***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY, MARCH 28TH***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Josh Rosenfeld | jrosenfeld@kivvit.com | 908.770.7204
LEGISLATORS AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND DISABILITY ADVOCATES TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE CALLING FOR INCLUSION OF 11% COLA IN ENACTED FY 2022 – 2023 STATE BUDGET
Unified Advocates Agree: 11% COLA Increase Is the Most Effective Allocation of Investments to Support Essential Workforce and Provider Agencies
Albany, NY – This Monday, legislators will join advocates and organizations from the behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) sectors in a press conference to call for implementation of the Assembly’s proposed 11% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), increase in the Enacted State FY 2022 – 2023 Budget.
With over a decade of inadequate funding, providers across these sectors have been unable to offer competitive wages to recruit or retain the skilled direct care/support staff that provide critical supports and services for thousands of New Yorkers. The proposed 11% COLA recognizes the increasing costs that nonprofit agencies are facing due to inflation and is the most efficient allocation of State funding to maintain nonprofit
agencies’ operations and increase direct care wages to ensure the sector’s essential jobs remain competitive.
WHAT: Press conference calling on New York State elected officials to implement within the Enacted State Budget the 11% COLA increase included in the Assembly Health and Mental Hygiene Bill.
WHO: NY Elected Officials
Tom McAlvanah, President of the New York Disability Advocates
Michael Seereiter, President and CEO, NY Alliance for Inclusion & Innovation
Glenn Liebman, CEO, Mental Health Association in NYS
William T. Gettman Jr., CEO, Northern Rivers
Nicole Graham, Supervisor of Residential Programming, Northern Rivers
Direct Support Professionals Paige Pierce, CEO, Families Together in New York State
Kim Kaiser, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Families Together in New York State
Rachel Carkner, Housing Coordinator, Mohawk Opportunities Family and Self Advocates
WHEN: Monday, March 28th, 11:00 AM EST
WHERE: Capitol Building 3rd Floor: The Million Dollar Staircase State St. and, Washington Ave, Albany, NY 12224
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About Behavioral Health Advocates
Behavioral Health Advocates is comprised of statewide organizations that have come together representing adult and children service providers, families, peers and other stakeholders to achieve common goals within the behavioral health sector.
The 11 organizations that comprise this group of advocates are:
– Association for Community Living – Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates of New York State
– Families Together in New York State
– Mental Health Association in New York State
– National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State (NAMI-NYS)
– New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers, Inc. (ASAP)
– New York State Care Management Coalition
– New York State Council for Community Behavioral Health Care
– New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services
– Supportive Housing Network of New York
– The Coalition for Behavioral Health
About New York Disability Advocates (NYDA)
(NYDA) is a statewide coalition of more than 300 non-profit organizations providing vital services and support to more than 125,000 New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Josh Rosenfeld
Principal
NEW YORK
200 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014
908.770.7204
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