TESTIMONY
Meredith Levine on Supporting Elderly New Yorkers through the NYC Benefits Program at JASA
4:53:04
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159 sec
Meredith Levine highlights JASA's critical role in assisting older New Yorkers access public benefits and entitlements, emphasizing the importance of tailored support and advocacy.
- Levine represents JASA, where she oversees the NYC benefits program focused on aiding the elderly in overcoming barriers to access benefits.
- She illustrates various support methods like home visits for document collection, setting up technology for the less tech-savvy, and correcting benefit denials.
- Under Levine's leadership, the program has helped over 400 older New Yorkers in its first year, providing a wide array of benefits including SNAP and Medicaid.
- Levine calls for the continuation of the NYC benefits program’s current funding to ensure it can keep supporting vulnerable New Yorkers effectively.
- This testimony was presented to a NYC city council committee, advocating for a $10,000,000 funding to preserve the program and support its beneficiaries.
Meredith Levine
4:53:04
Good afternoon, Sherry.
4:53:06
Allheart, members of the committee My name is Meredith Levine, and I'm the senior director of information in case assistance and oversee the NYC benefits program at JASA.
4:53:14
JASA is not for profit agency that honors older New Yorkers as vital members of society, providing services that support aging with purpose and partnering to build strong communities.
4:53:24
For over 50 years, Jasa has served as 1 of New York's largest and most trusted agencies serving older adults in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
4:53:32
Last year, Jasa was fortunate to be one of 36 grantees awarded the NYC benefits contract through HRA.
4:53:39
NYC benefits mission is to eliminate any barriers getting in the way of New Yorkers accessing benefits and entitlements and works to help all who are eligible obtain and maintain their benefits over time.
4:53:50
Our work at Jasa specifically focuses on the older adult community, and we specifically target the plethora barriers facing the older adult community when trying to access and sustain their benefits.
4:53:59
Whether that would meet whether that means providing home visits to homebound seniors in an effort to obtain documents and signatures for applications, or simply setting up email accounts and access HRA accounts for older New Yorkers who are not so tech savvy.
4:54:13
Maybe they have a lack of WiFi or lack of knowledge or simply because they still use a landline and a flip phone.
4:54:18
Older New Yorkers when it comes down to it are simply more comfortable talking to a live person than uploading documents through an app.
4:54:25
Our NYSE benefits program at Jasa has touched the lives of over 400 older New Yorkers in our 1st year of operation, educating them about public benefits and entitlements screening them for eligibility, assisting with documentation retrieval and application submission, and advocating on their behalf to attract incorrect denials or inaccurate budgeting decisions.
4:54:44
This work was done in the homes of dozens of older New Yorkers over the phone and virtually when a caregiver was available to assist texting us pictures and tracking down documents and on-site at Jazz's network of older adult centers, norx, and subsidized senior housing buildings.
4:54:58
All to bring these services to where seniors naturally congregate.
4:55:01
Because of this funding, Jazz's NYC benefits program ensured that older New Yorkers benefited from SNAP Medicaid, screen, one shot deals, transportation benefits, utility benefits, Social Security benefits, and the Medicare savings program.
4:55:15
And we did this with the expertise and cultural sensitivity required to successfully gain the trust and confidence of older New Yorkers.
4:55:22
We are here today to ensure that the NYSE benefits program continues in its present form to ensure New Yorkers receive skilled, person centered assistance to access and maintain life sustaining public benefit We asked that HRA continued to receive the $10,000,000 to preserve the NYC benefits program and continue funding of the current $36 grantees.
4:55:41
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony today.
