City Council - Human Services Committee Hearing on Docket #0287

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Good morning, everyone. For the record, my name is Erin Murphy, At-Large City Councilor, and I am the chair of the City Council Committee on Human Services. formerly known as Strong Women, Families, and Communities. Today is February 26, 2026, and the exact time is 10.07 a.m. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being livestreamed at boston.gov backslash city-council-tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82. Fios Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.hs.boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all Councillors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing. Individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up and will have two minutes to testify.

If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-up sheet near the door of the chamber. And if you are tuning in and looking to testify virtually, you can email Central Staff Liaison Megan Cavanaugh That is M-E-G-H-A-M dot K-A-V-A-N-A-G-H at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket 0287, order for hearing regarding senior programming and services across Boston. This matter was sponsored by myself and Councilor Flynn and was referred to The Committee of Human Services on February 4th, 2024. We are joined today by Councilor Flynn. And we have, before we introduce the panel, if you would like, Councilor Flynn, to start with an opening statement.

Thank you, Council Murphy, Chair Murphy, for bringing this important hearing forward. I want to also thank the panel for being here and for their work. throughout the city on supporting seniors and ensuring equal access for seniors across across Boston across Massachusetts as well really have respect for all three of these people I know you'll and formally introduce them in a second. Boston, as we all know, is home to a large population of older adults who rely on city services, community-based programming, trusted partners, to remain healthy, connected, and able to age in place. And the city provides exceptional senior-focused programming and services through the Age Strong Commission that used to be called the Elderly Commission, effectively managed

By Emily Shea, who does a tremendous job. But her team provides education, wellness, programming, social engagement, and support services for older residents. The program is also delivered through the Boston Center for Youth and Families. They play a critical role throughout the city as well. I had a chance to talk briefly this morning to Chief Malso and want to recognize the BCYF team for all their important work and to recognize Ed McGuire and the work he does throughout the city as well. For community centers, neighborhood-based facilities that serve as important access points for older adults. Again, I'm here to learn from you and how we can support our

Seniors, including my elderly parents that are still active but they're in their late 80s but they love going to the South Boston Public Library. and interacting with the library staff and their neighbors in South Boston. Seniors want to be part of the community. They are part of the community. Many of them are veterans as well. Many are disabled. But Boston is a home for a large number of seniors, and we respect them. We respect their contributions. also seniors in public housing developments, BHA developments are important to me. I represent the largest number of residents living in public housing of any district council so I have a strong focus Identification with Public Housing Tenants. But again, I want to say thank you to the BCYF team, the Age Strong team, and Ethos.

I know Ethos plays an incredible role as well throughout the city. Madam Chair, thank you for giving me an extra minute to talk about what's important to me.

Thank you. And thank you for always advocating for our seniors. Many of us see your parents, you must, Eddie, in the neighborhood still active and reminding us, I think, my own parents. One of the reasons I filed this hearing order, like Councilor Flynn, my parents are older and the The need for connection and services is so important and this is my fifth year here on the council. I have filed and held similar hearing orders, but last year we did file a hearing order on You know kind of gaps across the city specifically that because lots of neighborhoods want to have like a building you know a senior center we know you know Brighton Charlestown has one but We know that those singular buildings aren't the only place where our seniors find services. And also, your department, although you have to work closely with so many other city departments, right? So thank you.

Eddie for being here from BCYF. But last week, Councilor Flynn and I were at a hearing with David Leonard in the library. And one positive thing, well, many positive things came out of it, but one good thing was How they've added a staff to really address senior programming and a staff person who's addressing youth and family programming across all of our branches. Because as you know, people go to community centers. Our residents go to our libraries, go to our senior centers if there's one in their community. But we do hear that there are gaps across the city. How are we leaning on other city departments to make sure that all communities have it? And the hearing we held last year, and I know I spoke directly to you about this, Emily, It was held in West Roxbury, which wonderful, strong senior community that's been advocating a lot for their need for a senior center, but I didn't want it to just be focused on one neighborhood.

because the bigger story is like where do we have gaps? Where do we need to fill in? So looking forward to that information from both of you on how we can make sure that every neighborhood, every senior feels like they can, is it 10 minutes walk to or you know just have some sense of equal opportunities for our seniors across the city. Thank you for being here. I'll formally, first I'll introduce and say we've been joined by Councilor Fitzgerald. So we're just starting with opening statements. If you'd like to go, Councilor Fitzgerald.

No, thank you. I apologize for the tardiness. Thank you all for being here. Commissioner Shea, I understand we all want to hit Eddie sometimes too, so I hope it wasn't too hard.

um but well worth it uh look forward to the conversation thank you chair thank you so today we've been joined by emily shea the commissioner of the age strong commission kareem carrito carrito I'm not sure your specific title. I'm the Deputy Commissioner. Deputy Commissioner. I should know that. So the Deputy and the Commissioner from AidStrong. Thank you for both being here. And also Eddie McGuire, who is the Director of Operations for BCYF. If you'd like to start with some opening statements and then we'll ask some questions, that'd be great.

Sure, great. So thank you so much for having us here. And Councilor Flynn, I'll just say that I saw your dad last time I was in the South Boston Library. So he does like to hang out there. Good morning Madam Chair, members of the council. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and thank you for highlighting this important issue. My name is Emily Shea, and I serve as Age Strong Commissioner. And I have Corrine with me, Corrine Corrito, who's our Deputy Commissioner. Corrine, as part of her role, oversees Our events and programs team which is led by Taisha Jones Horner. It's an amazing team and they're doing so many different things. So Corrine is here just if there are Kind of detailed questions that I don't know. Hopefully one of us can answer all of your questions. But Boston's older adult population is growing rapidly, as I know you all know.

from 88,000 residents over the age of 60 in 2010 to more than 130,000 today, an increase of 48% in just 15 years. and it's continuing to grow as well. It should be growing through at least 2050. This demographic shift underscores the urgency of expanding resources and services so that older adults can age with dignity, security, and opportunity. While there are many pieces to the puzzle of healthy aging, staying active and socially connected is an important part of the picture. This is not only supported by data, but also what we hear loud and clear from older residents across Boston neighborhoods. And I know that you all hear this too.

