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NAFGPD Alert -

DATE:      June 18, 2008

TO:           Foster Grandparent Program Directors

FROM:     Sherry Black, National Association of Foster Grandparent Program  Directors President and Jessica Malow, Washington Representative

Subject:     APPROPRIATIONS ALERT!  Please call ... Time is of the essence!
 
           

Thank you very much for sending in your letters of support on behalf of Foster Grandparent Programs.  More than 3,000 letters have been delivered to Congress.  Now we need to make a few calls before the dates listed below.   If your U. S. Representative (House Member) or Senator is one of the subcommittee members listed at the end of this message, your calls and emails are vital.  I recommend that in addition to a phone call, you also send an e-mail.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact any NAFGPD Board Member.
 
The House, appropriations subcommittee for Labor-HHS-Education and Related Agencies that funds CNCS / FGP, is scheduled to mark up their 2009 budget on June 19th with the Full Committee budget request following on June 25th.  As for the Senate appropriations subcommittee, they are scheduled to mark-up their 2009 budget request on June 24th, with Full Committee markup scheduled for June 26th.
 
Therefore, we would like you to take a few minutes to call your House Members (U.S. Representatives) and your Senators and ask him/her to show their support for the Foster Grandparent Program by asking them to reject the $40.825 million cut ( 37% decrease) for FGP in the President's Budget Request and provide $115.937 million for FGP in FY09. The last time FGP's realized any increases at all to cover the increased costs of program operations, especially in the area of transportation costs, was in FY 2005 when programs received an administrative cost increase of less than 1%. FGP programs continue to face considerable stress in covering the rising costs of administering and maintaining quality programs.

If needed, please share these outcomes of proposed cut, especially the affect the cut will have on your program:
 

• Funding for FGP would be slashed $40,825,000
• 10200 Foster Grandparent volunteers will be cut permanently, slashing the total number of Foster Grandparent volunteers from 30,550 to 20,350.
  Local communities will lose more than 10 million hours of volunteer service every year.
• FGP will permanently lose almost 10,200 Volunteer Service Years (VSY's, or volunteer "slots") if this budget is implemented. For each VSY that is cut from a Foster Grandparent Program, that program will lose approximately $4,500 from its federal grant.
• 117,000 disadvantaged children/youth will lose their relationship with a foster grandparent, an older adult they can count on!
• Low-income Baby Boomers will be excluded from serving as Foster Grandparents, because there will be no funds available to hire and place new volunteers as they reach the age of 60.  There are currently 6,000,000 low-income seniors eligible for FGP; in 20 years, there will be 13,000,000.

Conclude again by respectfully requesting that your Congressman/woman contact the House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI) and Ranking Member James Walsh (R-NY)  (if they are a U. S. Representative).  For your Senators, please ask them to contact the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) in support of critical funding needed for the FGP program.
 
House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Members:
 

MAJORITY:  Chairman: Dave Obey (WI)
Nita M. Lowey (NY)
Rosa L. DeLauro (CT)
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (IL)
Patrick J. Kennedy (RI)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA)
Barbara Lee (CA)
Tom Udall (NM)
Michael Honda (CA)
Betty McCollum (MN)
Tim Ryan (OH)
 

MINORITY: Ranking Member: James T. Walsh (NY)
Ralph Regula (OH)
John E. Peterson (PA)
Dave Weldon (FL)
Michael K. Simpson (ID)
Dennis R. Rehberg (MT)
Jerry Lewis (CA), Ex Officio
 
 Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Members:
 
Democratic Subcommittee Members:
·   Senator Tom Harkin (Chairman) (IA)
·   Senator Daniel Inouye (HI)
·   Senator Herb Kohl (WI)
·   Senator Patty Murray (WA)
·   Senator Mary Landrieu (LA)
·   Senator Richard Durbin (IL)
·   Senator Jack Reed (RI)
·   Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
 
Republican Subcommittee Members:
·   Senator Arlen Specter (Ranking Member) (PA)
·   Senator Thad Cochran (MS)
·   Senator Judd Gregg (NH)
·   Senator Larry Craig (ID)
·   Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
·   Senator Ted Stevens (AK)
·   Senator Richard Shelby (AL) 

I would like to say to all FGP project directors, thank you very much for all that you do on behalf of your Foster Grandparent Program and for programs across the nation.  It was wonderful to meet many of you at the National Conference in Atlanta.  Let's make some calls.

Click here to see a flow chart of The Appropriations & Budget Process.