Seniors, will the NY budget cuts shut down your senior center?
By
This past Thursday I attended a conference called
by Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis, and Senator Marty Golden, at the Bay Ridge
Community Center, regarding cut backs that could end up going into effect on April 1, 2011.
Also in attendence was Bobby Sackman, Director of Public Policy for the
Council of Senior Centers and Services. The budget cuts
proposed by Govenor Andrew Cuomo would move 25 million dollars in funds, in title 20 of NY
State Budget from Senior Centers to Child Welfare. Thus pitting Children against
Seniors. The result if these NY State budget cuts go into effect, would mean the closing
of 110 Senior Centers State wide and of those 33 % would be in the NYC area. This is
an outrage. These monies have been allocated to title 20 for nearly 30 years.
These are not a part of the budget listed as an entitlement and therefore they are not
guaranteed. According to Senator Golden "if we loose these funds it would be
highly unlikely for us to ever gain them back." This is extremely critical to the
quality of life our seniors have. The senior population is about to explode over the next
couple of decades. We should be adding senior centers and programs, not shutting
them down.
Executive Director JoAnn Mason of the Senior Center, said last year they wrote 300 of the
17,000 letters received to stop the senior center cuts. Executive Director Mason now
pledges 600 letters from the member of the Center. How many letters will you pledge to
make happen?????????
Please take action and send letters immediately to your elected officials, saying no to the title
20 cuts for senior centers. Please post a link to this info and spread the word before it is
too late.
Thank you
Annette Fisher
Certified Senior Advisor
Golden Maturity, Inc.
