TESTIMONY
Jolene Boden, Director of Case Management at Sunnyside Community Services, on the Impact of Funding Cuts on Older Adults Services in New York City
2:42:57
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4 min
Jolene Boden discusses the challenges faced by Sunnyside Community Services in providing essential services to older adults due to funding cuts.
- Boden outlines the range of services offered by Sunnyside Community Services, including caregiving, geriatric mental health, and case management.
- She emphasizes the growing needs of the older adult population in New York City and the detrimental effects of decreasing government funding.
- Boden details the forced reductions in staff and services, affecting the organization's ability to support older adults effectively.
- She calls on the NYC City Council to avoid cutting funding for older adult services and ensure adequate resources for community-based organizations.
- Boden advocates for acknowledging the economic and social value of keeping older adults safely in the community.
UNKNOWN
2:42:57
You may begin.
Jolene Boden
2:42:59
I am Jolene Boden, the director of case management at Sunnyside Community Services.
2:43:04
I thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for supporting older adults in New York.
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We are proud to serve 16,000 New Yorkers of all ages mainly in Western Queen's, but you will find out participants throughout the borough and beyond.
2:43:19
And we're delighted to share that we are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year.
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For those unfamiliar with Sunnyside Community Services, we're community based, not for profit centered on the belief that every person deserves meaningful support to achieve their aspirations, especially struggling families and individuals.
2:43:39
Older adult services at sunny side promote health be aging and enable the older members of our community to age comfortably in place for as long as possible.
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Our continuum of purposes to support people as they age includes caregiving, geriatric mental health, case management, a vibrant, older adult center, and elder justice.
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Home care provides essential care for homebound older adults and people with disabilities, and we have a social adult day program for people at Alzheimer's.
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For immigrants who offer English classes, legal support assistance, and access to benefits.
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Additionally, as part of our nonprofit force, My organization plays a role in the city's recovery.
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As a member of the human service council, we're calling on the city to provide 3.2% cola and a commitment for coles in future years.
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Our our city has been continuously seeing an increase in the older adult population.
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Every year we here predict that the silver tsunami when the big boomers turned 65 continues to be growing at a faster level than expected.
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This translates to older adults needing more services and access to more benefits and entitlements.
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These needs were supposed to be addressed by services under the auspices of government area agencies on aging.
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But what do we see in New York City?
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We see needs increasing and funding decreasing.
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And most recent contract award for case management services.
2:45:01
My agency saw our funding go down.
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And stop.
2:45:06
You said,
Crystal Hudson
2:45:07
you can you can continue.
Jolene Boden
2:45:09
Okay.
2:45:09
So our funding go down and ask our staffing to go and we ask our staff to go up.
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We were forced to juggle the roles of competent trained underpaid professionals to fit the decreased funding burden.
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We need to choose between increased case loads are eliminating an intake person.
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We need to choose between maintaining the status quo or administrative staff or cutting one person to fit into the funding provided.
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The agency needs to figure out where we can absorb our rent, electric, and maintenance because it simply would not fit into the funds provided.
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All of the increasing needs being presented by our clients require case managers to spend more time on each case.
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As was said before, How do you do that when you have an excess of 65 cases?
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A program is continually recorded recruiting staff, but it's a solving door because case managers are dedicated and committed, but there's just so much they can do and be undervalued and underpaid.
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Our staff also has to live in this city where costs and expenses continue to rise.
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Every year we rally and advocate for increases in salaries, and every year we get nominal forms of increases.
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While others around us, better professionals get significant raises and recognition.
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It's time to value the work that's done by our community based organizations, to acknowledge the money we save by keeping people safely in the community, and not in residential facilities.
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It's time to show the older adults who built our city that they matter enough to have the staff and the resources that they deserve.
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I stand here before you once again saying do not cut funding to older adult services.
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Do not make our dedicated staff work even harder to keep people safe.
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Do not ask agencies to choose between 7 clients and paying rent.
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I ask you to give us the funding that ensures we have the resources to keep our older adults safely in the communities we serve.
2:46:58
Thank you.