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Ukiah City DEI Committee warned senior center faces closure without new funds; members offer grant, billing and convening help
Summary
Committee member David Lieberman told the Ukiah City DEI Committee that the local Senior Center faces negative net income and deferred maintenance, and urged the committee to help convene county and community partners, pursue grants and explore billing options to keep services running.
David Lieberman, the committee’s senior representative, told the Ukiah City DEI Committee on Sept. 24 that loneliness, isolation and worsening finances are placing the local Senior Center at risk. "One of the chief challenges and issues for seniors is loneliness and isolation," Lieberman said, framing the problem as a driver of worse health outcomes and greater service needs.
Lieberman summarized the center’s services — meals, the Lunch Bunch program for people with dementia, outreach, transportation and caregiver referrals — and warned the facility is struggling with failing equipment, roof leaks and plumbing and has "negative net income," leaving routine maintenance undone. He said a previously proposed capital project backed by about $900,000 in grant funds never came to fruition, and that the center’s primary thrift-store revenue was severely reduced by a sprinkler-system flood and the pandemic.
Committee members and local volunteers responded with a range of practical suggestions. One member recommended exploring Medi-Cal billing for care coordination and medically tailored services and offered to connect the center to Partnership Health Plan for a small pilot. Others offered volunteer grant-writing help and suggested private-foundation approaches as quicker short-term options than waiting years to replicate a thrift-store model. Community organizations including local Rotary volunteers offered to help with targeted fundraising and event support.
Lieberman urged the committee to convene a symposium of city, county and senior-center leaders to clarify needs and coordinate immediate supports. He and other members volunteered to arrange a meeting with the Senior Center’s board president, John McCallum, and executive director Liz Dorsey to discuss options and next steps. The committee agreed to follow up and to share volunteer and grant-writing resources.
Next steps: staff and members will attempt to schedule the proposed meeting with the Senior Center leadership and to identify short-term funding and billing pilots; no formal funding decision by the City was made at the Sept. 24 meeting.
