Date & Time: November 12, 2025 | 2:30–3:30 PM EST

Memory Cafes are gaining attention as cost-effective ways to reduce social isolation and spark joy for people living with dementia and the people who care about them. Now, a new national resource makes it easier to learn to start a Memory Cafe, and easier for people to find Cafes to attend in their community. Join us to hear how JF&CS of Greater Boston helped nurture the grassroots movement that launched the Memory Cafe Alliance. Beth Soltzberg from JF&CS and Sam Goodrich from the Memory Cafe Alliance will share the journey and – most importantly – let you know about resources that you can use and share now.

About the Presenters

Beth Soltzberg directs the Alzheimer’s/ Related Dementias Family Support Program of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston. In 2014 she founded the JF&CS Memory Cafe Percolator, a free resource-sharing network for Memory Cafes throughout the U.S. and beyond, and is a lead advisor for the national Memory Cafe Alliance. She is a clinical social worker and holds an MSW and MBA from the University of Chicago, and an advanced credential in hospice and palliative care social work.

Sam Goodrich is the Program Director for TimeSlips Creative Storytelling. She has developed several TimeSlips projects in which elders with dementia and their care partners are creatively engaged for better health outcomes. In addition to her work with TimeSlips, Goodrich designed the newly launched Memory Cafe Alliance training, which supports community leaders to create stigma-free spaces for people living with dementia and their care partners to meaningfully connect. Goodrich holds a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has deep personal experience integrating the arts into the tender work of caregiving.