$250K grant to spruce up Southfield Pavilion

SOUTHFIELD — The City Council approved funds through the Oakland County Senior Centers Matching Grant Program Jan. 23.

The program is part of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners’ $8.5 million for the Oakland Together Seniors Initiative and is open to senior centers and nonprofit senior organizations throughout Oakland County.

Oakland County proposed this program as a way to distribute American Rescue Plan Act funds to assist senior centers with capital, technology, infrastructure and equipment improvements, as well as professional development.

Russell Malburg, Southfield Parks and Recreation Department recreation operations manager, played an integral role in the implementation of the grant in Southfield. Malburg explained that, currently, Southfield doesn’t have a designated community space for its senior residents.

“We don’t have a set-alone senior center,”  Malburg said. “Ours is within our parks and recreation building. It used to be in our office areas, and then a common room.

“Well, the common room got completely reimagined to help spread our staff out and keep them safe. So now our seniors don’t have one particular room to go to for registering for trips, classes and programs. Because of this, we really needed to expand our footprint for our seniors, because Southfield has a large population of seniors.”

The Southfield Parks and Recreation Department was awarded the maximum grant amount of $250,000 from Oakland County. Southfield plans to use the funds to address four areas of need in the Southfield Pavilion, a place that is popular among Southfield senior residents. The pavilion also serves as an indoor event space during the winter and in the event of inclement weather. The focus areas include repairing the 30-foot retractable walls — two of the four walls that haven’t been operational in years; replacing the dated, trip-hazard carpet that has failing electrical outlets in the floor; and adding new furniture to create a warm and inviting space.

The entire project is estimated to cost between $471,000 and $587,000. The grant funds and funds from the city’s general fund will go into the renovation project. The grant requires that all projects be completed by Dec. 31, 2026. With the bidding process projected to start in April, Malburg hopes the project will be completed by this summer so that the event space can be utilized during the colder months.

“The quicker we get it done, the quicker we can start using it as a versatile space and to create new things using it,”  Malburg said. “It’s really all about giving our Senior Services an opportunity to expand their footprint. We need to be able to utilize more space in a personal way. And this will certainly open us up to that.”

Oakland County Commissioner Kristen Nelson, D-Waterford Township, sponsored the bill at the county level.

“Funding these initiatives is the result of a thorough process of collaboration by commissioners, county administration, residents and many community stakeholders,” Nelson said in a statement. Nelson chairs the Oakland County Healthy Aging Ad Hoc Committee.

“Older adults are a valued asset when it comes to maintaining our quality of life, and we must continue to strive to make Oakland County a retirement destination of choice and a community that supports seniors to age in place,” she said in the statement.