families network

[Guest guest]

Hello Families Network! As we found out last week, Governor Corzine has

directed his cabinet members to cut the fiscal year 2010 budget (the budget

we are operating under now) by $400 million by December 1st. While we still

don't yet know exactly what this will mean for services to people with

developmental disabilities, we need to start sending a strong message now

that no cuts are acceptable. There is a new action alert at

http://capwiz.com/thearc/state/main/?state=NJ. For those of you who have

not used our online action alert system before, it is extremely quick and

easy and if you have any trouble just give me a call and I am happy to walk

you through it!

Also, as I mentioned in my last email, the Department of Human Services will

be holding 3 regional budget forums in November/December (dates, times, and

locations can be found at

http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/home/budget/index.html). For those of

you who are interested in attending or speaking, this is a great opportunity

to oppose the cuts. If you are unable to attend, but would like to submit

written testimony, you can send it to dhs_commissioner@... and

put " FY'11 budget forum testimony " in the subject line. Here are some

suggested talking points that you can use:

State funded services in residential, day programs, family support and

Medicaid are lifelines for people with developmental disabilities and their

families.

Thousands of people with developmental disabilities and their families are

already waiting years for desperately needed services because of

insufficient resources.

Case managers already have overly burdensome caseloads, and with the current

hiring freeze, no new case managers are being hired!

It has been years since community provider agencies have received sufficient

increases to reflect their increased costs. They are already struggling to

stay afloat!

There is a human and personal impact behind every budget decision. Any cuts

will hurt individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

There MUST NOT be cuts to services for people with developmental

disabilities and their families.

Your budget decisions are a statement of values. Show us that you value

people with developmental disabilities and their families by protecting our

services!

Of course, the more personal you can make your message, the more of an

impact it will have.

Please also know that this is only the beginning. It is almost certain that

we will be looking at even greater cuts in next year's budget, which makes

it even more critical that we eliminate all cuts now! As always, please

feel free to contact me with any questions.

Denbigh Shelton

Director, Family Advocacy Program

The Arc of New Jersey

985 Livingston Avenue

North Brunswick, NJ 08902

(732) 246-2525 ext. 49

dshelton@...

www.arcfamilyadvocacy.org

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