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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Xiomara Maldonado, Senior Director of Older Adult Programs at Manny Cantor Center, Educational Alliance
3:02:06
ยท
3 min
Xiomara Maldonado passionately appeals to the city to reverse proposed budget cuts and increase investment in older adult services. She emphasizes the critical importance of these programs for the well-being of older New Yorkers, including her own family members.
- Highlights the need for mental health services, arts programs, and exercise classes for older adults
- Shares testimonies from program participants emphasizing how these services are life-saving and essential
- Provides a personal example of how these services helped her grandmother manage her health and daily life
Xiomara Maldonado
3:02:06
Good afternoon Chair Hudson and members of the AG Committee.
3:02:11
I'm really grateful to you all for the hard work that you do on our behalf.
3:02:17
My name is Siamatta Maldonado.
3:02:19
I'm the senior director of older adult programs at the Mani Cancer Center which is part of Educational Alliance.
3:02:27
I'm here today to testify not only as an aging services professional but also as a native New Yorker whose family members, family friends and neighbors depend upon programs throughout the Lower East Side to the I'm just gonna take a moment.
3:02:50
I can't just advocate for educational alliance.
3:02:53
I have to advocate for every single program in the Lower East Side including Grand Street Settlement, including Henry Street Settlement, including UJC, all of the Norks.
3:03:04
I know so many people who benefit from each of these places including my own family members.
3:03:11
My mom, my dad, my grandma, a whole bunch of people from the church I grew up in.
3:03:17
All of them desperately need these services and it scares me that the city would think it's okay to cut a hundred million dollars in services instead of investing in our community.
3:03:32
And so I'm here to appeal to the city to reverse those cuts and instead to invest even more money in these programs.
3:03:44
As has already been said, mental health is a big issue amongst our population.
3:03:51
And we really, we're a satellite site for SPOP so I advocate for SPOP as well.
3:03:57
We need more services for folks and not only through traditional therapeutic services but also through arts programs and exercise classes.
3:04:08
I just submitted a giant folder with 200 plus testimonies from older adults from our various programs.
3:04:16
Over and over again they say our lives depend upon these programs.
3:04:22
And so I'll leave you with just a couple of comments from members.
3:04:31
Tony Thiam wrote, Without the older adult services we would be at home and not know how to stay alive.
3:04:38
Mosi Chung wrote that Zumba and jazz line dance classes and acrylic painting helped to save my health issues.
3:04:47
And Ruth Mandel wrote, losing Sarovich would be devastating.
3:04:52
It stimulates my creativity.
3:04:54
Can you imagine a New York City without the arts?
3:05:00
My grandmother herself, as I said, comes to the Weinberg Center every day now.
3:05:07
She's stubbornly independent and had hidden from us the fact that she was having trouble cooking for herself and suffered a diabetic ketoacidosis attack.
3:05:19
She almost died last year.
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And so she herself wrote, I would only eat frankfurters at home because it's easy to cook.
3:05:28
I need the food and the workers who take good care of me.
3:05:32
Without these services my grandma and others like her would struggle to manage daily life.
3:05:38
So thank you again for all of your work and advocacy.
3:05:42
It means a lot to me and everyone.