Build a senior center for 500 South Asian seniors

We are excited to share an update on the South Asian Community Home (SACH) Center and the progress your support has helped make possible. Renovations are now partially complete, bringing us closer to creating a welcoming and culturally responsive community hub for South Asian older adults in New York City. The transformed space will provide opportunities for social connection, wellness programming, educational workshops, cultural celebrations, and supportive services that help seniors age with dignity and remain connected to their community.

The first phase of renovations focused on the staff office area. Throughout the renovation process, India Home remained committed to serving our community without interruption. Staff adapted by rotating their in-person work schedules and sharing a temporary workspace while construction was underway. At the same time, programming for older adults continued in another section of the center. Seniors regularly gathered for activities and services, including our dementia day care program, ensuring that participants continued to receive support, engagement, and social connection even as improvements were being made around them.

These renovations are helping lay the foundation for a permanent community home where South Asian older adults can access culturally responsive services, participate in meaningful programs, and build lasting relationships. Once completed, the SACH Center will significantly expand India Home's ability to provide a safe, welcoming, and vibrant space for older adults to learn, connect, and thrive.

Thank you for helping make this vision a reality. We look forward to sharing additional renovation milestones and welcoming our community into the completed SACH Center in the months ahead.

We are excited to share with you that our planned renovations to our senior center are moving along!  

In our last report, we highlighted these renovations we plan to make to our main location to transform it into our South Asian Community Home, a state-of-the-art, modern senior center that will be a focal point for our community. We’ve selected our contractor and are working with the NYC Government Aging Department to finalize our renovations grant, and, once that’s complete, we’re looking forward to finally commencing renovations!

In other news, the digital literacy workshop curriculum made possible by the generous grant given by the CTA Foundation wrapped up at the end of last year. We’ve seen from client feedback that this program was a hit! Our seniors enjoyed it and learned a lot. We’re going to continue offering digital literacy workshops and instruction through funding provided by the Florence V. Burden Foundation, which will help India Home implement a new intergenerational weekend program, where local youth come in to work together with and learn from our elders. This will include a revamp of our current weekend programming, including our Saturday technology classes and Sunday retired professionals circle, to include an intergenerational element. Stay tuned to our social media for more information about this programming.

We also recently received pilot funding from the Next50 Foundation to support our efforts in creating the first AI-powered robotic fully-autonomous food pantry in the United States. This is a big project for us and we’re so excited to be working on it. More details are forthcoming. 

Thank you for all your support and generosity to India Home and our seniors! Keep an eye on our social media as we begin our SACH renovations as well as rolling out our new slate of grant-funded programming. We hope you all stay warm and safe in this winter weather!