Virtually eliminating the federally funded Corporation for National and Community Service Senior Corps Programs. Those are; The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions. In the interest of full disclosure I am employed by one of these and my job could be eliminated next June. Here is the response to the proposed budget;
What does the Administration's 2015 budget do to RSVP funding?
The 2015 budget calls for the RSVP line item to be eliminated and all funding to be moved to the Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) totaling $19,000,000.
1. NSCA strongly opposes the move of RSVP funds to the Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) and elimination of 66% of RSVP funding.
JUSTIFICATION: 2014 RSVP funding was $48,900,000 and the VGF funding ($15,000,000 to be designated for RSVP) represents a 66% reduction meaning at least 2/3 of RSVP programs would be eliminated in 2015.
Millions of Americans and thousands of local non-profit organizations will lose services and non-profits will be left without a viable resource to maintain the critical services they provide. Communities are already inundated with increased needs, the shift and loss of the RSVP funding and volunteers will have a massive negative impact on local organization's ability to sustain services to the neediest populations.
In 2012 there were 296,000 RSVP volunteers, a decrease of over 100,000 volunteers from the 2010 level of engagement when RSVP received 20% cuts to budgets. By cutting another 66% RSVP will lose another 195,000 volunteers currently serving. Our communities will lose 40,920,000 hours of service to children, veterans, disaster response and many other activities provided to struggling non-profits. This will reduce the level of service value by $905,968,000 (based on value of volunteer service in 2014 by Independent Sector). This change would be devastating to the 65,000 community organizations that collaborate with RSVP.
What does the Administration's 2015 budget do to Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) and Senior Companion Program (SCP) funding?
The request of $92.8 million will transition the Foster Grandparent Program model to AmeriCorps. This funding will support approximately 21,200 AmeriCorps Foster Grandparent members who will continue to provide one-on-one mentoring. (from CNCS Budget Brief)
The request of $38.3 million will transition the Senior Companion Program model to AmeriCorps. This funding will support approximately 8,800 AmeriCorps Senior Companion Program members. (from CNCS Budget Brief)
1. NSCA strongly opposes the transfer of FGP and SCP to the AmeriCorps management and funding system. In addition to the transfer to Americorps the 2015 budget is a reduction of $14,900,000 (14%) for the Foster Grandparent Program and a reduction of $8,707,000 (16%) for the Senior Companion Program.
JUSTIFICATION: A 14% cut for FGP means a loss of 3,360,000 hours (valued at $74,390,00 according to Independent Sector's 2014 data) in service to children struggling with language, literacy and other academic skills. A 16% cut to SCP means a loss of 1,952,000 hours (valued at $43,217,000) of service to disabled individuals and seniors. In the language from the Administration it has been stated that these changes will provide greater efficiencies and impact, but there is no proof or research to suggest that this is actually true.
What does the Administration's 2015 budget do to FGP and SCP stipends?
In FY 2015, AmeriCorps Foster Grandparents will serve as quarter-time AmeriCorps members, receive a living allowance of $2,771, and may be provided with funds to help offset the cost of service, including mileage reimbursements. (from CNCS Budget Brief)
1. NSCA strongly opposes the elimination of the hourly stipend for FGP/SCP as proposed to be replaced with an annual living allowance (quarter time valued at $2,771 annually).
JUSTIFICATION: This proposal calls for an annual living allowance ($2,771) that would require a Foster Grandparent or Senior Companion to serve a minimum of 8.5 hours per week. Currently, many volunteers serve more than 25 hours per week and have increased financial benefit since the current stipend is hourly. The change will diminish the incentive to provide more than 8.5 hours per week and will result in a massive loss of service hours to children in need of assistance to meet academic grade level performance at thousands of schools and Head Starts across the Nation.
The current requirement of a minimum of 16 hours per week throughout the year builds consistency for the schools and helps promote a strong relationship with the children. Under the new proposal a volunteer could fulfill the 450 hour annual requirement in 10 weeks and diminish the tutoring/mentoring benefit for thousands of children.
The change would also significantly reduce vital services (via the Senior Companion Program) to a significant number of older adults striving to maintain independent living and to caregivers maintaining their loved one at home. The end result will likely be increased long-term care placements and cost to families and federal and state healthcare budgets.
What does the Administration's budget do about the Segal Education Award for volunteers?
A Segal Education award would be offered to SCP and FGP volunteers for a quarter time of service amounting to $250 per year. The current award for Americorps is $5,776 for a full time member equating to $1,444 for a quarter time member.
1. NSCA opposes the level of funding to Senior volunteers for the Segal Education Award.
JUSTIFICATION: An education award of $250 is clearly not on par with the $1,444 that would be granted to Americorps members for the same amount of service.
March 7, 2014
TO APPROPRIATIONS LEADERS AND AUTHORIZING COMMITTEE LEADERS
On May 19-23, elected officials and community leaders across the country will honor the contributions of hundreds of thousands of older Americans who perform millions of volunteer hours annually and proudly serve in the national service family as members of the Senior Corps. If President Obama has his way, Senior Corps Week 2014 will be the final celebration of a 40+ year success.
On Tuesday, March 4, President Obama released his proposed Fiscal Year 2015 Budget. In doing so, he paid a disservice to hundreds of thousands of older Americans who serve today and to the millions of neighbors who have served their communities through the programs of the National Senior Corps.
In communities across the country, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and members of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program work with underprivileged and at-risk children, homebound seniors and people with disabilities, and thousands of public and non-profit agencies. Their service impacts education, physical and mental health, hunger, poverty, disaster preparedness, environmental safety and other critical needs that would not be met otherwise.
While the President's Budget proposes to preserve the work of low-income volunteers by integrating FGP and SCP into the AmeriCorps structure, he does so at the expense of countless hours of service and thousands of volunteers. Further, the stipulation that volunteers lost through attrition will not be replaced signals intent to phase out these programs permanently. And for the hundreds of thousands of RSVP volunteers, the President slashes resources (a 70% cut) and threatens extinction for the longstanding partnership between government and the independent sector in one of the most successful and cost-effective volunteer organizing tools in our nation's history.
While NSCA is not averse to change and welcomes new innovations that produce greater impact for communities, we oppose these cuts and changes in authorization to the Serve America Act that will reduce the number of low-income senior volunteers as well as the hours of service to indispensable organizations all across America.
As Vice President Hubert Humphrey famously put it, "It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." To deny opportunity to those who are able-bodied in the twilight of life (our seniors) to serve those in the dawn and the shadows of life defies moral sense. And, at a time when our federal budget remains desperately out of balance, it is senseless to curtail a cost-effective means of serving community needs and keeping senior volunteers active and healthy.
= new reply since forum marked as read
