n 2021, The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation awarded its inaugural John and Jane Shalam Award to Combat Social Isolation to Selfhelp Community Services. Through this award, Selfhelp’s Virtual Senior Center is recognized for combating social isolation among low-income and homebound older adults.

On this week’s episode of The Playbook, host Mark Collier, business consultant for the UGA Small Business Development Center, is joined by Russ Lusak, COO of Selfhelp Community Services, Inc. Lusak also oversees the virtual senior center or VSC, an innovative tool that enables socially isolated seniors to assemble in an online community and expand their social network.

The state’s Office for the Aging is partnering with the Association on Aging in New York and Selfhelp Community Services to bring Selfhelp’s Virtual Senior Center into the homes of elderly New Yorkers to improve connectivity, combat social isolation, and improve health and wellness.

The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) announced a partnership with the Association on Aging in New York and Selfhelp Community Services to bring Selfhelp’s Virtual Senior Center (VSC) into the homes of older New Yorkers to improve connectivity, combat social isolation, improve health and wellness. Launching initially with 20 pilot counties, the VSC will be available as a tool to help organizations bring their communities online for more than 700 potential AAA’s.

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation announced today it has dedicated $20 million in additional funding to support 25 nonprofit organizations addressing the ongoing healthcare and health-related needs of New Yorkers as a direct result of COVID-19.

Caught between colliding pressures of a pandemic, political unrest and outcries for social justice, this Martin Luther King Day of Service is unlike any other. But despite the limitations of the season, this federal holiday doesn’t have to be any less impactful. Now more than ever, MLK Day of Service is enabling everyday people to roll up their sleeves and help their communities – even while stuck at home.

The city’s top doctor is urging people over the age of 65 and those with underlying conditions to avoid nonessential activities, a sign that New Yorkers may be facing a tough winter.