Cheryl Ann Callahan has stopped at Riverview Community Action Corp. almost every day for the past six years.
She exercises, crafts and spends time with her friends. Without any family nearby, Callahan, 78, of Penn Hills has found a source of socialization and community at the senior center.
“I would do anything for this place,” Callahan said.
Unfortunately, she probably can’t come up with more government money to stop the slow bleed of financial cutbacks affecting senior centers all across the state. Money from the federal and state governments either has been reduced or just isn’t keeping up with increased costs — and demand — for senior center services.
With federal officials preoccupied with issues such as projected cuts to Social Security and the deadline for a state budget looming without an agreement yet in place, officials worry the more than 100,000 seniors who attend senior centers in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, are likely to see cuts in services.
Recognized by the Older Americans Act as a community focal point, senior centers have become one of the most widely used services among America’s older adults. Today, nearly 11,000 senior centers serve 1 million older adults daily in the U.S., according to the National Council on Aging.
The Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging, a prime source of senior center funding in the county, has a projected shortfall of $5 million in its $50 million budget. The shortfall is attributed to a 22% increase in the older adult population over the past decade and the cost of living increasing by 39% in the same time. Agency officials say the funding it receives is not keeping up with rising needs and costs.
The agency receives funding from the federal Older Americans Act and state block grants that go toward home and community-based services, nutrition, transportation and caregiver support. The state gets about $209 million a year in federal money under the act that it doles out to counties for their senior citizen programs, according to state Department of Aging data.
Nationwide, the act provides almost $4.5 billion each year, down from a high of almost $5 billion in 2021.
While the federal money has increased about 25% over the past 10 years, it’s not keeping pace with cost-of-living increases, which affect senior center costs, as well.
In the past year across Pennsylvania, 13 senior centers in eight counties closed while nearly two dozen more remain at risk of closure. Twenty of the state’s Area Agencies on Aging anticipate cutting programs such as grab-and-go meals, home support and medical supplies because of budget shortfalls and another 22 Area Agencies on Aging expect to expand their waitlists for services, information from Allegheny County shows.
Barbara Miller, executive director of the RCAC, said the center is a nonprofit and gets 60% of its operating funds from the county.
“We do fundraising,” Miller said. “I try to get money from foundations and grants.”
With Miller being the only full-time employee aided by three part-time employees, more grant writing and fundraising, on top of what’s already done, would cut heavily into how the center is run. She said they charge small prices for some classes being offered in an effort to offset costs.
She said grants and private donations always are considered a nonguaranteed funding source. The RCAC, she says, depends on funds from the county to keep up with attendees’ needs, and most of that money is passed down from the federal and state governments.
Services affected
The RCAC isn’t alone in its budget woes.
In Westmoreland County, Beverly Brady, supervisor at the Latrobe Center for Active Adults, said she already sees minor cutbacks in programs.
Open Monday through Friday, the center offers lunch provided by Westmoreland County for its attendees. She said they used to give dessert and salad with the meal, but dessert has been cut from the menu and salad turned into a less-expensive option of mixed vegetables.
The county gives the center a grant every six months that ranges between $3,000 and $4,000 Brady said. While the money helps keep up operations, the rest, she said, is up to them.
“If we didn’t fundraise, we probably wouldn’t be here,” Brady said. “Everything we bring in goes for maintenance and everything else for the building.”
The building that houses the center is a former elementary school from the early 1900s. It’s owned by the city, and the center makes rent payments. Brady said about 30 to 40 people show up for lunch every day, and the center facilitates 90 home-delivered meals every day to seniors.
The Plum Community Center is one of Allegheny County’s focal point centers. Operating on a $450,000 budget, the center receives about half those funds from the county through the federal-state passdowns, according to Executive Director Karen Hochberg.
Average daily attendance is more than 100 people at the Plum center, Hochberg said.
Due to the county’s $5 million shortfall, waitlists are in place for new applicants seeking home-delivered meals, home support, home modifications and personal care. Current eligible recipients will continue receiving services.
“This is the first time the county has ever instituted a waitlist for home-delivered meals,” Hochberg said.
Reimbursement rates to agencies that prepare meals for senior centers and home delivery have been reduced to prioritize serving the highest-need individuals.
In-home support services to help seniors stay at home, such as grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning, will continue but will be reduced to a maximum of four hours per month.
