A Message From the CEO

May 1, 2023

The final result of the New York State budget is deeply disappointing for New Yorkers with I/DD and the families and providers who support them. Below you will find The Arc New York’s official statement on the budget.Please share this message, and your own. Be assured, these statements do not mark the end of this year’s advocacy efforts. They mark the beginning of our fight moving forward. The budget is disappointing, but we have more to advocate for before this session ends. Our issues are better understood today, the voices of New Yorkers with I/DD are better heard, and we will mobilize to ensure the support of state leaders translates to action.

The Arc New York Statement on the NYS BudgetThe final NYS budget was released today, and we are truly stunned by the inadequate investment in our service system. Nonprofit providers of supports and services for New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities will receive a mere 4% cost of living increase.This minimal increase covers less than half the increase in inflation over the past year. It does nothing to reverse our escalating workforce crisis. Most importantly, it does not address the erosion of care and supports for New Yorkers with I/DD.Paired with the reality of inflation, a 4% COLA has become essentially a 4.5% cut.New Yorkers with I/DD needed meaningful investment to sustain quality supports and care. Our staff needed meaningful investment to align their compensation with their skill and dedication. We called for an 8.5% COLA and a Direct Support Wage Enhancement to meet those needs. The legislature included an 8.5% COLA and no DSWE in their budgets. We advocated fiercely for that compromise to be realized, but the end result is entirely inadequate.We are grateful to the tireless advocates who raised their voices and their stories with passion and power. We thank our Champions in the legislature who fought for our families, staff, and the people we support.We are devastated that we have not been heard.State leaders put the care and quality of life New York’s most vulnerable citizens up for negotiation. Their final agreement continues a pattern of neglect we fought for decades to overcome.That fight is not over. We will grow louder. We will grow fiercer. We will not let New Yorkers with I/DD be forgotten.

Advocates for the human services sector are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce, a key component of the struggling mental health system

ALBANY —  The state budget that’s expected to be finalized this week will include a raft of policies meant to address a struggling mental health sector, a stated policy goal for Democratic leaders this year as New York is grappling with workforce shortages and the post-pandemic effects on the industry. 

Gaps in the state’s historically underfunded mental health system have been a priority for Gov. Kathy Hochul, and one that remained relatively unscathed throughout the ongoing budget negotiations. Hochul touted the infusion of $1 billion into the sector last week as she announced a framework for this year’s state budget.

“Today marks a reversal in our state’s approach, a monumental shift,” Hochul said, pointing to a plan for additional psychiatric beds and increased outpatient services. 

But advocates for the human services sector said they are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce. The budget calls for a 4 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for individuals who work in nonprofit programs. Those workers provide many of the same services as facilities run by the state workforce and are licensed and regulated through state agencies.

Hochul’s initial budget proposal had included a 2.5 percent adjustment. But many workers in the mental health sector and other human service industries decried that offer, swarming the Capitol in recent weeks to call for a much higher target of 8.5 percent.

The final agreement has left advocates frustrated, said Glenn Liebman, who leads the Mental Health Association of New York State. He said their original request was to keep funding for workers in lockstep with inflation that has challenged workforce retention.

“We’re concerned about their support,” Liebman said of the Legislature, which had originally included a much higher COLA in its one-house budgets than what ultimately was agreed on. “This will lead to people leaving our system and taking other jobs. Why would you stay in a job dealing with people with complex needs when you could go to a service industry job and make just as much money with a lot less pressure, right?”

Advocates have also pointed to potential disparity issues; much of the mental health workforce is staffed by women of color. The COLA will also affect direct care workers through other state agencies that provide services to the state’s most vulnerable residents, like those with disabilities or struggles with substance abuse, including the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

Liebman noted some positive developments, including a provision mandating that insurance companies reimburse school-based mental health clinics that provide outpatient care for school-aged children.

Some Democratic lawmakers are also cheering the inclusion of a task force studying “Daniel’s Law,” legislation that would empower mental health responders rather than police officers to show up to distress calls when people are experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis.

