Statement by Senator Golden on Restoration of Title Xx Funding to Keep New York City Senior Centers Open

Brooklyn- State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn), a member and former Chairman of the New York State Senate Aging Committee, today held a press conference with Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-C, Brooklyn, Staten Island) to announce the State Legislature’s approval of the 2011-2012 State Budget, which contained full restoration of Title XX Funding, in the amount of $22.5 million, so to keep open senior centers in New York.

Senator Golden stated, “Congratulations to our seniors here at the Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults and throughout the five boroughs of New York City We did it. The message of which was to save Title XX funding so to keep open our senior centers was heard loud and clear in Albany due to the efforts of Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and myself.

The phone calls, the petitions, the letters worked. Trust me, this was a fight that I was not going to lose on behalf of the senior citizens of my district.

I am proud that in the early morning hours of Thursday, we were able to pass an on time budget that included the full restoration of Title XX funds so to support senior centers in New York City and prevent them from having to close their doors, leaving countless seniors throughout the Big Apple, including right here at the center we stand today, without a place to go for meals, casework and socialization.

Locally, the Narrows Moose Lodge and the Fort Hamilton St. John’s Nutrition Program also were also on the list for closure, in addition to the Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults

But together, we saved all them. I am proud to have fought for a full restoration, as did my colleagues, of $22.5 million in Title XX monies to keep senior centers open in the City, bringing the total funding to support these services to $36 million. If we failed to have this money restored, more than 5,000 seniors would have been abandoned and more than 100 centers City wide would have shut their doors.

We all know how important a neighborhood senior center is to the health, well-being and livelihood of a senior citizen here in New York. And that is why we stood in the way of letting this happen and made sure the tone of our negotiations were so to save this funding.

Today is a celebration of our success in that through our efforts, this funding has been restored and this program will continue to provide both necessary and valuable service to our senior citizens who have given so much to our City, State and Nation.”