Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Congregation receives community development block grant

On April 9, the Fremont (California) City Council voted to appropriate $250,000 in fiscal year 2013–2014 Community Development Block Grant funds to the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose.

The CDBG funds will be used to support an estimated $1 million–$1.2 million renovation of the first floor of the congregation’s Siena building to host an Alzheimer’s Services of the East Bay (ASEB) operated adult memory care program.

The Dominican ASEB program will offer the first dementia-specific adult-day care program in Fremont serving 50 diverse, low-moderate income elders and veterans in the Tri-City area, providing professional, affordable “person-centered” care to individuals and care giver families.

The sisters’ strategic plan recognized their motherhouse as a treasured resource that could be shared with the community to address urgent needs in the arts, health and wellness, environmental sustainability and spirituality. ASEB, a 25-year non-profit leader in memory care, will operate the program on the motherhouse campus.

The Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose are an international congregation of Catholic sisters, founded in California in 1876 to serve “the young, the poor and the vulnerable.” The sisters continue to maintain their 26-acre campus and operate a School of Music, open to adults and youth interested in learning flute, guitar, piano or violin. The sisters also cultivate the largest remaining grove of “mission-era” olive trees in California, producing extra virgin olive oil that is bottled and shared with friends and sold each year at their Holiday Boutique.

For more information about the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, visit www.msjdominicans.org.