Local

New downtown senior center on its way through American Rescue Plan funding

By Chris Pugh Mahoning Matters
Picture outside the building which will be used as the new downtown senior center
Picture outside the building which will be used as the new downtown senior center Photo from the City of Youngstown Facebook page

Youngstown partnered with the Western Reserve Port Authority and the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership to purchase a downtown building that will be used for a senior center.

The building is located at 64 Ridge Ave and was formerly owned by Meridian HealthCare.

The funds were available through American Rescue Plan dollars pledged to the city. The port authority used $125,000 of the funding to buy the building and will use $25,000 to help Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership with any other costs that may come up in regards to the purchase of the building.

Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership is separately raising money to help convert the building to a senior center.

“There’s got to be a place for seniors to age in place and grow,” Youngstown Mayor Jamael “Tito” Brown said in discussing why the project was needed.

Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership CEO Sheila Triplett said there is a need for an expanded senior center in the city.

“This means so much to them, when I told them about the possibility of us having a building the tears in that room. I mean, we had to get tissues out,” she said. “And you know, because they just want to be together. They just want to be together. And this is the population and sometimes we forget about because these are the low income seniors who don’t have transportation who don’t have the means to get around and don’t have the ability to get together.“

Triplett said she hopes the project will be completed by next summer.

CONNECT WITH US

WEB SITE ► https://www.mahoningmatters.com

DAILY NEWS EMAIL ► https://www.mahoningmatters.com/customer-service/newsletter-signup/

FACEBOOK ► https://www.facebook.com/mahoningmatters

TWITTER ► https://twitter.com/mahoningmatters

YOUTUBE ► https://www.youtube.com/@mahoningmatters2814

INSTAGRAM ► https://www.instagram.com/mahoningmatters

SUPPORT US ► https://givebutter.com/vNfzEW

This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 12:54 PM.