Sixty-seven-year-old Kate Fentress is currently on a mission to unite Dartmouth’s elderly population through her in-the-works nonprofit, the Coastal Neighbors Network.

After watching her own parents become isolated with age, Fentress found the solution in Boston. The Beacon Hill Village—started in 2002—is the first of 190 virtual villages that allow seniors to “age in place,” said Fentress.

The Coastal Neighbors Network—or CNN as Fentress calls it—will provide the elderly population with a social network, rides to the grocery store, and even a handyman if they need it in exchange for a membership fee that’s not as costly as assisted living and doesn’t force them to be uprooted.

“What’s really powerful about this is that it is a tried-and-true model. People get to stay in town and stay connected to where they built their lives,” said Fentress via telephone.

Fentress will run the nonprofit with an executive director and a volunteer base, but she’s still waiting for 501c3 status approval from the state, as well as help from the town.

We did some initial work with livable communities, an AARP program, and this fits into that program, said Town Administrator David Cressman. “I think it’s a great idea what Kate Fentress and some of the others are trying to do to provide services to some of our elderly residents.”

On Thursday, May 19, a survey—designed to help Fentress gauge what Dartmouth residents need—will go up on the town’s website. “We know what national trends are, but we want to know about Dartmouth,” said Fentress.

Fentress said she’s also reached out to the Council on Aging, the YMCA, Southcoast Hospitals, the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, UMass Dartmouth, and The Second Half for support with the project.

Yearly memberships range from $400-1000, and vary for individual and couples packages, said Fentress. She’s not yet sure what pricing in Dartmouth will look like.

“Once we get the feedback from the town, then we’ll figure out what we will need in order to provide that,” she said. “The cost will cover approximately 60 percent of what we do, and then we’ll have to do some fundraising as well.”

Fentress plans to keep the surveys online for a month, as well as have a table at Town Meeting on June 7. She said she won’t start advertising membership until January 2017.

“The more input we get from the community, the better prepared we will be for a successful launch,” she said via press release.

Find more information at facebook.com/coastalneighborhoodnetwork.