The Beverly Foundation was founded in 1977 as a non-profit organization located in Pasadena, California. Its initial support and asset base were provided by Beverly Enterprises. Today, the Beverly Foundation is an independent entity and generates the financial resources necessary for its operations and programs from its investment portfolio and from partnerships and consultations with other organizations. Today, the Foundation is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Foundation’s mission is to foster new ideas and options to enhance mobility and transportation for today’s and tomorrow’s older population. The foundation pursues this mission through research activities, community outreach, and technical assistance products. Senior transportation and mobility are central to the Beverly Foundation’s mission. The Foundation emphasizes transportation options for older adults which are essential to their ability to get where they need to go when they have limited their driving or have outlived their driving expectancy.
Research tells us that older men may live as many as six years and women as many as ten years when they no longer drive and are dependent on family members, friends, neighbors, and a broad array of community transportation services. The Beverly Foundation addresses each of these transportation options from the perspective of their senior friendliness with respect to its 5 A’s of Senior Friendly Transportation which are described below.
The 5 A’s of Senior Friendly Transportation
Availability: (exists and are available when needed…weekdays, evenings, weekends) Many of the STPs in rural areas recruit and train volunteer drivers to supplement the work of paid drivers so that they can transport in the evenings and on weekends.
Accessibility: (can be reached and used…transit stops, stairs, door-to-door) While some STPs provide door-to-door service, others recognize the needs of many seniors for help with wheelchairs and provide door-through-door service.
Acceptability: (meets standards…vehicles clean, transit stops safe, operators helpful) A large number of the STPs provide driver training, not just for driving safety, but also for passenger safety and sensitivity.
Affordability: (costs are manageable…low fees, vouchers, coupons) Numerous STPs do not charge transportation fees, and while many are supported by grant funding, many also give passengers the opportunity to make donations.
Adaptability:(possibility of modification…for wheelchairs, trip chaining, escorts possible) Many involve volunteers who can act as escorts.
Major Technical Activities
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STAR Search Survey
In 2000, the Foundation set out to identify STPs in America by undertaking a national survey of STPs. The survey, called STAR (Senior Transportation Assistance and Resources) Search, was originally a mail out survey, but graduated to an on-line survey in 2008. The STAR Search survey is undertaken annually and through 2010 resulted in the identification of more than 1,300 STPs in America. STAR Search Survey reports can be accessed in the library.
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STAR Awards Program
STAR Awards is a centerpiece of the Beverly Foundation’s effort to honor “the best of the best” transportation programs that provide services to older adults, with its annual selection of STPs for STAR Awards for Excellence. STAR Awards began in conjunction with the STAR Search Survey, and in the ten years from 2000-2010, ninety-six STAR Awards were conveyed to ninety-one transportation programs in 37 states and Puerto Rico. STAR Awards reports can be accessed in the library.
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Matching/Mentor Program
Initiated in 2008, the Matching/Mentor had the purpose of supporting pilot initiatives which matched a mentor with a mentee for the purpose of testing a method of mentoring by prospective managers of senior transportation services and leaders in the field of transportation services for older adults.
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Volunteer Driver Programs
By 2010, the Beverly Foundation’s database included more than seven (763) hundred volunteer driver programs. The programs had an average of nineteen years in operation and the majority had budgets of less than $100,000. While many programs included both paid drivers and program owned vehicles, the majority provided transportation services only with volunteer drivers who volunteered their own vehicles to provided transportation. Surveys and related technical and informational materials include:
- Volunteer Driver Program Information and Materials
- TurnKey Kit for Planning Implementing Volunteer Driver Programs
- Volunteer Driver Program Workbooks
- Transportation 101 (General Information)
- Transportation 201 (How To Recognize Assistance Needs)
- Transportation 301 (How to Identify Low Cost Features)
- Transportation 401 ((How To Plan A Program)
- Transportation 501 (How To Implement A Program)
- Volunteer Drivers Who They Are and What They Do
Board of Trustees
Ruth Covell
Ruth Covell has been a member of the faculty of the School of Medicine of the University of California, San Diego, since 1970. She has served as Associate Dean and Clinical Professor of Community Medicine since 1981 and, beginning in 1988, also as Director of the Universityís Academic Geriatric Resource Center. Dr. Covell was elected to the Beverly Foundation Board of Trustees in 1980.
Richard DeRock
Richard DeRock is the General Manager of Link Transit in Wenatchee, Washington. He founded and served for seven years as Executive Director of Access Services in Los Angeles, California. He has held other administrative positions with the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; and the Transport System at the University of California, Davis. Mr. DeRock was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2001.
William Doyle
William Doyle is the Managing Partner of Kerlin Capital Group, LLC, a ìboutiqueî investment bank based in Los Angeles, California. Kerlin Capital advises corporate clients in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Doyle earned is B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Doyle was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2004.
Helen Kerschner
Helen Kerschner is President & CEO of the Beverly Foundation and serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. With her leadership, the Foundation has undertaken a mission and program agenda of fostering new ideas and options that enhance mobility and transportation for older adults. Dr. Kerschner was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1998.
Don Pearson
Don Pearson is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Beverly Foundation
and is an attorney specializing in corporate securities. He is a recently retired partner with in the Los Angeles law firm of Argue, Pearson, Harbison, and Meyers, and currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Pearson was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1980.
James Birren
Emeritus Trustee
James Birren received his M.A. & Ph.D. from Northwest University, served as Chief of the Section on Aging of the National Institute of Mental Health, and was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Birrenís career includes serving as founding Executive Director and Dean of the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center at USC, and past president of the Gerontological Society of America, the Western Gerontological Society, and the Division on Adult Development and Aging of the American Psychological Association. He is Professor Emeritus of Gerontology and Psychology at the University of Southern California. Dr. Birren was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2001.
