Senior centers have been the predominant providers of community-based older adult recreation activities over the past four decades.  Many of the estimated 15,000 senior centers across the country have been operating since the mid-1960’s when, under the Older Americans Act of 1965, the centers were subsidized on the basis of the number of hot mid-day meals that were served.  The senior centers were a means of achieving improved nutrition and socialization among seniors in urban areas.   While nutrition and companionship remain worthy goals, many communities have recognized that the 40-year old senior center model falls short of serving the needs of today’s active adults.

An ever increasing number of senior recreation facilities and programs encourage participation by pre-seniors over the age of 50 or 55; however, few programs have been successful in attracting these active adults.  Primary objections by Boomers are the stigma of senior centers as places for “old” people and activities that do not engage their interests. The Boomers don’t perceive of themselves as “seniors” and they don’t anticipate being “old” for another 35 years.  Traditional marketing activities and programming that are aimed at seniors are not effective with this group.

At what age are participants welcomed at your senior center and senior programming?  What are the ages of most of your program participants in senior activities?

How has your agency reconfigured the facilities or revised the programming to attract the 50-plus active adults?   What is successful?

When picturing a typical online social networker, most people visualize someone in their mid-20s, if not younger.  However, mature consumers are being dubbed the future of social networking. They have the time and money to spend online.

Did you know:

• 82% indicate that they use the web extensively.
• 64% have been on line for more than six years.  
• 61% had visited sites that offer downloadable video or streaming video.
• 46% say that the internet is important or very important in maintaining their social relationships.
• 41% had visited social networks more than 8 times over the past 90 days.
• 30% of the active bloggers are middle-aged adults.
• A large percentage of uses age 50-plus who are members of online communities report extensive involvement in their communities and more than half (58%) log in on their online community daily or several times per day.
• 7 million adults over age 50, who have no children in the home, own video game systems.

Sources:

The Journal of Active Aging, September/October 2008 .Vol 7, No 5, page 39.

Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, Annenberg school of Communication and AARP, 2008

Entertainment Trends in America, 2008