Senior Centers

A multipurpose senior center is a community facility where older adults come together for services and activities that reflect their skills and interests and respond to their diverse needs.

Centers are a resource for the entire community, providing services and information on aging, and assisting family and friends who care for older persons. For older persons at risk of losing their self-sufficiency, senior centers are the entry point to an array of services that will help them maintain their independence. Any variety of services to individuals or groups may be accessed depending on local community circumstances.

Examples of individual services at senior centers are information and referral, case assistance, in-home assistance, home-delivered meals, job finding and training, legal assistance, health insurance counseling and claims assistance, transportation, and volunteer opportunities.

Examples of group services are group meals, educational sessions, cultural events, health education sessions and wellness activities, retirement planning, self-help peer groups, community service projects, intergenerational programs, volunteer opportunities, and recreational trips.

During 1998-99 the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services launched a new initiative designed to enhance the operation and programming of senior centers. With the help of a State Task Force, the Division identified a model with two tiers: The Center of Merit and The Center of Excellence. In order to get either of these designations, a Self-Assessment tool known as the SCOPE (Senior Center Operations and Program Evaluation), is used to measure centers for merit or excellence or define areas where improvement is needed.  Such designation allows a center to be recognized as a viable, fundable, and qualified provider of best-practice services within the community.