LiveOn NY and BloomAgainBklyn Host Financial Education Event for Older Adults

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Wednesday, May 8th

CONTACT: Emma Hernando, emma@newdealstrategies.com

LIVEON NY AND BLOOMAGAINBKLYN HOST "FLOWERS AND FINANCE" EVENT TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL EDUCATION FOR OLDER ADULTS

NEW YORK, NY — Today, LiveOn NY and BloomAgainBklyn hosted "Flowers and Finance," a financial education workshop at RiseBoro's Diana H. Jones Innovative Older Adult Center. Representatives from Citi provided older adults with information and resources to support their financial well-being, while distributing flowers from BloomAgainBklyn, a community-based nonprofit which repurposes unsold and once-used flowers for populations at-risk. The session offered best practices for managing finances and ways to protect oneself from potential scams, identity theft and financial abuse.

“Now more than ever, it is essential that older adults have the information and resources they need to make informed decisions about their finances. We’re excited to partner with Citi and BloomAgainBklyn to support this initiative at Diana H. Jones Center and at older adult centers across the city to support and empower older adults,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY.

"Financial education is important at every age, which is why Citi volunteers leverage our time and knowledge to help individuals of all generations as they seek to build healthy financial futures," said Shimonah Israel, Vice President, Northeast Community Relations, Community Investing and Development at Citi. "Flowers and Finance is a tremendous example of how much we appreciate our local seniors and offer advice to assist them in their financial journeys."

“These workshops serve a dual purpose in helping underserved older adults sharpen both their financial and floral skills in a supportive environment,” said Kate Selengia, Executive Director of BloomAgainBklyn. “We are so pleased to partner with Citi and LiveOn NY in this series of educational workshops for older adults throughout the borough.”

“We’re so happy to have organizations coming in and contributing to the aging populations and senior citizens. Today, we had BloomAgain floral designers and volunteers come in to show us how to arrange flowers while educating us about financial literacy. We’re so thankful for them,” said Stephanie Jones, member of Diana H. Jones Senior Center.

This event is part of Citi's participation in "Safe Banking for Seniors", a financial education campaign led by the American Bankers Association Foundation. In addition, Citi volunteers across the U.S. help deliver meaningful financial education year-round in the areas of financial literacy, small business, homebuyer education and workforce development.

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LiveOn NY's Response to the Mayor's FY25 Executive Budget Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Wednesday, May 1st, 2024

CONTACT: emma@newdealstrategies.com

“CUTS TO AGING NEW YORKERS WILL LEAVE THEM STRANDED, HUNGRY AND ABANDONED” 

LIVEON NY CALLS ON GOVERNOR HOCHUL, MAYOR ERIC ADAMS TO END AUSTERITY BUDGETS FOR NEW YORKERS YOUNG AND AGING

NEW YORK, NY — In response to Mayor Eric Adams’ Executive Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2025, LiveOn NY released the following statement:

“This year, we have overwhelmingly seen New York’s city and state budgets cut funding from older adults, leading to long waitlists, crumbling infrastructure, underfunded meals-on-wheels programs for homebound individuals and leaving senior centers understaffed and under-resourced. Our older adult centers are already in crisis, worse yet, under these austerity measures, they are set to face an $80 million fiscal cliff in 2025, which will result in the closure of upwards of 50 centers and cuts to critical programs such as meals on wheels and case management among others.

“Not only are we calling on the Governor and the Mayor to stop cutting support for aging New Yorkers that would leave them stranded, hungry and abandoned, we are demanding an infusion of new funds to simply keep pace with inflation, demographic shifts, and physical infrastructure and basic services needs. NYC Aging’s budget must be significantly more than half of one percent of the City’s budget. 

“More than any specific budget amounts, the most egregious part of these budgets is the disconnect from reality — real people are struggling, older adults and caregivers throughout this State are desperately trying to access services and age in New York. To build a more just society where everyone can access health and well-being, we need to refocus our efforts to address the needs of all groups — including older adults.” 

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LiveOn NY Response to New York State Budget

Date: April 19, 2024 

LIVEON NY, COALITION OF 100+ AGING SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS, CALLS NEW YORK STATE BUDGET “SHAMEFUL” IN STATEMENT 

NEW YORK, NY —  In response to the release of the New York State budget, which includes only $700K additional funds to address a $40M deficit facing waitlists for aging services, LiveOn NY issued the following statement:

“Despite the cries of older adults, aging services providers, and our allies in the State Legislature, Governor Hochul has neglected older New Yorkers in the latest budget. 

“With over $230 billion to spend, the Governor found a mere $700K additional funds to address years-long waitlists that have kept older adults from receiving hot meals, transportation to doctors, and other essential services. In reality, we need an additional $40M to address these waitlists—this money barely scratches the surface of what needs to be done.

“This budget is shameful and disrespectful to the over 4 million older adults who call New York home. Not to mention, a budget like this is going to seriously jeopardize the future of this state. By underinvesting in our older adult population, we’re preventing people from aging in place. 

Governor Hochul has effectively decided that as we age, we don’t actually deserve to remain in New York or to access the services the state has promised. This budget is a step backward for our communities and we will do everything in our power to push back.” 

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LiveOn NY is a coalition of 120 community-based nonprofits that provide core services such as older adult centers, home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, etc. 

