50+ Lifestyles

Changes for the Future at CASI

By Laura Kopp
CASI President/CEO

Acquiescence. Not a word I find myself using very often. And certainly not a word I have applied to my leadership in the past. That changed this month. To acquiesce is to accept something with regret but without protest. To wish for a different outcome; all the while knowing the decisions made along the way were the right ones. In this case, I am reflecting on the decision to end both our Senior Advocacy and Adult Day Service programs.

To be clear, there was A LOT of protesting along the way. As participation in the program continued to dwindle and as funding to support the services all but dried up, I fought vehemently to find ways to fund them on our own. I took it as a personal failure that I could never find a way to do just that. Following the funding cuts to these two programs in 2023, the CASI Board and Management Team fought tirelessly to promote the programs, increase participation, secure sustainable funding sources and hosted internal fundraising events to maintain services. But in the end, these strategies were not enough.

As we began budgeting for the new fiscal year, which for CASI begins July 1, it became clear that as an organization, if we wanted to maintain any level of service to the growing senior population, that we had to take a very hard look at ourselves, evaluate which arms of our mission were “working” and make the difficult decisions leaders are often faced with, of cutting those services that could not financially carry their own weight. And I accepted with regret but without FURTHER protest, the elimination of these two legacy programs.

But during this period of introspection and evaluation, it became abundantly clear that CASI remains a vital part of aging in the Quad Cities. In reviewing our membership data over the last 18 months, we were thrilled to see a double-digit growth in membership month over month. This is partially due to CASI’s enrollment in both the Silver Sneakers and Renew Active third-party wellness programs (which will pay for senior memberships to gyms and fitness centers). CASI continues to see growth in our health/wellness activities and fitness programs. This sent a clear message to both our Board and Management Team that CASI was not diminishing, but rather evolving naturally to meet the needs of today’s seniors. Without this process of self-reflection, we may have missed this turn in the road leading to a bright future for us and all QC seniors.

And so while it is with a very heavy heart and an enormous amount of regret that we say goodbye to Senior Advocacy and Jane’s Place, we won’t protest this new directive we’ve been given, and we look forward with excitement and optimism to being exactly who we were always meant to be. YOUR Senior Center.

Laura L. Kopp, MS is President/CEO at CASI, located at 1035 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA  52806. For information call (563) 386.7477 ext. 229 or email info@CASIseniors.org.