Senior centers in rural communities: Potentials for serving

Abstract

Although senior centers are highly visible and used by more elderly people than any other service, there are gaps in the research on centers, particularly rural centers. This study used case studies of three centers in rural Minnesota to examine how centers meet the needs of local elderly and their role in the service delivery system. Senior centers play a potentially important role in the rural service delivery network because of the paucity of services available in rural communities yet they often do not develop into multipurpose centers which serve as focal points for the delivery of services. Two out of the three centers studied serve the elderly primarily as social and recreational centers and provide little or limited access to the broader service network. The centers studied illustrate the great variability found among rural organizations. In order to address the needs of local elderly, senior centers need to establish their place within the community and to determine their goals.