Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Commission on Aging Well met on June 11, 2026, to discuss the ongoing restructuring of the department following the merger of the senior center, recreation department, and Healthy Neighborhood Initiative (HNI). The meeting focused on developing a new mission and vision statement, exploring board structure changes, and coordinating future outreach. Additional updates included a Friends report on fundraising and donations, Juneteenth and Pride Month programming, and the groundbreaking of Oak Ridge Senior Housing.
Get connected, Fitchburg. We're launching Fitchburg Connect, the city's new monthly e-newsletter that keeps you informed about all the events, services, and updates that matter to you. Get it in your inbox once a month. Our first edition is live now. Sign up today to get Fitchburg Connect. Hi, I'm Jeremy Frosby, and I'm Nick Bouchet. We're your hosts for the program that's all about your city, Talking Fitchburg. Every weekday, we pull together the news, events, and information you need to stay on top of what's happening in the city of Fitchburg. Find Talking Fitchburg on Cable TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and our live stream on the web. Plus, you can find all our headlines and stories on Facebook, YouTube, and our video on demand service. This is your city. Keep up with Talking Fitchburg and the issues affecting you and your neighbors. Okay, well, welcome everybody to the June 11th meeting of the Commission on Aging Well. Um, starting out with the uh approval of the minutes. Are there any uh additions or subtractions from the last none? Motion to approve. So moved. Second, second favor, aye. Minutes are approved. Moving right into number four on the agenda and the items, the department restructured discussion. Okay. Um as we talked about last time. Um there's just a there's a lot of there's a timeline for how I think we roll this out so we can be successful. And one of the first things that I'd like to discuss is is a mission and a vision and a mission statement to kind of guide the department. And so what I have um given the Jill, just to stop here for people that are watching this on video, we're talking about um we're talking about the restructure of merging the senior center and the recreation department. Yeah, so the restructure was official in in December of 2025, and it wasn't just the senior center and the recreation department, it was also um something called Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, and that was one other employee that sort of falls under a community service piece versus a recreation piece. Um, you know, I've spent this last six months just just really getting a feel for what each uh role is, particularly in the rec department and the um HI the grant program. But I think that we've talked about it, it's important to rebrand us officially and uh take next year to do that since the city hall is being remodeled, and it just will be a nice fresh start. But I think uh to take some time to develop a vision or a vision and a mission statement that's gonna guide this brand as we move forward and roll it out to the public. And to me, you know, that's that's an important component to always kind of go back to what is our mission here? And so um I put forward here, I gave you our current mission and vision statement. Um, we called it our purpose and our dream. Um that's the first page of the handout, and our mission is to promote healthy aging for everyone from vibrant to vulnerable by offering a mix of social, recreational, and volunteer opportunities along with supportive services. So that's our current mission statement. Um, Barb and some former commission members were involved in developing and upgrading that probably I don't know, six or seven years ago. We never had a vision statement, so we did add a vision statement back then, and that is we strive to become a recognized leader in reimagining aging, a welcoming hub where people build connections, find inspiration, and live their best lives. Um that was our vision statement. That was before the hub was built. Um then so that so the the our purpose is is the mission statement. Yep. And the our dream is the vision statement.