The budget allocates $1 million to establish a 10-member task force studying the roll out of the law. Members will solicit feedback statewide over the next two and a half years before submitting a report to the governor’s office with final recommendations on whether to implement the system statewide.

Named after a Rochester man who died during an encounter with police while he was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2020, the law aims to shift away from a reliance on police during emergency calls. In recent weeks, the measure had been bolstered by publicized incidents involving police force during non-emergency calls.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Samra Brouk, D-Rochester, has emphasized the connection between Hochul’s focus on public safety and mental health and the legislation, calling it a logical approach to lessen the likelihood of violent interactions between people with mental illnesses and police responders. 

The budget also calls for another task force studying maternal mental health, including postpartum depression and anxiety. Lawmakers have previously called attention to the high maternal mortality rate in the state; the state Department of Health has listed mental health as the third-leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. 

An earlier version of this story misstated the parameters of Daniel’s Law in this year’s budget appropriations. It’s being launched through a task force with a $1 million allocation. 

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But advocates for the human services sector said they are disappointed by the state’s investments in the workforce. The budget calls for a 4 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for individuals who work in nonprofit programs. Those workers provide many of the same services as facilities run by the state workforce and are licensed and regulated through state agencies.

Hochul’s initial budget proposal had included a 2.5 percent adjustment. But many workers in the mental health sector and other human service industries decried that offer, swarming the Capitol in recent weeks to call for a much higher target of 8.5 percent.

The final agreement has left advocates frustrated, said Glenn Liebman, who leads the Mental Health Association of New York State. He said their original request was to keep funding for workers in lockstep with inflation that has challenged workforce retention.

“We’re concerned about their support,” Liebman said of the Legislature, which had originally included a much higher COLA in its one-house budgets than what ultimately was agreed on. “This will lead to people leaving our system and taking other jobs. Why would you stay in a job dealing with people with complex needs when you could go to a service industry job and make just as much money with a lot less pressure, right?”

Advocates have also pointed to potential disparity issues; much of the mental health workforce is staffed by women of color. The COLA will also affect direct care workers through other state agencies that provide services to the state’s most vulnerable residents, like those with disabilities or struggles with substance abuse, including the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

Liebman noted some positive developments, including a provision mandating that insurance companies reimburse school-based mental health clinics that provide outpatient care for school-aged children.

Some Democratic lawmakers are also cheering the inclusion of a task force studying “Daniel’s Law,” legislation that would empower mental health responders rather than police officers to show up to distress calls when people are experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis.

The budget allocates $1 million to establish a 10-member task force studying the roll out of the law. Members will solicit feedback statewide over the next two and a half years before submitting a report to the governor’s office with final recommendations on whether to implement the system statewide.

Named after a Rochester man who died during an encounter with police while he was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2020, the law aims to shift away from a reliance on police during emergency calls. In recent weeks, the measure had been bolstered by publicized incidents involving police force during non-emergency calls.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Samra Brouk, D-Rochester, has emphasized the connection between Hochul’s focus on public safety and mental health and the legislation, calling it a logical approach to lessen the likelihood of violent interactions between people with mental illnesses and police responders. 

The budget also calls for another task force studying maternal mental health, including postpartum depression and anxiety. Lawmakers have previously called attention to the high maternal mortality rate in the state; the state Department of Health has listed mental health as the third-leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. 

An earlier version of this story misstated the parameters of Daniel’s Law in this year’s budget appropriations. It’s being launched through a task force with a $1 million allocation. 

Albany Times Union

Rega Justin, Monday May 1, 2023

NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller

Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

Better Emergency Management Preparation Needed by OPWDD Before Next Public Health Crisis, Audit Finds

April 6, 2023

The Office for People With Developmental Disabilities’ (OPWDD) inadequate emergency management coordination left people living in group homes at risk during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new audit released today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. OPWDD reported 657 people died from COVID-19, and more than 13,000 contracted the virus in its residential programs from March 2020 to April 2022.

“Group homes are supposed to offer people with developmental disabilities safe places to live as independently as possible,” DiNapoli said. “Our audit found the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities did not issue timely, consistent guidance to the vast majority of their certified group homes. Inconsistent emergency management coordination and oversight put residents, families and staff in harm’s way. I urge OPWDD to implement our recommendations before the next public health emergency.”

