On Saturday, June 29, at 9:30 a.m., Dexter Community Schools will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Dexter Senior Center at 2810 Baker Road, Dexter, MI 48130, with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, Senator Sue Shink, Representative Jennifer Conlin, Representative Carrie Rheingans, Washtenaw County Commissioners, and Ann Arbor Community Fund representatives in attendance.
From 1995 to 2020, Dexter Community Schools had leased a portion of their Copeland building to the Dexter Senior Center for $1 annually plus the cost of their utilities. As a long-standing supporter of the Senior Center, terms of the District’s 2020 sale of the Copeland building to the Encore Theater included extending the Senior Center lease through 2024. The Senior Center has been working with community partners since that time to secure a permanent home.
Dexter Community Schools, which encompasses 88 square miles and includes portions of 8 townships as well as the city, is the only local governmental entity with the infrastructure to run a community center. In 2023, DCS secured an $8.5M state appropriation for a multigenerational community center. This grant was accomplished through the diligent collaboration of Congresswoman Dingell, Senator Shink, Representative Conlin, and Representative Rheingans.
The project also received a $850,000 federal Community Project Funding Grant championed by Congresswoman Dingell.
In late fall 2023, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted to provide $754,812 in funding for the Dexter Senior Center to build (or remodel) and furnish a Senior Center using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 3.0 funding. A.R. Brouwer is constructing the building in collaboration with the Dexter Senior Center; once complete, it will be purchased within the grant funding by the District for exclusive use of the seniors.
The Dexter Senior Center, which will be built adjacent to the Wellness Center, will complete a Multigenerational Community Center that will serve the entire community. The Senior Center provides critical services for area seniors, including health and wellness programs, enrichment classes, hot lunches, meals on wheels for homebound individuals, and social gatherings. Dexter Community Schools is proud to continue to support this valuable community resource.
Dexter Senior Center Executive Director Anne Williams had this to say: “The Dexter Senior Center (DSC) provides a welcoming space to gather, socialize, and participate in activities, programs, and services, promoting health and well-being. With our new permanent home, DSC can redesign programs and services, to reimagine aging and make a positive impact on not only our members but the community at large beyond the walls of the center, now and for future generations. The funding received and the partnerships have been transformative for DSC and the community.”
For more information, contact the Dexter Senior Center Executive Director Anne Williams by phone at 734-426-7737 or email: anne.williams@dexterseniors.org.
