TESTIMONY
Tara Klein on Addressing the Needs of New York's Older Adults through Policy and Investment
2:16:02
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165 sec
Tara Klein advocates for significant fiscal investments and policy changes to improve support systems for New York's older adult population in light of peg cuts to older adult centers.
- Klein proposes a $65,000,000 investment to combat older adult hunger, including a specific reimbursement rate for home-delivered meals.
- She highlights the need for a $50,000,000 annual fund for the aging services network and a $20,000,000 investment in case management programs.
- Advocacy for restoring council aging initiatives, such as the NORK initiative, and supporting the human services workforce with a 5% cost of living adjustment and prevailing wage legislation is emphasized.
- The testimony takes place on International Women's Day, underscoring the importance of investing in a workforce predominantly comprised of women.
Tara Klein
2:16:02
Thank you very much.
2:16:03
Good afternoon.
2:16:05
My name is Tara Klein.
2:16:06
I'm the deputy director of policy and advocacy for United Neighborhood Houses.
2:16:11
UNH is a policy and social change organization that represents neighborhood settlement houses in New York City.
2:16:16
And our members run many of the aging programs and services that we've talked about today.
2:16:21
Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Chair Hudson.
2:16:25
So broadly, we know that these peg cuts to older adult centers to these programs are irresponsible.
2:16:32
We push back on them when there are so many needs in this system, and I'm going to talk about what some of those needs are.
2:16:38
And we really need to focus on new needs as our older adult population is growing.
2:16:43
So, what the system means this year, we need to combat older adult hunger through at least an investment of $65,000,000 in new funds and policy changes.
2:16:54
This includes a per meal reimbursement rate for the home delivered meals program of 15.31 per meal, at least.
2:17:02
That would be a $12,000,000 investment this year.
2:17:04
And this is to meet the true cost of meals based on a survey we've done of members about true costs along with our advocacy partners.
2:17:13
We heard about the MLTC eligibility restriction for home delivered meals today.
2:17:17
Please help us address this at the state level.
2:17:19
This is directly hurting older adults and making sure that they cannot access the food that they need.
2:17:25
We believe that the state is permitting this.
2:17:28
And so we really need help clearing up whatever bureaucratic backlog is happening right now between the state and the city.
2:17:34
For older adults on our congregate meals last year, we proposed a lot of new funding to address inflation rates and nothing was added.
2:17:40
In fact, a lot of money was cut.
2:17:42
So we're proposing a $53,000,000 investment there.
2:17:45
Just to address inflation.
2:17:47
And, of course, we want to allow grab and go's meals at older adult centers who want them.
2:17:54
We need a large investment in capital funding.
2:17:57
We propose a $50,000,000 annual fund for the aging services network.
2:18:00
Thank you for asking all of the questions about that today.
2:18:03
This is urgently needed in our in our programs.
2:18:07
We also support continued growth in the case management program with a $20,000,000 investment this year.
2:18:13
We also call to restore all of the council aging initiatives, including the NORK initiative.
2:18:18
These are really important to the network.
2:18:20
Thank you for the support to FY 23 levels.
2:18:23
And then finally, just to invest in the human services workforce, we support the just pay campaigns call for a 5% cola this year for human services workers, and UNH is also interested in pursuing prevailing wage legislation in New York City to address some of the deeper long term needs of this sector.
2:18:40
And it is International Women's Day, and much of the workforce in this sector are women.
2:18:44
So let's make a great investment in our workforce.
2:18:46
So Thank you very much.