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Senior center advocates pledge fight to restore critical funding

Senior center advocates pledge fight to restore critical funding
By Anna Gustafson

Preliminary city and state budgets for the 2011 fiscal year would be a serious blow to older residents in Queens, who could see senior centers shuttered and the number of meals served to the elderly reduced, according to officials who attended a forum at Queens Borough Hall last week.

“The budget situation is very drastic and dire,” said Maria Cuadrado, president of the Queens Interagency Council on Aging, which sponsored the forum held April 7. “We want to make sure we express our concerns that funds for senior programs are kept in a way that we can function.”

Nearly 200 people attended last week’s event, including Borough President Helen Marshall and City Council members Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) and Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), all of whom said they planned to fight to restore funding for seniors.

“We owe it to our seniors,” Marshall said. “You deserve to have a life. We want to see older people who’ve worked hard all their lives have some fun.”

Koslowitz and Dromm emphasized the tough financial situation facing the city, particularly in light of the expectation that fewer funds will be coming from the state government that is struggling with a $9 billion budget deficit. Still, the Council members said, they would battle for funds for the elderly.

“I can assure you I’m fighting for the seniors throughout our city and borough,” Koslowitz said. “If you take away senior money, you better be ready to put money into mental health. Don’t be a penny wise and a pound foolish.”

Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging Lilliam Barrios-Paoli has emphasized they are particularly concerned about the potential loss of $25 million in Title XX funds, otherwise known as social service block grants, for the city, which represents nearly one-third of their funding for senior centers.

“This loss would prove devastating to our system and would likely result in the closure of many senior center throughout the city,” Barrios-Paoli said in her testimony to the City Council’s Committee on Aging hearing last month.

Marshall has said budget cuts could lead to the shuttering of at least six senior centers in Queens, including Forest Park in Woodhaven, Kew Gardens, SAGE/Queens in Jackson Heights, Korean-American in Flushing, Bell Park in Queens Village and LeFrak Senior Citizen Center in Corona.

“If the $4.55 million councilmatic funding is not restored in the budget, we would be forced to reduce the number of meals served to the seniors at the senior centers,” said Judy Kleve, vice president of older adults services for Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services, which provides programs for more than 4,900 Queens residents in 11 senior centers, a social adult day program and a home-delivered meals program.

Kleve emphasized that many seniors rely on the meals provided to them at centers and said for many older people the only meal they will eat will be at the center.

“It would be terrible to turn seniors away without lunch, especially during this economically bad time,” she said.

Catholic Charities is looking at having to curb a large number of services for its elderly clients and may have to close the social adult day program in Flushing should Council members approve the cut in discretionary funding to Marshall, Kleve said. The adult day program provides respite services to families who have loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia.

It may also have to close its Project Independent Program, which provides recreational and socialization services to the homebound elderly in southwest Queens.

Donna Caltabiano, executive director of the Forest Park senior center, said her 30-year-old center receives 100 percent of its funding through discretionary funds and would likely be forced to close should the Council approve the budget as is.

“One senior told me if they sit at home, they’re going to rot,” Caltabiano said. “This is their home away from home.”

Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.