The 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.