NY State Assembly & State Senate Include Funding in the One-House for Critical Aging Services

The State Legislature outlined their unwavering commitment to aging services in the One House budget they released last week. Their proposal includes $42 million to end the statewide waitlist for home and community based services. They have also proposed millions to expand NORC programs, increase oversight on long term care facilities, restore funding for nursing services, and more. The full list of funding and policy items is below: 

Senate: 

• $15 million for EISEP and CSE

• $5 million for Aging Legislative Grants

• $11.3 million for Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, to bring the funding to $15 million

• $1 million for NORCs/N NORC Programs, providing a total of $9.1 million

• $1 million to support the modification of Article VII HMH Part W, supporting the Interagency Council of Elder Justice. Article VII Proposals (S.8307-B) 

• The Senate modifies the Executive proposal regarding LTC facilities by removing the residency requirement and providing additional vouchers for the Special Needs Assisted Living Residence (SNALR) voucher program

• The Senate modifies the Executive proposal to create an interagency elder justice coordinating council by replacing it with a task force that expands stakeholder participation and requires legislative representation

• The Senate advances language to raise the Personal Needs Allowance for certain individuals who reside in a nursing home, residential health care, or intermediate care facility (S.7786) 

Assembly: 

• $42 million to alleviate SOFA waitlists for services

• $1 million to restore funding for nursing services

• $2.5 million for the expansion of NORCs/N NORC Programs in various areas of the State

• $1.3 million to restore funding for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program

• $4.8 million to restore various legislative adds

This is a huge investment, but our fight is not over. We must continue to call for this funding to be maintained in the final budget which should be passed by the end of this month. Call your state legislators to thank them for fighting for this funding and to let them know how critical it is to expand aging services in New York State! 

LiveOn NY’s Testimony at FY25 Preliminary Budget Aging Hearing

New York City Council

Committee on Aging

Chair Hudson

March 8th, 2024

Preliminary Aging Budget FY25

My name is Kevin Kiprovski, and I am the Director of Public Policy at LiveOn NY. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

LiveOn NY’s members include more than 110 community-based nonprofits that provide core services under the NYC Aging portfolio and many other home and community based services in our city. 

Background

Council discretionary funding is foundational to the work our network does, as a disproportionate amount of funding comes from each of you and your colleagues' offices when compared to the administration’s investment. We are so grateful for your support and without it our current system would not be possible, so a heartfelt thank you from us and our members.   

Older Adult Services have huge capital needs due to deteriorating spaces, appliances, and vehicles that have gone without necessary upgrades for the past decade. Case management organizations are serving individuals with more intensive mental health issues with less funding from the city. At the same time the administration is cutting $18 million dollars from OACs with planned cuts of over $50 million dollars in the next 5 fiscal years to a system that they have refused to comprehensively invest in citing administrative hurdles and a lack of need that does not match the reality of older adults across our city. 

• Organizations have broken refrigerators, floors, bathrooms, kitchens, vans, HVAC systems, roofs, elevators, and many other capital items. The administration is penalizing organizations for these issues, but when organizations request funding to repair them they are either juggled through agencies, asked to use their non-existent accruals, or denied for a litany of reasons. 

• Older adult centers in NYCHA spaces have faced the brunt of this, as some have physically collapsed or have such comprehensive mold issues that they cannot open and are not being used. This is part of the “underutilization” argument the administration has been using to justify cuts to the system. The lack of a functional partnership between NYC Aging and NYCHA and confusion arising from RAD conversions has made it difficult for programs operating in these spaces to receive any capital funding. 

• Case management contracts have seen a reduction in resources across the board leading to a loss of administrative staff and increases in the caseloads of case managers from 65 to over 80 in some instances. Clients are also presenting with higher rates of undiagnosed mental health issues and dementia and are being released from rehab and hospitals after extended stays back into their homes which have deteriorated rapidly due to their absence and in some cases are uninhabitable. 

• Home Delivered Meals providers have been operating with a $2.53 average deficit per meal served that will be continued in the new RFP. 

Recommendations

• Maintain the existing council discretionary funding to keep our system whole. 

• ($50 Million) to create a capital funding pot to get centers and resources in a state of good repair. There must be a baselined funding stream that keeps the physical spaces and resources of our system in good repair. Organizations cannot contract with the city on these services if the city cannot commit to paying for the resources needed to do this work.  

• Identify and reform existing obstructions to providing capital funding across the board, but particularly with NYCHA and RAD converted properties. Organizations have been able to secure capital funding through alternative city, state and federal sources for projects that were not approved for capital funding by the administration. Administrative hurdles should not be cited as the reason older adult centers are falling apart and the city has the ability to change its own rules to get the funding where it needs to be.

•  $20 million to expand social work support across the network  to allow for more service to New Yorkers. Organizations on average need 2 more case managers and 1 intake staff to create a program that can keep talent and serve the community well. This will allow higher needs cases to be handled effectively and keep the focus on service instead of admin work.  

• $12 million to increase the per meal rate for HDM programs to $15.31 per meal. HDM providers report an average deficit of $2.53 dollars per meal served, the contract with the city should at least pay for the services that they require. 

• Reverse ALL cuts to the aging system. We have identified acute needs across the system that any currently unspent funds could be used to remedy. Pulling money out of this system will only create a death spiral through physical deterioration of centers and resources, or fiscal insolvency for many smaller providers. 

 Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

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For questions, please email Kevin Kiprovski, Director of Public Policy at LiveOn NY, kkiprovski@liveon-ny.org.

LiveOn NY’s members provide the core, community-based services that allow older adults to thrive in their communities. With a base of more than 100 community-based organizations serving at least 300,000 older New Yorkers annually. Our members provide services ranging from senior centers, congregate and home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing with services, elder abuse prevention services, caregiver supports, case management, transportation, and NORCs. LiveOn NY advocates for increased funding for these vital services to improve both the solvency of the system and the overall capacity of community-based service providers.

LiveOn NY also administers a citywide outreach program and staffs a hotline that educates, screens and helps with benefit enrollment including SNAP, SCRIE and others, and also administers the Rights and Information for Senior Empowerment (RISE) program to bring critical information directly to seniors on important topics to help them age well in their communities.