Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2018, DARTS impacted the Dakota County area in many ways. Impact included partnering with Real Estate Equities to build a 172-unit affordable housing building in West St. Paul for individuals age 62 and older; partnering with ProAct, another area nonprofit, to provide homemaking services to 40 individual clients; doing group and individual presentations on dementia; assisting over 300 people with medicare questions; becoming recertified as a Service Enterprise from Points of Light; providing over 10,000 rides including operating in West St. Paul, South St. Paul, Hastings, Stillwater, Lakeville, Edina; over 200 older adult volunteers tutor or pen pal in Learning Buddies, assisting over 5,000 young people; provide home services for 318 seniors; provided hundreds of respite hours; facilitate one memory cafe and three caregiver support groups; purchased a larger capacity bus for seniors' group outings and trained dozens of area drivers for their STS certification.
Current Goals
Elevate older adults: we strive to engage the community in conversations about aging through education and volunteer opportunities. Enrich more lives: as the population 65+ grows, we are optimizing our operations to help more people and provide more intergenerational volunteer opportunities. Build sustainable plans: we turned 3 acres of land which was pure expense into a partnership that aligns with the DARTS mission and will introduce more older adults and their families to our work. Enhance strategic partnerships: we maintain strong communications with city leadership, Dakota County and the Community Development Agency as well as professional organizations and service partners like ProAct. Sustain a great team: in order to provide excellent service to our clients we continue to invest in our team so that they are continuous learners and to attract diverse and excellent talent.
Community or Constituency Served
Older adults and those caring for an older adult.
Geographic Area Served
Dakota County and the surrounding area.
