Raise the Wage for Direct Service Professionals: An Open Letter to Governor Cuomo

Dear Governor Cuomo:

 

Thank you for your efforts to raise the minimum wage in New York State to $15. People who work full time – including those in the fast food industry – deserve to make a living wage. However, New York State also needs to make wage increases equivalent to those provided to fast food workers for people who provide supports to individuals with disabilities. Professionals in this field – who are responsible for supporting the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities – deserve an equivalent increase as well.

 

The health, safety and well-being of vulnerable New Yorkers depend on Direct Support Professionals. These jobs are extremely demanding and require extensive training, intensive documentation and stringent accountability. Everything Direct Support Professionals do is subject to the strictest State scrutiny and any misstep can have serious consequences. In spite of these demands the wages of Direct Support Professionals are very low due to limitations in government funding. Like fast food workers, most people providing direct supports to individuals with disabilities must also work more than one job, just to make ends meet.

 

The State’s plan to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers, without providing equivalent wage increases for people who provide direct supports to individuals with disabilities, will force many Direct Support Professionals to consider other jobs that pay a higher wage. This will only exacerbate the current difficulty in hiring and retaining people willing to provide these vital supports to New York’s most vulnerable citizens.

 

On behalf of the individuals with disabilities receiving supports and their families, I ask that you add to the budget for SFY 16/17 the funds needed for nonprofit agencies employing Direct Support Professionals to provide a wage increase that maintains the relationship between the minimum wage and the wages we currently pay our staff.

 

Yours truly,

 

Charles Houston

Executive Director

Queens Center for Progress