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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP NY, on DFTA Budget Cuts
2:42:37
ยท
3 min
Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP NY, expresses deep concern about the mayor's budget cuts to older adult services, emphasizing the dire consequences for the aging population in New York City. She highlights the potential closure of 60 older adult centers and the impact on food security, social isolation, and community well-being.
- Finkel argues that the budget cuts are discriminatory and ignore the needs of the growing older adult population.
- She urges for additional funding, including $50 million for capital improvements, $20 million for social work support, and $12 million for home-delivered meal providers.
- Finkel calls on the mayor and city council to restore and expand services for older adults, stating that investing in these services is a necessity, not a burden.
Beth Finkel
2:42:37
Thank you.
2:42:40
Good afternoon, counsel, chair Hudson.
2:42:44
Thank you so much for your advocacy over the years.
2:42:47
We really can't thank you enough.
2:42:49
And so I feel like I'm preaching to the converted here because we have our testimony that we've submitted.
2:42:55
And I know you know the data even better than we do.
2:42:58
So I'm just going to really kind of skip to the part about the consequences and how really deeply concerned we are with the mayor's budget.
2:43:08
And where it has left my colleagues here and others in the community really struggling to figure out how they're gonna provide services where there is so much of a dire need.
2:43:20
The idea that 60 older adult centers could be forced to close is something that I never thought would come out of my mouth advocating that we'd have to go back to that.
2:43:31
These closures are not just numbers.
2:43:34
This is not just about spreadsheets.
2:43:36
They represent real losses for real people.
2:43:39
More than half of older adults reported having no retirement income in 2022.
2:43:45
So totally reliant on social security if they even get social security.
2:43:50
And nearly 90% of those receiving meals through older adult centers say that this helps support and keep them in their own communities.
2:43:59
So cutting funding for these centers will not only worsen individuals financial insecurity, food security and social isolation and put more stress on city resources but it will hurt communities as a whole if these people can't support themselves and be able to go out and buy groceries at the local grocery stores.
2:44:20
You know, and you know this so well, a budget is a statement on priorities.
2:44:24
By slashing funding for older adult services, the city is sending a clear message that older adults are just not a priority.
2:44:33
And this is not just an oversight.
2:44:35
It is, deliberate.
2:44:37
It is discriminatory.
2:44:39
It's a decision that really ignores the needs of our really booming older adult population.
2:44:46
And investing in older services is not a burden.
2:44:48
It's really a necessity.
2:44:50
Older New Yorkers built this city and the poverty rates are incredibly zooming as the cuffs report showed which we shared earlier and and I know my other colleagues have shared, over a 30% increase in poverty in older adults.
2:45:06
So we are urging the city to allocate 50,000,000 for capital improvements across the aging services network to address deteriorating infrastructure which you've heard so much about and you've been advocating for so long for.
2:45:20
20,000,000 to expand social work support across the network and 12,000,000 to properly fund home delivered meal providers.
2:45:30
Without real investments, we're gonna leave these older adults behind.
2:45:34
And so we urge the mayor, we urge the city council to work together to fully restore and most importantly expand these services for older adults.
2:45:44
Thank you.
Crystal Hudson
2:45:44
Thank you so much.