Building Connection Through Learning: A Partnership Between VINE, CILC, and the Mankato Area Foundation

Written by Tania Lyon, Ed.D.
Date: February 13, 2026

A Shared Approach to Connection

For more than thirty years, VINE Faith in Action has been a trusted hub for health, wellness, and community connection for older adults in southern Minnesota. Known simply as VINE, the organization creates spaces where people remain active, engaged, and connected as they age.

When COVID-19 disrupted in-person gatherings, organizations across the region faced an urgent question: how to sustain meaningful connection and shared learning during extended isolation. At the same time, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) was expanding its interactive learning model to support learners across the lifespan—particularly older adults experiencing increased social isolation.

In response, VINE, CILC, and the Mankato Area Foundation came came together to explore a new approach—one that combined trusted community relationships, philanthropic investment, and CILC’s interactive learning infrastructure. Rather than treating virtual programming as a stopgap, the partners focused on designing experiences that would foster curiosity, conversation, and continuity over time.

Designing Learning for Engagement

“We were concerned about social isolation and wanted meaningful ways for our members to keep learning and connecting,” said Meghan Velasquez, Program and Event Coordinator at VINE. “CILC brought a level of expertise and engagement that made that possible.”

Through this collaboration, VINE began offering CILC’s Roam from Home experiences—live, interactive virtual field trips connecting participants with national parks, museums, and cultural institutions around the world. Delivered through CILC’s facilitation model, the sessions emphasized real-time dialogue and shared reflection, creating a learning environment built on participation rather than passive viewing.

“I’m not going to be able to have someone from the Smithsonian come in person,” Velasquez said. “Being able to engage directly with experts in real time is incredibly powerful for our members.”

The Mankato Area Foundation played a critical role by investing in the partnership itself—supporting the integration of CILC’s learning infrastructure into a trusted community setting and enabling the program to move from pilot to sustained practice.

From Pilot to Practice

As in-person activities resumed, the collaboration evolved rather than ended. Sessions are now experienced both virtually and in shared physical spaces, with members gathering before and after each program to discuss and reflect. Participants regularly connect the content to their own lives—recognizing familiar places, recalling memories, and learning from one another.

“Our members aren’t just watching,” Velasquez said. “They’re learning together, asking questions, and sharing experiences. That shared engagement strengthens our community.”

For CILC, the partnership reflects a broader commitment to expanding access to high-quality, interactive learning across the lifespan—particularly in community settings where connection and engagement are essential to well-being. For VINE, it reinforces a long-standing mission to reduce isolation and support healthy aging. For the Mankato Area Foundation, it demonstrates how targeted philanthropic investment can align organizations around a shared community outcome.

What This Partnership Made Possible

Together, VINE, CILC, and the Mankato Area Foundation established an early model for interactive lifelong learning grounded in community settings. During the initial Roam from Home series at VINE, 18 programs generated 788 registrations from 240 participants, with individuals returning for an average of 2.3 sessions—a strong indicator of sustained engagement rather than one-time participation.

That framework continues to inform CILC’s work today. Roam from Home has since served nearly 190,000 older adults, with participation continuing to grow as communities adopt the model to address social isolation through shared learning.

Media Credit: All images courtesy of VINE Faith in Action and the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration