NCOA Recognizes LiveOn NY's Critical Benefits Work With Funding award

We are proud to announce that LiveOn NY has been selected as one of 90 grantees nationwide to receive funding from the National Council on Aging (NCOA) as a member of NCOA’S national network of Benefits Enrollment Centers. LiveOn NY will receive support for our Benefits Outreach and Assistance program, which will support the vital work LiveOn NY does every day to connect older New Yorkers to the benefits they need to age in dignity.

Older adults across New York City are facing growing financial hardship. Poverty among older Americans has risen sharply in recent years, and New York is no exception. Many older New Yorkers are eligible for programs that could help cover the cost of food, healthcare, prescriptions, housing, and utilities, but they don't know these programs exist, or they face significant barriers to navigating the application process on their own.

Our Benefits Outreach and Assistance program works to ensure older New Yorkers can make ends meet through easy access to public benefits. We work directly with older adults, their families, and caregivers to assist in every step of the application and renewal process; we partner with community organizations and elected officials to host in-person and virtual outreach events across the five boroughs; and we provide training to help other organizations reduce the barriers that prevent older adults from accessing the benefits they need.

The Programs We Help New Yorkers Access

Our benefits counselors are experts in a wide range of programs, including:

• SNAP

• Medicare Savings Program and Low Income Subsidy

• Medicaid

• SCRIE and DRIE

• HEAP

• SCHE and STAR

• Lifeline

Get Help or Get Involved

If you or someone you know may be eligible for benefits, our team is here to help. Contact our Benefits Outreach program at (212) 398-5045 or benefits@liveon-ny.org, or complete our confidential online benefits eligibility screening at liveon-ny.org.

Organizations and elected officials interested in partnering with us to host a benefits outreach event can also reach out to our Director of Benefits Outreach, Kim Lerner, at klerner@liveon-ny.org.

LiveOn NY Statement on One House Budget

On March 10, the New York State Assembly and Senate released their “One-House Budget,” outlining the Legislature’s response to the Governor’s proposed FY2026–27 State Budget. We are grateful that the State Senate included $25 million to support implementation of New York State’s Master Plan on Aging.

However, we are deeply disappointed that the Assembly did not include funding for critical aging initiatives, such as the Master Plan on Aging, the Senior Housing Resident Advisor Program, and elder abuse and financial scam prevention efforts.

Even more concerning, the Governor’s Office has continued to overlook the rapidly growing needs of older adults and family caregivers across the state. Currently, more than 70,000 services are waitlisted, including essential supports like Meals on Wheels, transportation, and case management. Older adults are struggling to meet basic costs of living, while family caregivers are forced to make impossible choices between maintaining employment and caring for loved ones. These challenges are further compounded by federal actions that threaten core supports, including proposed cuts to Medicaid, new work requirements for food assistance, and reductions in housing resources.

Governor Hochul has demonstrated strong leadership over the past year, standing up for communities during the federal budget shutdown, addressing SNAP delays, and advancing childcare initiatives. She has said that New York’s families are her fight — now she must demonstrate that commitment by fully including older adults and caregivers in that fight which starts by allocating $175 million to support community based aging programs through the New York State Office for the Aging. 

New York is an aging state experiencing a longevity boom, yet our systems are not keeping pace. We call on the Governor and the State Assembly to follow the Senate’s lead by investing in practical, affordable, and cost-effective programs that enable older adults to age safely in their communities while supporting the families who care for them.

To participate in the final advocacy push, please see:

• Online Toolkit 

• Social media kit

Age Strong Campaign & Advocates Applaud Senate for Aging Services Funding in One-House Bill

Aging advocates commends the State Senate for recognizing the urgent needs of older New Yorkers by including funding for aging services in its one-house budget proposal.

Across New York State, the network of community-based aging services is facing enormous strain. These programs help older adults remain healthy, independent, and connected to their communities, and in many cases, they are quite literally lifesaving. Legislative funding will make a meaningful difference for the providers and older adults who rely on these services every day.

While the need far exceeds the resources currently available, this proposal represents an important and critical step toward stabilizing a system that millions of older New Yorkers depend on.

The Governor’s Master Plan for Aging laid out a clear roadmap for strengthening services for older New Yorkers. A plan of this urgency cannot sit on a shelf. It must be backed by real investment.

We appreciate that the Senate and Assembly have included an increase to the New York State Office for the Aging’s Target Inflationary Increase; we are however concerned that the Assembly included no additional funding for Proposal 50 of the Master Plan for Aging in its one-house budget proposal. There is still time in the budget process to address this gap. At a time when Medicaid and many safety-net services face uncertainty, New York must continue investing in the programs that allow older adults to age with dignity and independence – and at a fraction of the cost compared to the Medicaid program.

We urge the Governor and Legislature to work together to ensure these critical investments are included in the final enacted state budget.

More about the Age Strong coalition can be found at www.liveon-ny.org/age-strong.

Contact: Brandon Vogel, 518-806-5432

LiveOn NY Responds To NYC Preliminary Budget

New York, NY – This week, the City of New York released its Fiscal Year 2027 Preliminary Budget. While we recognize the significant fiscal challenges facing the City, this proposal falls far short of meeting the urgent and growing needs of older New Yorkers.

We acknowledge that this budget rectifies previous lapses in policy by formalizing commitments to Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA) and by codifying Indirect Cost Rate (ICR) expenditures as line items, ensuring that frontline providers will receive the funds they have been promised in a timely manner. 

However, the budget still fails to include the critical new investments in aging services called for by the Age Strong NYC campaign and desperately needed by older New Yorkers. Older adults are confronting rising rents, food insecurity, and too often a crisis of isolation; now, more than ever, new investments are needed to ensure that we can all age in dignity.

“This is a defining moment for how New York City supports its aging population,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY. “We understand this is a difficult budget year, but older New Yorkers cannot afford to wait. We are ready to work with the new administration to secure bold investments in affordable housing, nutrition, and community-based services that allow every New Yorker to age with dignity. Our priorities are aligned: making New York City affordable and livable for all of us as we age.”

LiveOn NY’s Age Strong campaign is calling for $2.3 billion to fully fund aging services in New York City, including:

• Affordable Housing

• Funding to build new SARA housing, maintain existing HUD202 housing, and keep older New Yorkers in their homes with SCRIE

• Affordable Community Support

• Rebuilding centers across the city, growing our network of NORCs, and ensuring programs have the resources they need to serve their communities

• Affordable Nutrition

• Serving 1 meal a day to homebound New Yorkers and funding OAC meals which have not seen any funding increases since 2020 to meet food inflationary costs

More information can be found on the Age Strong NYC website: https://www.liveon-ny.org/city-advocacy 

More information on LiveOn NY can be found at our website: www.liveon-ny.org/. 

If you would like more information, please contact Frank Shintaro McMullin, Communications Manager at LiveOn NY, at fmcmullin@liveon-ny.org or at (408) 620-0694.

Age Strong Coalition Says Older Adults Left Out Of New York Budget

The Age Strong Coalition, comprised of statewide service providers and advocacy organizations that support older New Yorkers and their families, is concerned that older adults are missing from the Governor’s fight for families.

Policies that support healthy aging, economic security, caregiving, housing stability, and access to essential services are vital to support New York’s rapidly aging population, particularly as the number of older New Yorkers living below the poverty line has increased 50 percent over the last decade.

From the Governor’s report, New York is in a strong financial position, yet disappointingly, funding for critical aging services remains flat, while 70,000 older adults, outside of New York City, unacceptably continue to languish on waitlists. There was a $3 million investment in developing the State’s Master Plan for Aging (MPA) since the Governor's Executive Order, but no new money has been granted to implement the recommendations. With more than 4.3 million caregivers in New York, this was a time for needed action to give relief to both families and their loved ones.

The MPA was a tremendous first step towards putting our older family members first. However, the current FY2027 budget fails to make good on the commitment; it must accommodate the proposals made by hundreds of aging advocates, approved by the governor’s staff at DOH and SOFA, and fully fund aging services.

The Age Strong Coalition remains committed to working with policymakers, advocates, and community partners to achieve the full implementation of the MPA. Older New Yorkers deserve nothing less.