NCCCR Conference

Creating Intentional Communities for the Second Half of Life

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CONFERENCE FACULTY

Neshama Abraham and Zev Paiss co-founded The Elder Cohousing Network in August 2004. They are an experienced husband and wife team who have been helping newly forming co-housing groups for the past 10 years. They both lost their own parents early and have learned to appreciate the presence of elders in co-housing from their own experience as residents of the multi-generational Nomad Co-housing Community in Boulder, CO, which they started and where they have lived since November 1997.

Neshama has specialized in communications for over 20 years and started her career in New York where she has worked with many of the country's major print and broadcast media outlets. Zev is an expert in sustainable building and group process skills and is the founding Executive Director of the national non-profit Co-housing Association of the United States.

Ben Brown is a freelance reporter whose articles have appeared in the Wall St. Journal, USA Today, and the AARP Bulletin. He was one of the founding journalists of USA Today. Currently, Ben is covering the community planning and rebuilding process in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.

Alex Mawhinney brings with him a wealth of knowledge gained from both his formal education and his years of experience in the senior-living industry. Alex received his bachelor's degree from Wheaton College in Illinois, and his graduate degree from Michigan State University's School of Public Health. Afterwards, he went into social work, then eventually shifted into retirement living.

Over the course of that career, Alex has been responsible for developing and operating a number of well-respected assisted living communities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. He served as the Regional Director of Operations for Complete Care in Horsham, Pennsylvania, and as Director of Senior Living Services for ServiceMaster Diversified Health Services in Memphis, Tennessee. For two years, he was Executive Administrator for Trinity Terrace, a 300-unit continuing care retirement community in Ft Worth, Texas. Before joining Eldershire, Alex was Regional Director of Operations and Senior Consultant for Paradigm Senior Living, where he was responsible for operating a developing 330-unit full service senior living community in Gilroy, CA.

Dene Peterson is the founder and developer of ElderSpirit Community in Abingdon, VA, an affordable community of mutual support and late life spirituality. She has a background in administering non-profit organizations. Dene is a former member of the Glenmary Sisters. She holds a certificate as a Housing Development Finance Professional.

David Schimmel is the National NORCs Coordinator (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities) at the United Jewish Communities Washington Office. He provides consulting and programming expertise with 41 NORC grantees. Additionally, David is responsible for disseminating findings of the UJC NORCs Initiative best practices. Prior to arriving at UJC, David served as the Project Coordinator of Senior Friendly Neighborhoods in Baltimore.

David holds an MSW in Community Organization from the University of Maryland; an MA in Modern Jewish History of Baltimore Hebrew University; and a BA Journalism from the University of Georgia.


Donald E. Tucker, R.A., has 30 years experience developing housing, ranging from small group homes for seniors to large multifamily residential complexes. President of , he is a registered architect and real estate developer, and a recognized expert in the programming, design and development of multifamily, elderly and special user housing. With an extensive portfolio of successful projects, Don's knowledge of real estate development also enables him to assist clients with site procurement, feasibility studies, financing and development coordination.
Prior to 1974, Don was associated with several prominent architectural firms in Philadelphia and San Francisco. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of New Mexico in 1968, and was subsequently awarded a Fellowship in Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a master's degree in Architecture in 1970.
In addition, Don has taught Architecture at Temple University, lectured at numerous conferences and written articles on affordable housing and elderly housing design. Don Tucker is also principal of AHD, Inc., a developer of affordable housing, and is thoroughly familiar with the activities required to bring a project successfully from conception to completion.

Ronald J. Manheimer is executive director of the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement (NCCCR), an award-winning lifelong learning, leadership, research, and community service program of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where he also holds an appointment as Research Associate Professor of Philosophy. Before becoming the NCCCR's first director in 1988, Manheimer was director of older adult education for The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) in Washington, D.C.