![\"Older](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_0719.jpg\")
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Older Bronxites gathered Thursday at the PSS Davidson Center in Morrisania to celebrate National Senior Citizens Day, where a coalition of city agencies announced the expansion of a digital literacy program into older adult centers and affordable housing developments in the Bronx. <\/p>\n
Credit: Sadie Brown<\/p>\n
Older adults in the Bronx celebrated national Senior Citizens Day Thursday at Presbyterian Senior Services Davidson Center in Morrisania with a day of food, exercise, games, prizes and community.<\/p>\n
A coalition of city agencies also celebrated the city\u2019s older residents by announcing a digital literacy program designed to close the digital divide<\/a> among New Yorkers, no matter their age, will expand to affordable housing developments and older adult centers in the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The initiative, called \u201cNeighborhood Tech Help,\u201d offers one-on-one support with internet use, mobile devices and computers which have become necessary to access benefits, pay bills and connect with family, friends and community.<\/p>\n The program is a collaboration between the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the Department for the Aging (NYC Aging), and The New York Public Library (NYPL). Leaders said the program builds on decades of technology classes offered in libraries and brings them straight to the communities where they\u2019re needed most.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWhen people understand how to actually navigate the digital world, they gain the power to learn, to connect and to shape their own futures, which is why digital literacy is so key to unlocking opportunities,\u201d said Dr. Brandy McNeil, NYPL\u2019s Deputy Director of Branch Programs and Services.<\/p>\n \u200aWanda Sewell, an older adult at the Davidson Center, encouraged others to use the Neighborhood Tech Help program which she said is available every Monday to offer her one-on-one help.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThe technology program from the library is a very wonderful program,\u201d she said. \u201c\u200aThey show me a lot with my phone, things that I couldn\u2019t do that I\u2019m doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n Blanca Vargas, a \u200amobile and computer tech instructor with the PSS Davidson Center, told the Bronx Times that older adults can feel pressure and anxiety when learning about technology. She said that patience is a key part of her teaching approach because oftentimes her students have said their family members or grandchildren get frustrated if they don\u2019t learn quickly enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n When that happens, she said she tries to offer reassurance.\n<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aYou are afraid to make a mistake,\u201d Vargas said she tells her students. \u201cIt\u2019s all normal. I tell them, \u2018This is all normal. This is something that\u2019s been introduced to you and it\u2019s being shoved in your face as well.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Acting](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_0722.jpg\")
Acting HPD Commissioner Ahmed Tigani announced the expanded initiative and emphasized the importance of affordable access to technology and the skills to use it so that older adults can access things like benefits, healthcare portals, online communities, stay in touch with friends and family and enjoy the same entertainment and quality of life as New Yorkers of all ages. Credit: Sadie Brown<\/p>\n