Program areas at CIP
Housing counseling, social services, and energy assistance: Center in the Park (cip) offers practical and compassionate social services for vulnerable older adults including short term assistance with personal care, home support, adaptive equipment and assistance applying for benefits and entitlements. Through contracts with the city of philadelphia department of housing and community development (dhcd), pa housing finance agency (phfa) and department of housing and urban development (hud) cip offers housing counseling for philadelphians of all ages with issues such as mortgage default and delinquency, eviction diversion, and assistance finding affordable housing. in addition, cip is a neighborhood energy Center, providing utility assistance and conservation education for persons of all ages.
Nutrition and meals: - approximately 80 older adults per day are served a nutritious, well-balanced lunch at no cost to individuals age 60+ and at a modest cost to those under 60. Cip also serves breakfast three days per week.
Center services: cip is a wellness model senior Center offering an extensive lifelong learning curriculum, including arts and humanities programing, recreational and socialization activities, and trip opportunities. Programs offered include pottery, technology classes, spanish, poetry and discussion, sewing, knitting and crocheting, card making, line dancing, piano lessons, a range of exercise programs, evidence-based health promotion programs and many other offerings such as trips and other recreational activities.
Other program services includes the following: phila. Long-term care ombudsman program (pltcop): through a contract with philadelphia corporation for aging (pca) cip provides ombudsman services and advocacy for residents of long-term care facilities in northwest and northeast philadelphia. Ombudsmen receive and mediate complaints from residents and their families, addressing issues of residents' rights, resident care, resident dignity, finances, and overall quality of care. They conduct facility visits, attend resident council meetings, as well as exit meetings with the department of health. Health and evidence based-programs: with a decades-long history of collaborative academic partnerships cip has established itself as a living laboratory for community-based research. This research has larger implications for senior centers locally and nationally, though development of evidence-based programs that may be replicated and/or adapted to meet the culturally diverse needs of older adults.