NYAIL Newsletter, February 2023

NYAIL News 2023, Issue 2

Advocacy Updates, Budget Advocacy Day, Holiday Closure, Webinar Series, and Center Spotlights

Advocacy Updates

The New York Association on Independent Living (NYAIL) is currently working on a response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget for State Fiscal Year 2024. We will send a budget response in the coming days. Our response will focus on the following budget priorities, along with other issues of interest.

· Increased IL funding to $18 million as recommended by the NYS Board of Regents.

· #FairPay4Homecare - increasing Home Care Worker wages to 150-percent of the regional minimum wage.

· Increasing Access to Home funding to $10 million.

· Eliminating age and asset limits while increasing income threshold for the Medicaid Buy-in Program for Working People with Disabilities.

· Increasing funding for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) to $15 million.

Repeal cuts to Medicaid eligibility proposed by the Medicaid Redesign Team two.

Budget Advocacy Day: Monday, February 6

We have over 300 people registered to join us in Albany for our first Budget Advocacy Day since 2020. Once again NYAIL has partnered with the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of NYS (CDPAANYS), along with their sister organization Consumer Directed Action of NYS (CDANYS). Since Governor Hochul released her budget yesterday this is our first chance to advocate for our priorities to the legislature. Below is some important information for Monday.

· Check-in begins in the Well of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) at 10:00 a.m. You will receive a packet with our Budget and Legislative Disability Priority Agendas, along with a folder for legislative meetings.

· Opening program featuring NYAIL Executive Director Lindsay Miller, CDPAANYS Executive Director Bryan O’Malley, and members of the legislature from 11-noon in the Well of the LOB. ASL will be provided.

· #FairPay relaunch press conference in the Capitol (fourth floor Senate side) at 1:30. ASL will be provided.

· If you have meetings scheduled with legislators or their staff during the opening program or press conference we encourage you to divide your group accordingly so meetings and events are well-attended.

Finalized materials for Budget Advocacy Day will be sent later in the week.

Holiday Closure

The NYAIL office will be closed on Monday, February 20 in observance of President’s Day. We will resume business as usual on Tuesday, February 21.

Webinar Series

Effective Communication Strategies While Advocating and Lobbying

NYAIL kicked off our 2023 webinar series discussing effective communication strategies while advocating and lobbying. Josh Poupore, Senior Vice President of Corning Place Communications, discussed the importance of using social media as our driving force for advocacy because it is more difficult to get press coverage because of the shortage of journalists. Then David Previte, Attorney with Hinman Straub talked about the fine line of what constitutes lobbying. There were 112 registered attendees. A recording of the webinar will be available on our website shortly. Stay tuned for more information about our February webinar next week.

Center Spotlights

This month we are sharing success stories from the Southern Adirondack Independent Living Center (SAIL) and AIM Independent Living. Oliver Vaughn, with help from Transition Specialists with SAIL, was able to transition out of a nursing home and began a new life in Saratoga. As a result, he is now working, engaged, and contributing to the community. You can read his full success story here.

AIM Independent Living’s Open Doors team completed their first nursing home transition of 2023 in early January. They helped Martha Lipham transition into a new apartment in Elmira Heights. Martha was in a rehab center recovering from a back injury she sustained during a fall. You can read all about her transition from the rehab center to her new apartment from AIM’s Facebook post.

NYAIL administers several statewide and regional programs in collaboration with its member ILCs, all of which are focused on helping people with disabilities live independently in the community.

Learn more about NYAIL's program by visiting: ilny.us/programs