DiNapoli’s audit found OPWDD did not provide consistent guidance to some 6,929 group homes across the state during the first wave of the deadly pandemic, though the audit did not establish a causal relationship between OPWDD’s actions and COVID cases. As explained by the department, certified facilities run by nonprofits (6,921), as opposed to those that are state-run (eight), are required to have their own emergency policies and procedures in place, even though they are home to 99% of the state’s 34,117 group home residents. In September 2020 and November 2021, OPWDD developed additional guidance, which covered COVID-19 emergency planning and response, but restricted their distribution to the eight state-run facilities, excluding the others.

While OPWDD’s emergency management and overarching emergency planning documents considered pandemics as a risk even before the COVID-19 pandemic, OPWDD did not take steps to ensure all group homes followed suit. The audit found that while many group homes had emergency response plans, they did not account for pandemics or emerging infectious diseases, while others referred staff to follow OPWDD’s guidance. This lack of effective emergency response plans at the onset of the pandemic led to difficulties in securing personal protective equipment (PPE), dealing with staff shortages and confusion and delays over how to isolate or quarantine individuals during the worst waves of COVID-19.

The audit noted OPWDD’s stockpile of PPE was exhausted early in the pandemic, and group homes had trouble getting masks and gowns on their own due to overwhelming demand. Masks were crucial to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and especially important in group homes settings, where clients often have multiple medical issues and staff typically cannot socially distance when helping individuals with bathing, dressing or eating. Staff at three of 16 group homes visited said they had to resort to reusing face masks and gowns at early stages of the pandemic.

The pandemic further led to staffing shortages at many group homes. To maintain minimum staffing levels, some frontline employees had to work across multiple group homes or work longer than normal shifts, risking increased physical and emotional fatigue, mental distress, and contracting COVID-19. Between March 2020 and November 2021, 81 group homes were closed or temporarily closed due to staffing shortages.

OPWDD recertifies group homes every three years, but according to the audit, their oversight needs improvement. While review of emergency response plans are part of the recertification process, OPWDD inspectors did not review plans for infection control practices or public health emergency response.

In May of 2020, OPWDD began COVID-19 surveys of group homes to better assess their response to the pandemic, but the audit found investigators only visited 22% of homes. Further, surveys often lacked meaningful observations, and staff at certified group homes were not required to take refresher trainings on infection controls.

DiNapoli’s audit recommends OPWDD:

• Review and update the Emergency Management Operations Protocol and supplemental documents to ensure all group homes implement current policies and procedures in the event of another public health emergency.
• Develop procedures to ensure that group homes’ emergency plans encompass planning for and responding to public health emergencies.
• Ensure that monitoring and review protocols address well-developed infection control practices and are consistently applied when conducting reviews at homes.
• Establish effective communication with staff responsible for infection control policies and procedures when deficiencies are identified.

While OPWDD expressed concern with the audit’s methodology, it agreed with many of the recommendations.

Audit
Pandemic Planning and Care for Vulnerable Populations

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Ex-residents recall physical, emotional horrors as fight for disability rights continues

By Raga Justin, Albany Times Union, March 27, 2023

Jim Franco / Times Union

Bernard Carabello, who spent years as a child at the Willowbrook State School, attends the premiere of a documentary about the school on Thursday at the Hart Theater in Albany. The film details the abuse of disabled children and how it changed the course of disability rights.

Due to the length of the article, the link is pasted below so that you may read the entire article.

https://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/odn/albanytimesunion/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=HATU%2F2023%2F03%2F27&entity=Ar00102&sk=3933A0C2&mode=text

Published in The Saratogian, Wednesday, March 15, 2023

By ASSEMBLYWOMAN MARY BETH WALSH |

March 12, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

We are now a few weeks into the budget process, and we have held over a dozen hearings with the heads of state agencies and various stakeholders to dissect the governor’s initial proposal.

