With gusto, creativity and a knack for introducing people, Gail Kohn has advocated for older adults for more than 40 years. In May she will receive the Leadership in Aging Award from Seabury Resources for Aging. Photo by The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

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Capitol Hill resident Gail Kohn has always been somewhat of a matchmaker. Throughout her 40-year career in the aging field, she’s found ways to connect people — with a neighbor, plumber, mayor and even a future spouse. 

“I make a lot of connections,” said Kohn, who recently named her new limited liability corporation Linking Partners LLC as a nod to her superpower. “I know lots of people because I like meeting people. It’s just part of my gene pool…It’s how I think.”  

Kohn, known for her groundbreaking work helping older adults age in their neighborhoods, will receive the Leadership in Aging Award from Seabury Resources for Aging next month. Seabury, a nonprofit that provides housing, care management, meals, transportation and more for older adults in the D.C. metro area, will honor Kohn at its annual celebration on May 8. 

“Gail Kohn exemplifies the spirit of advocacy that is essential for creating a society where older adults can thrive,” said Dawn M. Quattlebaum, Seabury’s CEO. 

“We celebrate not only her remarkable contributions, but also the vital importance of fostering inclusive environments where older adults can age with empowerment. Her leadership [reminds] us that when we prioritize the needs of our older adults, we enrich the fabric of our society as a whole.”  

For the last 12 years, Kohn served as the coordinator for the Age Friendly DC program, whose mission is “to make the District of Columbia a better place to live, work and play for people of all ages.”  

But she’s perhaps best known as the founding executive director of Capitol Hill Village, one of the oldest “villages” in our area.  

Villages are nonprofits that link volunteers with older people who may need help with technology, rides to appointments, organization or other tasks. Put simply, a village, Kohn said, is “an opportunity for neighbors to support neighbors in the common effort to go through life getting things done that they need help with.”  

There are now 75 villages in the DMV, thanks in part to Kohn’s guidance when she was at the helm of Capitol Hill Village. 

“The people that learned from us then opened the doors for other people who were interested in villages…it spread by word of mouth because it’s all about purpose. People like having purpose in their lives, and the volunteering within any village is a purpose.” 

Kohn’s early work in the village movement made her a hot ticket on the lecture circuit. She traveled the country, speaking about villages and their focus on volunteerism. In fact, Kohn is a bit of a local legend. She admits that some people, when they hear her name, say, “You’re Gail Kohn? You helped my friend!” 

From Baltimore to Michigan to D.C. 

Kohn grew up in Baltimore, where at age 11 she opened a makeshift daycare in her back yard. Although her intention was to raise money to buy a Chincoteague pony (which never happened), she ended up discovering her talent for creating connections.  

“As a result of [the daycare], the parents became friends. When you start introducing people, all kinds of things happen,” she said.  

Whenever you meet someone new, Kohn explained, “you’ll be better off. You’ll know more, or it would be easier to get something done.” 

Kohn left the East Coast for the University of Michigan, where she met her husband. Although she wanted to study art history, her late father had encouraged her to be practical (“You will always have to get a job,” he said), so she graduated with a degree in nursing.  

“That education proved to be, throughout my entire career, extraordinarily valuable,” Kohn said. In fact, her nursing degree led her to her career, albeit in a roundabout way.  

Kohn’s first job was as a researcher at the university’s Institute for Social Research, working on a longitudinal study about the health of unemployed people. She knocked on doors, collecting health information from study participants and becoming friendly with them, as is her way. 

“That is what got me interested in older people,” she said, “because the most interesting people among those who were struggling to get back on their feet after they had had a loss were the people who were older.” 

Kohn had a flash of inspiration. “That’s what intrigued me and got me thinking about what was happening to the population. People were completely unaware that there was going to be a bulge in our population as we grew older,” she said. “I came out of that with a career which I didn’t have before.” 

With that new motivation, when she was in her early 30s, Kohn got a master’s degree in healthcare administration with a focus on long-term care from George Washington University.  

That led her to a job at Goodwin House in Northern Virginia, where she stayed for eight years. After that, she served as founding executive director of Collington, a continuing care retirement community that she helped open in Mitchellville, Maryland. 

Early advocate for villages 

Kohn’s affiliation with Capitol Hill Village came about because of a friendly conversation on a plane. Curious about the burgeoning village concept, she was flying to Boston for a conference on the subject and started talking with another passenger about her new interest.  

“I get into conversations with people anywhere,” Kohn said. “A man tapped on my shoulder and said, ‘I’d like to speak with you,’” she remembered.  

Turns out, he was headed to the same conference because he was looking for someone to lead the new Capitol Hill Village. “Two weeks later, I had the job.” 

Kohn’s connections also came in handy when it came to Age Friendly DC. She was friendly with the head of what’s now the D.C. Department of Aging, and when it came time to launch the citywide initiative, her name was first on the list.  

What were some of her proudest accomplishments as coordinator of Age Friendly DC?  

“We had a huge influence on pushing paid family leave,” she said. She’s also proud of organizing a walk with the mayor and city council in 2014, which “brought to their attention that the Department of Transportation needed to have the funds to make sidewalks as easily walkable as streets are for cars.” In addition, she worked to create more affordable assisted living in the city. 

But she’s perhaps most proud of empowering older residents and allowing them the opportunity to speak up about their needs. 

“That’s why Age Friendly has been so much fun for me because we [tell people], ‘What you say is going to matter. We’re going to do things based on what you say.’” 

Definitely not retired 

Although Kohn recently stepped down from Age Friendly DC, she’s still as busy as ever, assisting the state of New Hampshire with its aging plan through her LLC. She’s also recruiting volunteers for Friendship Bench, a nonprofit that enlists older adults who listen to and advise younger people).  

Kohn and her husband, Donald Kohn, have two grown children and several grandchildren. Donald Kohn served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve until he retired in 2011; he’s now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.  

She also volunteers at her old job, Capitol Hill Village, which, coincidentally, is just across the street from her home. She no longer works full-time, but she’s definitely not retired. 

“I hate the word retirement. I think it labels people as not engaged anymore,” Kohn said. “I volunteer and will continue to volunteer.” 

Seabury will present the Leadership in Aging awards at an “Evening with Seabury Under the Stars” at the Wharf on May 8 at 6 p.m. Early bird tickets are available until April 7. For more information or to buy tickets, visit seaburyresources.org/lia or call (202) 849-8082 or (202) 289-5690.