Hi Everyone!
Your advocacy is needed for the FY24 Formula Grant! Please be sure to contact the House and Senate legislators that represent the city or town where your Council on Aging is located.
Here’s how to do this:
- Please cut and paste the sample email below and send to your state House Representative and state Senator separately.
- If you don’t know the Rep or Senator where your Council is located, you can enter the address of the Council here: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/WhereDoIVoteMA/WhereDoIVote
- In the script below, there are a couple of areas for you to fill in the name of your Council and your name.
- Please send the emails with the fact sheet attached.
- If you get a response or question from the legislator or his office, please send Nomita a quick email or forward the message to nganguly@verizon.net so she can keep a track of who has responded. If you have questions or get questions from legislators, feel free to send them to Nomita at nganguly@verizon.net or Betsy at Elizabeth@mcoaonline.com
That’s it! Thanks so very much for doing this!
Dear (Representative or Senator),
I am the Director of The _________ Council on Aging (or Senior Center) in __________. As you know, we are an integral part of the community, primarily providing services and supports to all older adults in your district but also serving as an essential piece of the fabric of every community. The Massachusetts Councils on Aging (MCOA) is an association of the councils serving 350 towns and cities across the Commonwealth. The state funding for MCOA and the Councils is contained in line-item 9110-9002 under the purview of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.
I am reaching out to let you know what MCOA’s priorities are for the FY2024 budget and to urge you to request their inclusion in the FY2024 budget so we can continue to reach and support older adults in your district. MCOA was thrilled to see that the Governor’s House 1 FY2024 budget included $14/elder for the Formula Grant under this line-item, and we are hopeful that it will be included in the Legislature’s FY2024 budget.
Line Item 9110-9002– Local Aid to Municipal Councils on Aging – $26.3M, includes:
Formula Grant:
- This funding will provide each municipality with $14 per elder per year, a needed increase from the $12 allocated in FY2023.
- This was included in the Governor’s House 1 FY2024 budget.
Service Incentive Grant (SIG):
- A $541,000 increase over FY23 to restore the 90/10 proportional split between the Formula grant program and the Service Incentive Grant program in this line-item.
Attached please find a fact sheet with these priorities and the explanations. Please contact me with any questions you have about these items or Nomita Ganguly at nganguly@verizon.net or 781-354-2444.
Best,
__________