Over the past 68 years, San Francisco Senior Center has provided older adults from all over the city with a home away from home at its Aquatic Park Center in Fisherman's Wharf. That makes it the country's oldest nonprofit senior center, says director Sue Horst. But with the cost of operating at the site expected to increase dramatically over the next few years, the nonprofit's future on the waterfront could be in jeopardy.
San Francisco Senior Center's location — formally known as the the Aquatic Park Bathhouse Building — was built in 1939 by the city and the New Deal Works Progress Administration. After serving as a public and later private amenity, the land was handed over to the military for a World War II look-out post.
By 1947 the space was back in San Francisco's hands, and after many conversations about its future, the city decided it needed to be a senior center. The decision was "quite something," Horst said, noting that the nation had no major organized programs for aging adults at the time.
The program is just as meaningful to seniors today as it was in 1947, Horst said. About 1,200 seniors take advantage of services offered at the Aquatic Park Center and roughly half of those participants have purchased a voluntary membership. And although it's no longer the only game in town (among other local senior centers, SF Senior Center has a second location in the Tenderloin and a partner/competitor that has been gaining steam in the city's northeast corner), it still draws people in from all over the city.
The Aquatic Park Bathhouse Building is the white structure in the far right hand corner. (Photo: National Park Service)
Unlike many nonprofits' displacement fears, SF Senior Center's troubles aren't the result of a profit-driven landlord.
Aquatic Park Center is located within the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, which the National Park Service oversees. NPS charges the nonprofit a permit fee to use the space, Horst said, and that fee continues to rise nationally as the National Park Service struggles to recover from its own budget shortfalls.
In 2012, the permit fee was $12,000. Between 2013 and 2015 the price doubled. And come 2018, they're looking at a $53,000 charge.
Horst says SF Senior Center has a great relationship with NPS and completely understands the need to increase permit fees. "The reality for organizations like the National Park and for us is challenging."
But to stay put, they need help.
SF Senior Center has been vigorously fundraising online and off over the past month to generate $20,000 that can be put toward fee increases through 2018. So far, online donations and physical checks have totaled $10,000. And while the Indiegogo campaign ends tomorrow, Horst said anyone who would like to support the program is welcome to send a check made out to the program's foundation, NCPHS.
