The Sarah Ralston Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of its 2025 Innovative Project Support Grants, awarded to seven organizations whose forward-thinking initiatives are creating meaningful, measurable impact in the lives of older adults across Philadelphia.
These awards, totaling $609,000 in 2025, support projects that tackle pressing challenges related to legal access, housing stability, health, nutrition, social connection, and creative engagement—all through models that promote dignity, equity, and independence.
“This year’s cycle reflects a growing focus on legal and accessibility supports for older adults, alongside our continued commitment to addressing basic needs like food, housing, and social connection,” said Heather Finnegan, Executive Director of the Sarah Ralston Foundation.
“We saw a strong pool of applicants proposing community-based solutions. It’s an energizing mix of awardees — a balance of returning partners doing proven work and first-time grantees bringing new energy and ideas.”
A clear theme emerged among this year’s awardees: dignity. Whether through legal protection, accessible services, or creative outlets, each project helps older adults live with greater stability and self-determination.
“Each of these organizations brings deep commitment and creativity to serving older adults,” Finnegan added. “We’re proud to help them grow their impact and strengthen the city’s network of care.”
2025 Innovative Project Support Grantees
Penn Asian Senior Services (PASSi)
— $125,000 per year for three years
PASSi will launch PASSi Law, the first linguistically and culturally attuned legal services model for immigrant and minority older adults in Philadelphia. Building on PASSi’s trusted continuum of care, the initiative integrates legal education and direct assistance into a familiar, community-based setting—empowering seniors to navigate challenges such as Medicaid appeals, housing insecurity, long-term care planning, and consumer protection. Through multilingual seminars, individual consultations, and an Advisory Board of legal and community leaders, PASSi Law will reach 250 older adults in its first year, reducing legal vulnerability and creating a replicable model for equitable aging services.
Urban Resources and Development Corporation (URDC)
— $50,000 per year for three years
URDC will expand Home Strong, an innovative wealth-retention program that empowers senior homeowners in Northwest Philadelphia to preserve and transfer the value of their homes to future generations. In communities of color where home equity is often the primary source of family wealth, Home Strong provides the tools, education, and resources seniors need to maintain their properties, prevent exploitation, and secure clear legal ownership for heirs. By combining home repair guidance with financial and legal education, the program addresses intergenerational wealth loss and displacement, ensuring that older adults can age safely in place while protecting their family’s most valuable asset.
Legal Clinic for the Disabled (LCD) — $50,000 (one year)
LCD will expand its Legal Assistance for Low-Income Seniors with Disabilities program, a medical-legal partnership that embeds attorneys directly within healthcare settings to proactively address the social and legal factors that undermine health and stability. By training healthcare providers to identify legally actionable issues and providing on-site representation, LCD ensures that vulnerable older adults can resolve problems such as unsafe housing, loss of benefits, or family instability before they escalate into crises. This integrated, community-based approach bridges the gap between health and justice, improving both wellbeing and quality of life for low-income seniors living with disabilities.
VisionLink
— $50,000 (one year)
VisionLink will expand its Collaborative Staff Education Project, an initiative designed to improve how Philadelphia’s aging services network supports older adults living with vision loss. Through hands-on training and the creation of access technology resource spaces at senior centers and community organizations, the program equips staff with the practical skills and cultural competence to deliver inclusive, respectful, and effective care. By embedding accessibility practices into everyday operations and prioritizing organizations serving historically marginalized communities, VisionLink is creating a sustainable model for equity and independence for older adults with vision loss across the city.
Broad Street Love (BSL) — $125,000 (one year) 
BSL will launch The Wardrobe at BSL, a collaborative initiative with The Wardrobe to expand access to clean, dignified clothing for Philadelphia residents experiencing poverty or housing insecurity. Bringing together BSL’s Radical Hospitality model and The Wardrobe’s expertise in clothing distribution, the project will transform BSL’s existing Clothing Boutique into a full-scale operation—doubling service from one to two days each week and increasing annual clothing distribution from 3,000 to over 6,000 individuals. By co-locating this essential resource alongside BSL’s food, mail, medical, and restorative services, The Wardrobe at BSL ensures that guests can meet one of their most basic human needs while accessing pathways to stability, self-sufficiency, and confidence.
Chestnut Hill Meals on Wheels (Chestnut Hill MOW)
— $30,000 per year for three years
Chestnut Hill MOW will partner with Allen’s Lane Art Center to launch Art on Wheels, a creative aging initiative that uses art to foster connection, confidence, and wellbeing among homebound older adults. Through a suite of activities—from “Lunch Bag Art” included with meal deliveries to at-home art kits, virtual classes, and guided gallery visits—the program makes art viewing and art making accessible for clients with diverse interests and abilities. By pairing seniors with volunteers and teaching artists, Art on Wheels reduces isolation, strengthens community ties, and brings the proven health benefits of creativity directly to the homes of older adults who might otherwise remain disconnected.
Ordinarie Heroes
— $79,000 (one year)
OH will pilot a senior-focused expansion of its S.O.W. Hope Mobile Pantry and Farm, bringing healthy, culturally relevant food and meaningful connection directly to older adults in North Philadelphia. The initiative combines mobile food distribution with intergenerational engagement, trauma-informed service, and community voice—training youth interns to support and learn from elders while inviting older adults to help shape and participate in programming. Through regular pantry stops, light farm activities, and quarterly listening sessions, the project fosters dignity, belonging, and wellness for seniors who face barriers to mobility, food access, and social inclusion. This pilot will serve as a scalable model for aging in place rooted in equity, shared ownership, and mutual care.
Together, these seven projects represent the heart of the Sarah Ralston Foundation’s mission—to strengthen the ecosystem of organizations supporting Philadelphia’s older adults and ensure that every person can age with dignity, purpose, and connection.
“We’re especially excited to welcome several new partners — including Penn Asian Senior Services, Legal Clinic for the Disabled, and Ordinarie Heroes — whose work reaches older adults often overlooked in traditional service networks,” Finnegan noted.
To learn more about the Sarah Ralston Foundation and its grantmaking programs, visit sarahralstonfoundation.org.