Fortuna Senior Center receives federal funding boost

April 16, 2024

The Fortuna Senior Center will be receiving close to $1 million in federal funding, money which was included in the congressional spending package approved late last month.

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) was successful in getting included in that package, more than $10 million for 15 projects in Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin Counties.

The money for the Fortuna Senior Center is one of four Humboldt County projects. Combined, the Humboldt County projects will receive $3.3 million.

Fortuna Senior Center President Marsha Hays said everyone is excited about receiving this money.

“The first thing we are going to do is go solar,” Hays said, referring to the installation of a solar power system for the facility.

Some of the money will also be used for putting finishing touches at the senior center, such as window coverings and landscaping.

Hays said she feels it was Congressman Huffman’s August 2023 on-site visit at the then-under construction Fortuna Senior Center that helped secure the federal funding.

“He was very impressed with the building,” Hayes said, “and how organized the plans were for each specific room in the facility.”

The Fortuna Senior Center has been open at its new Rohnerville Road location for three months and Hays said it has a bright future.

“We are growing by leaps and bounds,” she said, and added, “we have new people coming in every week.”

The other Humboldt County projects are a Toma Resilience Campus on the Blue Lake Rancheria, a Dream Quest Community Youth Center in Willow Creek, and for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office unidentified human remains forensic genetic DNA testing.

The Toma Resilience Campus will be a multi-use facility focused on climate resilience, disaster preparedness, clean energy, smart technology, manufacturing, and sustainable food systems. This will serve the Blue Lake Rancheria tribal community and the broader region. Federal funding for this project total almost $640,000

The federal funding for the Dream Quest Community Youth Center in Willow Creek will develop a new facility to provide programs and services to promote public health and safety for families through upstream prevention of drug abuse, child abuse, and domestic violence. The new youth center will also serve as a hub for community development, providing opportunities through programs including a Work Force Investment Act training center and entrepreneurial education. This project is in line to receive $1.5 million in federal funding.

$175,000 in federal funding will be used by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for advanced DNA testing, referred to as forensic genetic genealogy, to identify 20 unidentified human remains cases. This testing may provide investigative leads to assist with solving the cases in question. The use of this testing along with investigatory work demonstrates to the community that law enforcement will continue to pursue justice for every case, regardless of how many decades have passed.

A complete list of federally funded projects in California’s Second Congressional District can be found on Congressman Jared Huffman’s website at https://huffman.house.gov/.


By:  Mary Bullwinkel
Source: Eureka Times Standard