The JF&CS Memory Café Percolator shares free information and tools to make it easier for organizations and individuals to start and sustain their own memory café.

Memory Café PSA English	Memory Café PSA Spanish	Memory Café PSA Portuguese

Join the Percolator Email List

You will receive an invitation to the Percolator Google Group, and information about our quarterly Idea Exchanges and other resources.

Memory Café Resource Links

Café Directory

• National Memory Café Directory
• Massachusetts Guest Artist/Activity Facilitator Directory
  List of teaching artists and other facilitators in Massachusetts or available virtually, who can be hired to lead activities at memory cafés. Join the Guest Artist/Activity Facilitator Directory by filling out this form. (This directory is only for artists and facilitators who are located in Massachusetts OR able to provide virtual programs. Thank you!)

Café Toolkits, Resource Guides, and Tip Sheets

• Memory Café Alliance free, self-paced online training. Visit Memory Café Alliance at www.memorycafedirectory.com  Online training courses on Memory Café Operations, Dementia & Caregiving for the Memory Café Context, and Facilitation Tips for Memory Cafes

   

• Memory Café Toolkit and Virtual/Hybrid Toolkit Supplement in English and in Spanish
  A step-by-step guide to starting and sustaining a memory café.
• Memory Café Guide to Leadership and Other Meaningful Roles for People Living with Dementia:
  The Percolator and Dementia Action Alliance collaborated to create this guide to help memory café coordinators to support their participants in taking on active, meaningful roles at the cafés.
• Percolator Tip Sheets: Funding Your Café; Promoting Your Café; Questions for Guest Facilitators

Materials to promote Memory Cafés

• Memory Café Alliance Promotional Toolkit - https://dfamerica.org/mca-toolkit/  This toolkit includes resources to help you share information about Memory Cafes with the general public, providers/prescribers, and people who are interested in starting Memory Cafes.

   

• Massachusetts Memory Café public service announcement videos (1 minute):
  Watch on YouTube in English, Spanish and Portuguese
  This video introduces the general public to memory cafés.

Download and share the video files with your cable station:
 

Memory Café PSA - English

• Memory Café PSA - English TV Subtitles – .MOV
• Memory Café PSA - English WEB – .MP4

Memory Café PSA - Portuguese

• Memory Café PSA - Portuguese TV Subtitles – .MOV
• Memory Café PSA - Portuguese WEB Subtitles – .MP4

Memory Café PSA - Spanish

• Memory Café PSA - Spanish TV Subtitles – .MOV
• Memory Café PSA - Spanish WEB Subtitles – .MP4

Informational Videos

• Spanish webinar on starting a Spanish-speaking memory café
  A 25-minute video explaining how to start and run a café, focusing on the experience of Aroma de Café, the first Spanish-speaking memory café in Massachusetts.
• Webinar on IDD-Inclusive Memory Cafés
  A 38-minute video about the lessons learned by nine memory cafés that partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services starting in 2016 to serve people with intellectual/developmental disabilities who are also living with dementia.
• Webinar on starting a memory café network
  A 30-minute video about how the JF&CS Percolator Network got started, its benefits, and how people in other states or regions can start their own memory café network.
• Webinar: How to Start a Memory Café. An hour presentation by Beth Soltzberg with a spotlight by JoAnn Sharman on the SA Amigos Memory Café, a bilingual Spanish/English café. Presented at the Dementia Friendly Washington conference, September 2023.
• TEDx Talk: Memory Cafés - Making Space for Dementia and Joy
  Our own Beth Soltzberg spoke at TEDxWaltham about creating safe spaces for those with and without dementia to experience connection, creativity, and joy.

Resources for Virtual or Hybrid Memory Cafés

• Webinar: New Ways to Connect: Running a Virtual or Hybrid Memory Café
  A 33-minute webinar sponsored by Massachusetts Councils on Aging that describes the steps for running a virtual, hybrid or outdoor memory café. See the slides from the webinar.
• Webinar: A Whole New (Virtual) World: Creating Connections with Online Dementia-Friendly Programs
  A 38-minute webinar produced by Dementia Friendly Washington that discusses how memory cafés are transitioning to or starting up as virtual programs. See the slides from the webinar.

Archive of Percolator Quarterly Idea Exchanges

Percolator meetings are held quarterly in Waltham, Massachusetts and by Zoom/conference call. We began recording the meetings in June 2019.

2025

• June 2025 Idea Exchange (6/18/25): First United Methodist Church Memory Cafe (FL) and how to engage faith communities; Memory Cafe Alliance update. See the slides from the meeting.
• March 2025 Idea Exchange (3/13/25): Chinese American Service League Memory Cafe; Memory Cafe Alliance update including new online Cafe training modules. See the slides from the meeting.

