Older Americans Act - Senior Nutrition Program (III-C) Part 2: Funding Issues

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 21, 2015 · 2:07 PM PDT

2015/03/21 · 14:07

Continuing with my Older Americans Act informational series, this week I'm going to focus on how OAA budget cuts at the national level affected local Senior Nutrition programs. Last week's overview of Senior Nutrition services can be found here.

There are lots of zeros involved in this discussion (we are talking about millions, billions and trillions of dollars), but at the end I am including some graphs that starkly illustrate the results of the Budget Control Act and sequestration cuts on Senior Nutrition Programs.

This information isn't top secret; this is a public program paid for by our tax dollars and the included charts were part of a packet provided at a committee meeting open to the public. This is all part of the public record.

kilesa

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 14, 2015 · 1:14 PM PDT

2015/03/14 · 13:14

Continuing a series of posts on Older Americans Act (OAA) Programs, this post will give an overview of the goals and services of the Senior Nutrition Program. Next week, I hope to continue with part 2 that covers some of the funding history and current issues specific to the program.

The first installment, Older Americans Act Primer was posted last week to give a high level overview of the OAA and its goals.

As I said last week, my intention with this series is to increase awareness of the services available to seniors within their communities. This serves two purposes, an altruistic one of helping people receive some very needed services as well as my selfish and subversive intent of increasing the visibility of the government services that are specific to SENIORS as an interest group.

Seniors vote and we know (statistically speaking) that a majority of them vote for Republicans. I have the hope that if seniors understand how their benefits are receiving stealth cuts from the people they keep electing to office, it may effect their choices in future elections.

OAA programs are not an exciting subject, its dry, bureaucratic stuff. But they really do make differences in people lives.

kilesa

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 07, 2015 · 3:49 PM PST

2015/03/07 · 15:49

About a year ago, I started working at the local Area Agency on Aging. Over the last several months, I've been amazed at the variety of services this Agency provides to older Americans through Federal funds and even more amazed at the very low profile these services have in our social and political discourse.

Older conservatives who dislike "big government" benefit from these services (or are eligible to benefit from them) yet are unaware they exist or where the funding comes from. The corporate media doesn't report on them. It doesn't fit the narrative to explain how the GOP who panders to Grandma and Grandpa is making deep cuts in current benefits for senior citizens.

I thought I'd take a stab at writing a series of articles about the Older Americans Act and the programs it funds. Perhaps spreading this information will facilitate people in getting help they need for themselves or loved ones. And maybe, it might prove helpful in changing some minds come election day.

kilesa

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 13, 2014 · 2:49 PM PDT

2014/05/13 · 14:49

Last night's Kitchen Table Kibitzing post by paradise50 introduced an interesting question regarding the intersections of free/protected speech and employment (public sector employment in particular). I thought I would add some information to the story based on my experience as a Human Resources professional and previous public sector employee. I am not an attorney, this post is more from an employer policy perspective. In my experience, public sector HR would be consulting with employment law specialists and city council while dealing with this type of situation.

For those who missed the original post, the sequence of the conflict appears to be thus: city councilman investigates public safety pay and pensions, public safety employee (police officer) is unhappy with this development and posts nasty comments on councilman's Facebook page. Councilman tracks back to view police officer's page and finds racist and homophobic posts. Police officer claims posts are not racist or homophobic and are protected speech by a private citizen. Police officer is now suing City of Chico for defamation and slander.

To unpack this and investigate how public service and free speech intersect, please follow me through the orange squiggle rabbit hole. It's a long post, please be warned...

RSS

Older Americans Act - Senior Nutrition Program (III-C) Part 2: Funding Issues

Older Americans Act - Senior Nutrition Program (IIIC) - Part 1

Older Americans Act Primer

Chico Police Officer's Free Speech Claims fall in Gray Area