No ‘home of their own’

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Cedar Rapids and Linn County offer a pretty robust number of services and activities for older or retired adults, who now account for nearly 1 of every 5 residents in the county. Providers include the city parks and recreation department, county agencies, Kirkwood Community College, churches, health care facilities, non-profit groups and for-profit businesses. Some offerings are free, some come with fees.

What Cedar Rapids doesn't have for seniors is a home of their own. That is, a central place where seniors can congregate and socialize daily, as well as access low-cost activities and educational opportunities that might be coordinated or consolidated with many of the above providers.

Some older residents, such as retiree Robert Ackerson, wonder why the state's second largest city doesn't have or support a dedicated senior center. “We don't seem to have any money for seniors,” he told us. “My wife and I are in our 80s. Isolation is the challenge for us and a lot of other people, many who have handicaps, too.”

Ackerson also is part of a citizen group trying to drum up awareness and interest in such a project.

We see value in a senior center serving Cedar Rapids area. It is a desirable quality-of-life asset for every community. National research documents the improved health, well-being and longer life of seniors who regularly socialize, exercise, recreate and embrace learning opportunities.

After taking a closer look at the issue, we believe a comprehensive senior center warrants some city support. But realistically it requires commitment from a broad-based, public-private partnership to make it feasible any time soon.

History's impact

History has a lot to do with that outlook.

Monica Vernon, City Council member and chair of the Development Committee, said she's researched the issue, and “I can't find a time when the city funded anything” like a senior center.

The flood of 2008 doused some momentum toward such a project.

First, the disaster socked the Witwer Center, the closest thing Cedar Rapids had to a full-fledged senior center at the time. The non-profit was located in its namesake building at 305 Second Ave. SE, but Linn County supervisors decided to sell the flood-damaged, county-owned building. Witwer officials lost not only the building but county support for maintenance and utilities.

The Witwer Center now operates out of the Ecumenical Center at 303 Second Ave. SE, paying a nominal 50 cents a year for the lease, but with less space. It receives no government tax funding, relying instead on grants and support from other non-profit agencies. Last year, it turned over its senior meal program to Horizons after federal funding for that program was reduced.

The flood also dashed Witwer's hopes of expanding via one of the 15 in 5 community improvement initiatives that the Chamber of Commerce and Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation identified back in 2004. That project was a large multigenerational community center in which supporters wanted to include a substantial senior component. While some of the 15 in 5 projects have been folded into flood-recovery work, the multigenerational center is on the back burner. The biggest reason: its estimated cost of $85 million.

In the post-flood era, money for such new projects is even scarcer. The city still has many recovery expenses and other project priorities.

The flood also destroyed the west side's Time Check Recreation Center, curtailing the city's ability to offer its own senior programs and activities. There are some offerings for seniors still available through the Ambroz Recreation Center on the southeast side, but Myrt Bowers, Witwer Center director, says the city doesn't provide the “wholistic” programming for older adults that a senior center can.

Citizen group forms

Virtually everyone we talked with likes the idea of a dedicated senior center. What they don't agree on is how to get there or what it should look like.

A new citizen group met for the first time last week to map out strategy for raising awareness and determining the level of interest and support in the community and metro area. Ackerson and Dan Adams, another Cedar Rapids retiree, are the coordinators.

Bowers, Witwer's only full-time employee, understands the city government's challenges. She also told us that most successful senior centers can't make it on membership fees alone. Witwer doesn't even charge a membership, in part because it likely would exclude many people it serves. Of the 1,800 seniors using Witwer services over the past six months, 72 percent live on under $20,000 a year.

Bowers is hopeful the city will find a way to help support the Witwer Center's vision: a facility large enough - about 12,000 square feet - to allow a more comprehensive approach the primary goal of promoting healthy aging lifestyles, helping older adults maintain good health and remain independent in their homes longer.

Witwer already provides more than two dozen classes and activities but there are also substantial gaps in its preferred curriculum model. Witwer also wants to provide a more welcoming, broader social experience for more of the county's 45,000 residents who are age 55 or older, including nearly 39,000 over 60.

How to make it feasible

Witwer obviously can't make the goal of a senior center happen without plenty of help. And the situation here is not the same as in Polk County, where the county operates six multipurpose senior centers and 10 dining centers. Or in Council Bluffs, where a new senior center benefits from casino gambling tax revenue. Or in Iowa City, where the senior center receives nearly $600,000 annually from city government and $70,000 from the county toward an operating budget of nearly $900,000.

We think a collaborative effort is the most feasible route here.

But who should be involved? There are a number of potential partners, among them:

l City government.

Vernon says there's no money in the budget toward a senior center any time soon, but the city could consider donating land, She likes the idea of a location in the “West Village,” the west-side area the city wants to redevelop.

Mayor Ron Corbett says the project to replace Time Check Recreation Center could include a senior segment but the city's recreational facilities are necessarily aimed at serving multiple age groups. Those are more fiscally sustainable than single-purpose facilities, says Sven Leff, city recreation superintendent.

The mayor also said it makes sense for the county to step up for a facility that could also serve county residents, given its history with the Witwer Center that has operated since 1982.

l County government

One of Linn County supervisor Lu Barron's primary focus areas is senior services. She believes the county has a role in working with Witwer on the feasibility of a senior center, in part because it also “helps the bottom line as we age to try and keep people in their homes longer.”

Supervisors recently approved $5,000 toward a conceptual design and study of potential sites. Barron also believes the county should provide some financial support for a senior center, especially for operations cost. “I think they can campaign for the bricks and mortar.”

l Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation

Les Garner, president and CEO, notes that the Foundation has helped fund a variety of programming through agencies that assist seniors, including the Witwer Center. As for a senior center, “We would be willing to sit at the table. Our most likely role would be to help with planning or startup funding.”

There are many other possible partners and sponsors, such as the medical/health care sector, non-profit agencies and corporate sponsors. Adams has met with Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education officials, who have expressed interest in being involved.

A fundraising drive is a likely necessity and also would measure the importance that residents and businesses place on a senior center, whether it be a new building, a re-purposed existing structure, or maybe even two or more smaller centers for improved convenience.

Leadership is the most vital component needed to bring together an effective partnership. The senior center needs a champion. At this time, we think the county is best positioned to do that.

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