Mission & History
Project FIND’s mission is to provide low- and moderate-income and homeless seniors with the services and support they need to enrich their lives and live independently.
Today Project FIND operates four supportive housing residences that are home to about 600 people and four older adult centers with over 3,500 members. New to our portfolio is a fourth residence, Park 79, which contains 77 efficiency units for low-income and formerly homeless older adults, developed in partnership with Fairstead. Project FIND serves as the nonprofit owner of the facility and is the designated social services provider. Fairstead has overseen the development and construction of Park 79 and will provide ongoing property management services. Current occupants were selected via a housing lottery in the summer of 2022. Park 79 is located at 117 West 79th Street.
Our members and residents range from the healthy and active to the frail and homebound to the homeless. For all of these men and women, Project FIND is a critical resource, providing housing, meals, and programs that help individuals navigate the challenges of aging by encouraging community engagement and healthy living.
How we began: In 1967, the National Council on Aging established Project FIND as part of a federal demonstration project designed to develop a national picture of the elderly poor. More than 50,000 senior citizens responded to questionnaires created for the program, which was the first major effort in the United States to study the lives of low-income older adults, identify their greatest needs, and investigate the resources available to them. FIND stands for Friendless, Isolated, Needy, and Disabled: this was the dire picture of the elderly poor that developed as a result of the National Council on Aging’s survey. In 1969, when the demonstration project ended, a group of dedicated, grassroots community activists joined Project FIND’s leaders and founded and incorporated FIND Aid for the Aged, Inc. Project FIND in New York City is the only one of the original 13 demonstration programs that survives.