Dear Friends,
If you have attended a parenting workshop, a nutrition education program, or received assistance in managing your diabetes, you know that the Family Health and Wellness Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County serves the changing needs of families residing in our county. Our programs provide information on diabetes education, nutrition, developing healthy lifestyles and raising responsible children. FHW educators collaborate with other county agencies and community-based organizations to support families, especially limited-resources families with young children.
Unfortunately, we have recently received word that unlike all the other contract agencies in Suffolk County and other program areas of CCE who received a 25% cut to their budget, the Family Health and Wellness program received a 100% cut for budget year 2021. Clearly stated, this means that this important program area has been totally defunded! This is very difficult to comprehend, especially at a time when families need more support than ever. We have been told that if Suffolk County receives disaster relief funds from the federal government, we will be put back into the budget.
We need your help! In order to offer services to you, our community members, we need to take action!
- If you are able, your monetary donation would be greatly appreciated! Every little bit counts. We have established a GoFundMe (FHW GoFundMe) to support the Family Health and Wellness program. Show your friends and family, that families and health are important to you!! Please share the link today.
- Call or email your county legislator expressing your support for the continued funding of our programs. You can find your hometown legislator by following this link: https://www.scnylegislature.us/148/Legislators.
- Please reach out to your federal representatives and implore them to distribute local municipal funding relief in future economic relief packages.
Your feedback to the legislator(s) will have the most impact if you can briefly convey how our educational services help you and others in your community. Are you a parent who has enhanced your skills with your children because of something you learned in a workshop? Are you a professional who has attended a training that gave you information useful to your work with families? Are you a person with diabetes (or have a family member with diabetes) who learned how to improve your health? Have you attended nutrition classes that taught you how to save money while preparing healthier family meals? For specifics on the social impact this cut causes, please see the attached page. These figures show the number of people that benefit from our programs each year.
We hope we can count on your support and thank you for being such an important part of our CCE family!
Sincerely,
Vanessa Pino Lockel
Executive Director
THE IMPACT OF BUDGET ELIMINATIONS AND REDUCTIONS
FOR THE FAMILY HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAM
AT CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
The 2021 county budget reduces funding for Cornell Cooperative Extension by $941,663 of which the Family Health and Wellness Program is absorbing 49% of the total cut or a total of $458,078.
The elimination of the Family Health and Wellness Program means the loss of the following Human Development programs and services for parents, caregivers, and family support professionals:
- Programing for 5,000 Suffolk County parents and grandparents annually.
- Reliable, research-based information on child development and parenting available free of charge online and through fact sheets, blogs, podcasts, bulletins, and news articles.
- Training support for nearly 3,000 childcare staff, family workers, librarians, and teachers annually.
For more than 35 years, the Human Development Program has been the most reliable resource for research-based information for parents and professionals in Suffolk County.
This cut to the Diabetes Education Program will result in loss of the following:
- Free one on one education regardless of background and insurance in the health centers to over 5,000 Suffolk County residents.
- Professional trainings to medical providers, Head Start and WIC staff, and students.
- Free community classes on diabetes self-management.
- Assistance with diabetes self-testing supplies to those who cannot afford them.
In Suffolk County nearly 1 in 10 people have diabetes with an estimated increase of approximately 10,000 new cases a year. Uncontrolled and undetected diabetes is an economic, social and health burden to the County. Since 1999 Cornell Cooperative’s Family Health and Wellness’ Diabetes Education Program has been on the forefront of this health crisis in Suffolk County. Our diabetes educators have worked one on one with the highest risk and most vulnerable residents of this county to help them learn to live healthy and rewarding lives.
The loss of county funding jeopardizes matching and in-kind support for nearly $500,000 in federal, state and foundation funding for Family Health and Wellness Programs.
For every dollar, the county invests in Family Health and Wellness, it gets back three dollars in educational services to families.