That is why the city's goal is to ensure that every older adult in Boston has access to welcoming, inclusive spaces that promote physical health, social connection, artistic expression, lifelong learning, and overall wellness. Age Strong uses a multi-pronged approach towards programming that includes senior centers, citywide programming, signature events, partnerships, and grantmaking. and I'm proud to share that this past year has been especially exciting for advancing our programming goals. I want to personally thank you all in City Council for adding an additional $200,000 to our to our budget last year as an age-strong investment in the final FY26 budget. We've used that specifically for programming. This funding allowed us to significantly expand opportunities for older adults to stay engaged and connected in the community on an ongoing basis.

In 2025, we activated five new age-strong, operated programming spaces across the city. I think you've heard this before, but just to tell them, the Dewitt Center in Roxbury, spontaneous celebrations in JP, the Holland Community Center and Common Square Library in Dorchester and Union Church in the south end. So we picked those because they're kind of filling some of the gaps that we see in the city. and they're each offering now two days of programming every week. We're also grateful to have received $325,000 in state earmarks from our fabulous state representatives, which have allowed us to expand programming in already activated sites and also in additional neighborhoods. In addition, Age Strong operates two senior centers in Brighton and East Boston that are thriving active spaces.

I know you've all been to those. And Councilor Murphy, you were dancing away there at our Mardi Gras celebration in Brighton the other day. These centers remain cornerstones of engagement and community for older adults. In fact, our vision is to create that type of space in all Boston neighborhoods. Together, through these efforts, we have been able to provide over 6,000 hours of programming at age-strong operated sites across the city in this past year. And your investment helped to ensure our ability to do this work. But our efforts go beyond programming at Age Strong operated sites. We continue to support special programs at BCYF, libraries, and other community organizations while also launching innovative partnerships that introduce new and enriching experiences to older adults across the city. These partnerships include organizations like Improv Asylum and Boston Harbor Islands.

We are especially grateful to partners like Goddard House, which since 2018 has made a sustained investment in sustaining creative aging programs and expanding meaningful cultural opportunities for older people. Through this partnership, In 2025, we expanded our pool of partners committed to creative aging principles, training an additional 25 teaching artists and 15 new community-based organizations. These partners are now equipped with tools to design and deliver inclusive, culturally grounded experiences to older adults. And we plan to train another cohort next month Further expanding our reach across Boston's arts community. Through this initiative, we've also built strong partnerships with leading cultural institutions to bring high quality, enriching experiences to older adults.

from storytelling classes hosted at the MFA to art gallery exhibits and hands-on classes at the ICA and access to performances such as the Boston Pops and Black Nativity These opportunities deepen cultural engagement and expand access to some of Boston's most historic cultural institutions, spaces that have not always been accessible to marginalized communities. In addition, our signature large gatherings like our Black History Month event. And we're holding that on Friday, which is tomorrow. So I hope you all come. St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Hispanic Heritage, and Spring Fling continue to draw thousands of older adults together in joyful community. I'm sure there will be a lot of fun and dancing tomorrow. Finally, I want to talk about our grant making because I think this is a really important part of this process. There are so many reasons to fund social connection.

It's at the heart of healthy brains, healthy bodies, and healthy spirits. And like a puzzle, we kind of pieced together our federal funding, our state funding, and our city funding for this work. Our funding rounds include some of our Older Americans Act federal funding, our expanding engagement grant program, which is part of our city operating budget, and new this year, our rolling grant program, which we're funding through our State Council on Aging dollars. Altogether in FY2026, we've given 95 grants for social engagement programming totaling just under $1 million. and we actually have two more rounds of rolling grants that we'll be giving out before the end of the fiscal year. We funded a diversity of programs and people across all neighborhoods. These partner organizations submitted community-driven, thoughtful and creative proposals and we really appreciate all that they do.

We kind of think of them as an extension of us because they're touching people that we're not touching. We also are one of the only funders who fund anything targeted to older adults. It's just not a big funding area. So this funding plays an outsized role and impact. While our external partners are essential, we are also deeply grateful to have many dedicated city partners who share our commitment to expanding programming for older adults. We couldn't do this work without BCYF. We partner with them a lot, and you'll hear more about their incredible efforts shortly. and we are really thankful for our library, our police and parks partners. They're all doing fun things out there in the community who help create opportunities to improve access for older people in Boston. We've made tremendous strides, but we recognize there's still significantly more work to do.

We need to grow and deepen work across programming spaces. Our next steps also include launching an interactive virtual I think that within the next month or two we should actually have calendars that we're going to be getting out there for our We already have them for our two operating senior centers. We're hoping that will improve accessibility and kind of knowledge of what's going on. And over the next year, we're also hoping to introduce a transportation access plan to ensure that older adults can easily reach programming sites. We won't be able to do everything, but I think we'll do what we can with the resources we have. And we feel like it's going to take all of us together to leverage partnerships to continue to grow funding and resources.

And we really appreciate the council's support and look forward to collaborating with city and community partners to ensure equitable opportunities for all older adults in Boston. So thank you. Chair, I don't know if you want me to turn it over to Eddie.

Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair, Council Flynn, Council Fitzgerald. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on behalf of Boston Centers and Youth and Families. My name is Ed McGuire, and I serve as the Director of Operations for BCYF. At BCYF, we are committed to responding to needs Thank you. Thank you. In 2025, BCYF delivered 607 hours of older adult programming. While this number remained essentially level with 2024, participation and engagement continued to grow in meaningful ways. expanded programming across our centers has resulted in a 4% increase in visits from older adults over During calendar 2025, 7,556 individual older adults ages 55 plus participated in BCYF activities.

a 13% increase over 2024. We recorded 175,896 total older adult visits, a 23% increase from last year. We offered 339 older adult programs, which is a 4% increase over 2024. These numbers tell an important story. Even with programming hours holding steady, more older adults are engaging with BCOAF spaces and they are visiting more frequently. That speaks to trust that our centers have built and the demand for accessible neighborhood-based programming. Today, 30 BCYF centers offer ongoing weekly programming. For older adults and more than double the number of centers in 2024. The programming itself reflects what older adults are asking for.

We offer physical wellness activities such as senior lap swim, chair yoga, morning movement, low impact aerobics, tai chi, pickleball, arthritis exercise, senior archery, and 55 plus men's basketball. We offer creative and social programming such as line dancing, guitar lessons, I don't know what that is, Bagu. Arts and Crafts, Creative Portraits, Ceramics, Floral Arrangement Events, Marjan, Card Games, Domino Smackdown, and Golden Age Game Day and Coffee Hour. We offer educational and supportive workshops, including computer basics, one-on-one phone assistance, nutrition presentations, and sessions on online buying platforms. We also host Free Food Wednesdays. Mix and Mingle Events, Barbecue Gatherings, Coffee Hours, and Friendship Clubs to Combat Social Isolism. In 2024,

I mean, in 2025, the older adults we serve, 35% identified as male, 61 as female, and 3% declined to state their gender. 11% identified as black or African-American, 8% as Latino, 8% as Asian, 45% as white, and 2% as multiracial or other, and 26% declined to state race or ethnicity. We recognize that continued outreach is essential to ensure our program reflects the full diversity of Boston's older adult population. BCYF is also building infrastructure to sustain and strengthen this work, including hosting quarterly network meetings so staff can share strategies, explore partnerships, and coordinate with the age-strong commission. We are investing in staff training, including dementia awareness, senior fitness credentials, and older adult program planning.

Our partnership with the Age Strong Commission provides access to specialized staff, vendors, advocacy support, referral services, Technical assistance and monthly publication that helps older adults stay informed about events and resources in their communities. This collaboration strengthens the ecosystem of services available to older adults citywide. BCYF centers are hubs and neighborhoods across Boston, many communities with high concentrations of residents in significant need. Our role is not simply to offer activities, It is to provide welcoming space to foster belonging, reduce isolation, support wellness, and connect older adults to essential resources. We are proud of the growth and participation in the visits this year. We are committed to continuing to expand access, deepen quality, and ensure Boston older adults can age actively with dignity in the neighborhoods they call home.

That is pretty much what I have, so I just want to say thank you for your leadership and continued support on this subject, and I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have. Thank you.

Thank you. That was informative. I will start with Councilor Flynn.

Thank you, Chair Murphy, and thank you to the administration team that is here. But more importantly, thank you for the work that you're doing across the city of Boston, helping support seniors and Persons with Disabilities as well. Maybe I'll go to Commissioner Shea. Commissioner Shea, can you talk about how you interact with other city departments, maybe persons with disabilities, with Commissioner McCosh, maybe with I know you do a lot of work with the Veterans Department with Commissioner Santiago, but can you explain how you interact with them and how you coordinate and reach out to seniors in ensuring that

Veterans are part of the social fabric of the city, but also persons with disabilities that might be older as well. How does that interaction go?

Sure, happy to do that. I think that the great things about older adults is that they kind of cut across almost everything that we do in the city, and it's critical that we work with our partner departments in order to make sure that all their needs are met. The two that you mentioned specifically, I can give a couple of just examples on. So I will say I have a standing meeting with Commissioner McCosh. We meet once a month, but we work a lot with her team on A lot of the infrastructure issues so a lot of accessibility infrastructure issues as well as many other things but that's a big thing that we work on together. Her team, they have the architects and they weigh in on the Article 80 checklist.

We were able to also add some kind of additional age-friendly items to that Article 80 checklist, and we work closely and collaboratively with her on kind of buildings and streets and all sorts of things like that. and we just met with the parking department with them in a collaborative effort for all three of us to work together more closely. The Veterans Department is also wonderful. We work very closely with them around constituent services that veterans have. And I think you all know we've been out doing cost-saving clinics in the community. We're actually in Roslindale today finally I think the last is today Thursday we were there yesterday too Monday and Tuesday we had a storm we had to cancel for storms but

We're out in Roslindale today, and they've been a great partner for us in those cost-saving clinics, so they have a table there so that they're able to help veterans who need support. So and then I would just add the last thing I'll add is that we are working on a city plan for aging. and so all or many city departments are involved in that right because everyone has a role to play in making sure that people That's excellent. Thank you Emily.

Maybe my final question on this round, I do want to give an opportunity for my other colleagues to ask questions. One issue I am concerned with, and this is really a national issue, is the amount of scams that take place across the country and here in Boston on how people manipulate, use older residents Thank you for joining us. A scam artist, basically. I know you've done a lot of work on this in the past, Emily, and I was going to ask maybe Councilor Murphy to

Could we try to do a hearing on elderly scamming sometime in the future? And are you doing any type of work in terms of educating residents about this maybe even through like a Facebook communication not doesn't necessarily have to be hearing but are you doing any type of outreach communication outreach just so that we can try to reach as many seniors as we can about what to look for as we see potential people taking advantage of our seniors.

Sure, well that's a great question and I think that Murphy.

We rescheduled it to make sure that the Police, who obviously work closely with you, so they will be in attendance with you also on March 9th.

