2022 Senior Center Programs of Excellence – Cultural Programs

Dianne Stone has more than 20 years of experience with senior centers and aging issues, primarily as the Director of the Newington Senior and Disabled Center in Newington, Connecticut. Stone has also worked, volunteered, and held leadership positions with a variety of organizations in Connecticut, including Connecticut AgeWell Collaborative, the ADA Coalition of Connecticut, Connecticut Medicaid Oversight Council, and the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity. She joined NCOA in January 2022, as a member of the Center for Healthy Aging, where she is primarily focused on supporting senior centers throughout the country through the ACL-funded Modernizing Senior Centers Resource Center and NISC. 

Mario is a Policy Associate at the New York Academy of Medicine’s Center for Healthy Aging. He has a decade of experience in aging services and has worked in a variety of capacities, including clinical service provision, community-life development, program management, and policy analysis. He plays a role in implementation and evaluation for several initiatives, including Age-friendly Neighborhoods, digital inclusion, the ACL-funded Older Adults’ Equity Collaborative, and nursing home infection prevention and control. 

Before this role, Mario worked in New York City independent senior housing at The New Jewish Home, a nonprofit, mission-driven health care system serving older adults. He entered the aging services field as a Board-Certified Music Therapist leading individual and group music therapy programs in long-term skilled nursing facilities in The Bronx. 

He holds an MPH from the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy with a concentration in Health Policy and Management.

Mary Jo Riley started her career working in the health and fitness fields heading the wellness division at a local hospital.  In the mid 1990’s a change at the hospital changed her direction to working the Groton Senior Center starting in 1995.  Mary Jo has applied her knowledge of health and fitness in Groton, worked on expanding the size of the center to include additional classrooms, technology center, fitness center and exercise rooms.  Her most recent efforts were assessing why older adults do not utilize their local senior center and foraging ahead with a name change to address one of the primary perceptions about senior centers and to take away that barrier.  Mary Jo has been a resident of Southeastern Connecticut most of her life and someday will look forward to retirement.