The mission of our center is to help seniors improve and maintain a healthy and independent lifestyle and to maximize their quality of life, and our four-pronged purpose is as follows.

Our center serves older adults from Some City, Valley Vista, Grove Beach, and Hill Viejo. The last three cities have the highest concentrations of low-income minority older adults in Any County. Of these three cities, Valley Vista has the largest Latino population. Its population is approximately 70% Latino, and of that Latino population, over 50% are monolingual Spanish speaking.

We operate a nonprofit multipurpose facility governed by an active 16-member volunteer board of directors (including three of the organization’s founders), and we offer a wide variety of programs at our center to meet even the most discriminating—and sometimes specific—needs of those we serve. Programs offered include preventive health care and education; nutritious in-center and home-delivered meals; crisis intervention; support groups and case management; legal and insurance counseling; housing assistance; employment training and information; transportation; leisure activities; recreation; volunteerism/placement; and social services and referral information. Our multiuse facility makes us unique from the other senior centers in Any County, and allows us to play an even more vital role in our community.

We recently added a state-of-the-art computer lab where ten separate classes are offered (two each day), Monday through Friday. Older adults who specialize in computer technology volunteer as instructors for these courses. Since adding the computer lab, the Center has trained over 250 seniors in how to use a computer as well as how to access the Internet. And because these classes are fee-for-service, it has finally allowed us to solidify our six months of operating reserves. Our agency has had a clean audit for the last eight years, and our fundraising efforts have grown between 10 and 15% since adding our director of development position five years ago. Additionally, we have successfully secured Community Development Block Grants from two cities as well as county funding for three consecutive years.

Currently, over a dozen organizations regularly use the center after hours and on weekends; among them are Jazzercise, Ballroom Dancing, Senior Net computer classes, Legal Aid Society of Any County, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Health Access Latinos, and Families of Any County. This translates into well over 150 community meetings and events, as over 3,000 individuals use the Center every year—this is above and beyond our senior services.