Okay, that's excellent.

But we do highlight scams every month in our, different scams every month in our seniority magazine. and partner with the police to try and get the word out. I think that there's definitely more that we could do in this area. I mean, scammers are always, they're so creative. And they're always changing up their Their techniques. And it is very hard to get your money back once you've been scammed. And so I think that additional education, continuing education, and making sure that that education reaches everybody and takes into account all the new tactics people are using is really important.

No, thank you. Thank you, Emily. And maybe I'll take one Last opportunity, I do want to ask Ed a question from BCYF. So one concern I've always had and what I always try to work on is ensuring that People of color are also involved in city life and city services and ensuring city services meet them where they're at, whether they're in the public housing developments or other developments. But tell me, Ed, how the interaction is with challenging areas such as BHA, where it might be difficult to reach people.

but I do know that there's a lot of good programs that are set up in the housing developments, but how do, what are some of the programs also for people of color and how is that interaction working in terms of trying to ensure that we meet and serve everyone throughout the city. I represent a large Puerto Rican community. In the south end, I represent a large Spanish-speaking community in South Boston, many of the public housing developments. Do you have any ideas of how we're doing just in terms of some of the outreach to people throughout the city?

Yeah, we have a pilot system right now that is for social media. A lot of the outreach from individual sites was centralized for many years, so there wasn't... I would say the ability for an individual site to kind of develop that outreach plan specific to what they're doing and working with Sandy Holden and her team we're starting to pilot that so you're seeing it That particular type of online outreach expanding in many ways. Another thing is just working much closely with the Age Strong Commission as well to ensure that we have senior advocates And we're really targeting, especially for our standalone facilities, which we have a lot more broader access from early morning to late in the afternoon and to the evening. We're really trying to target and put those specific types of programs and programs that they're interested in in those morning hours.

and we're pushing our staff to incorporate that as well as having conversations with budget as well as HR to develop and and develop more positions specific to the LA demographics. So, in every single neighborhood we have pushed whether it is a standalone facility or a BPS facility, There are certain restrictions with BPS facilities which help kind of impede a little bit on who we can bring into that facility at a particular time. But if there is a separation, we do see successful programming at the Mildred Community Center, Grove Hall, as well as specific to the elderly population. Any way that we can engage, engaging with language access, making sure that we're meeting people and understanding at the level that they not only can read, but the language in which they speak. So there's a variety of different ways that we try to do that.

I would say that having more standalone facilities in the future, there are a couple that are pending to be built, would give us greater access to be able to continue that programming in a more you know in a broader sense just because when you have autonomy over a space it's just it's just easier to do such a thing but yeah we try to engage at all levels and obviously as the year goes by there's all these different types of events whether it's St. Paddy's Day or Three Kings Day, or Lunar New Year. And so all of those things are incorporated in a programmatic level to engage, whether you're young, old,

Well, thank you, Ed, and I do want to acknowledge a neighbor of mine who I think does a tremendous job, is Barbara Kelly, Barbara Kelly Caputo. But I see her down at the Condon, and she's interacting and bringing people together, especially residents throughout the public housing development, many seniors. But she has a wonderful way of bringing people together, seniors being respectful to them. So I want to acknowledge her. But Emily, I see you frequently in Chinatown interacting with a lot of the and a lot of the seniors in Chinatown. And you have some wonderful programming there, especially as Eddie mentioned, language and communication access is important. But just want to acknowledge your professionalism as well, Emily.

Working with an immigrant community, respecting language and communication, but really treating the elderly community in Chinatown with respect and dignity. And I see how you interact with them one-on-one. You don't brush people off. You listen to people. They might talk for a couple minutes, but you're very respectful to them. and just want to acknowledge that I've seen you over many years and you always conduct yourself in a professional manner. Madam Chair, that's it for me.

Thank you. I'd like to add that we've been joined by Councilor Louijeune and Councilor Fitzgerald. It's your turn. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Once again, thank you for being here, all of you guys. I'm thinking about when you talked about the, you didn't call them ancillary sites, but where you would go out to have other programming. That's not necessarily city-owned property, right? This is the spontaneous celebrations and all those where we hold those things. I try to think of where in District 3 we have some of those and maybe you could help me out if you got any off the top of your head because I know I've been up here advocating before my predecessors advocated before for a senior center district 3 does not have one and of course Like you mentioned already with the statistics, the 48% increase of people that are over the age of 55, a lot of them are in District 3 as well. I'm just trying to think of other sites that might be helpful to use or if I'm not, unless there are more that you might have off the top of your head that you can think of.

Because I'd love to find more sites for you to hold programming.

Yeah. I mean I think your district is particularly challenging is what I would say however we have been doing some new work there to try to expand where we're able to offer programming and thanks to Rep Hunt put a $75,000 earmark in the state budget. So we are working to get programming up and running at the Irish Pastoral Center. We are working with the Lower Mills Library to try to get some programming up and running there. Karine, where else? You say it, you say it. We also fund Dot House, and they're running programming there as well. Yeah, Dot House got a new expanding engagement grant last year.

I think we notified people yesterday about expanding engagement grants for this year, so I can say they're getting one this year as well to continue. They started programming there three days a week at Dothouse. And I feel like we have a couple more things that we're kind of working to set up in your area. But if there are specific Spaces that you think we should be thinking about, please let us know.

Do you go into senior housing itself and offer a lot of these? I imagine so, right? But even ones that are non-BHA, I'm thinking of Keystone, I'm thinking of other places, right? To say, hey, we can do programming in York. Community Room at your building or things like that? What's the difficulty there?

