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In the News - 2008
December 16 - The neediest suffer most (Boston Globe - Adrian Walker column)
Amy Lopes has been an administrator at Bay Cove Human Services for five years, but probably not for much longer. Lopes, who is 30, works with mentally ill people, supervising job training and helping them find work. They range in age from 16 to 65, and are exactly the sort of people advocates call "vulnerable." Lopes will not be leaving her job at the end of this month because she has done anything wrong. Far from it. It is because the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can no longer afford her services. The programs she works in have been slashed because of a huge cut in human services spending, mandated by the state's massive deficit and the sluggish economy. [Read more]
Thirty-thousand human service providers expecting a raise this month may be out of luck, just when winter heating and holiday shopping bills are coming due. Twenty-three million dollars earmarked for the lowest-earning human service providers, approved by lawmakers earlier this year and signed into law by the governor, have been closely held by the administration with no timetable for release. [Read more]
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 19, 2008….. Representatives from the mutual fund industry, small businesses, and human service providers on Wednesday tore into new rules aimed at cutting down on identity theft, as the Patrick administration's top consumer affairs official said businesses could handle the regulations. The groups, which included the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Providers' Council, and the Investment Company Institute, called for more time ‐ as much as two years ‐ to implement the encryption and inventory requirements. They said the current regulations, set to take effect starting next May after an implementation delay was approved last week, would lead to closed businesses. [Read more]
FITCHBURG -- Dolores Thibault-Munoz, executive director of the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center, got a phone call and an e-mail she was dreading earlier this month. Due to state budget cuts, Fitchburg State College will no longer pay for seven work-study tutors to go to the center."That was the first whack in the face," Thibault-Munoz said. "I just expect more of those to come."Local human service agencies and those across the state are already feeling the pinch of a slowing economy and Gov. Deval Patrick's announcement of $755 million worth of budget cuts. [Read more]
October 22 - Job-finding program on the block (MetroWest Daily News - News Article)
State budget cuts will gut a program that helps hundreds of local people with severe mental illnesses learn job skills and get back into the work force, human service providers said Tuesday. State officials plan to eliminate the $6.6 million Services for Employment and Education program, which serves about 2,000 people in Massachusetts, the agencies said. [Read more]
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, OCT. 10, 2008.....A somber air hung in the halls of the capitol Friday as global markets lurched and reverberated a little closer to home Friday. State officials held a string of meetings thin on details but thick with anxiety about forthcoming budget cuts. [Read more]
August 6 - Service agencies win hike in rates (Springfield Republican - News Article)
BOSTON - Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed legislation on Tuesday aimed at increasing state financing for private human service providers. The bill, passed last week by the state Legislature, transfers the authority for setting rates of payment for the providers to the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services. The legislation mandates that rates be "reasonable and adequate" to meet the costs of such providers as the Center for Human Development in Springfield, which has about 1,000 employees. [Read more]
Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that human service providers say will ensure a series of rate increases over the next four years. As the signing approached, dozens of human service providers advocates gathered in the lobby of Patrick's office, many remarking on their years-long push for the legislation. [Read more]
June 24 - Senate approves human service provider rate bill (State House News Service - News Article)
A bill that would give more leverage to human services providers in setting the rates for their work was approved by the Senate Tuesday afternoon. The bill sets up regular reviews and cost of living adjustments for providers, who argue that the lack of such adjustments has made it difficult to retain qualified staff. The bill was revised by Senate Ways and Means to include a phased-in implementation, according to Michael Weekes, president of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers. [Read more]
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 16, 2008.....Even as revenue continues to pour in above benchmarks, House leaders say their newly proposed $28 billion fiscal 2009 budget braces the commonwealth for a drastic drop‐off. The House Ways and Means Committee voted Wednesday afternoon to approve a budget proposal that cuts $109 million out of this year's line items, incorporates $396 million from increased corporate tax collections and a $1‐per‐pack cigarette tax and draws $229 million from the state's $2.2 billion stabilization reserve account, while blocking the next scheduled payment into the reserve. [Read more]
April 7 - Support Massachusetts human service providers (Lowell Sun - Letter to the Editor)
