Best Senior Services in San Francisco

Author:
Patty Inglish MS
Updated:
Mar 7, 2023

Active Seniors in San Francisco

Senior citizens ages 55 ages older want or need to work farther into their lifespans these days and San Francisco is home to several organizations that can help keep them working.

A variety of organizations advertise services for specific sectors of the Seniors Labor Market, usually stating ages 50 to 60 as a qualification for entry. These individuals are often classified as "active seniors."

Retirement Income

Some individuals continue to work full-time or part-time even after the usual retirement age passes. Internships for people ages 50 and older are also available.

Senior Interns Earn Money

Senior intern programs began across the United States in the 1990s under federal funding. A number of half-time jobs gave seniors a chance to earn some money, but many other positions led to full-time employment.

Several of these programs are still operating under federal or state funding in American communities. For a fun look at a modern senior intern, see the 2015 film "The Intern" with Robert De Niro. I have found the movie to be both informative and entertaining. It shows the awkward aspects of older workers supervised by individuals who are decades younger, but also shows how these older workers can be a significant resource for these younger people.

Job Help for Active Seniors

RetirementJobs.com in San Francisco

This agency maintains a database of vacancies in companies eager to hire mature workers. Their listings include a consistent 3,000 job listings with the highest in-demand positions being at the foillowing companies:

Uber and Lyft Drivers, part-time and full-time
Event Specialists at Advantage Sales & Marketing
Home Health Aides at Mature Caregivers.
Customer Service at Home Vintage
Senior Caregivers at Home Instead and Visiting Angels
Various positions with First Student Transportation
Financial positions at several companies
Merchandising and Product Demonstrations

Workforce50.com

Over 20,000 job listings appeared on this site in March 2023 for senior citizens in a variety of industries.

LinkedIn Jobs Database

Search for senior-friendly jobs at www.linkedin.com/jobs/

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Senior Employment Resources and Direction

Employment Development Department. Phone 800-695-3050 for employment related workshops, job training referrals, and other help with job search activities:

WIA County Employment Services Offices/San Francisco One Stop Shop. At www.onestops.info/ access "Job Seekers" and then "Services for Older Workers" at www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_Training/pubs/osfile.pdf
Look further for offices in San Francisco County (offices listed by county). This is an particularly effective resource for finding Senior Internships. However, Internships for adults 24 - 50 and for youth ages 14 - 24 are also specialties of this federally funded system. Contact your county WIA office for a consultation.

Education for Senior Citizens - UC Extension Learning In Retirement. Ages 50+. Phone 543-3965. http://olli.ucsd.edu/
Hire-Ability. Phone 252-9675.Located at 1234 Indiana Street. Job skills training and job search assistance.
National Council on the Aging, Inc. (NCAI) In San Francisco, this agency's Senior Community Service Employment Program for individuals ages 55+ can be reached at phone number 415-982-7007. These and similar programs have been successful is several parts of the US. Senior Citizens that want or need to work can receive job training, followed by job search assistance.
Personal Assisted Employment Services. Phone 558-1000. Job training, support services, and possible cash stipend. Located at 1235 Mission Street.

RAMS, Inc. Phone 415-668-5955.

Self Help for the Elderly. Phone 677-7660. Training provided for obs in housekeeping and home health aide (HHA).

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Small Business Association: SBA's SCORE program for men and women includes Seniors. Phone 415-744-8827. SCORE is the Small Business Administrations Service Corps Of Retired Employees, successful in all 50 US States. It provides useful business and employment related services, some free of charge and others at a low cost. Workshops in specific topics and one-on-one services are gladly made available from friendly retirees that want to share their decades of pertinent knowledge.

South of Market Employment Center. Phone 865-2105. Located at 288 7th Street.

Toolworks. Phone 733-0990. Courses in janitorial work and plant care, with job placement services.

Women's Initiative for Self Employment (WISE). Phone 415-247-9473 -- In America, women outlive men on average by several years and this can result in women falling into financial and housing needs in their later years more often than their male counterparts. The organization WISE was founded to aid woman, including Seniors that are interested in starting and maintaining their own businesses. WISE helps women by offering top notch business consulting, business support, and even financing, provided women seeking assistance are classified as having moderate-to-low income levels. Seminars and one-on-one sessions help make this agency a success.

Financial Assistance

Economic Security Centers

San Francisco, California - One Away: FSA is the oldest nonsectarian, nonprofit charitable social-services provider in the city and county of San Francisco. Our mission is to strengthen families by providing caring, effective, and innovative solutions.

Debtors Anonymous. Phone 415-522-9099.

General Assistance Advocate. Phone 415-928-8191. This office helps in cases where people need to apply or reapply for public assistance, food stamps (SNAP), and/or SSI.

Food Stamps - Phone 415-558-1000.
General Assistance - Phone 415-558-1000. Financial and social services help.

