"That's what brings us together," he said.

Posner also noted that GEDCO is in preliminary discussions with Presbytery Senior Living, based in Pennsylvania, about collaborating on a project to build market-rate apartments for seniors.

"I strongly believe we can only get things done by partnering with like-minded organizations with complimentary strengths," Posner said.

Catholic Charities spokeswoman Kerrie Burch-Deluca said the organization, which runs 86 projects in the area from Our Daily Bread in the city to St. Vincent's Villa in Timonium, considers itself ecumenical, and that serving people of all faiths "is very important to us."

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Catholic Charities seeks partnerships "wherever we can," from corporate to private, Burch-Deluca said.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who requested the job fair, said she is not worried that Catholic Charities will bring an overtly religious role as manager of the residences. And, she noted that retired Rev. Jack Sharp of Govans Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Ed Kenney of St. Mary of the Assumption were past presidents of GEDCO. Sharp is GEDCO's founder.

Model for Maryland

Clarke said she is excited about the project as a potential model for Maryland.

"It's a much more humane way to live in long-term care," Clarke said.

Nate Sweeney of Catholic Charities, who will be "community leader" and the licensed administrator at the Greenhouse residences, said the partnership with GEDCO is "interesting and unique."

He said Catholic Charities is a leader in "culture change" in the field of long-term care, part of an effort to de-institutionalize the industry so that people aren't "living on someone else's schedule and having their individuality completely looked over for the sake of convenience."

The Green House model of "resident-centered care," part of a reform movement to make nursing homes more like people's own homes, is the first in the state under that name, Posner said.

Nationwide, there are 124 Green Houses, 30 under construction and 78 in development, according to the nonprofit, northern Virginia-based Green House Projects, a division of NCB Capital Impact.

Posner said he knows of two other similar models, the one at St. Elizabeth's and one at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center in northwest Baltimore. That model features long-term rehabilitation services featuring units called "neighborhoods," according to the Levindale website.

According to GEDCO's website, Green House Residences fill a need for lower-income seniors who can't function independently and need long-term care, but whose options are limited to being cared for by their families or in traditional nursing homes that accept people with private insurance in multi-patient rooms.

"The Green House Residences will showcase a better alternative for elders and communities trying to provide for them," states GEDCO's site, http://www.gedco.org.

Posner said it means Green House residents will be "in control of their own schedules, including the option "to sleep until 1 o'clock and have lightly buttered toast."

"It's the trend of where things are going," Sweeney said.

Each floor will have one long dining table at which all residents of that floor will gather for meals home-cooked by the staff. Sweeney described it as "communal and familial," and said there's a symbolic message.

"You're saying everyone has a place at the table."