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BOROUGH PRESIDENT TESTIFIES AT ANNUAL NYC DEPARTMENT FOR THE AGING PUBLIC HEARING AT BOROUGH HALL

Welcome to Brooklyn, the borough with the distinction of having the most residents over the age of 60.

It is obvious that the city’s ongoing fiscal crisis will adversely affect Department for the Aging programs. We must all act creatively, looking for alternative funding sources and forming new alliances to address health care, social service and other quality of life issues.

We must also plan for the next generation of seniors. In three years, the first baby boomers, myself included, will turn 60. I will be eligible to attend my beloved senior league of Flatbush Senior Center, the center I helped establish more than two decades ago. With your assistance, I want to help senior centers across the borough thrive as this one has, serving as vital, productive places. I also want to support efforts to retain good programs in communities that have come to depend on them. For example, in Community Board 11, community leaders are working to keep the Narrows Senior Center within its boundaries.

DFTA must adhere to federal guidelines. Low-income minority elderly, in underserved Brooklyn communities, need senior centers. Brooklyn has the largest Haitian population outside of Haiti and the second-largest Chinese population in New York City. You must press forward and open new DFTA funded senior centers in Brooklyn for these underserved communities.

Recent budget cuts have derailed plans to hire social workers. Federal funding is urgently needed to implement mental health services in senior centers and other nontraditional settings, where seniors are most likely to seek help. Please talk to representatives from the United States Department of Health and Human Services about this.

While the city’s population generally is getting older, the most dramatic increase has been among those 85 and over. I believe that adult day services, in-home services and caregiver support programs are critical lifelines for these seniors and their families. I understand that excellent service providers in Community Districts 1,3,4,5,8, and 16, who are committed to meeting the needs of those communities, chose not to respond to the caregivers R-F-P issued by DFTA. I hope that you will carefully review the application process and shorten the proposal, which I understand was 65 pages long! Please re-issue a modified R-F-P as quickly as possible to solicit fiscally sound innovative projects. The caregivers in these communities need assistance.

I encourage the Department for the Aging to offer seniors more opportunities for volunteer service and paid employment, especially during this economic downturn. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein recently awarded $10 million to 27 firms to provide English and math tutoring to struggling students in low-performing schools. Those companies should be encouraged to hire qualified seniors to work as tutors in local schools.

Senior citizens and people with disabilities told myself and Senator Velmanette Montgomery horror stories about Access-A-Ride at a public forum we sponsored in June. I recognize that you don’t manage the Access-A-Ride program, but the people who depend on it need you to voice their concerns and help improve the system.

I’m committed to supporting DFTA funded van and car service programs because seniors depend on them. I’m also pleased that my office was able to arrange for Varsity Transit to transport older adults during the summer to attractions throughout the five boroughs. This project, made possible through the generosity of those at Varsity Transit, expanded DFTA’s successful school bus program into July and August. It was a small project, but it had a big impact.

Everywhere I go people -- both young and old -- talk to me about the need for affordable housing. Brooklyn needs affordable assisted living developments. I don’t know about you, but the people i meet, can’t afford $4,500 to $6,000 a month. New public-private partnership housing developments must be explored and more federally-funded 202 housing is needed.

According to a study released in august 2002 by Congressman Anthony Weiner, a total of 119,000 Brooklynites are on waiting lists for section 202 senior citizen housing -- nearly four times as many as in any other borough.

I urge you to join me and others from the city, state and federal government to fight for a larger share of federal section 202 housing funds, the sole federal program that subsidies senior housing construction.

I have recently assumed the sponsorship of the Brooklyn Coalition on Aging. I hope to expand the coalition’s mission with assistance from Brooklyn-wide Interagency Council of the Aging and B-C-A Advisory-Board members. In addition to offering conferences for service providers and advocates, I would like to see the coalition respond to funding proposals, initiate projects and programs, and participate in research projects.

This will be achieved as part of a larger health coalition that engages academic, medical, and social service providers to address health disparities in the borough.

Commissioner, you can have a great impact during this difficult period – by continuing to be a strong senior advocate, urging the Mayor and City Council to maintain funding, and spearheading projects that encourage creative strategies and new partnerships to bring in needed resources.

Even as our city struggles in a weakened economy, it must maintain existing services for vulnerable populations and provide critical new initiatives for under-served immigrant populations.

We must also plan for the next generation of seniors -- baby boomers, whose needs and varied interests will require further changes in the service delivery system.

Thank you for all that you are doing.

This agency is in very capable hands. I look forward to working with you in the years ahead to develop creative and effective strategies for meeting the needs of Brooklyn’s older adults.