The City Council is and
continues to be a leading
advocate for the city’s seniors.
Their life experiences and contributions
are invaluable and have made our City
the great metropolis that it is. During
my tenure as chair of the Committee on
Aging, our goal has been to keep seniors
engaged in their communities, preserve
aging services and create innovative
but practical solutions to various issues
impacting seniors. Approximately
1.3 million New Yorkers are over the age
of 60 and it has been projected that they
will outnumber school-age children by
2030. Additionally, the needs of seniors
are changing. For example, many want
or need to stay in the workforce; they are
raising their grandchildren; or growing
old with HIV/AIDS.
In June 2007, the Council funded the HIV Prevention and Health Literacy for Seniors Initiative. This initiative was created by a workgroup of aging and HIV/AIDS service providers that the Committee on Aging convened in response to a hearing held regarding HIV/AIDS and older adults. The initiative, the fi rst of its kind nationwide, was developed to educate and train the older adult population, aging service providers and health care providers on the various issues surrounding HIV and the older adult population. To date, 20,000 seniors have been impacted, and the initiative is being considered by the Centers for Disease Control to become a national model for peer education.
Another innovative effort is Age- Friendly New York City, which is a partnership between the Council, the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) and the Mayor’s Offi ce to create a blueprint for how New York City can become more age-friendly. In the fall of 2007 the Council and NYAM embarked on a citywide public engagement campaign with older adults and experts in the fi eld that resulted in the release of a fi ndings report in September 2008. Additionally, we worked with the Mayor’s Offi ce and issued a joint report in August 2009, identifying 59 initiatives to develop a more age-friendly city.
With respect to preserving vital services for seniors, we have closely monitored the Department for the Aging’s (DFTA) modernization plan for their core programs, which include case management, home-delivered meals and senior centers. Of greatest concern was that DFTA’s plan called for the restructuring of services through the issuing of Requests for Proposals (RFP) that did not adequately take into account transition time, the interdependence between each service and the need for neighborhood/community-based models. Further, the senior center RFP may have potentially resulted in the closing of 80 senior centers citywide. The Council worked with advocates and older adults to successfully have the senior center RFP pulled. We continue to work in partnership with DFTA to create an RFP informed by providers and seniors themselves. Moreover, during the past budget cycle, the Council was successful in restoring $32.9 million to DFTA’s budget.
In addition, the Council has passed legislation that increased the income levels needed to qualify for the Senior Citizen Homeowner’s Exemption, legislation requiring that staff working at city-supported senior centers be trained in elder abuse detection and reporting, and legislation that transfers the administration of the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption from DFTA to the Department of Finance, allowing the city to better target older adults who may be eligible for the rental benefi t. The accomplishments listed above are only a few of many and we still have more work to do. I continue to be concerned about our ability to meet the service level needs given expected growth in the aging population. There is also a need to amend the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement methodology on the federal level to include community-based services that would help increase access to health care for all New Yorkers, including seniors. As chair of the Committee on Aging, I look forward to tackling these issues.
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Maria Carmen del Arroyo, a Democrat representing parts of the Bronx, is the chair of the City Council Committee on Aging.
In June 2007, the Council funded the HIV Prevention and Health Literacy for Seniors Initiative. This initiative was created by a workgroup of aging and HIV/AIDS service providers that the Committee on Aging convened in response to a hearing held regarding HIV/AIDS and older adults. The initiative, the fi rst of its kind nationwide, was developed to educate and train the older adult population, aging service providers and health care providers on the various issues surrounding HIV and the older adult population. To date, 20,000 seniors have been impacted, and the initiative is being considered by the Centers for Disease Control to become a national model for peer education.
Another innovative effort is Age- Friendly New York City, which is a partnership between the Council, the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) and the Mayor’s Offi ce to create a blueprint for how New York City can become more age-friendly. In the fall of 2007 the Council and NYAM embarked on a citywide public engagement campaign with older adults and experts in the fi eld that resulted in the release of a fi ndings report in September 2008. Additionally, we worked with the Mayor’s Offi ce and issued a joint report in August 2009, identifying 59 initiatives to develop a more age-friendly city.
With respect to preserving vital services for seniors, we have closely monitored the Department for the Aging’s (DFTA) modernization plan for their core programs, which include case management, home-delivered meals and senior centers. Of greatest concern was that DFTA’s plan called for the restructuring of services through the issuing of Requests for Proposals (RFP) that did not adequately take into account transition time, the interdependence between each service and the need for neighborhood/community-based models. Further, the senior center RFP may have potentially resulted in the closing of 80 senior centers citywide. The Council worked with advocates and older adults to successfully have the senior center RFP pulled. We continue to work in partnership with DFTA to create an RFP informed by providers and seniors themselves. Moreover, during the past budget cycle, the Council was successful in restoring $32.9 million to DFTA’s budget.
In addition, the Council has passed legislation that increased the income levels needed to qualify for the Senior Citizen Homeowner’s Exemption, legislation requiring that staff working at city-supported senior centers be trained in elder abuse detection and reporting, and legislation that transfers the administration of the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption from DFTA to the Department of Finance, allowing the city to better target older adults who may be eligible for the rental benefi t. The accomplishments listed above are only a few of many and we still have more work to do. I continue to be concerned about our ability to meet the service level needs given expected growth in the aging population. There is also a need to amend the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement methodology on the federal level to include community-based services that would help increase access to health care for all New Yorkers, including seniors. As chair of the Committee on Aging, I look forward to tackling these issues.
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Maria Carmen del Arroyo, a Democrat representing parts of the Bronx, is the chair of the City Council Committee on Aging.