It's a little bit challenging. There are over 100 senior housing buildings in the city. And so we've been trying to... and in a lot of them you're only going to hit the people in that building. You're not going to get the folks surrounding. So we have been trying to find these kind of more centralized spaces that people can come out to but then you have a transportation issue. We haven't done a lot of building work just because of that. I will say that we have started some recent work at Pajuco. and our attempt is because of an earmark we got from Rep Worrell and our goal is to engage those folks and have them

I kind of bridge over to some of the Holland programming that we some of our programming at the Holland is we're doing in English and Cape Verdean Creole. So, but it's been hard to draw people out. So we're trying to build some trust and kind of get them bridged over to that site. So, I mean, I think we're, there's, but we don't do a lot. But actually, I'll add one other thing. Our rolling grants, which we just started doing this year, they're grants of up to $2,500. One of the reasons that we're doing those grants is because housing buildings can apply for them. They have to be a non-profit or go through a non-profit. It can also be an individual that applies. But we're hoping to get more housing buildings who want to host a...

We have had some management companies have applied through that for like multiple sites. In addition, the last three years, we've given a grant to BHA. They have a nonprofit at BHA that I'm forgetting the name of. to activate programming in a bunch of their sites and they've been able to expand their work in that area every year.

Great. Well, thank you. I will continue to advocate for those many grants to any of the other buildings around and remind folks in the BHA apartments that there's things that they can apply for, too, through the nonprofit. So thank you. I appreciate that. I was unaware. With budget season coming up, you know, money is tight, right? But what is it that, if you could add to anything, you know, give me your top two things on your wish list.

Sure, I mean... We know how challenging city budget is this year. I would say that this... Programming has been something that we've consistently been trying to expand, so I'm glad we're talking about this today. That's really the area that we have focused on for any of the external fund and internal trying to build out. And then, yeah, I mean, that's, There are so many things that are important.

Right, I know. It's the hard part of this job, right? Prioritizing it is like, you don't really, you have to, but you don't want to.

Yeah, I mean, I think so much of it is important. I think... For Age Strong, 81% of our positions in Age Strong are front facing, like working directly with older people. We have 102 positions, 28 20 of which are externally funded and so any of those like front-facing positions are also you know just help us get all of our work done.

Understood. Thank you. Appreciate the time. And thank you, Granite Eve, for all you guys do as well. I appreciate you for being here. But that'll be my questions. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Fitzgerald. We've been joined by Council President Breadon. Council Louijeune.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning to everyone. Thank you for being here. I want to thank you so much, Commissioner Schaffer. All that you do for our older adults across the city of Boston. You really show up all the time. Even when I'm not sure that you're going to be there, there you are. We were in Roxbury together two weeks ago and just really appreciate I really appreciate your work. There's someone who often emails me and who often emails you talking about the disparate needs in communities of color for our older adults. Wondering if you could talk about what you see as some of the stark differences between Aging communities of color compared to other communities?

Sure. I mean, I think, I know we're talking about Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and a focus in some of those communities and really helping people access programs and benefits to be able to make ends meet and stay in the city. In addition, with programming specifically, we have been focused in trying to expand some programming opportunities Both in Roxbury and Dorchester. They don't have as many places for people or didn't have as many places for people to come to. So we really have as as we look at like gaps across the city.

we've tried to focus some of our expanded programming and also some of our grant making in those areas where there are gaps so I would say those two things are Thank you.

And I know that the cost-saving clinics are happening now. They are. Are people coming out?

Well, it's been a little snowy. So we were unfortunate to have the first week of The first week was the first storm and this week was the second storm. But people are coming out to them. We're trying to get them all in. It's not the best time to do community events, but we're trying to get them all in before April 1st, which is when the property tax... Deferral and exemptions are due. So that's why we're doing them this time of year. So I do think it's important. But we canceled Monday and Tuesday. We're in Roslindale this week. We canceled Monday and Tuesday. But we scheduled people for the rest of the week. We're there the rest of the week.

We canceled two of the days in Roxbury, but we are adding two additional days in Roxbury on March 5th and 6th. So I think that we're hearing that they're helpful for people. We're hearing folks are definitely coming out. And if they're canceling because of the weather, then they're rescheduling for another day. Thank you. And just to add, we're providing transportation, too, so that I think transportation access has been really helpful for people.

Thank you. And we hear about that for everything, like when it comes to events and field trips. So I appreciate that. along with my colleagues, really important that we invest in programming. I think we saw during COVID sort of the role of loneliness in the lives of our seniors and was happy to make sure that we allocated money during ARPA for senior programming specifically. I'm a big fan of the grant making that we do that helps us partner with organizations. I know the YMCA right now currently has a targeted campaign around loneliness, not particularly Not particularly around just for seniors, but... I know that chinas are a big component of that. You also have Friendship Works that ensures that there are people going out to meet with, to just hang. We were at the Veronica B. Smith Center in Brighton, and there were young kids with our older adults.

Sometimes there are little tasks that seniors need to get done, and wondering if there are... like events that we have that can help seniors with like I don't know life tasks like wills or life planning like as a part of senior programming does that happen and what does that look like who's it was in partnership with?

Yeah, that's a good question. And there are, I think, resources out there at different times So I know that we are working to partner with MASNALA, which is the National Elder Law Attorney Trade Association, to get They're partnering with another organization that I'm forgetting the name of, so my apologies. but they're highlighting they're going to be coming out like you could fill out a form and say we want an elder law attorney to come out and talk to our group about x y and z

and so we're doing that for our sites to say and they're they're highlighting that during a whole month I think it's May we also do have different folks that come out and different elder law attorneys that come out regularly to like our Brighton site. And then I also know that the Women's Bar Foundation Also, we'll do free kind of wills, healthcare proxies, living wills, and they'll do that. They have like a low-income...

