellness to cultural immersion to spiritual enrichment — and today, we’re diving deep into the last of those three key elements. Take a closer look at our seventh component of vibrant living, engagement in spirituality or religion:

Religious Roots

Religion is part of our history. You can read our full story here, but before we were Sage Collective, we were Tabernacle Senior Citizens Project (TSCP). TSCP was started in 1978 by Reverend Louis Rawls, founder and pastor of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. Rev. Rawls founded both Willa Rawls Manor (a high-quality housing development for older adults) and TSCP in an effort to better support the aging members of his congregation. Today, we carry on his legacy and tradition by continuing to build upon his concern and care for the community. 

The Impact of Engagement

As Rev. Rawls demonstrated, the church is the center of many African American communities. It’s not just a place to practice worship; it’s also a vital hub for civic engagement, for participating in and finding community and for discovering meaningful connections with one another.

Engagement in spirituality or religion touches on all parts of vibrant living. It brings with it life purpose, inner peace and a greater sense of connection to both the people and the world around you. In fact, studies have shown that those who engage in spiritual or religious activities live longer — some claiming even up to four years longer.

For all these reasons and more, we’ve included engagement in spirituality or religion in our Nine Ways of Vibrant Living. We support and encourage participation in spiritual and religious experiences for followers of all faiths residing in Sage facilities, or involved in Sage programs. 

The inside of a church, with rows of pews before large stained glass windows
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02.19.21 | Community

Resilience is a Skill You Can Build — Here’s How

Throughout a lifetime, everyone experiences trauma, grief, failures, challenges and setbacks. Resilience is the essential skill needed to help us overcome these experiences. Some people have a better grip on the skill than others, but luckily resilience is something we’re all capable of building — today, we’ll take a look at how:

Understanding Resilience

At Sage Collective, we recognize that everyone faces adversity in life, and that stress is a natural component of the human experience. Rather than the complete elimination of stress (which would be unrealistic), we take a more pragmatic approach, advocating for stress reduction as part of our 9 Ways of Vibrant Living. Resilience is an essential tool for stress reduction. 

According to the American Psychological Association, psychologists define resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.” Resilience isn’t just about getting through a challenge, but about emerging on the other side feeling more confident and empowered in your ability to cope and overcome adversity. 

Building Your Resilience

There are four core components that build resilience. 

The first component is easy enough to tackle: take care of your physical wellness. Often, when we take care of our body, our mind will follow suit. Taking care of your physical wellness includes maintaining a healthy diet, participating in moderate, regular physical activity and getting a good night’s sleep. If you incorporate these physical wellness habits into your daily lifestyle, you’ll begin experiencing elevated energy levels and improved moods, both of which will help you become more resilient.

The second component that follows suit is: take care of your mental wellness too. When building resilience, it’s important to both get in touch with your emotions and to learn how to control them. Mindfulness practices such as meditation, yoga and breathing exercises can help with this. Practicing gratitude, developing a self-care routine and engaging in activities you love are all great ways to restore balance and wellbeing to your mind.

The third component that will help you build resilience: seek out connection. You don’t have to go through trials and tribulations alone. Rather than isolating yourself, instead build a network of trusted friends, family and community members that you rely on to validate the troubles you’re going through and to help uplift you when needed. You can also find a sense of connection and support in more structured environments such as support groups, civic groups or faith-based organizations.

And finally, the fourth component: find meaning. Going through a traumatic experience often overwhelms us with negative feelings like despair and hopelessness. Combatting these feelings with a sense of life purpose helps us maintain our groundedness and to hold onto hope and optimism. Whether you’re driven by a desire to help others or to pursue opportunities for self-discovery and improvement, finding meaning through your life purpose — and taking the steps needed to reach your goals and objectives — helps us maintain the problem-solving, motivation and drive that’s key to resilience.

Challenges will continue to come our way. With these tools to help build resilience, we hope you’re left feeling more prepared for the next time adversity comes your way.

Two hands reach out from a bright yellow field of flowers
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02.18.21 | Community

Community Spotlight: Groups Making a Difference

The second half of our name, collective, is important to us — we’re a collective because what we do, we do together. It’s part of our DNA to share resources, ideas and successes with everyone in our ecosystem. That’s why today, we’re sharing a community spotlight to celebrate groups making a difference in our neighborhood, Bronzeville, and the surrounding areas. Here’s just a few:

Bright Star Community Outreach

Bright Star Community Outreach (BSCO) is proud of its nine-year history and by-us-for-us roots. They’re led by founder and CEO, Pastor Chris Harris Sr., who grew up in Bronzeville and saw a need to address systematic problems impacting the neighborhood — problems like “violence in our communities, poor economic opportunities, inadequate mental health services, homelessness, child safety, and drug abuse.” Through resource development and collaborative partnerships, BSCO is empowering Bronzeville residents to share in the responsibility of building community. You can learn more about BSCO programs here.

