Another group of concerned individuals has joined California educators, health-care specialists, and others in speaking out against state budget cuts.
On April 30, more than 100 people gathered at Santa Maria City Hall to protest approximately $100 million in proposed cuts to the California Department of Developmental Services for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The department provides services and support to Californians living with severe developmental disabilities.
Services are provided through state-operated developmental centers, community facilities, and 21 privately contracted nonprofit regional centers.
“The cuts could force the closure of vocational and day programs for people with disabilities,” Debra Crawford, senior vocational coordinator for Santa Maria’s Achievement House, Inc., told the Sun.
Achievement House, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides services and programs designed to promote workforce skills and independence to disabled people living in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The cuts, Crawford said, could lead to the elimination of community services, in-home support, and group homes.
“Right now, people with disabilities have choices,” Crawford said. “They have rights, and they’re taxpayers.”
But if the cuts are made to the Department of Developmental Services budget, Crawford and many other people providing support services fear the lack of vocational and community programs would lead to increased institutionalization.
“State development centers are a thing of the past,” Crawford said. “With these cuts, [the state] is moving backward.”
Officials at the Department of Developmental Services, however, maintain that the cuts wouldn’t jeopardize services to people living with disabilities.
Julia Mullen, deputy director of the department’s community services and support division, said the cuts will come mainly out of the regional center budget.
She said that even though the department plans to cut $100 million from its $3.8 billion budget, the overall budget “should grow in 2008-09 because the population of people with developmental disabilities is growing.”
To compose its budget proposal, the department held several meetings with the public asking for recommendations. Also, a work group made up of 10 individuals formed to review the department’s final proposal.
The Department of Developmental Services budget has yet to be approved by either the State Senate or Assembly.
For more information, including a full list of proposed Department of Developmental Services budget cuts, visit dds.ca.gov.
This article appears in May 7-14, 2009.
