Quality care worth state investment

As parents, family members and friends of individuals with developmental disabilities, we know the enormous responsibility direct care workers in the nonprofit sector incur on a daily basis (“Direct care workers demand funds,” Feb. 25).

In New York state, 85 percent of all services provided to individuals with developmental disabilities are provided by nonprofit organizations. Direct support professionals are the foundation upon which the state’s system of nonprofit service provision rests, and 80 percent of this workforce is women. Without direct support professionals, New York’s human service initiatives and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s women’s justice agenda cannot be realized.

We have been focused on increasing direct support professional wages over the past three years because we understand how critically important continuity of care is to the safety and well-being of our most vulnerable citizens. We have seen how statewide turnover (33 percent) and vacancy rates (12-17 percent) eroded continuity of care to the point of crisis, putting the safety of our loved ones and remaining workforce at risk.

Ten years ago, direct support professional wages in the nonprofit sector were 60 percent higher than minimum wage and turnover was 20 percent. Due to mandated minimum wage increases, direct support professionals are now making little more than minimum wage and the state’s direct support professional turnover rate has grown to more than 33 percent. If the governor and Legislature intend to stay true to the promise they made to this workforce two years ago, as well as to the women’s justice agenda, they must ensure that a cost-of-living increase and additional funds necessary to provide direct support professionals a living wage are included in this year’s budget. Karen Nagy and Linda Karins Rexford and Albany Eastern New York Developmental Disabilities Advocates