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Cody Rouge group tells DHHS panel state funding helped seniors get laptops, home repairs and a new community site
Summary
The DHHS Appropriations Subcommittee heard a presentation from the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance describing state-funded senior services — digital literacy, duct cleaning, appliances and home repairs — and the group's new community intake site on West Warren.
The Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee on Feb. 19 heard from the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance about state-funded senior services that organizers say have improved health, digital access and housing stability for older residents.
The group's founder and executive director, Kenyatta Campbell, told the committee the program targeted co-morbidity factors affecting seniors and prioritized vendors that provide financial literacy, health and wellness services. "It is my duty to ensure that we equip our residents with activities and support services to make sure that they have a high quality of life," Campbell said.
Campbell said the organization began 17 years ago focused on youth and has since expanded to offer wraparound family services. She described a senior-focused event called "Get Healthy, Get Wealthy," and said the program supplied laptops and Google Nest Hubs, delivered digital-literacy classes, and provided home repairs and appliance replacement after flooding.
Resident Chris Bond told the committee she and her family have lived in the neighborhood more than 40 years and described the programs' direct benefits: "We have participated in most of the activities that have been provided for us such as home repairs, senior connect, senior community, computer classes," Bond said, adding duct cleaning helped seniors with asthma and COPD.
Campbell said state support helped the organization leverage additional philanthropic and nonprofit partnerships, including work with the Kresge Foundation and United Way, and allowed the group to establish a permanent office on West Warren that will serve as an intake center for health, wellness and financial services. She also said the group surveyed more than 500 seniors to shape services.
Chair Senator Santana thanked Campbell and said the state resources had connected seniors to services that help them age in place. The presentation ended without formal committee action.
Questions from the panel focused on program outcomes and how state appropriations were being used to expand services in the district. Campbell offered to follow up on specific program metrics.
