TESTIMONY
Kevin Kiprovski, Director of Public Policy at Live On New York, on the Needs of Older Immigrants in NYC
2:15:04
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4 min
Kevin Kiprovski discusses the needs of older immigrants in NYC, focusing on mental health, anti-Asian hate, language services, literacy, housing, and remittance scams.
- Live On New York's membership includes over 110 community-based nonprofits aiding New Yorkers in aging well. - Older immigrants face unique mental health challenges, with recent immigrants experiencing higher rates of depression and anxiety. - There's a need for language services beyond the 10 mandated languages, addressing literacy challenges. - Housing issues and remittance scams significantly impact older immigrants, calling for new solutions and awareness. - Recommendations include culturally sensitive mental health services, new housing models, enhanced translation resources, and addressing remittance scams.
Kevin Kiprovski
2:15:04
Perfect.
2:15:05
Thanks.
2:15:06
Thank you.
2:15:08
Jared's high in an ambulance for holding this really important hearing.
2:15:11
My name is Kevin Kuprowski, and I'm the director of public policy at Livon, New York.
2:15:16
Livon's membership includes more than a 110 community based nonprofits that provide core services, which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in communities as we age, such as older centers, home delivered meals program, affordable senior housing, Nork's home care case management.
2:15:30
We essentially cover the entire DIFTA portfolio go.
2:15:32
So if you ever need any information, we can get it to you as quickly as we can.
2:15:37
I wanted to start with a little bit of background.
2:15:40
We did survey our members to get some background in information on this.
2:15:43
The key thing that stood out is that our city's immigrant population and our especially our older immigrant population is incredibly diverse, so it's really hard to oil down specifics, but we tried our best, and we're gonna try to go through some things that sort of have been across the board.
2:15:57
Number 1, mental health needs differ particular literally in older immigrant populations.
2:16:01
And then if you segment it further, more recent immigrants score far more poorly on depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
2:16:10
So we think that it's very necessary to look into how long and how established communities are and provide target needs assessments to communities that are still establishing as we found our members say that, you know, there's a lot more issues in or, you know, recent immigrants that are older than more established immigrants.
2:16:28
Secondarily, anti Asian hate has exacerbated these feelings over many older adults throughout the city particularly in Asian communities, and that's something that needs to be dealt with on a particular level.
2:16:38
Next, language services only cover the 10 languages required by existing statute.
2:16:42
This leaves out an incredible amount of limited diffusion languages.
2:16:45
5 languages that we've heard off the top that really are needed are d, Napali, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujrani, and there are there's an entire list.
2:16:53
But those are just 5 that, you know, sort of stood out immediately.
2:16:57
These language resources also don't take into account the literacy of many people who live in our city because a lot of times language line and a lot of these resource that exist are done sort of academically, and they are not done colloquially.
2:17:11
So even though we have in 10 languages resources, it doesn't actually through.
2:17:15
Sorry, I'm just gonna try to get through the recommendations.
2:17:17
Housing is a big issue.
2:17:18
I know that's not, you know, the newest thing in the world, but specifically for older adults, a lot of newer older adults are renting rooms and cramped apartments in basement, contributing to poor mental health outcomes and lower qualities of life.
2:17:30
And one big thing that came up is remittance scams.
2:17:32
We have a lot of anti scam material out there, but not for remittance scams, which particularly affects older immigrants and has been becoming a huge issue very quickly.
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So just a quick list of recommendations.
2:17:43
First of all, all of the solutions exist ready.
2:17:46
Our network is really, really good at doing this.
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They even try to do with what they can.
2:17:51
So, you know, they do need more funding.
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But with the funding they have, they work very hard to solve the problems in the status quo.
2:17:57
The first one We need linguistically and culturally sensitive mental health services.
2:18:03
And I know that people have said that, you know, they exist in the status quo, but we need more freedom for our members to able to provide the services.
2:18:09
They know work.
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So we need funding for for like, I think it was mentioned by a couple of council members.
2:18:14
A little more flexibility in mental health programs.
2:18:17
Now we need new housing models.
2:18:19
Our members have been providing new housing models in the status quo.
2:18:22
India home has a co living project that meets both the social health and housing needs of older adults, but HPD has been a little bit hesitant to jump into that.
2:18:29
That's something that can really provide new housing for people and meet their needs.
2:18:33
Next, Our centers can provide translations, interpretations, and different materials, but they're just not given the resources for it and usually aren't included in conversations about how to provide these resources.
2:18:44
So including them and funding them in these services is key to provide linguistically unculturally appropriate translations, interpretations, and materials that meet communities who, you know, don't have the highest proficiency Literacy.
2:19:00
Last one is adding remittance scams to existing lists of materials and programs.
2:19:04
We have a lot of really good existing materials, but remit scams need to be added before this becomes a huge problem.
2:19:09
Since it's not on list, since since it's not being fought actively, it's it's becoming bigger as as sort of is happening.
2:19:16
And lastly, we do support the pre considered legislation that would provide more information on NYC Care throughout the city.
2:19:21
We think that this is critical.
2:19:23
Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify and sorry, anyone over time.