The Golden Age Center

A pleasant feature of the building is a Golden Age Center on the first floor which residents of the building and any older persons in the Cleveland metropolitan area will be invited to use. This center will be operated rent-fee by a new agency now in process of being created. A board of trustees has just been appointed by the board of the welfare federation. The center will be financed for a 3-year period by a special foundation grant. After that it is expected to become a financially participating member agency of the federation.

The acquisition of the new space marks the end of several years of search by the federation for a suitable spot for a downtown center. It will become the headquarters for the federation's city-wide recreation program for the aged, which already includes 36 Golden Age Clubs, the operation of a 2-week summer camp, many craft activities and an annual hobby show. It is estimated that the building will be open to accept tenants in July 1954. The Golden Age Center is expected to open about the same time.

The entire project seems to Clevelanders a fine example of what can be accomplished when public and private agencies pool their efforts and funds to develop a community progrm. Mr. Bohn, the authority's director, was chairman of the welfare federation's 5-year plan study committee, which included in its comprehensive study the needs for housing and recreation for older people. Now both of these needs seem well on their way to being met in the new apartment building.