The Life Enrichment Center Makes National Headlines

Tucked between residences and churches, a small Carrollwood community center has made national headlines.

The was recently featured in a report entitled Culture Connects All. The report is written by the Partners for Livable Communities, a national non-profit with a community focus that is sponsored by the MetLife Foundation.

The report chose organizations that exhibit best practices by including immigrant and older adult populations, said Penny Cuff, senior program officer at the Partners for Livable Communities.

Best practices, as defined by Partners for Livable Communities, include recognizing the assets that older adults and immigrants provide to a community, developing intentional and inclusive programming and understanding the community and its residents to name a few.

“The report works on the hypothesis that special cultural organizations, wherever they are, are always trying to attract new audiences,” said Cuff. "The two major growth populations are older adults and immigrants.”

Including Tampa, six cities were featured in the report. Three organizations were highlighted for each of the cities selected, which included Dallas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix and Tampa.

“Any city in Florida was particularly interesting because it has a large immigrant and a large older adult population and it’s growing all the time,” said Cuff.

With the help of a writer and researcher, the Partners for Livable communities set out to find organizations that fostered the relationship between immigrants and/or older populations.

In addition to the Life Enrichment Center, the Patel Conservatory at the Straz Performing Arts Center and the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry were chosen.

The Life Enrichment Center was chosen because it values and actively engages Tampa’s older adult population said Cuff.

“We selected the Life Enrichment Center because it seems to look at older adults as people that they want to serve, but as assets themselves … The idea of older adults being a part of the community as opposed to being a drain on communities,” said Cuff.

The Life Enrichment Center features 40 different classes that are related to health and wellness, the arts or academics, said director Ronna Metcalf.

Central to the programming at the Life Enrichment Center is the research based belief that adults should be engaged no matter their age.

“There have been many studies related to activity for older adults and the arts and keeping your mind and body active and the relationship it has to positive aging,” said Metcalf.

The Life Enrichment Center differs from most senior centers in that it is privately funded, caters to all ages and it doesn’t have a noon, congregant meal said Metcalf.

“People here come for their class,” said Metcalf. “While they’re in their class, they’re not only enjoying what they’re doing, but they are also enjoying the socialization and friendships that they make ... Our mission is to keep high functioning, active people able to continue to be that way.”