For those living HIV and AIDS, the state’s budget crisis threatens to reduce important services such as free meals, mental health counseling, and programs that help them stay on their medicine, say advocates of the services.
The 11 HIV/AIDS organizations in Central New York are scrambling to persuade state lawmakers to avoid funding cuts and to find other sources of money, says Steve Waldron, coordinator for the umbrella group called the HIV Care Network. As the state heads into the next budget cycle, said, Waldron, “All of the organizations tell me they don’t know what’s going to happen.”
In Central New York, about 4,000 people are living with HIV or AIDS, compared to 116,000 statewide. The region has 11 HIV/AIDS organizations, all of which are part of the HIV Care Network. The network’s agencies provided services to nearly 2,000 HIV/AIDS patients in 2006. Thousands more received education and prevention services from the network.
The agencies and their clients are caught in the state’s budget crunch. Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders are trying to close a $1.6 billion budget deficit for this fiscal year. And they will still need to deal with a projected $13.8 billion deficit for 2009-10.
It’s unclear, say representatives of local HIV/AIDS agencies, how services will be affected as the lawmakers negotiate over more budget cuts. But the agencies are still trying to recover from a 13 percent — or $500,00 — cut from last year’s $3.8 million budget. At least three agencies, representatives say, have been forced to reduce their full-time staff.
Other HIV/AIDS organizations have been affected as follows:
- Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility Inc. lost $100,000 for pregnancy prevention and outreach to women and people of color.
- Liberty Resources’ Living Room program can no longer provide meals and counseling to people unless they are enrolled in a nutritional education program that has strict eligibility guidelines.
- AIDS Community Resources can no longer continue their mental health counseling or treatment adherence programs because of a change in specifications in funding eligibility.
- Southern Tier Aids Program lost around $120,000 in state grants as well as $163,000 tied to the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services prevention programs.
AIDS Community Resources is the largest non-profit in the network with six offices throughout Central New York. In another sign of the financial stresses, the organization had phone service shut off to one of its offices in January.
Jean Kessner, director of public relations at AIDS Community Resources, expresses frustration about the slashes in funding. Still, she says that she doesn’t blame the lawmakers in Albany who are trying to balance the state’s budget. “There are no bad guys here,” she said. “Albany is working very hard.”
As state officials struggle with the budget, the HIV/AIDS service providers are worried that they will no longer be able to provide the services their clients need. And statewide AIDS advocacy organizations are scrambling to find long-term funding recommendations for the legislature to control the losses throughout the state.
That’s a change from the groups’ past approaches to the state legislature, said HIV Care Network coordinator Waldron. “We’ve always asked for more money, and provided documentation on why we need a million here or two million there,” said Waldron. “This year, forget it. The issue isn’t more money. The issue is: Can we keep anything we’ve got?”
(Maggie Scott-Weathers is a graduate student studying political reporting.)
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