Calif. Funding Cuts Push DD System Into Crisis
Calif. Funding Cuts Push DD System Into Crisis
California's unique service delivery system for persons with developmental disabilities is teetering on the edge of collapse. Community-based organizations like ours that serve people with developmental disabilities have sustained budget cut after budget cut, while the population we serve continues to grow. We simply can't take any more cuts.
• We are gravely concerned about the impending January trigger cuts, and the cuts that will be part of the 2012-13 budget.
- It is shameful that services for California's most vulnerable citizens are in the first tier of the trigger cuts; especially after all of the cuts our system has already endured.
- The resourcefulness of service providers has been tapped out. We have no more flexibility to respond to additional budget cuts.
- Further cuts will prevent California from honoring its legal obligation to support people with developmental disabilities in their communities.
• Funding for community based services has not kept pace with the cost of providing services.
- For nearly 2 decades funding has been inadequate and inconsistent in direct service programs, large and small, across California.
- Ongoing rate cuts and freezes threaten the financial solvency of service providers, decreasing access to quality care and endangering people with developmental disabilities.
• In the last 2 years, California's developmental services have been cut by more than half of a billion dollars in state funds alone.
- Add in the lost federal matching funds and the results are staggering.
- Countless families throughout the state have had their services dramatically reduced, or even eliminated.
• Community-based services are the cost-effective alternative to expensive state institutions.
- The 1,700 consumers that remain in the Developmental Centers cost the state about $340,000 a year, per person. Those same individuals could be served in the community in ways that would be significantly more cost effective.
The Department of Developmental Services can be reached at: (616) 654-1987. The DDS Website is located at: www.dds.ca.gov/complaints.
Toward Maximum Independence, Inc. (TMI) does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age or disabilities in hiring practices or provision of services.