With the state's population age 65+ projected to grow rapidly in the coming years, members of the Council's Funders in Aging Affinity Group have engaged in various initiatives to support this population segment.
In the fall of 2014, the leaders of six foundations signed a letter sent to Commissioner Roderick Bremby, State of Connecticut Department of Social Services, urging DSS to conduct an analysis of the cost of providing services under the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders and the pilot for the similar program for the disabled that was legislatively required in the budget implementer bill, PA 14-217, but had not been initiated.
The report was intended to provide comparable cost data to be used for budgeting meaningful home and community based services in the state of Connecticut. The members of the affinity group seized the opportunity to communicate philanthropy's unique value by reinforcing the importance of this mandated action and offered to work in support of this critical issue.
The completed report, based on knowledgeable review, does not deliver the information required. Once again, members of the Funders in Aging Affinity Group have voiced their concern in a letter sent to the Appropriations and Human Services Committees in support of action instructing the Department of Social Services (DSS) to provide the data and analysis as required.
