Council On Aging
Ruthann
Dobek, Director
93 Winchester Street
Brookline, MA 02446
Information Line at COA (617) 730-2777
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday 8:30-5:00
Elder Resource Guide
Careers In Aging (PDF)
Winter Jobs Bulletin (PDF)
Senior Center Survey
Results 2006
Annual Report (PDF)
Council on Aging Maps
Computer Lab |
2005 Annual Town Report
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Council on Aging: History
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The Brookline Council on Aging celebrates its
fiftieth anniversary in 2005, as the Town of Brookline celebrates
its three-hundredth. Ours is one of the earliest councils in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which officially recognized Councils
on Aging a year later, in April 1956, with legislation “to meet the
problems of aging.”
Our Council began in 1955, soon after Brookline seniors had started
meeting in 1953 for trips and games as a Golden Age Club sponsored
by the Recreation Department. It was becoming clear, however, that
older people needed more than recreation and games to meet the needs
of growing old, as was pointed out in a state report. Concerned
individual citizens like Ralph Sussman and Evelyn Greenman, a
housewife who was running a free informal information and referral
service for elders from her own kitchen, were pressing the town for
more help for its older population.
Imagine: in 1955, the town of Brookline had no elder housing
buildings, and the country did not have Medicare or federal funding
for its aging population. Indeed, life expectancy was 66 years for
men and 72.8 for women. The issues grappled with in those first
years, however, were remarkably similar to those that are
consistently listed today as needs for the elderly – affordable
housing, health care, home care, transportation, jobs, social work
intervention, and a drop-in center.
From 1955 to 1968, the Council on Aging chairman was Augustus Soule,
who also chaired the Recreation Department. It had no paid staff and
was made up of volunteers who worked with other town departments to
create housing, health programs, and recreational opportunities for
Brookline’s elderly. Its members included representatives from the
Board of Selectmen, town departments that dealt with elders, and
several public and private social service organizations. Its
function was seen as mainly advisory and not as a provider of
services. Indeed, the Council on Aging would be listed for several
years as “planning a program of comprehensive, coordinated services
to Brookline’s elderly,” most, presumably, to be carried out by
other town departments. Accordingly, Council membership was modified
to consist, as it does today, of statutory members representing the
Board of Selectmen, Public Library, School, Health, and Recreation
Departments, Brookline Housing Authority, and citizen members.
The Council on Aging changed dramatically from 1968 to 1979 under
the inspired leadership of its first executive director Evelyn
Greenman and its eminent chair Louise Castle, who assumed the
chairmanship after her retirement from the Board of Selectmen, of
which she had been the first woman member. In 1968, the Council
received a federal grant to provide services out of the newly opened
elderly housing building, Sussman House, and under the national
Older Americans Act, federal funding made nutrition sites available
in the public schools. The town also began to fund staff for the
Council on Aging, which Mrs. Greenman expanded by hiring community
aides who worked out of each housing site and two schools to provide
a continuum of care.
Thus the Council on Aging started to provide a full range of
services that would help older people live independently in their
own homes. By its twentieth year, the 1975 Brookline Town Report
noted that the Council was brimming with staff, service, and
accolades from across the country. During this same period, the
Commonwealth established a cabinet position for Elder Affairs, elder
advocacy groups became increasingly active, and the first state
home-care system for low-income elders was set up. Transportation to
help elders stay independent was funded, and the town employed
social workers. The Council on Aging budget grew to provide staffing
of 18 positions; most were part-time and filled by older persons.
Community rooms for the elderly were opened in the Pierce and
Devotion Schools.
The period from 1980 to 2000 saw the professional development of
aging services as well as more state and federal funding for them.
Executive director Arlene Stern, who was hired in 1980, saw her
mandate as professionalizing the Council on Aging by hiring “the
best and brightest” of social workers. It was this staff of
dedicated social workers who wrote and won grants for innovative
programs, respected across the Commonwealth, that dealt with
increasingly complicated issues such as elders at risk, home care,
and expanded transportation needs. Council on Aging board chairmen
from this period were Dr. Dorothy Singer, Rev. George Blackman,
Harold Jennings, and Agnes Rogers, who remains as chair today. All
were staunch advocates for senior services and programs.
In 1988, after years of being squeezed out of school and housing
sites, the Council and many older Brookline citizens began a quest
for a permanent senior center. Despite space in five small sites
across town, there was no centralized place for senior services and
programs. Project Senior Center, in which Donna Kalikow of the Board
of Selectmen took an active leadership role, was formed, and in 1995
real estate developer Roger Stern made a generous gift of land on
Winchester Street to the town for the building of a senior center.
The year 2000, the dawn of a new century, saw the Senior Center
under construction and also saw a new dawn for funding. In order to
keep pace, private donations were needed; indeed, the building of
the Senior Center was accomplished only with the combination of
public funding and private donations. Today, we still remain
dependent on the generosity of the community to thrive.
Ruthann Dobek became the third director of the Council on Aging in
2002. She had been employed by the Council since 1983, writing
grants to assist the Council in its programming. Under her
leadership, the Council expanded its volunteer program, started an
employment service, began a home-care program, and broadened its
legal and transportation options. She was chief liaison for Project
Senior Center and wrote the grants that led to its funding.
The Brookline Senior Center opened in February 2001 in a beautiful
new building designed by architects Childs, Bertman & Tseckares. It
continues the Council’s emphasis on quality programming and has also
been able to reflect a dedication to diversity, with strong Asian
and Russian outreach programs.
The Brookline Council an Aging has fifty years of proud service and
is prepared to carry on its tradition of providing innovative,
creative and dynamic responses to aging issues. The accomplishments
of the past half-century are due to the dedication and expertise of
the staff, the board, and the many volunteers. We are also grateful
for the collaboration of so many more Brookline citizens who have
worked to ensure that Brookline is a highly desirable place in which
to grow old.
-Jean Kramer & Ruthann Dobek 2005
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Brookline 300 Commemorative Quilt |
Brookline Council on Aging - 617-730-2777
The Brookline Council on Aging, a town department, is responsible for planning, coordinating, and providing comprehensive services for Brookline residents age 60 and over. We work with other town agencies and community service providers to enhance the quality of life for our elders. It is our belief that being vital and active is essential for everyone’s well being no matter what age. Our goal is to maintain independence, dignity, and connection throughout the life span.
Information, referrals and social work services are available free of charge. The Council on Aging is located on the 2nd floor of the Brookline Senior Center at 93 Winchester Street. |
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Brookline Senior Center - 617-730-2770
The Brookline Senior Center is a centrally located place where those 60 and older can go for socialization, meaningful activity and services. The Brookline Senior Center provides it participants with opportunities and resources in health, learning, the arts, socialization, nutrition, recreation and direct services. The Senior Center is located at 93 Winchester Street. It is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Call or stop in for more information.
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For more detailed information or questions about our services or
geriatric issues, please contact our professional staff at 617-730-2777 or email questions and referrals to
Sue_Welpton@town.brookline.ma.us
Core services include:
Advocacy, adult education classes, Asian outreach, employment program,
geriatric case management, home care, health promotion and education,
information and referral, legal assistance, SHINE counselors, support groups, transportation, Russian outreach, and volunteers. See the sidebar for more information..
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