Items such as medical or nutritional supplements and incontinence supplies will no longer be funded. Allegheny County said case managers will help older adults transition to alternative resources, such as Medicare.
Readying themselves for possible budget cuts, Miller said staffing will be the most difficult thing to maintain.
“To run this operation, it takes people,” Miller said.
While the center’s regularly offered programs likely won’t be cut, she said, staffing for those programs might present a challenge. Special events, such as annual picnics, could be cut altogether, Miller said.
Both centers report statistics to the county, including how many people attend the center, how many people are signed up for home delivered lunches and how many services are offered and being utilized.
Based on these reports, they are given a quarterly bonus from the county in one of three tiers. Hochberg said the center will experience a cutback in those bonuses due to the county budget shortfall.
Plum Community Center is partially supported by the borough, Hochberg said, with about 15% of the center’s budget coming from the borough. The center also fundraises through lunches, classes and other events, including bingo and karaoke nights.
“What happens here is socialization,” Hochberg said.
The RCAC sees about 70 people per day, five days a week, Miller said. People from as far as New Kensington make the trip to the center, she said.
Callahan said her desire to stay fit and continue to learn are just part of why she makes it out to the RCAC nearly every day. The people she sees when she’s there are the biggest draw.
“There is a real community feeling here,” Callahan said. “I love to exercise. I love to teach, but I think the bottom line is, if I didn’t like the people and the staff here, I wouldn’t be here.”
One of those people is Francesca Kurkjian, 67, of Oakmont. Kurkjian began attending the RCAC about three years ago.
She likes all the activities and classes the center offers to attendees. She said there’s a ton of new things to learn from people she likes being around.
“It feels homey,” Kurkjian said. “It’s a great place to just hang out and talk with people and do different things.”
Callahan said the center gives her a place to exercise where she “fits in” and feels comfortable in her own skin. That’s something, she said, that would not exist for her outside of the center.
In addition to the workout classes, the two women enjoy any lesson that talks about overall wellness. The RCAC hosts speakers ranging from late-life planning, to physical therapists. The center also offers Pittsburgh field trips to its residents that help them stay in touch with events and attractions in the city.
“I wouldn’t take these trips ordinarily and drive to Pittsburgh by myself,” Callahan said. “I don’t drive as well as I used to, so this gives me an opportunity to see things all around town.”
The deeper effects of senior centers
“This isn’t just a place to play to play bingo,” Miller said. “It’s so much more than that. It’s a place for community. People don’t have to catch up with anybody. They can just be a senior citizen. It provides comfort and companionship. And when people go home after being here for the day, they feel like they had a good day.”
Kurkjian said RCAC regulars keep an eye on each other.
The center gives members a home base to check in every once in a while and request wellness checks if regulars stop showing up as much or at all.
“We take care of each other,” Kurkjian said.
With neither woman having family in the area, the community they find in the center supplements that source for socialization and close relationships.
“It’s just like family,” Callahan said.
She said it would be unthinkable for the center to close. Kurkjian said she would follow Miller to whatever center she’d move on to next if the RCAC were to close.
Miller emphasized the effect on mental wellness senior centers have for attendees.
“You’re not eliminating the disease, but you’re staving it off,” Miller said. “The longer people can still use their minds and remember things and be in the moment, the longer they will stay healthy and active and part of things.”
Regular socialization and enrichment also help to stave off conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, social isolation can increase a person’s risk of dementia by about 60%. A 2025 study from Rush University System for Health suggests more frequent social activity points to a 38% reduction in dementia risk and a 21% reduction in mild cognitive impairment risk, compared with the least socially active.
Miller said her sister battled Alzheimer’s. She has personally seen the effects of diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia and how senior centers can help those diagnosed.
“Those diseases, dementia, Alzheimer’s, they are mean,” Miller said.
“My sister died of Alzheimer’s, and it made her so she didn’t want to be part of any kind of community,” Miller said. “I just watched her wither away.”
Miller said she was working with a center in Maryland at the time. When her sister, Linda, visited her, she would help in the center’s main office.
“It helped her a lot,” Miller said. “I wish I would have kept her there more often.”
According to the National Institute on Aging, feeling lonely increases the risk for dementia by 31%. Specifically, loneliness, which is different from social isolation, increased the risk for Alzheimer’s by 14%, vascular dementia by 17% and cognitive impairment by 12%.
“Anything to have people come and engage and not be lonely,” Hochberg said. “(Senior centers) are worth the investment because of the health outcome down the road.”