Senior Center Expansion Project

About

The Senior Center Expansion Project has been in the works the past few years, as The Senior Center Expansion Committee and P3 Consulting Group have continued to develop a draft article to form that will convert the current Senior Center Consortium existing between the Towns of Ashfield, Buckland and Shelburne into the a Senior Services District.

The formation of a Senior Services District will give our unique, three town Senior Center Consortium the ability to be one of the first Senior Services Districts in the State of Massachusetts and will allow us to secure higher grant funding from the state and provide more programs and services for the evergrowing local senior population that The Senior Center currently serves. It is important to take part in this Expansion Project discussion and participate on behalf of the future of the seniors in Ashfield, Buckland and Shelburne.

In 2021: The Expansion Committee and P3 Consulting Group hosted various working groups between Selectboard representatives from each of the three consortium towns. Input on the proposed draft District Agreement was collected and used to edit the wording of the draft. As of January 2022, the revised District Agreement draft has been submitted for legal review and results are pending.

Goals for 2022: The hope is to get the District Agreement passed by all three towns at future Annual Town Meetings. A reminder that passing the District Agreement itself will not have any costs associated with it. Later on, if the proposed District chooses to support renovations or rebuilding of The Senior Center, each Town will have to vote to pass the intended project at another Annual Town Meeting, before any building-related costs take place.

How to Keep Updated

1) Check out Expansion-related postings below.

2) Attend our monthly meetings via Zoom or dial-in (these are public knowledge, connection info can be accessed by calling 413-625-2502).

3) Look for Expansion postings in the Greenfield Recorder, The Independent, The Ashfield News and the back page of the Senior Center’s bi-monthly newsletter.

Community Forum

West County Senior Services District Information Session - April 21, 2022 from Falls Cable on Vimeo.