River Bluffs Village History

Gerry Seldon, Founding Member

Increasingly, today’s older adults have a strong desire to remain independent, active and engaged in their community.  They seek options for high quality, consistent and coordinated services that can support their desired quality of life while they remain in their own homes.

In early 2006, a small grass roots group of older adults from communities just outside St. Paul, MN, had the foresight and interest in finding new ways to support these desires and sought DARTS’ assistance and expertise in exploring the opportunities offered through a new service delivery model operating in Boston, Massachusetts called the Beacon Hill Village.  This innovative model was created by people similar to this group (long time community leaders and residents ranging in age from mid-seventies to mid-nineties) in the Boston area that determined they wanted a new approach and added assistance in finding services to enable them to remain in their homes, one that matched their sense of community. 

This group of older adults and representatives of DARTS came together to form the “River Bluffs Village” (RBV) exploratory committee to assess the feasibility of implementing the Beacon Hill model in four suburban St. Paul communities.

In early 2007, the RBV exploratory committee contracted Wilder Research to conduct a feasibility study to assess community interest in the River Bluffs Village concept.  83% of responding households indicated some level of interest in the project.  This response, along with the information gathered by the group, verified that the River Bluffs Village model had the potential for successful implementation in these suburban St. Paul communities and that DARTS and the River Bluffs Village exploratory committee should take action to implement the model.

In the spring of 2008, River Bluffs Village secured funding from The Daniels Fund* of $275,000 over three years to adapt the Beacon Hill concept to a suburban setting, establishing River Bluffs Village as a self-sustaining, membership-based model of services that supports the ongoing health, independence, and community engagement of older adults residing in four communities near St. Paul, Minnesota.  DARTS would be the recipient and fiscal agent for the funding and the primary operations entity.

Jessica Hagemann, Director of River Bluffs Village, was hired in July 2008 and RBV was launched in January 2009.

*The Daniels Fund operates the Daniels Fund Scholarship Program and the Daniels Fund Grants Program in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.  The Fund was established in 1997 by Bill Daniels, a pioneer in cable television known for his kindness and generosity to those in need.