Thank you to Margaret Puddington of The Coalition of Families, 562 West End Avenue, 2A, New York, N.Y. 10024, (212) 799-2042 for the following:
URGENT!
PROTECT SERVICES FOR
PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITES
The Governor’s budget proposals will greatly damage critical services for people with developmental disabilities:
q No trend (cost of living increase) for OMRDD services. For the first time in 15 years, there is no trend for OMRDD services! The trend provides a salary increase for the hardworking and underpaid direct support staff who keep our children safe and help them gain new skills. The trend is critical in helping to stem the turnover of our valued direct support staff! It’s downright heartless to deprive direct support staff in voluntary agencies of a trend, while staff who do exactly the same work for the state will get a trend as part of their contract!
q Cuts to day habilitation services. Day habilitation services provide education and life skills experiences to 10,000 adults every day, through small-group community activities. The Governor is proposing a huge cut to these services, amounting to a total annual loss of $28 million—a huge 4%! In addition, he is asking for a regional flat fee for all day habilitation programs, so that, for example, a program serving people with complex medical needs who require intensive staffing would receive the same fee as a program serving people who require a much lower staffing ratio. Day habilitation programs cannot absorb these two cuts without (a) rejecting individuals with more severe disabilities; (b) cutting staff, thereby endangering individuals’ safety; or (c) shortening program hours, thus jeopardizing the jobs of the many parents who will have to stay home to care for their children!
q Moratorium on residential development. Residential projects currently in progress have been delayed, cancelled, or put on indefinite hold because the proposed budget provides only minimal funding for residential development. The Governor’s budget breaks New York State’s commitment, guaranteed in law, to provide residential services for families who are too old or infirm to continue caring for their adult disabled children at home. Parents are frightened about their children’s future!
Call or e-mail your legislators today. And keep calling. With the newly signed federal stimulus bill, billions of dollars in federal money will flow to New York State. We face tremendous competition from other groups for the available federal funds. We must make our voices heard!
Copy the following message or use your own:
* Don’t penalize our dedicated and underpaid direct support staff. Restore the trend for OMRDD services!
* Don’t devastate day habilitation services for adults with developmental disabilities. Restore the 4% cut and reject the regional fees for day habilitation services!
* Uphold New York’s commitment to families unable to continue caring for their adult children at home. Provide sufficient resources for residential development for families in need!