Every day, more than 185,000 dedicated individuals go to work to provide high-quality services to residents of the commonwealth who need assistance, many of them our friends and neighbors. The work these caregivers do helps to strengthen our society and builds caring communities in every city and town throughout Massachusetts. [Read more]
March 29 - Social service workers seek raises (Springfield Republican - News Article)
SPRINGFIELD - About 100 people turned out for a hearing yesterday on proposed legislation designed to help boost salaries for social service workers. State Sen. Gale D. Candaras, D-Wilbraham, is lead sponsor of the bill, which would change how state payment rates are set for private and non-profit social service providers. [Read more]
March 28 - DiGravio: Crucial state service floundering (MetroWest Daily News - Opinion)
Now is the time for Massachusetts state government to recognize another important industry that needs help. The human service industry - the workers who take care of people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses, among many other afflictions - is in dire need of attention and investment. The non-profit organizations which provide these services are buckling under a tremendous strain of underfunding and overwork. [Read more]
March 27 - Agencies seeking funding increases (Springfield Republican - News Article)
BOSTON - Leaders in human services in Western Mass. will outline a proposal to boost state financing for the industry during an event tomorrow in Springfield. Rep. Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, will take testimony from providers and others on a bill that establishes a new standard of adequacy of care to be applied by the state when setting rates for private, nonprofit providers of social services. [Read more]
Every day, more than 100,000 dedicated individuals go to work to provide high-quality services to residents of the commonwealth who need assistance to get through the challenges of life. Many of these people are our friends and neighbors. The work these caregivers do helps to strengthen our society and builds caring communities in every city and town throughout the commonwealth. [Read more]
March 24 - LETTER: Save human services (Fall River Herald News - Letter to the Editor)
There has not been a statewide adjustment to rates for human services since 1987! Yet, we all experience at least a 3 percent increase in costs each year. Just in 2008, analysts predict that gasoline, heating costs, food and utilities will increase by at least 10 percent. Statewide, one in six people require the services of a human service organization. This means that nearly every family will rely on a human service professional — either for short-term issues or for long-term services. [Read more]
March 20 - Bill to help human service providers moves forward (Quincy Patriot Ledger - News Article)
A legislative committee has approved a bill that is aimed at regularly adjusting rates for state funds paid to social service providers. The Legislature’s committee on children, families and disabled persons gave a favorable report for the bill with a voice vote on Tuesday. The next destination for the bill is unclear, although it will likely need to pass through at least one more legislative committee before it heads to a floor vote. [Read more]
Every day, more than 100,000 dedicated individuals go to work to provide high-quality services to residents of the Commonwealth who need assistance to get through the challenges of life. Many of these people are our friends and neighbors. The work these caregivers do helps to strengthen our society and builds caring communities in every city and town throughout the Commonwealth. [Read more]
March 17 - YOUR OPINION: Antiquated rates devalue human services (Quincy Patriot Ledger - Opinion)
HARWICH — We all know heartwarming stories of a family member or neighbor being helped by a wonderful, caring person in a human services agency. We have come to rely on the 185,000 staff members in the 1,100 agencies that provide us with essential services when we need them. As a matter of fact, one in six people in Massachusetts uses a human service provider each day. [Read more]
March 6 - LETTER: Support human services (North Andover Citizen - Letter to the Editor)
Every day, more than 100,000 dedicated individuals go to work to provide high-quality services to residents of the commonwealth who need assistance, many of whom are our friends and neighbors. The work these caregivers do helps to strengthen our society and builds caring communities in every city and town throughout the commonwealth. [Read more]
With a pending move across the Neponset River to Dorchester from their longtime home in Quincy, you can’t blame the folks who run Work Inc. if they’re a little stressed these days. But a big cause of headaches at the provider of rehabilitation and work services for disabled people isn’t relocation planning. Instead, it’s the ongoing efforts to keep up with constant turnover among its roughly 375 full- and part-time employees. [Read more]
If a new piece of legislation serving human service providers passes, it would professionalize the way the nonprofit organizations negotiate rates for state contracts, relieving a sector that for decades has been finding ways to survive. The bill, Senate No. 65, would require the state pay reimbursement rates that would take into account the rising cost of living, inflation, energy costs and other expenses in operating a human services nonprofit. [Read more]
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