Robin Tillotson, Southeast Regional Director, Chicago Department on Aging (CDoA)

Robin Tillotson, Southeast Regional Director, Chicago Department on Aging (CDoA)

What is your business? Robin Tillotson is currently the Southeast Regional Director at the Chicago Department on Aging (CDoA).  Prior to working for CDoA, Robin served as Director of Women’s Services at the Harris YWCA.  In that capacity, she was responsible for the administration of sexual assault services to victims of rape & incest.  Under her direction, survivors of sexual assault were able to access medical/legal advocacy, therapeutic and counseling services.  Additionally, Robin oversaw the YWCA’s community education programs within the Chicago Public Schools and in community based organizations during her tenure.  These programs were designed to educate teens and community servants on dating violence prevention strategies.

Why Do I Consider Myself to be an Online Success? The website 79thstreetseniors.com receives on average 1,600 visits by seniors per month.  Given that there are not many sites focused strictly on senior citizen issues, 1600 visits is a good number. For the first several months of the site’s inception 150-300 visits was the norm, but given that  I have spent a great deal of time marketing and promoting our site to a number of networking and alumni groups, along with social organizations and service providers, the visits have increased steadily.  I am always amazed at how receptive and glad people are to learn about our website, and as a result of intense marketing efforts of our site, a number of new participants 60 years of age or older have joined our center.  The website has contributed to a 20 percent increase in participation during the past year.  Additionally, family members of seniors have come to rely on the website as they find ways to ease their family caregiver responsibilities.

The success of  79thstreetseniors.com is not mine alone, but also that of the entire staff, members of the center and other community servants.  These are the people who have contributed information and even donations to keep the site going.

How was the business started? The brand “79th Street Seniors” is the fundraising arm of the Atlas Senior Center, of which I am the Director.  In these challenging economic times, I am continuously searching for ways to increase programming options for our seniors, and of course, this takes money.  After formulating a new auxiliary comprised of people with an eclectic mix of skills, experience and visibility in the business, educational and political communities, we as a fundraising body decided to create a website that would promote the activities of the center.  We send email blasts to a number of people, particularly to movers and shakers in business, and we have found that we garner more financial support from donors who like what we are doing to keep seniors active and living independently.

We have also used 79thstreetseniors.com to market to the media, and our efforts have resulted in articles about our center appearing in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, along with a number of Chicago based publications and media outlets.

Who has Helped the Most? I have been blessed with the support of a number of people and organizations, but specifically, Toni Pope, who is our Webmaster and Najlah Tamir, our photographer, have been the most helpful because they have lent their talents and expertise without charging us market rates.  Because Toni and Najlah believe in what we do here at the Atlas Center, they have been most gracious in donating their services.  Toni, spends a great deal of time throughout the month fine tuning our site, and she is always coming up with new and creative ways to get our message out via the website.  Najlah has been present at all of our major events capturing the essence of what we do, and you always see her walking around our center with her camera.

I am most grateful to them!

How may readers contact you?

Website: 79thstreetseniors.com