2024

• December 2024 Idea Exchange (12/11/24): Pima Council on Aging Memory Cafes; Introducing the Memory Cafe Alliance. See the slides from the meeting. Here are Pima Council on Aging's sample MC schedules, Memory Cafe activity survey, initial participant surveys, and ongoing participant surveys.
• September 2024 Idea Exchange (9/12/24): Percolator 10th anniversary celebration; Unveiling the EMC2 national strategic plan for Memory Cafes. See the slides from the meeting. Watch and share the 3 minute 10th anniversary video.
• June 2024 Idea Exchange (6/7/24): Traveling Memory Cafes; EMC2 update & branding. See the slides from the meeting.
• March 2024 Idea Exchange (3/14/24): Hope & Healing Memory Cafes; Memory Cafe Branding. See the slides from the meeting.

2023
 

• December 2023 Idea Exchange (12/13/23): Memory Café Nova Scotia; Priorities survey results and EMC2 initiative to scale access to Memory Cafés. See the slides from the meeting.
• September 2023 Idea Exchange (9/14/23): Café de los Recuerdos at Gail Borden Library in Elgin, IL; Café Chats with Dementia Action Alliance. See the slides from the meeting.
• June 2023 Idea Exchange (6/14/23): SA Amigos Memory Café, Texas Memory Café Network, and Café research; How to fund your café. See the slides from the meeting. Here is the qualitative study of memory cafés by Masoud et al., that was discussed during the meeting.
• March 2023 Idea Exchange (3/9/23): Lorenzo’s House support for people with younger onset dementia, and Café Connection of NJ on rebuilding after loss. See the slides from the meeting. Here is the trailer to the Lorenzo’s House short film that was shown during the meeting.

2022
 

• December 2022 Idea Exchange (12/14/22): “History and Hope: The Origins of Memory Cafés & Thoughts about the Future,” and the Memory Café at the Denver Public Library. See the slides from the meeting.
• September 2022 Idea Exchange (9/8/22): Ideas for making your cafe welcoming for LGBTQIA+ participants, and participants with a trauma background. See the slides from the meeting.
• June 2022 Idea Exchange (6/8/22): Waukesha Public Library Memory Café and structured brainstorming on outreach and attendance; Harmony Café on designing activities that work for all ability levels. See the slides and handout from the meeting.
• March 2022 Idea Exchange (3/10/22): Simultaneous and sequential hybrid café presentations (serving guests both in person and virtually), and discussion of next steps for the Percolator. See the slides from the meeting.

2021
 

• December 2021 Idea Exchange (12/8/21): With Dementia Action Alliance, discussion of meaningful roles that people living with dementia can take to help shape and lead memory cafes. See the slides from the meeting.
• September 2021 Idea Exchange (9/9/21): Library Memory Project's Hybrid Cafe; Results from the Percolator survey of how we are providing cafes now. See the slides from the meeting.
• June 2021 Idea Exchange (6/9/21): Boston Memory Cafes for Black/African American guests, and Spanish-speaking guests; Elderwise exploration of the heart of memory cafes. See the slides from the meeting.
• March 2021 Meeting (3/11/21): Metrowest Memory Café Provider Coalition; Memories International; Percolator survey on how cafés plan to operate in 2021. See the slides from the meeting.

2020
 

• December 2020 Meeting (12/9/20): Virtual 5th Street Café and Activities for People Living at Home with Dementia; TimeSlips resource update; Percolator survey on cafés’ adaptations to pandemic. See the slides from the meeting.
• September 2020 Meeting (9/10/20): Five memory cafés in the U.S. and Brazil adapt to COVID-19 through virtual or outdoor programming. See the slides from the meeting.
• June 2020 Meeting (6/10/20): Virtual JF&CS Memory Café; A panel of teaching artists spoke about their transition to facilitating virtual cafés. See the slides from the meeting.
• COVID-19 Response Meeting (4/28/20): Idea exchange about virtual memory cafés. See the slides from the meeting.
• COVID-19 Response Meeting (3/24/20): How memory cafés are responding to the coronavirus. See the slides from the meeting.
• March 2020 Meeting: Literacy-based Café programming; Brookline’s Memory Connections Café & Camp Memory Connections; Short brainstorm about the response to COVID-19

2019

• December 2019 Meeting: Burlington’s Memory Café; results of Percolator survey on how cafés create a sense of community and belonging
• September 2019 Meeting: South Shore Conservatory Memory Cafés; results of Percolator survey on how cafés respond to death and disease progression
• June 2019 Meeting: West County Memory Café of Shelburne Falls; supporting guests with Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) at a memory café