Mansfield Senior Center to coordinate long term outreach plan to support underserved seniors

October 15, 2018 by Caroline Calandro

MANSFIELD – In a small town where nearly 6,500 people are 55 years old and above, only 128 are members of the Mansfield Senior Association, a statistic that spurred the Senior Center to develop a new outreach program.

Senior Center Supervisor Sarah Taylor presented the center’s annual report at Monday’s town council meeting.

Mayor Paul Shapiro told the Senior Center representatives that he wants to be sure there is a concerted effort to reach those in town who may be in need of contact.

“The outreach coordinator position has been vacant for a year,” he said. “I know those of us who do door knocking during campaigns know, and I also know from a volunteer run I did with Meals on Wheels, we have a lot of quiet roads in rural parts of our town where there are seniors, many of them living alone, who are clearly in the underserved category.

Shapiro was intent on delivering his point.

“It’s my hope that bigger efforts are made to reach out and bring them in. Some may not have family, whether in the area or at all,” he said. “Some may have neighbors who look in, and some may not. To me, that’s the biggest challenge for us going forward.”

Taylor said the center has struggled for the past year because of position vacancies and because the staff had to pick up some of the slack so seniors wouldn’t fall off the radar for services.

According to Taylor, despite tight resources and a small staff her department is now executing a multi-pronged long term plan for engagement that uses technology to raise awareness about the services and events offered at the Senior Center, and employees are now visiting senior housing complexes and collaborating with other organizations to identify people in need of services in Mansfield.

“In addition to the usual mailings we send out, we will be revamping our website and posting social media updates to get the word out,” Taylor said. “We also have emergency personnel such as the fire department or the police notify us if they notice anything on their calls that we should be aware of. The Building and Housing Department lets us know if there are any buildings in disrepair or in need of care, which can also point to people in need of our services. We are under the umbrella of Human Services here, so we collaborate on food pantries and have a full-time social worker.”

The center relies largely on referrals and is also exploring more relationships with local relief organizations such as churches and women’s groups, Taylor said.

Joan Marshall, the new outreach worker hired in August, has served seniors in the local area for the past 22 years.

“We can’t just wait anymore for people to come walk into our office,” Marshall said. “So my job is to go out and find those people in need of services. But that’s why our engagement plan is also critical. It’s important to be visible and connected in the community so people know this is something we do.”

The center had a 29 percent increase in program participation this year and a 24 percent increase in contacts. It also had 4,138 hours of service logged from the community, which amounts to the equivalent of nearly $100,000.

In other business, council members voted unanimously to delay the possible formation of a charter revision commission until September of 2019.

Council members also voted 6-3 to accept the donation of a 1.1 acre Hanks Hill Road property to be preserved.

The Open Space and Parks Advisory Committees were also dissolved to be combined into the Parks and Natural Resources Committee.