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Third Annual Rally in the Valley At RCC Will Draw More Than 40 Groups Rallying For State Officials To Bolster Spiraling Costs
HEALTH REPORT
Advocates for people with intellectual and development disabilities will gather Friday for a “Rally in the Valley” event to urge Gov. Hochul to support a 2.7 percent increase in the state budget to support critical services their organizations provide.
The third consecutive event is expected to draw more than 40 groups from the Hudson Valley, New York City, Long Island, Albany and Western New York to address critical issues on funding, workforce shortages, and access to disability and mental health services.
Compounding the moment are federal hurdles created by the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP program, as well as efforts to deport Haitian-born residents who are in America on the TPS program, which gives temporary immigration status to nationals of designated countries confronting ongoing armed conflict. If the administration prevails in the courts, deportations could begin on Jan. 1, 2027.
The rally, which will be held at 11am at Rockland Community College Fieldhouse in Suffern, will spotlight the harm and suffering caused by policy and funding decisions impacting thousands of New Yorkers who rely on mental health services. Advocates will address funding, access to essential disability and mental health services, along with severe workforce shortages. Rising healthcare and living costs are expected to be a key underpinning of the talking points.
“We are going to this rally to bring awareness,” said Randi-Rios Castro, CEO of Jawonio, the rally’s key organizer. “We need legislators to give us an increase of at least 2.7 percent to keep pace.”
Castro said New York over the past five years has helped stabilize DSP (Disability Service Providers) wages but that the “system is still not sustainable, and without action, essential services in Rockland County are at risk.”
Workforce Reality Rockland County has a severe staffing shortage. Agencies collectively have over 250 vacant frontline positions, with potential losses of another 80 collectively if TPS for Haitian workers ends. Turnover is 31.7 percent.
Jawonio is at risk of losing nearly 30 Haitian-born employees if the Trump administration’s TPS deportation goes into effect. In a temporary reprieve, federal appeals court this week sided with a lower court judge’s ruling against the administration’s efforts to end temporary protected status for roughly 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. In its 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., said “The government’s failure to meet its burden of demonstrating irreparable harm alone justifies denying emergency relief that would upend the status quo and increase uncertainty while this appeal proceeds.”
While TPS holders are granted the right to live and work in the U.S., it does not provide a legal pathway to citizenship. Castro said Haitian born employees make up the majority of the agency’s staff.
“This is not a recruitment issue—it is a sustainability crisis,” said Castro.
The average DSP starting wage is $18.29, yet the reported ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) survival wage in Rockland is $26.93. “We need additional investments in our workforce,” she added.
As of January 2026, nonprofit provider agencies across the state are reporting a 13.9 percent staff vacancy rate and an annual turnover rate of 32.3 percent for DSP workers. High turnover and vacancy rates, agencies say, are part of a system-wide crisis that is jeopardizing essential care.
Nearly half of DSPs reported food insecurity and unstable housing conditions; 36 percent of DSPs struggle to meet their household’s financial demands. Many work two and three jobs to put food on the table for their families. Many qualify for SNAP and other programs that under threat by the Trump administration.
Mental health providers on Friday will urge the Legislature to support an increase of 2.7 percent to reflect the true cost of inflation over the past year. They say the increase is vital to covering basic expenses, including staff wages, food, supplies, transportation, repairs, maintenance, employee benefits, insurance, etc., and to maintain the availability of high-quality services.
Over the past five years, the State has provided a collective inflationary increase of 15.8 percent enabling IDD provider agencies to increase frontline staff wages by nearly 26.8 percent. But inflation over the same period exceeded 23.7 percent, and minimum wage increased by 26.5 percent, leaving providers unable to keep pace with rising costs. Providers are arguing that continued investment is necessary to avoid returning to the cycle of underfunding that plagued the field for over a decade.
Castro says rising costs are outpacing the agency’s rates. Over the past five years inflation has risen nearly 24 percent, minimum wage 26 percent, while provider rates have increased only 15.8 percent.
At the same time, utility rates have spiked 11 percent, health insurance is up 15.8 percent locally, with additional increases projected this year and commercial insurance is up 15.4 percent.
Agencies say they “appreciate” the Governor’s proposed 1.7 percent Targeted Inflationary Increase (TII), which recognizes that continued investment is essential to our sector’s sustainability. But with a CPI of 2.7 percent, anything less is insufficient to maintain essential services for vulnerable New Yorkers.
“These are mandatory operating costs,” said Castro. “We cannot turn off heat in a group home. We cannot drop required liability coverage. This is why restoring the OPWDD Healthcare Enhancement Program and increasing the Targeted Inflationary Increase from 1.7 percent to 2.7 percent is essential. A 1.7 percent increase in a 20 percent inflation environment is effectively a cut.”