My Block, My Hood, My City

The second group in our community spotlight, My Block, My Hood, My City, also known as M3, was started by Jahmal Cole in 2015 with a mission to “break down the social and emotional barriers of segregation, empower people to meet and serve their neighbors, and inspire Chicagoans to pursue their dreams.” M3 has been nimble in its approach, providing everything from youth education to engaging adult programming. Just one example: as part of their Viral Response, M3 performs Senior Wellness Calls, where volunteers perform senior wellness checks to help provide proper PPE and even just to chat with older adults to help combat social isolation. You can visit their website to learn more about their efforts (and get involved) here.

Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab + Bronzeville/Kenwood Mutual Aid Network

Food deserts are an ongoing concern on the South Side of Chicago, and as many faced food scarcity like never before during the pandemic, things got even worse when some grocery stores temporarily closed after the George Floyd protests in June. Seeing the need for increased access to resources, two Bronzeville organizations joined forces: Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab and Bronzeville/Kenwood Mutual Aid Network. Since the summer, their efforts have continued to stay strong and to have meaningful impact on the neighborhood; you can read more at Block Club Chicago here. 

Text graphic reading: Community spotlight: Bronzeville groups making a difference: Bright star community outreach, my block, my hood, my city and sacred keepers sustainability lab + bronzeville/kenwood mutual aid network
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02.09.21 | Sage Advice®

A Brief History of Bronzeville

Sage Collective has begun the process of renovating the first two properties we acquired, since selling Willa Rawls Manor, a 123-unit property we owned and operated for more than 40 years. The two properties are located at  4108 S King Drive and 4112 S King Drive. With the buildings located side-by-side in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood, it will provide a tangible benefit to the community by celebrating and uplifting Bronzeville’s dynamic history, current-day culture and residents alike. In honor of this effort and of Black History Month, today we take a moment to look at a brief history of Bronzeville.

Becoming Bronzeville

With the Great Migration beginning in 1916, African Americans fled lynchings and oppression in the rural South for brighter opportunities in cities in the North. Though segregation was outlawed after the Civil War, racist practices in hiring and housing practices remained steadfast. Many African Americans in Chicago landed in what became the Bronzeville area, there facing higher rent prices and population density (at its highest reaching 300,000 residents strong). 

Despite this, true to the African principle of ujamaa, Bronzeville residents created a tight-knit community that boasted a network of black-owned institutions and a cultural vivacity that, in its prime from the 1920s-1950s, even rivaled Harlem.

The community had been growing, but the name Bronzeville only entered the scene in the 1930s, suggested by theater editor for the Chicago Bee (an African American-led daily newspaper with national reach), James Gentry. Gentry posited that African American skin was closer to bronze than black, and selected the name as an empowering alternative to racist nicknames for the neighborhood that had emerged.

Center of Culture

Though the official boundaries of Bronzeville are often contested as spanning anywhere from 18th and 67th Street north-south to the Dan Ryan and Lake Michigan west-east, the pulsing heart of Bronzeville landed somewhere in the middle.

Dining, shopping, dance halls and nightclubs abounded. Jazz, blues and gospel were the sounds of Bronzeville, and when the Regal Theater opened in the 1920s, it attracted the country’s most glamorous and talented Black entertainers. Bronzeville also boasts being the home of renowned African American artists and intellectuals like journalist and social activist Ida B. Wells, jazz musician Louis Armstrong, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, women’s aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman, sociologist Horace Clayton and dancer Katherine Dunham.

WTTW put it best when they said businesses and community institutions like Provident Hospital (where Daniel Hale Williams, an African American, pioneered open-heart surgery), the Wabash YMCA (which established the first Black History Month), the George Cleveland Hall Library, Parkway Community House, Binga Bank (Chicago’s first Black-owned life insurance, realty, and financial institution), and more, “were more than alternatives to racially restricted establishments downtown”. They were pillars of the community which helped to instill pride and contribute to the upward mobility of African Americans.”

Through our vision for vibrant, high-quality and affordable housing for older adults, Sage Collective is proud to contribute to the legacy of African American culture, community and success that is the heart and soul of Bronzeville. 

Mural under the “El” tracks in Bronzeville
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