Carolina Padilla is Creating a Place Where Everyone Belongs
When Carolina Padilla noticed that immigrant seniors in Omaha were being left behind, she did not simply identify a problem—she built a place to address it. In 2009, Padilla founded the Intercultural Senior Center (ISC), creating a space where older adults could find connection, resources, and a sense of belonging. What began largely as a place for Latina seniors has grown into a nationally accredited organization welcoming older adults from cultures around the world.
Padilla’s understanding of that need is personal. Born in Guatemala City, she immigrated to Omaha in 1993 with her husband and three children. Before building ISC, she spent years working in healthcare and social services, including 12 years at OneWorld Community Health Centers and time as director of the Latina Resource Center at Catholic Charities. It was through this work that she began noticing a gap: older Latino immigrants, particularly those facing language and transportation barriers, often had few places where they could access support and build community.
That realization became the Intercultural Senior Center. The organization’s history describes Padilla’s original vision as creating a place where diverse older adults could “learn, grow, and laugh together.” What started by primarily serving women in Omaha’s Latino community eventually expanded to welcome seniors from countries including Sudan, Somalia, Bhutan, Nepal, and Burma. Today, ISC provides advocacy, education, social services, cultural programming, exercise, and nutrition opportunities for adults 50 and older.
For many seniors, those services are about more than having somewhere to go during the day. ISC helps remove some of the barriers that can make aging in a new country isolating. The center provides multilingual support, transportation assistance, and daily meals, while giving seniors opportunities to exercise, learn new skills, celebrate their cultures, and form friendships.
Padilla’s work has also helped put Omaha on the map for culturally responsive aging services. In 2021, ISC became the first senior center in Nebraska to receive accreditation from the National Council on Aging’s National Institute on Senior Centers, joining roughly 200 accredited senior centers nationwide at the time. The recognition reflected years of work by Padilla, the organization’s staff, and community partners to create a strong and sustainable model for serving diverse older adults.
Her commitment to that work continues beyond the walls of ISC. In 2026, Padilla and her husband, Daniel, are serving as honorary chairs for the Latino Center of the Midlands’ Destino celebration, where they are recognized for their longtime commitment to strengthening diverse communities across Nebraska.
Padilla’s legacy is ultimately about changing the way communities see aging. Her work reminds Omaha that older immigrants and refugees are not invisible or simply recipients of services—they are people with histories, skills, cultures, and experiences that continue to enrich the community. From her own journey from Guatemala to Omaha to the multicultural community she helped build, Padilla has created something larger than a senior center: a place where people can feel seen, valued, and connected. And that is a legacy that will continue to make room for generations of older adults to come.
