We Need Your Help!
The survival of the Early Intervention Program is at stake and Albany needs to hear your voice! Please take a few seconds to act now to lend your support the tens of thousands of children and families.
In the next two weeks, the New York State Legislature will decide what proposals to include in their “One House” budget bills. The New York State Comptroller issued an alarming audit in February 2023 finding that over half of children in the program did not receive the services they were entitled to by law! The provider shortage has worsened greatly since then. The root cause is that reimbursement rates in the program have not changed in decades despite the rising costs and inflation. Governor Hochul ONLY proposed an increase of 5% that is too small to help.
The EI rates of payment are less in 2024 than they were in 2009. Because of this, nearly two thousand therapists and dozens of agencies have left the program.
We need your help to urge the Legislature to include an 11% increase in reimbursement in this year's budget.
· 5% is simply not enough when rates have not changed except for one minor increase in the last 29 years (and even that increase excluded evaluations and special education teachers!).
· 5% is simply not enough to help the tens of thousands of infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families who deserve the best start in life and are currently not receiving their services.
· Investing in the care of infants and toddlers can make a huge difference in their lives. Studies have repeatedly shown that $1 invested in early intervention with the youngest children saves $7 or more over the child’s lifetime. Let’s be smart and get children the help they need, the earlier the better.
The Legislature needs to hear from you and all of your colleagues, family and friends. THEY need to know that YOU CARE for them to care enough to amend the Governor’s budget to increase the EI Rate by 11%.
TAKE ACTION HERE to send email messages to the key State Assembly Members and Senators urging them to act before it’s too late. If enough of us do this, we will win. It costs you nothing other than just a few seconds of your time to SAVE THE EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM. Children need our help now!
We Need Your Help!
The survival of the Early Intervention Program is at stake and Albany needs to hear your voice! Please take a few seconds to act now to lend your support the tens of thousands of children and families.
In the next two weeks, the New York State Legislature will decide what proposals to include in their “One House” budget bills. The New York State Comptroller issued an alarming audit in February 2023 finding that over half of children in the program did not receive the services they were entitled to by law! The provider shortage has worsened greatly since then. The root cause is that reimbursement rates in the program have not changed in decades despite the rising costs and inflation. Governor Hochul ONLY proposed an increase of 5% that is too small to help.
The EI rates of payment are less in 2024 than they were in 2009. Because of this, nearly two thousand therapists and dozens of agencies have left the program.
We need your help to urge the Legislature to include an 11% increase in reimbursement in this year's budget.
· 5% is simply not enough when rates have not changed except for one minor increase in the last 29 years (and even that increase excluded evaluations and special education teachers!).
· 5% is simply not enough to help the tens of thousands of infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families who deserve the best start in life and are currently not receiving their services.
· Investing in the care of infants and toddlers can make a huge difference in their lives. Studies have repeatedly shown that $1 invested in early intervention with the youngest children saves $7 or more over the child’s lifetime. Let’s be smart and get children the help they need, the earlier the better.
The Legislature needs to hear from you and all of your colleagues, family and friends. THEY need to know that YOU CARE for them to care enough to amend the Governor’s budget to increase the EI Rate by 11%.
TAKE ACTION HERE to send email messages to the key State Assembly Members and Senators urging them to act before it’s too late. If enough of us do this, we will win. It costs you nothing other than just a few seconds of your time to SAVE THE EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM. Children need our help now!