Disability programs face $3M cut in NJ's budget
By: Gene Myers
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Disability advocates across the state are calling on lawmakers to reverse a proposed $3 million cut to New Jersey's Center for Independent Living, which assist with job training and other resources for thousands of clients.
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"This is a devastating setback to the disability community,: said Donald Campbell, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Independent Living in Galloway. "CILs are not just service providers - they're lifelines. They help people get out of bed in the morning, find accessible housing, secure jobs and transition out of institutions."
..... The cuts in Governor Phil Murphy's budget proposal would amount to a 45% reduction in the centers' $6.7 million operation budget, which relies on both state and federal dollars, said Garmela Slivinski, who directs the DAWN Center for Independent Living in Danville.
..... New Jersey has 12 Centers for Independent Living, all run by nonprofit groups that serve the state's 21 counties. The programs offer services designed to help people with debilitates live more independently and participate in society, supporters said.
..... Murphy's $58.1 billion budget plan, introduced in February, [2025] must still pass through the state Legislature, where lawmakers are likely to make changes. His fiscal blueprint includes more spending for tax relief and school funding, but it's also being crafted as Republicans in Washington contemplate deep cuts to Medicaid and pother programs that fund state services.
..... Maggie Garbarino, Murphy's deputy press secretary, said "some belt-tightening" was necessary to protect the state's long-term priorities. As a result, the purposed budget eliminates most of the direct grants hat were awarded without competition last year, [2024] and it significantly reduces funding for many older grants, she said.
..... Questions to Murphy's office on whether the administration planned alternative support for the centers and how it weighed the potential loss of services went unanswered.
..... The centers serve clients of all ages and types of disabilities and are often the only options for people who acquire a disability later in life, such as from a car accident or stroke, Slivinkis said. Those people often don't qualify for programs like those offered by the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities.
..... Customers can connect with services that make homes accessible, find transportation options and offer employment training. Often the help comes from piers - 51% of CI employees also have a disability. In 2023, the programs helped 7,800 people statewide, said Marily Gonzalez, CEO of the Heightened Independence and Progress Center in Hackensack.
..... Center directors said their offices play a unique role in helping people navigate fragmented befit systems and access lesser-known resources, such as foundations that can help pay for wheelchairs when insurance won't pay.
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"These individuals have needs, but no programs are designed for them,' said Slivinski. "We're often the only place the can turn to."
..... CILs have always operated with limited resources, she added. "Ive been with my center for 26 years now, and I don't remember a day when we weren't fighting for additional resources," she said
..... State funding enabled Slivinski's DAWN Center for Independent Living to hire two staff members and buy a car. The center cerated a mobile office that goes to the rural areas of Sussex and Warren counties to help people who have a hard time reaching more populated areas.
..... "We meet people where they're at," she said. Without the money, "that's going to go away."
..... The newer employees at Slivinski's center won't be the only ones to lose their jobs. At the Heightened Independence and Progress center which serves Bergen and Hudson counties, the cut could affect over 30 positions, many held by people with disabilities, Gonzalez said.
..... Slivinsk said she understands that budgets are tight, but the amount in question is small in the context of state spending, she argued.
Murphy wants to 'leave the state flush'
..... "It's a drop in the bucket for the state," she said. Still she said, "some of the smaller centers will not be able to survive this," she said.
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Slovonski recently met with representatives of Murphy's office to explain the scope of CIL services and was told the proposed cut was part of a sweep of discretionary appropriations aimed at reducing the size of the budget.
..... "We were told the governor had wanted to leave the state flush, and all of the funding that was considered discretionary funding, like an appropriation through the Legislature, was wiped away," she said.
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The CILs have since been meeting with legislators, including members of the Assembly Budget Committee and the Legislature's Disability Caucus, in hopes of getting the money reinstated.
..... A message to state Assemblywoman Ellen Park, a Bergen County Democrat and vice chairwomen of the chamber's Budget Committee, wasn't immediately returned.
..... Both Campbell and Slivinski said the consequences of the funding cut would go beyond lost programs. The centers play a crucial role in helping people with disabilities remain in their communities, avoiding costly and often inappropriate institutionalist care, they said.
..... "When the funding disappears, the services disappear - and with them, our independence,' Campbell said.
..... He urged residents to contact legislators and ask for the funding to be restored.
..... "The cure for despair is action," he said.