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

Queens Chronicle Article

Thursday, May 06, 2010

By AnnMarie Costella

Publication & Publisher: Queens Chronicle

Gov. David Paterson has proposed $25.2 million in cuts to
senior funding. FILE PHOTO

New York City’s senior centers, which provide thousands of elderly with much needed resources in the form of activities and affordable or free meals, are in danger of closing as the state seeks to fill in a massive budget gap.

The city’s Department for the Aging could have a total of $85.4 million slashed out of its $290 million overall budget by July — that’s a 25 percent reduction. The cuts are a part of a series of painful choices that state officials have said are necessary in order to close an $8.2 billion deficit.

Governor David Paterson proposes to redirect $25.2 million in Federal Title XX funds away from DFTA, cutting one quarter of the agency’s budget for senior centers.

“The results would be devastating,” said City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park). Many centers would be forced to close or merge with other centers and recreational activities would be reduced.”

The $25 million in federal money would instead go toward state programs to combat domestic violence and elder abuse, which are mandated unlike senior center funding which is discretionary.

The cuts would result in the closure of 80 to 110 senior centers across the five boroughs and affect approximately 5,500 elderly persons, officials claim.

“My colleagues and I in the the City Council are urging the state Legislature to protect this vital source of funding for senior centers,” Ulrich said.

The mayor has proposed another $44.4 million in cuts in his budget plan.

Linda Leest, the executive director of Services Now for Adult Persons, a nonprofit agency in Queens, says that the cuts couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“In this economic climate more people are coming to senior centers for meals, but it’s more than just a place to eat,” Leest said. “They take classes. They meet new people and they get volunteer opportunities. It gives them a sense of purpose. It is an important part of the life of an elderly person.”

Leest says that when neighborhood senior centers close and elderly individuals can’t travel to another location that is further away, they often become homebound.

“Inactivity without body and mind stimulation along with proper nutrition can hasten the deterioration of an elder’s health,” Leest said. “They may go into a nursing home sooner.”

Leest says the seniors she has spoken to about the cuts feel angry and betrayed. “It feels like abandonment of our most vulnerable,” she said. “ I don’t understand it.”

“The seniors that come here will tell you that this place is like a second home,” said Jacqueline Eradiri, the executive director of the Ridgewood Older Adult Center.“They like the staff and they feel comfortable here.”

The bulk of the center’s money comes from the Department of Aging and is used to pay for food and staff, Eradiri said, and the center also gets additional money from area politicians, which is used to pay the facility’s $7,000 a month rent and provide for recreational activities and programming

Eradiri worries that if the center’s discretionary money dwindles she will have have to focus her energy on keeping the location open instead of helping her seniors.

“If you don’t have to do all this juggling, you could actually run the center instead of spending all of your time fundraising,” she said.

Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) says its too early to be determine how the city’s budget will affect area senior centers, but he does know that there won’t be enough money in his discretionary funds to prevent every possible closure.

“The city does not have the wherewithal to make up for losses in state and federal funding,” he said. “We won’t have enough money to make up for those gaps. I am hopeful that senior centers will do all they can to justify remaining open and that means keeping their enrollment numbers up, maintaining programming and doing community outreach.

Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) agreed that the help he can provide through his discretionary funds is not enough to offset the damage caused by the proposed cuts, but he vowed to use the power of his vote to try and prevent the reductions from getting approved.

“We are in a perfect storm of budget trouble,” Sanders said. “The state, the federal government and indeed the world is in a ball of confusion as far as finances, but extracting money from our seniors is the wrong way to go.”