UC Senior Center Rebrand, Activity Center Most Popular

A rebranding project for Upper Cumberland Senior Centers ready for its next steps after directors and boards completed surveys, sharing ideas for new names.

Area Aging and Disability Director Holly Williams said the favorite: “The Activity Center.” Williams said 15 out of 19 centers have completed a survey and 80 percent are in favor of the rebrand. She said senior center attendees have expressed the desire to move away from the word “senior.”

“Senior Centers have really evolved over the years,” Williams said. “And they’ve gotten to where they provide a lot of wellness activities, focused more on evidence-based programs, things like that. So, we’re really encouraging them to consider a name that better represents what goes on at that center.”

Williams said the agency has American Rescue Plan funds that will be used to pay for the rebrand. She said the next step in the process will be a public survey allowing regular attendees to voice their opinions. The Activity Center would likely be followed at each site by its own tagline created by the respective boards. She said “Food, Fun, and Fitness,” and “Life Starts at 60,” were some of the more popular tagline suggestions from directors.

“We will use these American Rescue Plan funds to pay for new signage,” Williams said. “That’s our priority, is to make sure that signage is updated. If we still have funds available after that, then we will look for ways we can still support them like, maybe some of them have hats, t-shirts, other materials that they produce that has their name on it.”

She said the idea for a rebrand has been tossed around for some 25 years. She said after attendance dropped significantly after COVID, this felt like the time to make a change.

“Ideally, we would love for the centers in the Upper Cumberland to adopt the same name,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, that’s up to the board, their governing body, to make that decision. But that is what we would really prefer because there’s so many benefits to coming along with that consistency across the Upper Cumberland.”

She said she believes that after a successful rebrand locally, other agencies across the state will follow suit.