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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/38466/full/38466/state-budget-cuts-threaten-to-eliminate-key-social-services/ <br /><br /> <b>State budget cuts threaten to eliminate key social services</b> <br /> Thursday, June 25, 2009 | by dan pine <br /><br /><p>As California’s budget impasse drags on, Jewish social service agencies warn of cuts that may devastate the clients they serve.</p> <p>Pushing back against the cuts are organizations such as Jewish Family and Children’s Services and the Jewish Community Relations Council.</p> <p> </p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 126px;"><img alt="BAbudget Friedman, Anita" class="left" height="184" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/y06_26_09/BAbudget Friedman, Anita.jpg" title="Anita Friedman" width="126" /> <div class="caption">Anita Friedman</div> </div> “We are trying to help the legislature cut with a scalpel and not an ax,” said JFCS executive director Anita Friedman. <p> </p> <p>Should the cuts go through, she added, elderly JFCS clients who suffer from diabetes or heart disease might not receive the home monitoring they need to maintain health. That could lead to numerous medical emergencies.</p> <p>“We project that within 30 to 90 days, many of our clients will either be dead, or in hospitals or skilled nursing facilities,” Friedman said.</p> <p>Seeking to prevent that, Friedman and others lobbied state representatives in Sacramento on June 16, making the case to continue funding programs that serve low-income elderly persons, the disabled, children and others.</p> <p>“We understand that funds are limited, that there need to be reductions, but there are ways to make those without causing death,” Friedman said.</p> <p>With California facing a $24 billion deficit, many programs are on the chopping block, especially with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatening to veto any budget proposal that contains tax hikes.</p> <p>“It’s dire circumstances right now,” added Friedman. “We have at least 10 programs slated for various reductions or elimination on the state and county level. These are programs that largely serve the most vulnerable.”</p> <p>Friedman says JFCS programs threatened the most include Adult Day Health Care for elderly Jews, Multipurpose Senior Services, Linkages (a Medi-Cal supplement for nursing care costs), adult and early childhood mental health programs, kosher meals-on-wheels and domestic violence shelter services.</p> <p>Under the governor’s plan, programs such as CalWORKS, the state’s welfare-to-work program, and Healthy Families, California’s health insurance program for 930,000 low-income children, would be eliminated.</p> <p>A competing plan approved by the legislature’s Democratic-controlled conference committee would retain these programs but still make drastic cuts. And the governor still has the power of the line-item veto in case he wants to make further cuts in the budget.</p> <p>Jessica Trubowitch, the director of legislative affairs and intergroup relations for the JCRC in San Francisco, also lobbied lawmakers in Sacramento last week. She said they were sympathetic to her pleas, but could make no promises.</p> <p>“The legislature has to make tough decisions,” Trubowitch said, “and there are no good options. We were there to convey the importance of the programs, that they are cost effective and that [cutbacks] would have a huge negative impact on the poor and elderly. I think they heard our message.”</p> <p>Friedman said part of her message to lawmakers is that these programs actually save the government money. With their elimination, the web of social services comes apart.</p> <p>She cites as an example the fact that California has a low number of seniors in government-funded nursing home beds. The reason: “We have a very sophisticated system of community-based care,” Friedman said. “We need to maintain the services at the lowest costs. We understand how to make cost savings, and we are working with the legislature to make good decisions.”</p> <p>Friedman said JFCS has a worst-case scenario plan in place, which involves cutting certain programs and redirecting those funds to what she calls “the front lines.”</p> <p>“We’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” she said. “It’s as if you were a hospital. At the end of day you have to open the emergency room and eliminate the programs that just help people live a healthier life.”</p>

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