Community Board 11 members and residents used a Jan. 14 joint meeting of the Health & Social Services and Community Development and Budget Priorities committees to shape the district’s annual narrative and budget priorities, placing special emphasis on services for older adults, local health-care access, mental-health supports and youth programming.

The committees — chaired by Sandra Unger (Health) and Ryan Barthel (Community Development and Budget Priorities) — discussed the Office of Management and Budget guidance for the district narrative (500–1,500 words), where to document top district needs and how to frame health- and human-service requests for the city budget process. "Since our seniors are our fastest growing demographic and our largest demographic, we need more services, facilities, programs for seniors," Barthel said during the discussion.

Why it matters: Committee members said the district’s demographic change and gaps in neighborhood services make targeted requests necessary. Residents and service providers described mobility and information barriers that prevent older adults from reaching cooling centers, health facilities and other services; they also urged better outreach to middle-income seniors who don’t qualify for some programs but still face strain from rising housing costs.

Meeting discussion and examples

- Access and mobility: Speakers noted that major hospitals and specialized facilities are concentrated in parts of the district (committee members named Jacobi and Montefiore/Montefiore-area providers), leaving residents on the district’s west and north sides with longer travel times. Committee members and residents said limited mobility and difficulties using Access-A-Ride leave many older adults unable to reach care. Kate Cardona, a member of Bronx House Senior Center, said Bronx House operates shuttle pickups for seniors in some neighborhoods but that relatively few older adults use them.

- Senior services and community space: Board members and residents urged expanding senior centers, community programming and a larger community center that serves both youth and older adults. One speaker said a vacant synagogue on Pelham Parkway and Esplanade could be a candidate site for a combined youth and senior center, though the building has structural and subway-related constraints.

- Outreach and communication: Madeline, a fellow who identified herself as working for New York Connects, said many seniors do not use or cannot access online portals and that a phone-based, human-centered outreach strategy is needed. "People really respond well to speaking to a real person over the phone," she said.

- Mental health and substance use: Committee members recommended folding mental-health services into the health-and-wellness priorities. Speakers noted the closure of larger state psychiatric facilities has left local systems stretched and recommended tracking the planned health-and-wellness center on the former Bronx Psychiatric campus.

- Other local gaps: Participants raised the lack of a blood-donation center in the Bronx and uneven availability of youth recreational programs; several speakers said Bronx House provides some youth and after-school programming but is not sufficient to cover the whole district.

Process, next steps and deadlines

The committees reviewed the narrative template that will be submitted to the city’s Office of Management and Budget. Unger and Barthel asked members and community participants to email suggestions to committee staff; the narrative and budget requests are due to the city by Oct. 31. Committee members agreed to put further discussion on an upcoming agenda and to invite Madeline to present on her outreach work and survey findings at the next meeting to inform the board’s final language.

The discussion was largely exploratory and advisory: no formal vote or budget appropriation occurred during the meeting.

Ending: Committee leaders urged community board members and residents to submit written suggestions over the coming months so that the final district narrative reflects needs across seniors, health care, mental health and youth services.