A San Jose grant program aimed at reducing social isolation among the city’s older adult population is on the chopping block amid a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
The city’s Older Adult Health and Wellness Grant Program funds nonprofits focused on educating San Jose’s older adult community on health, social and nutrition programs — but $526,434 in proposed cuts threaten to shut down the entire program. City Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services manages the program, and representatives said they need to meet a $2.8 million budget reduction to cover for the city’s financial shortcomings. Nonprofits will be frozen out of the grant program’s funding if the City Council approves the proposed 2025-26 operating budget on June 10.
“The city of San Jose is projecting a $36 million budget shortfall in the next fiscal year,” parks department spokesperson Dylan Kuhlmann-Haley told San José Spotlight. “After careful review of our programs, the department is proposing a reduced budget that minimizes impacts to staffing and preserves the department’s core services wherever possible.”
Yu-Ai Kai Japanese American Community Senior Service works to reduce the social isolation of older adults as a bilingual and cultural support program. The Japantown-based nonprofit serves mostly older adults who need assistance or have dementia. Executive Director Jennifer Masuda said keeping them engaged with social services and providing caregiver support should be enough to deem her and similar providers as essential for city funding.
“We’re not just talking about older adults living, we’re talking about them thriving,” Masuda told San José Spotlight. “It’s really about advocating for our seniors, but also to create a more healthy life for them.”
A recent U.S. Census Bureau report showed baby boomers will outnumber children by 2030.
San Jose’s increasing older adult population is reflected in the 2025 Silicon Valley Index published by research group Joint Venture Silicon Valley, which shows the population of residents 65 and up has grown 28% since 2013 — while the rising cost of living is driving younger people away from the area. A future of fewer working-age people could spell a shortage in caregivers, health care and social workers.
“We prevent a lot of social isolation,” nonprofit Breath California CEO Tanya Payyappilly told San José Spotlight. “I would really like to ask the city to reconsider these cuts because this is just a small amount of funding in a big bucket. It would eliminate something that is supposed to help all these vulnerable people.”
Michelle Schroeder, attorney with Senior Adult Legal Services, attended city council budget discussions on May 12 and said her nonprofit will have to stop servicing four out of nine senior centers as a result of the cuts. Looming budget cuts in the next fiscal year threaten unrelated older adult-focused programs in other cities across Santa Clara County including Los Gatos, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto.
Kylie Clark, policy and advocacy manager with the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, also spoke against the cuts and said she was shocked to learn the Older Adult Health and Wellness Grant Program was on the ropes.
“The grants became part of these nonprofits’ budgets that they were relying on, and for the city to just completely cut it without warning, it’s decently unprecedented,” Clark told San José Spotlight. “It also feels like older adult services are just not the place where the city should be looking for cuts.”
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
