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Budget Advocacy Begins. We Need Your Voice!
We’ve officially launched our FY28 budget advocacy campaign, and we're calling on you to help us leverage the full power of The Arc New York for the fight!
From now until the introduction of the Executive Budget in January, we will be directly advocating with Governor Hochul and asking her to support our system of supports and services by including the following investments in the New York State Executive Budget:
A 3.4% Targeted Inflationary Increase (TII) to keep funding in step with the rising cost of providing services
A Human Services Careforce Worker Wage Investment to give direct care staff and other human services workers a lasting, recurring raise
Restoration of the Healthcare Enhancement Program to help providers and staff afford rising health insurance costs
How will these investments help?
3.4% Targeted Inflationary Increase (TII): funds the full system of care to adjust for inflation. The TII simply covers inflation over the past year. It is the bare minimum required to sustain the current services New Yorkers with IDD rely on.
Human Services Careforce Worker Wage Investment: provides a dedicated and lasting pay increase to staff, to improve pay equity and ensure good staff can afford to stay. This investment would strengthen compensation and retention for direct care staff, clinicians, care managers, and other human services workers. To advance wages, this funding must be built permanently into rates, in addition to the TII, and match the State's commitment to its own workforce, providing cumulative increases of $2,500, $4,500, and $6,000 over three years.
Healthcare Enhancement Program: offsets rising healthcare costs and protects New York’s investments in staff and services. For many providers, health insurance is the biggest cost after wages, and those costs have increased more than 30% since 2023. Covering rising insurance costs pulls money away from programs and services and cuts into wage progress for staff. Reinstating the Healthcare Enhancement Program provides $2,500 per employee to offset these costs and help staff afford the coverage they need.
Our collective advocacy drives change.
Thanks to your efforts, we’ve achieved true progress. The Hochul administration has provided nearly 18% in increases for IDD services to address inflation over the past five years!
But that funding comes after more than a decade without investment. Inflation is up 55% since 2006, but inflationary adjustments for IDD providers over that same period total only 27%, covering about half of those rising costs. We have made progress, but we are still catching up, and we cannot allow the field to slip backward. Sustaining services requires sustained investment.
We must continue our fight to ensure the foundation of supports and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is preserved.
So what can YOU do?
We've launched a one-click campaign to inform the governor of our budget requests. We urge you to add your voice. By participating, you will quickly send a letter to Governor Hochul and tell her support for New Yorkers with IDD must be a priority in this year's Executive Budget.
This will be the first of many advocacy opportunities to come!
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