The History of the Bob Ross Center – From Vision to Reality

In 2002, the City of San Antonio City Council and Bexar County Commissioners Court created the Joint City/County Commission on Elderly Affairs to advise those respective governmental bodies on issues, which impact the senior population. Subsequent to the swearing in of Commission members, the Commission set out to determine the most prominent issues of concern to seniors within the City of San Antonio and Bexar County.

Once these concerns were identified and analyzed, the Commission sought to make appropriate public policy recommendations to the City of San Antonio City Council and Bexar County Commissioners Court predicated on empirical data and the concerns identified through community-wide, information gathering sessions. On May 16, 2003, the Commission submitted a comprehensive report of those efforts and established the Commission’s vision for future public policy consideration by the City of San Antonio City Council and Bexar County Commissioners Court relating to the elderly, aged 60 and older.

This report consisted of public policy recommendations presented by the Commission concerning a number of issues pertinent to area seniors, and which the Commission felt would adequately address the needs of a senior population projected to exceed 411,000 by the year 2040. These recommendations reflected the Commission’s vision for future public policy agendas by the City of San Antonio City Council and Bexar County Commissioners Court relating to the prioritization, funding, programming and services to the City of San Antonio and Bexar County 60-plus elderly population.  

In the survey on senior issues conducted by the Joint City/County Commission on Elderly Affairs, 67.7% of survey respondents indicated senior one-stop access to information and services was a priority.  The Commission Public Policy Recommendation urged the City and County to consider the feasibility of establishing Senior One Stop Access Centers in each of Bexar County’s four quadrants.  The Bob Ross Center is the first of these proposed Centers.

During his time in the public eye, from his national service to his service on City Council and his role as the first chair of the City/County Joint Commission on Elderly Affairs, Bob Ross made every effort to give voices to the voiceless, to provide a heart to public policy and most importantly, to serve as a role model to untold citizens who always found a kind word in his statements.  He devoted much of his life and efforts raising awareness of senior concerns and issues in San Antonio.

It was under the leadership of Mr. Ross, The Commission presented a recommendation to City Council and the Bexar County Commissioner’s Court that senior one-stop access centers be created in each of the county’s four precincts. Councilman Art Hall, Council District 8, responded to the Commission’s recommendation and in November 2003, San Antonio and Bexar County voters approved bond funding for creation of the first senior one-stop center to be located in the South Texas Medical Center. 

 On October 20, 2005, City Council unanimously approved the naming of the first senior one-stop center The Bob Ross Senior Multi-Service Health & Resource Center.

ü   Renovation/construction: $6,626,000

o       2003 General Obligation Public Health & Safety Bond

o       Bexar County Bond

o       Community Development Block Grant

o       Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 108

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