A LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Carter Burden Network.
As a leader in aging services in New York City for the past 54 years, the Carter Burden Network (CBN) is committed to giving voice to vulnerable older adults who otherwise might not be heard, providing innovative services of the highest quality, and opening our doors to all with radical hospitality. We have grown from a single center to a network of programs and locations in Manhattan that serves nearly 6,000 older New Yorkers every year. We help a growing number of older people lead richer, independent lives with dignity and support.
Over the past five decades, as older adults’ needs have changed and grown, we have consistently evolved in order to provide our clients with the most responsive programs and services. In this post recovery period from the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to build from the lessons learned during its height. We are now fully open for in-person services, and have seen significant growth in membership and demand for programs and services at our four Older Adults Centers. We have also maintained robust virtual and hybrid programming to ensure that homebound older adults and others can benefit from our activities. As we continue to adapt to better serve our older adults, offering a caring community will always remain at the center of our work.
After an extensive renovation, in early 2023 we re-opened a newly renovated Carter Burden Luncheon Club and Older Adult Center on the Upper East Side, including an enhanced and expanded kitchen that allows us to expand our meal services to cater meals for our Roosevelt Island Older Adult Center. We have also expanded our Technology Engagement programs, including full-time technology instructors that empower older adults to cross the digital divide and use technology to better meet their needs and stay connected to others.
From art and music programs to Tai Chi and workshops on caregiving and health and wellness, from sewing classes and field trips to critical social services and life-sustaining meal programs, we are committed to empowering and inspiring older adults to live healthy, creative, and vibrant lives.
Even in this city of 8 million people, it’s easy for older adults to feel invisible, vulnerable, and isolated. At the Carter Burden Network, we fight these challenges with love and belonging through our quality programs and services. Aging in New York City can be a challenge. Feeling loved and inspired should never be.
To all our older adults, friends, partners, and supporters: the Carter Burden Network is your home. This is your network and our promise to you is:
We will always go above. You will always belong.
William J. Dionne
Executive Director