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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Marcus Jackson, Aging Friendly Community Organizer at Encore Community Services
5:02:13
ยท
164 sec
Marcus Jackson from Encore Community Services testifies about the urgent need for increased funding to support New York City's older adults, highlighting issues with meal funding, delayed payments, and aging infrastructure in older adult centers.
- Encore provides over 750,000 meals annually, but current city funding only supports one meal per day for older adults.
- Outstanding payments to Encore total millions of dollars, forcing difficult financial decisions and exploration of expensive credit options.
- Aging infrastructure in older adult centers, such as malfunctioning elevators and deteriorating HVAC systems, creates unacceptable conditions for vulnerable seniors.
Marcus Jackson
5:02:13
Good afternoon.
5:02:13
My name is Marcus Jackson and I'm testifying on behalf of Encore Community Services.
5:02:18
I would like to thank the council for the opportunity to testify today about the urgent need for increased funding to support our city's older adults.
5:02:27
Encore provides more than 750,000 meals to New Yorkers annually through our home delivery meals system and our older adult centers.
5:02:36
However, the city's current funding only supports a single meal per day.
5:02:41
This forces older adults to ration out their one meals, try to make it stretch as long as possible until they receive the next meal the following day.
5:02:51
This is even more imperative over the weekends when that one meal has to last now two to three days, which is just a serious issue.
5:03:00
We urge the city council to increase meal funding to provide three meals daily for elderly people in need.
5:03:06
Furthermore, the city's reimbursement rates must reflect the actual cost of food in operations, particularly for the weekends.
5:03:14
In addition, we have to chronic underfunding, the city's delayed payments to nonprofit providers like Encore are jeopardizing our ability to serve older New Yorkers effectively.
5:03:27
The prolonged reimbursement process forces us to make difficult financial decisions, including exploring expensive lines of credit to bridge loans to cover basic operating costs.
5:03:39
Outstanding payments to Encore alone total in the millions of dollars, and as you heard earlier today, there are a plethora of other organizations that are also facing similar issues with delayed payments and reimbursement.
5:03:52
We strongly urge the council to take action.
5:03:55
Accelerating these payments will allow us to focus on our core mission and direct more resources towards direct services as opposed to trying to compensate for the lack that we have.
5:04:09
New York City's older adult centers are aging alongside with their members.
5:04:13
At Encore, we struggle with outstanding infrastructure including malfunctioning elevators and deteriorating h HVAC systems, which leaves us with unacceptable conditions for facilities that serve as emergency cooling centers for older adults in times of extreme heat waves and etcetera.
5:04:32
In conclusion, I would just like to add that older the older adults that we serve have built this city, and they deserve to age with dignity and security.
5:04:42
Increased meal funding, timely city payments, capital investments, and expand case management programs are essential to ensuring their well-being.
5:04:51
I wanted to thank the council today for your time and allowing us to share these issues and concerns with you today.