Model Letters

FY16 Budget Thank You City Council Model Letter
FY16 Budget Thank You Mayor de Blasio Model Letter

ALERT: ADVOCACY WORKS! FAIR SHARE FOR SENIORS!

$20 MILLION ALLOCATED TO DEPARTMENT FOR THE AGING BUDGET FOR LiveOn NY PRIORITIES!

SEE LINK TO SCHEDULE C BELOW FOR ALL $34 MILLION OF DFTA FUNDING

Funding for Waiting Lists:

Home Delivered Meals – $1.8 million – Will increase capacity of meals-on-wheels system by 300,000 meals annually, a 5% increase, to prevent waiting lists. These are baselined funds.
Home Care – $4.3 million – Funding to eliminate the home care waiting list of 500+ homebound seniors. LiveOn NY will look into how these funds will be allocated and the process for assessing the seniors. These are baselined funds.
Case management - $3 million – Addresses waiting list of 2000 homebound seniors waiting to be assessed and served by case managers. City Council funding is for one year so funds are not baselined.

New services:

Elder abuse – $2 million for elder abuse RFP – $2 million was allocated for elder abuse bringing the total city funding to $2.8 million. These are baselined funds. New contracts begin July 1, 2015.
Mental health services in senior centers - $800,000 in FY16 and $1.4 million in FY17 – A pilot program to provide a social worker at the 20 largest senior centers, which serve at least 100 seniors a day. Social workers will work to coordinate behavioral health, psychiatric, and medical treatment to treat illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bi-polar disorder.
Service Coordinators in Senior Residences – $750,000 - LiveOn NY’s Housing Coalition has made funding for service coordinators in senior residences such as 202 buildings a priority. It is a breakthrough that the de Blasio administration is using expense dollars for this purpose. The $750,000 is for five years and will fund 500 units per year. LiveOn NY will provide updates as more information is known.

There is additional funding for DFTA. To see Schedule C which includes the full City Council allocations for DFTA and community-based organizations, go to:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/2016/skedcf.pdf

NEXT STEPS: Please have seniors sign thank you letters to your Councilmember(s) and Mayor Bill de Blasio – CLICK HERE to see model letters. You can mail them in bulk.

LiveOn NY THANKS THE AGING NETWORK – TOGETHER WE BROUGHT 1000 SENIORS TO CITY HALL OVER THREE MONTHS AND DELIVERED THE MESSAGE – FAIR SHARE FOR SENIORS!

For further information, you can contact Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy, 212-398-6565 x226, bsackman@liveon-ny.org or Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy, x226, acianfrani@liveon-ny.org