These legislative hearings have been at the center of our work recently in Albany. I have continued to call out the governor’s budget plan for its exorbitant price tag of $227 billion. Knowing how things work under Albany’s single-party rule, the final price tag will likely climb even higher and once again set a record for the largest state budget in history.

That is why it is especially disappointing to again see individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their direct-support professionals get left behind.

A budget is all about priorities. For the governor, she sees it appropriate to increase the controversial film tax credit to $700 million this year while simultaneously proposing a mere 2.5 percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for direct-support professionals administering care to the I/DD community. It is shameful that Gov. Hochul would propose such a small cost of living raise, especially during this time of heightened inflation and with their hourly wages being woefully low for the job they are completing.

These professionals are heroes in each one of our communities, providing critical care and services to one of our most vulnerable populations. Just last year, the COLA raise for these professionals was 5.4 percent. Why are we going backward this year? Does the governor truly believe our economy is in such better shape from last year?

Even she has warned of an upcoming recession and state Comptroller DiNapoli has made it clear we are heading toward a debt crisis in New York.

An added side effect of these low wages for direct-support professionals is that turnover continues to be rampant. The turnover of these professionals goes beyond any economic metric, it simply lessens the care of our I/DD community. Familiarity, long-established bonds and a mutual trust between professional and patient should be prioritized. This can only happen if the state makes a true effort at improving employee retention.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are part of our communities, and part of the fabric of our state. ThinkDIFFERENTLY day is an event we host each year at the Saratoga County Fair. This event invites children and their families, of all abilities, to an inclusive experience at one of our community’s most well-known attractions.

For far too long, state policymaking has left behind these individuals who make New York a better place to live.

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As we continue to push toward the April 1 budget deadline, I will be making the case for increased funding for the I/DD community and raising the COLA from 2.5 percent to at least the 5.4 percent offered to professionals last year. The Legislature has a real opportunity here to right a wrong in the governor’s budget proposal.

Let’s get it done.

Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh represents the 112th Assembly District, which consists of parts of Saratoga, Schenectady and Fulton counties.

The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) today announced a new partnership with the NY Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation to help reverse the impact of the workforce crisis on nonprofit service providers through a technical assistance project in partnership with the McSilver Institute for Poverty, Policy and Research at New York University.

“The greatest challenge our provider partners currently face is maintaining and adding to their direct support workforce,” said Kerri E. Neifeld, Commissioner of the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities. “We are grateful to be able fund this important project that will create tools and guidance for our service providers to help build a sustainable direct support workforce to meet the needs of New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. The Alliance is a valuable partner, and I am confident that they are well-equipped to provide meaningful support for building our service system’s direct support workforce.”

Laying the foundation of the project are two key components. First, an Organizational Self-Assessment (OSA), will give providers an opportunity to assess their current recruitment and retention practices and related agency culture. At the same time, Direct Support Professionals (DSP) employed by service providers will complete a DSP Questionnaire that will provide insight into DSPs’ perspectives on workplace well-being and support within their organizations as it relates to recruitment and retention strategies. 

Based on the input received and best practices identified, the NY Alliance will create helpful resources and tools that can be shared among provider agencies so these best practices can be replicated. At the completion of the grant, the tools and resources developed through this project will be sustained by the Regional Centers for Workforce Transformation.

“The Recruitment and Retention Technical Assistance project is timely and will be of great benefit to the field of disability services where employment opportunities in direct support are numerous, but met with challenges in recruitment and retention,” stated Michael Seereiter, President & CEO of the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation. “We are eager to work with OPWDD and NYS providers to address this area of need by assessing the situation, convening the field, and creating resources to strengthen our workforce and continue exceptional services and supports for individuals with I/DD in New York State.”

The funding for the project comes from OPWDD’s share of monies New York received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). OPWDD has dedicated roughly 76 percent of its ARPA funds to initiatives designed to recognize the work of DSPs (including bonuses and incentives), support recruitment and retention, and enhance workforce skills and capacity.

For questions about the technical assistance project contact communications.office@opwdd.ny.gov. For questions about the upcoming webinar, contact Monica Robinson at mrobinson@nyalliance.org.