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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kavita Shah, Program and Budget Director of India Home
3:36:15
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3 min
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Kavita Shah, Program and Budget Director at India Home, testified about the challenges faced by their organization in serving South Asian and Indo-Caribbean seniors. She highlighted the importance of older adult programs, the impact of budget cuts, and the unique services provided by India Home.
- India Home offers culturally competent services including halal and vegetarian meals, case management, mental health programs, and recreational activities.
- Challenges include expensive halal meals, housing issues for seniors, and space constraints in their programs.
- Shah emphasized the need to view funding for seniors as an investment, given their lifetime of experience and contributions.
Kavita Shah
3:36:15
Thank you, chairperson Hudson and the committee for allowing us to testify.
3:36:22
My name is Kavitha Shah.
3:36:24
I'm the program and budget director at India Home.
3:36:27
India Home is a nonprofit that serves South Asian and Indo Caribbean seniors.
3:36:32
And I and we serve culturally competent services.
3:36:37
We provide congregate meals.
3:36:40
As you all know, we provide halal and vegetarian meals for our seniors at different centers.
3:36:47
We also provide case management.
3:36:49
We provide we have mental health programs, other recreational activities.
3:36:54
And the current challenge that we are we are all facing is the budget cut.
3:36:59
So I wanna I have my written testimony, but I wanna, tell you my experience from working with the seniors at India Home.
3:37:06
So how critical the, older adult program is for us and for the city because the seniors really look forward to coming to all the older adult center.
3:37:16
They have created a home for themself.
3:37:18
I have my seniors who have, like, formed, like, their dance group, and they go to all different, you know, places where we have Indian festivals and things to dance and perform.
3:37:31
Also, the meals in in the past, I think I was listening to in regards to the meals, the halal meals, chair chairperson in Hudson, you are right.
3:37:41
The halal meals are expensive, because as I'm a budgeting director also at India Home, I know that the amount of money that I get from, department of aging doesn't cover all of my halal meal cost.
3:37:53
So that is another challenge that we face.
3:37:56
Housing is another challenge for the seniors.
3:37:58
As you know as well that, you know, affordable housing, you know, that's a big, issue for the seniors.
3:38:05
And thanks to our executive director, she came up with this unique idea of a co living for home for seniors.
3:38:12
We have a one of a kind seniors co living home that we have started with where we match four seniors to live together in a home, and India Home is their support system.
3:38:23
Another challenge we have is, you know, the the space where we conduct our programs.
3:38:29
After COVID, Home Senior Center is thriving.
3:38:33
We have we get a contract for only 80 seniors, whereas on a daily basis at our Jamaica Muslim Center, we get over a 20 seniors.
3:38:41
And so we are in a constant struggle to bridge that gap.
3:38:46
That's another challenge we have.
3:38:48
And I would consider that all the seniors have worked all their life.
3:38:53
So they look forward to that retirement because that's the time they can pursue their own hobbies and their talents.
3:39:01
And this is the time they should not be worrying about how, they can do this and how the programs that support them will survive.
3:39:09
So and we should also consider, you know, putting in dollar for our senior as an investment because the seniors have collected all these experience and Thank
UNKNOWN
3:39:19
you, ma'am.
3:39:19
Your time have expired.
Kavita Shah
3:39:20
Thank you.