Pennsylvania’s funding for community mental retardation (MR) and early intervention programs is on the chopping block. The budget for fiscal year 09-10 is still not in place, as the Senate waivers on whether to cut these programs from the budget or not. We need your help in urging your Senator to maintain the budget for these programs.

Click over to The Arc’s Web site, where you’ll find a pre-composed message to send to your Senator. All you have to do is enter your contact info and hit send!

Balancing the state budget requires tough choices. But community MR and early intervention programs for infants and toddlers are publicly funded. The waiting lists for services are very long. The last thing these programs need is a budget cut.

More importantly, Pennsylvanians with developmental disabilities and their families depend on these programs. Please ask your Senator to find another way to balance budget. Learn more about the issue and write in today.

Writer Lynn Gladieux put together a follow-up piece in the Pottstown Mercury about the hardship The Arc is facing in light of recent state budget cuts. Thanks so much Lynn for covering our story again!

Click over to her article or turn to today’s issue of the Pottstown Mercury to read about Lynn’s latest interview with Arc Executive Director Paul Stengle. Lynn covers how state money gets funneled through organizations like the Arc, and where some of the biggest issues lie in getting this funding to the developmentally disabled.

Those receiving or about to receive state and federal mental retardation services can breath a sigh of relief. The Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee voted down Senate Bill 850 this week. If passed, the bill would have significantly cut funding for services for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

The Arc is breathing a sigh of relief too. Rejecting this bill is an important step in preserving the services we need to support the developmentally disabled. If you take a look at what this bill would have done their well-being and livelihood, the importance of its defeat comes to light. If passed, SB 850 would have:

• Cut $37.72 million from Medicaid-waiver-funded community services, ending services for 550 people.
• Eliminated $12.117 million in state-only funds for county MH/MR programs. Three thousand families would not have been served.
• Cut $15.286 million in state and federal funding for autism services. Up to 50 percent of people waiting for services would not have gotten them.
• Eliminated the emergency waiting list and institution diversion initiative, denying services to 780 people.

You can learn more about the bill and how it would have affected the developmentally disabled community in Pennsylvania by checking out The Arc of PA’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee in May.

Writer Lynn Gladieux recently ran down with our own Paul Stengle to talk about state budget cuts, and how they’re affecting The Arc. She details it all in her article in the Kutztown Area Patriot. Thanks so much Lynn!

Turn your eyes to her piece to learn more about current legislation affecting the developmentally disabled, and why Paul believes Gov. Ed Rendell’s priorities are out of order. Paul also predicts how the federal stimulus money might play out for the disabled, and where we’re going next as the economy struggles to right itself.