Seniors are “Bubbling over like Champagne” with Opening of New Senior Center in North Philadelphia

• Posted on Feb 9, 2016

NewCourtland recently opened the Philadelphia Senior Center Allegheny (PSC-Allegheny) branch, a 10,000 square-foot senior center on its rapidly transforming campus at 19th Street and Allegheny Avenue in North Philadelphia. And members like Ruby McClellan already are taking advantage of all the new facility has to offer.

“What do I do here? Everything!” she says. “Every day I’m involved with some kind of activity. I use the computer room and check my emails. I go to fitness class and dance class. Every day I’m doing one to two hours of exercise. We’ve been united with another center so I get to meet new people with new ideas. We’re bubbling over like champagne.”

The new center is open to all seniors 55 and older and provides an upgraded facility for those who previously attended the PSC-Lehigh and PSC-Tioga branches.

“We’re happy to provide a new facility in a more convenient location for the seniors that we already serve and for our new members,” says Monique French-Brown, NewCourtland’s Director of Community Services.

PSC-Allegheny is located on the ground floor of a 60-unit affordable senior housing complex that opened in October. It’s also next door to the NewCourtland LIFE Allegheny Center, which cares for seniors with more supportive service needs than those that attend PSC-Allegheny. In all, the 5.5 acre campus that sits on the site of the former Stanley Blacker Suit Factory now serves more than 250 seniors per day.

“The new place is much better, cleaner and bigger,” says Joyce Butts, who was a participant at PSC–Lehigh since 2006. “I have good memories of the old place but we will make new memories and new friends.”