Advocate and innovator

Fern Hertzberg has also become known for her advocacy for improved services and funding for the elderly. She currently serves as New York City public policy chairperson of the New York State Adult Day Services Association, Inc., and co-chairs, locally, the Executive Committee of the Washington Heights and Inwood Council on Aging. It takes only a moment on Google to see her involvement in efforts to benefit the lives of seniors.

ARC XVI Fort Washington, Inc., which Ms. Hertzberg has overseen since 1999, provides senior center, social adult day care, and transportation services to the well, the frail, and the disabled elderly. Much of her $1.350 million budget (2006) comes from grants for services, such as the $450,000 Washington Heights Inwood Seniors Transportation (WHIST) program she administers, providing disabled and frail homebound seniors 35,000 one-way trips yearly, to and from doctor visits and also, the senior center.

Renovated to state-of-the-art

Fern Hertzberg joined ARC XVI Fort Washington, Inc., as Executive Director in 1987, soon after earning her Master’s in Social Work. In 1990, she left to explore the field of home care services for the elderly, only to return in 1999. Back in her chair as executive director, she has since shepherded the multi-service senior citizen 501c3 organization through a nearly $2 million renovation and construction of a state-of-the-art facility completed in 2002. According to the 2000 census, it is situated in the heart of the largest contiguous Hispanic community in the borough of Manhattan, with “50-100% Latinos as percentage of the total population."