History of the Senior Center

The University League, now Junior League of Charlottesville, opened the Senior Center on February 14, 1960 to provide activities for adults age 50 and over in a central location. We are the second longest-standing senior center in Virginia and one of the 200 longest-operating of the 15,000 senior centers in America.

Our first facility was rented space at 301 East Market Street in Charlottesville, opening with 25 members. Programs initiated that year that still meet were ceramics and volunteers making Pinkie Puppets for kids at UVA Hospital. We outgrew this space quickly, moving to another rented space at 101 East High Street. In 1963, the Senior Center graduated from the University League’s governance and became an independent nonprofit corporation.

Continued growth in members and programs led to a third move, into the newly renovated McIntire Library building on 2nd Street NE in 1982. Within a few short years, we had outgrown our facility again, and Senior Center leaders focused on securing our own multi-purpose facility. After years of searching, the Jessup family, owners of Pepsi Cola of Central Virginia, provided us a plot of land; they donated half the cost of the land. Another major donation was made by Frances Jean Robey, who generously donated her entire estate to the building campaign.

The Senior Center opened the doors to our own facility at 1180 Pepsi Place on September 11, 1991. The building and grounds were paid for entirely by private sources from local individuals, corporations, and foundations at the cost of $1.65 million. Moving from 3,500 square feet to 17,000 square feet involved immense effort, community spirit and our dedicated volunteers.

In November 2002, we were recognized as the first nationally accredited Senior Center in Virginia, and just the 84th in America by the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC). Meeting all the standards in the areas of program planning, program evaluation, community collaboration, governance, fiscal management, general management, record keeping, and facility was an involved process led by the Board of Directors, participants, and staff. Governor Mark Warner joined us in May 2003 to celebrate this once in a lifetime accomplishment.

The Senior Center has now been an integral resource for our community for over four decades, with plans to continue growing and improving in the decades to come.

State Best Practices Award!

The Commonwealth Council on Aging (CCA) has selected our Senior Center as their 2008 Best Practices Award winner in the Healthy Aging category. Through this series of awards, the CCA recognizes and encourages model aging programs throughout the Commonwealth.

We were selected for this prestigious award for the breadth and quality of our programs in recreation, lifelong learning, travel, recreation, volunteering, and arts that combine to promote independent living for over 2,000 seniors in our community.

Gene Ecton Davis, chair of the CCA, shared, “This award is the result of a review of more than 30 proposals and was selected from a very competitive field of applicants. Therefore, your organization should be very proud of its work.”

The CCA is the advisory board for the Virginia Department for the Aging. It is composed of citizens from all walks of life and all geographic areas of the Commonwealth. The Council promotes an efficient, coordinated approach by state government to meeting the needs of older Virginians.

Join our community celebration of this award Thursday July 31, 2008, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m..

For more information on the Commonwealth Council on Aging, please visit their website at www.vda.virginia.gov/council.asp.

National Re-accreditation

The National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC) recognized our Senior Center as the first accredited senior center in Virginia in November, 2002. We are proud to report that we have been approved for re-accreditation after Rennie Cohen, our accreditation reviewer, was on site November 1-2, 2007!

NISC is a unit of the National Council on Aging (NCOA) founded in 1950 that promotes dignity, self-determination, well-being, and the contributions of seniors.

Our national accreditation was sponsored by The Colonnades Senior Living Community in 2002 and again in 2007.

Rennie Cohen particularly applauded our:

* Extraordinary array of programs
* Strong volunteer leadership and input into Center operations
* Diversity of funding streams
* Exceptional management and governance
* Exceptional marketing and public relations efforts
* Great collaborations, including Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UVA (formerly JILL) 
* Extensive work done to develop program outcome measures
* Travel program that provides broad array of travel options for seniors 

National accreditation is based on an intensive self-assessment and a peer review covering nine standards: Purpose; Community; Program Planning, Evaluation, Governance, Administration; Fiscal Management, Reports and Record Keeping; and Facility.

There are 15,000 senior centers in America, and we are just the 84th to achieve this
milestone. Founded as one of the first 200 senior centers in America, our Senior Center has long been on the leading edge of providing life enriching programs for seniors.

Nine work groups conducted in-depth evaluations of each standard and then presented their findings to the full Task Force which further reviewed our compliance with the standards. Four Board of Directors committees served as work groups (Purpose, Fiscal, Human Resources, Governance) and five work groups were formed for the remaining standards. Over forty individuals including every member of the Board of Directors and staff as well as Center members, volunteers, and community experts participated in the work groups.

We thank the accreditation task force for all of conducting an in-depth self-assessment to ensure we meet the accreditation standards: Senior Center members/volunteers: Bill Hodson (Board of Directors), Co-chair; Mary Reese, Co-chair, Jackie Caroll (Board of Directors), Dick Carpenter, Betty Hopkins; Inge Hull, Marilyn Philippi, Charles St. Clair; Clarece Edson (Senior Council Vice-Chair). Senior Center staff: Beth Barber, Sheryl Miller and Peter Thompson.

Community Members: Karen Beiber (Jefferson Area Board for the Aging), Jane Belisle (Virginia Piedmont Technology Council and former staff member); Steve Bowers (Martha Jefferson Hospital), Kathleen Findley (ACAC Fitness Center), Sue Friedman (Alzheimer’s Association), Pat Mullaney (Albemarle County Parks and Recreation), Mike Svetz (Charlottesville Parks and Recreation), Rebecca Ward (Piedmont Virginia Community College), Billie Campbell (Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission), David Catell-Gordon (Albemarle County Social Services), Dick Lindsay (Virginia Commission for Aging), Jon Nafziger (United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area), Rochelle Small-Toney (Charlottesville Assistant City Manager), Juandiego Wade (Albemarle County Planning Department), Sharon Frazier (LexisNexis), Alison Dickie (Albemarle magazine), Eric Johnson (Bank of America), and Randy Smith (The Laurels).

Individuals who served on the work groups were: Liz Allan, Lori Allshouse, Peggy Boggs, Suzanne Brooks, Dale Chadwick, Norma Chadwick, Sue Erickson, Jane Foy, Cynthia Genet, Marge Haugen, Bert Hysell, Bruce MacCall, Rita McGowen, John McGrath, Sarah Neathery, Dorothy Richards, Sarah Althoff, Molly Anthony, Donna Blessing, Jackie Bright, Doris Fair, Linda Hahn, Jennifer Monges, and Norm Riggins.

This accreditation reinforces what we have known since we opened on February 14, 1960—that we make a substantial impact on thousands of seniors and our entire community and that we are one of the best Senior Centers in America.

2009 NuStep Pinnacle Award

The NuStep Pinnacle Award was established to recognize excellence in older adult wellness programs.

Award winners use creativity to provide programs, environments and services that address the six dimensions of wellness which are: Physical, Social, Emotional, Spiritual, Intellectual and Vocational.

This year, NuStep redefined the criteria of the award to focus on older adult wellness programs that support the whole person wellness model. Innovative, progressive, involved and motivational are qualities NuStep sought in the award winner.

Congratulations Senior Center, Inc. on this exciting National achievement!

For more information please see the following (PDF) press release.

The Senior Center will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2010.