Senior programs to end June 30

In an e-mail sent to United South End Settlements (USES) supporters on Friday, April 21, president and chief executive officer Maicharia Weir-Lytle announced plans for a major restructuring of the 125 year old non-profit's programming to focus on helping families and children to overcome poverty and improve their prospects for future prosperity and to achieve increased sustainability through refocusing existing programs and eliminating others, notably services to seniors such as senior wellness and fitness classes, affordable home repair referrals, low-cost daily lunches and free, supplemental groceries for low-income seniors.

The announcement results from a strategic planning process called Vison125 that began last fall, with USES staff, board members and consultants meeting among themselves and engaging with community members and leaders, elected officials, funders and others to determine the best way to serve South Enders in the face of changing demographics and to use its assets and facilities more efficiently to serve residents. Weir-Lytle, who took the helm at USES in February of 2015, expressed concern for the financial struggles she found at USES since arriving and stressed the need to revamp the organization's financial model as it realigns its program offerings. Word of possible disncontinuance of senior programs began to spread among participants.

On Friday afternoon, vice president Nikki Stewart responded via e-mail to the South End News's inquiry, writing, "We've always cherished our seniors, and have been grateful for the opportunity to contribute directly to their lives and to enjoy them for many years as a small but treasured group among our participants. Seniors are absolutely a rich part of the fabric of this community and our families. Though our programmatic refocus on families with children will not include our current Senior Services offerings, we do envision our impact will have a positive cumulative effect on every member of participating families, including seniors."

According to Stewart, the senior health and wellness classes currently serve approximately 160 participants. "To give context, we are serving approximately 950 individuals overall, so the senior health and wellness program makes up only 17% of our program participants," she explained. In a follow-up interview, Stewart said that although senior services at USES will end on June 30, the organization is talking with other social service groups, the city's Commission on Affairs of the Elderly and the Department of Neighborhood Development about transitioning existing programs to other agencies in the South End.

Elderly Affairs commissioner Emily Shea weighed in on the elimination of senior services at USES, commenting via e-mail, "United South End Settlements has been a great partner, and we are sad to see that programming end. Senior programming in the South End is very important to us, and we will be engaging in our competitive grant process beginning next month to offer funding to a range of programs across the city. We are grateful for the relationship we've had with United South End Settlements, and we will be working with them to identify other potential partners in the neighborhood."

Longtime community activist Frieda Garcia, who served as executive director of USES for 20 years, has remained involved with the organization through its senior activities. "For the last several years I have attended the Tuesday Tai Chi class taught by Rick Tousignant. He also teaches a class on Thursday, each with about 15-20 enthusiastic students. Efforts are being made to get this class taught somewhere else in the neighborhood. I believe USES is also trying to get the other older adult programs picked up by other agencies. I can't imagine that it was an easy decision to make," Garcia said. Jovita Fontanez, another longtime South Ender who served as Boston's first Latina elections commissioner and later worked as business manager at the Mayor's Office of Business Development, enjoyed the Tai Chi, balance and jazz exercise classes for seniors at USES. "I think it [will be] a missing asset, a missed opportunity. A cross section of seniors uses the services."