CSCS: Council of Senior Centers and Services of NYC, Inc.

NYNP Article

Thursday, 13 May 2010

By NYNP

Publication & Publisher: New York Nonprofit Press

More than 300 seniors turned out at City Hall yesterday to protest proposed budget cuts at the Department for the Aging (DFTA). The agency is targetred to lose $44 million, 25% of all City funding for senior services. The seniors outlined their concerns in meetings with 45 members of the City Council.

Yesterday’s rally came on the heels of DFTA’s identification of 50 senior centers set to be closed on June 30th in order to save an estimated $4.2 million annually. (See NYNP Breaking News for more information and a link to the complete list.)

In addition, advocates fear what they say is a projected 40% reduction in home care service capacity for non-Medicaid eligible seniors.

“The graying of New York City’s population is happening all around,” said Igal Jellinek, Executive Director of the Council of Senior Centers and Services (CSCS). “The Bloomberg administration;s budget is unwisely planning to cut deeply into services including $26 million in cuts to senior center infrastructure funding.”

“We are carrying the message for the invisible victims – those who need home care, adult day services or protection from elder abuse,” said Bobby Sackman, Director of Public Policy at CSCS.

“It is more than just the number of meals a center serves,” said Sackman in response to DFTA’s targeting of smaller and part-time centers for closure. “Numbers can never tell the full story about the level of need in a particular community or the full extent of services which an individual center provides.”