By Jeremy Kaplan
03 Sep 2024, 19:18 PM EDT
Encore Community Services (also known as Encore Community Services) is an agency founded in 1977 as part of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York to provide food, socialization and support to seniors in the Hell’s Kitchen and Broadway communities. What began as a single community center in the basement of St. Malachy Church has since grown into a multi-purpose, non-sectarian agency offering a wide range of programs and services to older New Yorkers. Each year, Encore provides more than 500,000 meals, both at its own headquarters and at its senior centers, as well as directly delivered to its homebound members.
Encore’s mission is to improve the quality of life for older New Yorkers. To do so, the agency provides care and services to the aging population across Manhattan’s West Side. Through comprehensive programming and facilities—including the Aging Through Arts Center, Encore 49 Residence, Encore West Residence, and the Lifelong Learning Center (LLC)—the agency is dedicated to improving the quality of life for older adults in our community. Encore is currently executing its Encore for Life strategic plan through 2027.
Encore for Life is the agency’s plan of action to ensure that all older adults connected to the organization can thrive in their homes for as long as possible. The plan ensures access to healthy food options and increased social connections. Over the next three years, Encore will expand its menu options, increase individualized support, and deepen its presence in the community through an Age-Friendly Community Partnership.
In addition to providing meals and social services to older New Yorkers, the agency also operates Encore 49 and Encore West residences. Encore 49 provides an SRO-style supportive living facility for formerly homeless seniors with special needs. In a safe, clean, and supportive environment, residents receive their units and a variety of mental health services.
Encore West Residence offers 84 independent living units for low-income seniors. Encore West Residence is a safe, secure, and welcoming environment. With its 84 fully furnished apartments, the residential program addresses the need for affordable housing for low-income seniors (age 62 or older) at $27,750 for one person and $31,700 for two people. Building amenities include laundry facilities, a library, a garden, and housing our Lifelong Learning Center that offers a variety of recreational and educational activities for its residents and the community at large. These on-site amenities help seniors maintain their independence while fostering social interactions, which are essential to maintaining healthy bodies, minds, and spirits.
Encore Community Services provides care and service to the elderly in the Clinton/Times Square/Midtown communities, and any older person who comes to them. The agency assists the vulnerable and frail, poor and homeless, lonely and homebound – often ignored – with their daily needs so they can live as independently as possible, with dignity and decency, and in a non-institutional manner, in a safe and caring environment.
For more information about Encore Community Services, please visit www.encorenyc.org or call 212) 581-2910.
Jeremy Kaplan is the Executive Director of Encore Community Services