Thank you so much for the work that you do. Eddie, the entire team really appreciate you. No further questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. I hope you get better. Thank you. Many of my colleagues have probably answered these questions already, so I'll try and segue off. In terms of just economic security, are we looking holistically at things like massive programs and ways to help people with It's been a long and very cold winter. I know our fuel bills have gone up a lot. In terms of help with those sort of things, where are we at?

Yeah, I mean, utilities heat is a real challenge for someone living on a budget. I will say that we are very close friends with our ABCD partners. and they have been so incredibly helpful this year as we've called them with emergency cases. We also We do play a partnership role with ABCD. There's a lot of documents that someone needs to collect in order to apply for fuel assistance. and so we support ABCD in helping older adults who are having trouble navigating the system and getting everything together. We support them with that application. But fuel assistance only takes you so far.

We try to make sure that we are getting people, all of our older adults, onto the utility shutoff program. and do our best to help them navigate and create payment plans with the different utility companies if they build up high balances. We also are always trying to figure out who has additional oil, right? It's easy to run through your fuel assistance money. I think it's only about a tank right now if it's oil. and so we try and help people get support through other resources if they're available.

And then the other The other thing that I'm hearing about is just as folks age, very often we think the ideal would be to age in place, but sometimes that's actually very isolating. I know organizations like True Life are really addressing that very, Thank you very much. of Housing.

Paul C. Mann, or me, working on trying to figure out our partners, our seniors.

What's so stressful is some people who live independently, they have a home, they live in an 81 home in the middle of the city.

I think there are a lot.

You know, it actually was.

Any of them.

All of them? Yeah. Just so it's all official and everything you say will matter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So really, how do we support elders to think about what their housing situation is? 5-10 years out because what we end up having is like these crisis situations where sometimes they end up in shelters sometimes they end up in not ideal situations and sometimes they end up in situations where It costs a lot of money, but they can't sustain it over the long term. So I'm just wondering what we're thinking about generally in big picture policy in that area.

Sure, sure. I mean, that's... Such an important topic right? We all need the right type of housing as we age and I think that were particularly challenged in Boston given our old housing stock and the accessibility of that housing stock. So I have been meeting with or we have been meeting with the Mayor's Office of Housing really to think through like what are the What are the big policy issues? How do we prioritize those? What is the plan? What is the housing strategy specifically around older people and people as they age? and so you know I appreciate Chief Dillon and her team and it's important that we're

I feel like we work together very closely all the time. We work very closely around constituent services. We work very closely with the home center. and we actually recently started to roll out a pilot with the home center around kind of education around you know I think A lot of this is also education, right? What am I going to need as I age? How do I think about my house as I age? All of those things. So we recently started to roll out some educational workshops around aging in your home. With the mayor's office of housing, but there's there's definitely more work to be done. Thank you

How am I doing for time? Plenty, go ahead. You have plenty of time. Plenty of time? Yep. And then given all this snow that's around the place, I know there's conversations among my colleagues about ways to help support our elders. It is a huge burden for folks who may not have The mobility to get out and shovel. Is there any consideration or talk about even volunteer programs that might help elders? It's so unpredictable. It's not like we need a Thank you very much. Our elders and our people with disabilities.

Yeah, I mean, particularly challenging and especially this year, right? It's not a good year for snow. I really enjoyed the last few years. There have been A handful I would say of volunteer programs that have started since I started this job 15 years ago and they all have shut down within a year or two because the Demand has been so much higher than the volunteer capacity and it also was hard to maintain that volunteer capacity over a period of time, so over multiple storms. It is such an important issue and I wish that I had a solution to it, but I have not seen a workable solution to it that

that folks have been able to pull together. I think that there's something to be said for really trying to strengthen neighborhoods because I think that needs to be part of the solution. I appreciate the mayor's block grants and the different strategies to help strengthen neighborhoods and all that you do on council as well. because I think that that type of neighbor helping neighbor needs to be part of the solution so happy to Happy to hear more thoughts and ideas about that, but it's a really tough challenge and I don't know how to solve it.

I think my colleagues have touched on a lot of the things. Then the other issue, I think we talk about this a lot, is just the issue about scams. Are we working with the police department in terms of programming, thinking about How To of Elders. They're very, very sophisticated. Even myself, I lift the phone, somebody's talking to me and it's very convincing. How do we prepare our elders for avoiding scams?

Sure, sure. We did chat about this a little. So we actually have, Councilor Murphy has a hearing on March 9th. That's focused on elder scams But we do partner with the police and they recently have started sending us scam alerts that we're trying to get out there in the community I think this is an area where we could and should do more because you're right, they're very creative. They keep changing what they're doing. They look so real. And unless you can prevent it, In the first place, if it's already happened, it's very hard to get money back or do anything like that. Lots more work needed, but we do collaborate with the police. They're great coming out and doing presentations in

in different housing buildings. I also have been at neighborhood associations where they kind of give a little scam education and they're great and important partners of ours. Very good. Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair.

Thank you. So a few things I heard that were exciting, but when Councillor Fitzgerald spoke about advocating for D3. You mentioned two places. So my mom, she's 79. She's finally accepting that. She's a senior. But she did start going to... The Chess Club at the library, because that was one of the things we talked to David is that then they lent their chess and many more. I noticed in the kitchen the other day she has the Irish pastoral calendar out there so it is true like just making that connection and getting people to feel comfortable and you mentioned Eddie how there's more of a support for the social media outreach because

you know the library said that they now give support to each branch and I have noticed actually because we've been I've been screenshotting them and sending to Andrew in my office to add to the calendar that I'm seeing more events pop up so if I'm seeing them it's like you and obviously seniors aren't always on social media, but are we putting that into a staff position or someone's expectation to kind of help support? Because you could spend all day trying to make sure you're Thank you. Thank you.