Legal Assistance to the Elderly. Phone 415-861-4444.

Social Security Retirement and Medicare Referral: 800-772-1213

TAX.AID. Phone 415-434-5533 - This organization can help Seniors with Attorneys and CPAs ready to prepare their tax returns, provided lower incomes are involved. Call for information.

Subsistence Needs

San Francisco Department of Human Services Emergency Housing.

Phone 415-558-4773.

Some shelters for adults ages 18 and older, without children include:
MSC South. 525 5TH St. Phone 597-7960.
Call about 1-night stays. MSC also maintains a 24/7 drop-in program with showers & support services.

Medical staff is also available at no charge five days a week:

Mondays 1:30- 4pm (medical), 6-8pm (dental)
Tuesdays 2-4pm and 6-8pm
Wednesdays 8am-noon and 7:30-9pm
Thursdays 2-5pm, 6-8pm
Fridays 8am-noon

Additional Housing Opportunities

Bayview Hunters Point R.C. 2111 Jennings. Phone 671-1100. Line up at 7:00 am for a 90-day stay. Call about 1-night stays.
Glide Walk-In Center. 330 Ellis St. Phone 674-6012. Line up at 7:00 am for a 90-day stay. Call about 1-night stays.
Mission Neighborhood R.C. 165 Capp. Phone 869-7977. Line up at 7:00 am for a 90-day stay. Call about 1-night stays.

Local Food Bank

Phone (415) 282-1900.

Or dial 211 any time of the day or night. Services range from free weekly food distributed at churches and other organizations to 3-day food boxes, home delivery to Seniors, and free meals in a number of locations (somewhere every day of the week).

Some specialized services include:

Food Delivery: 30th Street Senior Center. Phone 550-2226.
Kosher food delivery: Phone 439-3777.
Meals on Wheels. Phone 920-1111.
Project Open Hand. Phone 447-2300. Food is available in a number of locations around San Francisco.

Affordable Medical and Dental Clinics

Medical Needs

No one wants to become old and sick, especially without insurance, but qsome seniors cannot afford to purchase Part B Medicare coverage.

Men and women ages 55 to 64 cannot benefit from Medicare yet, because the age qualification for that program is 65. Simultaneously, many Seniors those ages 50 to 54 do not have health or medical insurance and have difficulty accessing the health care system.

Help is available at the following places"

Medi-Cal Women's and Children's Health Referral Hotline. Phone 800-300-9950. This agency can help Seniors find free or low cost medical help. This is doubly important to Seniors, because an increasing number of physicians in America are denying Medicare recipients as new patients.

San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center (County). Phone, 415-206-8000. This teaching hospital offers care to all in need, with a sliding scale of fee-per-service that is based on income level.

San Francisco Free Clinic. Phone 415-750-9894. It is important for patients, including Seniors, to have a "home doctor" or "medical home", a place that maintains their medical records and provides continuing care. Such a medical home can reduce costs for patients and hospital care systems alike, because they can prevent the panic-stricken rush to the ER that many uninsured people make.

This medical home concept is working to prevent such costs and to gradually improve the health of individuals in the cities in which it has been initiated,including Hispanic sections of New York City, as seen in PBS reporting. This particular free clinic in SF provides primary medical care in a medical home.

South of Market Health Center. Phone 415-626-2951. No one is denied help from this organization. it provides general medicine (non-specialists) and general dentistry.

St. Luke's Clinic is a multiple award winning medical center. Phone 415-647-8111. This is a neighborhood type community clinic that serves low income people as outpatients. This clinic is the Health Care Center (HCC) at California Pacific Medical Center’s St. Luke’s Campus. it houses a Women's Center, a Pediatric Center, and an Adult Internal Medicine Center, all quite comprehensive.

The Women's Center offers care across the lifespan, so its menopausal services are very appropriate for Senior women who need them. Gynecologic surgeries are low-invasive and often robotically performed, healing faster than more invasive surgeries. The center is located at the Monteagle Medical Office Building at 1580 Valencia Street (415-641-6996).
The Adult Center at the same address works with HealthFirst in San Francisco, offering general medicine services under prevention and health promotion education emphases. Multilingual practitioners work with patients and multicultural influences are recognized and acknowledged in individual health care.
St. Luke's campus also operates under the Partnership in Community Health program that is determined to serve all uninsured individuals in need of both general and specialty care in local neighborhood clinics.

University of The Pacific School of Dentistry. Phone 415-929-6500. -- This is an excellent dental clinic locate within a teaching hospital. It is an answer for many families, singles, and children that require dental services, but are also uninsured or low-income earners/recipients. Seniors that are laid-off or otherwise under a low income can certainly benefit from this clinic.

Additional clinics are available in several locations for various health issues by calling 211.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.