Just over $13.1 million in state funding has been approved for more than a dozen senior recreation center projects across the state.
Members of the New Mexico State Legislature approved the projects, all of which had been recommended by the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department, just before the end of the winter 2025 session.
The largest facility allotment is the $600,000 approved for the construction of new affordable senior housing in Bernalillo County. Exactly $250,000 is targeting kitchen renovation work at the Animas Community Center and Rodeo Senior Center, both in Hidalgo County.
The Bear Canyon Senior Center in Albuquerque is slated to receive $200,000 for design work; while the Mesilla Senior and Community Center in Mesilla has been approved for $177,000 in security and internet equipment updates.
Access improvement work to the Tijeras Senior Center in the village of Tijeras has been approved for $100,000, the same amount that the Harding County/Mosquero Senior Center in the town of Mosquero is getting for general improvement work.
A smaller $26,000 will go to a walk-in freezer replacement project at the Truth or Consequences Ken James Senior Center; with $25,000 targeting improvements to the Jicarilla Apache Nation Senior Center in Dulce.
The largest single allotment approved by the lawmakers is seeing $1 million going to emergency code upgrades for senior recreation centers across the state.
As presented to the legislature by the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, all senior centers in New Mexico, including those operated by local and Native American tribal governments, are eligible for capital outlay funding.
The Aging and Long-Term Services Department has said that funding applications are based on their “potential impact, alignment with state and agency priorities, feasibility of completion and operational sustainability.”
April 1, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Image courtesy of New Mexico Aging and Longterm Services