positions that would focus on that would be the program supervisor which is the secondary supervisor role at our Community Center, so it's the director, then the program, but also the staff assistant. I would say, you know, it varies depending upon The staff are sometimes how comfortable they are using a computer. So you could see a youth worker or somebody else assisting in those matters. But obviously, when they're Thank you. Thank you. you know the community bulletin boards as you all are well aware those are very active in most communities posting a variety of

you know information we try to ensure that that's included um it is a pilot program that's what I just want to because it is kind of like the first time where we're Decentralizing our hold on those things. And we're looking forward to continuing to expand it to every site. So not all sites have that at this time. We do obviously have the PerfectMind platform system which can, if you are signed up, and you use particular programs you would be included in an email list either generally or specified and we send information through that as well directly to their emails. So there's a variety of different ones. And then there's the old fashioned, you know, bulletin boards, you know, I think down the Curley Community Center, you know, very active senior population down there doing a variety of different activities.

and there is a cork board almost as long as this room I feel like and it has a variety of different information that I see you know a ton of engagement on so we try it you know all different levels and obviously we work very closely The Age Strong Commission. So, you know, any materials that we can you know share and vice versa we do that regularly and we're currently working with them and others to look at other space within our facilities as well to further expand our programmatic reach to These populations. One of my to-do lists. I'm actually running through that. I'll take a look working with Ellen on that. So yeah, we're trying everything from face-to-face

And it seems like you're also collecting the data to kind of then reflect was it successful?

Yeah, we just brought Courtney Moore, who's been with the city for quite some time, is helping BCYF develop dashboards as well as collecting the information that was on PerfectMind. Like any platform, especially one that was rolled out right at the beginning of covid there was a lot of cleanup and bugs and things like that that we had to work through in training and we feel pretty comfortable with We're taking that information now, and as you can see from what I reported today, we are tracking increases, decreases, and just regular engagement at every level so that we can improve.

Also, what is expected of our community centers to provide senior programming? I know our standalone obviously they're only focused on senior programming but it seems to me as an at-large counselor at all of you know the community centers some seem to do more or some I just don't see an invite and I might miss it but And it also seems like, well, if they've done it in the past, they kind of continue maybe to do like, you know, St. Patrick's Day dinner or just a couple things a year. And I've shared this story before where, you know, When the Murphy School first opened, we used to have my grandmother would be, I'd be in kindergarten, but she'd be in the senior center. and you know years later when they expanded to K-8 they took away the senior room so there was no more like specific senior programming and we've seen that at other sites across the city where

Because they provide swim lessons, we seem to focus definitely, and we should, on our youth and making sure our community centers are offering programming to our youth. But what is expected for each community center to provide for our seniors?

Yeah, I would say definitely and historically our focus has been on the youth population after school, targeting those individuals. More so than any other population in the history of BCYF but through the leadership of Commissioner Rivera as well as Mayor Wu, there's been a huge push to target these demographics at the particular times that they would engage us. And so we are currently trying to expand programming in general, obviously, I think. There's costs associated with that as well and we're trying to balance in between where we're seeing the highest demand as well as what are being equitable and making sure that our resources are distributed evenly throughout as best as possible throughout our network. There's another demographic here is also toddlers.

They weren't necessarily, and it seems that seniors and toddlers engage our centers at a very similar timeframe. And so what we're asking of our staff right now along with making necessary staff adjustments. In the mornings, you typically see more building staff getting the building prepared, having a lighter programmatic staffing situation just because the engagement at that time we're now transitioning to evenly distribute that so that we have people in place whether the youth workers are the one to nine time We're asking for an expansion in elderly service workers. Some of the budget asks that you all will see to be in that time frame. So we really look at the window. Most of the sites are open at 8. Some are open as early as 6.

from like that 8 to like 2.30 period is really where we're trying to offer as many services whether we're partnering with theater advocates or if we're working you know on specialized programs but yes I think the foundation of it came from There are some locations that are better suited and have a more I guess historic relationship with those? You know what I mean? Even if it's like a you know you'll see like Orenberger and Mildred are two BPS sites that do very well with it there are other locations that don't have that space that you refer to that we would work with our colleagues at BPS to access to and many more. We encourage it but there are certain limitations at different facilities like that. But the stand-alone facility we're really pushing especially this year and having further

Toddler time and senior time and really trying to get them to engage because we don't want empty buildings. The whole point of the money that we're getting brought in for programmatic dollars as well as the staff is to try to engage. So it's a combination of our outreach, Our transition to a full day and not just one particular section and then getting the necessary resources there. We wouldn't have been able to have all the increases that I discussed in my intro. without the partnership of Age Strong. We have two specific sites that focus on them, and then we have 30 sites that are now offering. And there's 35 locations, so there's a few more that we need to incorporate, but at the same time, you know I think that we don't want just one or two per we want to see it fully rolled out and that like I said it's some of its staffing you know making sure that we have them evenly distributed as well as kind of making sure we have the resources programmatically to continue that outreach.

When you mentioned like the 607 hours of expanded time, do we have a heat map that shows?

I could ask.

We see increases. And then you also mentioned how, and I know it's true that certain sites either historically or just are well attended. So it seems to me that oftentimes that's where expansion happen because we see that it's well attended and it's advocated for. But the whole reason for this hearing also is the sites that may not be well attended, like what is stopping them? Because we know seniors live in every neighborhood across the city. So how will we, and not just to BCYF, just generally in Age Strong, how are we making sure that we're using that data to say like hey maybe you know it's not well attended in Mattapan or Roxbury compared to other neighborhoods but then what can we do is it transportation is it you know language access so that we can Make sure we are providing it across the city equitably.

I can definitely look into trying to get that heat map. I think there are I guess those mysteries as to why one location is doing better than the other. And I think it's a variety of reasons there. But I think the intention for BCYF is to figure what, like you said, to figure out what and to try to get the necessary support there whether it is a dedicated staffer to that population and or you know programming that they want to see and delivered to them and you know the language that they speak or

One example, David Lennon mentioned that the West Roxbury Library got a full-time age-strong staffer. How many... are assigned to libraries and are they only in West Roxbury?

Yeah, it's actually not. Our staffer. It's a new library position that they created last year. So it's in their budget? Maybe they have an age-strong librarian. So it's a, you know how they have youth librarians? This was their first librarian that was specifically focused on older people. And so that person, Isabella, who does a great job, is running programming there.

So she's full-time? So there's one? I believe so. And full-time, she's not rotating to all of the branches? No, I don't think so.

I, you know, I'm not 100% sure.

I mean, not that if she's listening, I know she can't do the job of 25 people, but. like how do we make sure because it seems like that's working right so if it's something that's working because like we said it's not just community centers where our seniors go they go to our libraries for as you see Mr. and Mrs. Flynn there often like they go to the libraries also for senior Support.

Yeah, and that's why we've been trying to partner with libraries like the new programs that we're getting up and running at the Common Square Library. I think, and I have not heard an update on kind of how the library is thinking about their age-strong librarian and kind of so I don't want to speak out of turn. I feel like I haven't had an update. I haven't heard their new thinking in like the last year and a half or so. So she could be doing more than just West Roxbury. But I do think that libraries are places that older adults like to go. They feel comfortable with them. There's no stigma around libraries.

There's still books that they read, not just iPads.

And they're used to going there, right? They have over the course of their lives, a lot of them. So, I think they are similar to BCYF. We've been putting effort into figuring out, like, and I think also similar to BCYF, different libraries are different. I will say that all of the libraries went through a training last year where they are all now certified agent dementia friendly libraries. So they get a certification through our team and they have ongoing training. So that's been a nice partnership for us.

That's good. Two more things. We'll kind of shout out. One, it was brought up already, but I do just want to shout out the community police. Almost all of the fun, wonderful events that I go to across the city They are either supported or even organized by our community policing and all the different districts. So shout out to Superintendent Chin and his team, who I do believe just do a great job with our seniors. And many of the neighborhoods you see, they just have a really strong Connection, like in Chinatown, in Charlestown, they just really love and look forward to seeing their community police, which is, I think, one of the reasons, you know, our community policing is just like at a national level. They connect with not just the kids, but our seniors. and I have to say this morning before I got here I was reading to a second grade class at Lee School and I said after we read a book we're talking about black history was there anything you want me to bring back to City Hall and

A lot of them asked about the pool, the Perkins pool there at the Lee School. I think you'll be there later tonight. They have things all day today, but I went earlier to a classroom to read. If there's any update you have on that or is it one of those pools that's kind of not even on the radar to be?

It's definitely on the radar. There are, you know, there's obviously there's a variety of pool issues that throughout The network, whether it is BCOF or BPS, what I do know is our colleagues at BPS, it is one of the top three pools that they are focusing on. They have done some work there related to It's kind of like the cocking and different security. There is a leak. There is a water issue in the pool where they're losing water into the basement. Ben looked at, it's continued to be looked at. There was actually an update, and I don't know if I have it, if I have a quick second here. Yes, it is one of those locations that's in progress. It is currently offline.

It came up also because of all the snow and their play spaces outside aren't always shoveled and safe to play them. They did say how it would be great because we have a pool. We wouldn't have to go outside during these long winters.

Okay, obviously I work very closely with my colleagues at BPS, so I will follow up with them specific to that. And they're very attentive, obviously, when we ask for things.

All right, because I know the last couple pools Councilor Flynn and I advocated for, it wasn't a big fix. It's not like the Blackstone or the one in Charlestown that got a complete overhaul. If it's something That is definitely doable. I want to make sure we advocate for that.

Yes. So right now, I mean, they're still working on the pool. They're trying to get the system, so like the system's calibrated. You can't calibrate it where you need it to when you lose that amount of water. Fresh water needs to be pumped in. So it's like this continuous thing. Once I believe that that leak is identified and remediated, it will be on quicker than usual. We're not expecting a complete I think it's just that specific location. I will say, just to premise that, that one issue typically leads to many more in a pool environment. You find the leak, it could then be a shell issue.

You open it up.

Yeah. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of experience in thinking that it's only one thing and then finding out it's a much larger investment or potential capital project, but it is currently being in progress, and I know that they have West and Sampson as well as A dedicated CPO now at BPS. And I won't speak too much for my colleagues.

Because our seniors could swim during the day. And then it would be open for our seniors at night. No, but thank you for that. We'll follow up. Because I think we're due for a pool update getting ready for.

Yeah, it's good.

You've always loved that.

The weather's coming, so yeah, we're preparing. Our recruitment's going well, so there's first seasonal lifeguards and things like that.

Okay, thank you. Council Flynn, do you have any closing statements?

Thank you Madam Chair for holding this important hearing. I also want to acknowledge Megan for being here from Central Staff for the important work she is doing. Again, I just want to say thank you to the BCYF Thank you to the team that is here, to the age-strong team that is here. Very professional, doing a very good job. And I also want to recognize my friend, Intergovernmental, who also does a great job. So I want to acknowledge Denise. I have no further questions. Madam Chair, it was a very informative hearing. Let's continue to work together.

I also just want to thank you all for being here. I hope you feel better. I'll ask you when the cameras aren't rolling, did you fall in the snow? I don't know. But just thank you for always making sure our seniors have what they need and know that As we have to make some tough decisions, I mean I feel like every year we do but I think this year might be the one where we're making cuts that we're not doing it to our seniors and our most vulnerable residents and I know that You all want to make sure that happens and know that we're here to fight that good fight with you. So thank you for being here. That being said, docket 0287 is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.