Please contact Governor Healey today to share our community’s priorities for the FY26 state budget proposal.
The Governor proposes a state budget annually in January. This proposal serves as the basis for months of debate over the multibillion-dollar state budget. The Arc has expressed our community’s budget priorities to the Governor and now we ask that you do the same.
Based on the results of our community survey, at this time our advocacy is focused on the following:
- Increasing Chapter 257 workforce rates for home and community-based services.
- Improved training for direct care workers.
- Funding increases for critical MassHealth and DDS programs, including day habilitation, PCA, and Turning 22.
- Addressing gaps in programs for unserved and underserved communities, with concerns regarding those with profound autism and other complex needs.
Thanks in part to your advocacy, the previous FY25 budget included historic increases to the Chapter 257 reimbursement rates for residential program staff. Now, we need your help to ensure that we do not lose momentum.
Please contact the Governor’s office today to ensure that we adequately fund state programs and appropriately supporting the workforce. As always, our actional alerts can be customized to share your story.
Particularly for this action alert, we encourage you to share your personalized story to emphasize just how critical this funding is.
As a mom of an adult son with autism I realize how important his group home staff is.
I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. They are an important part of my son’s life.
As a mom of a young adult son with cerebral palsy, it is crucially important to retain, support, fund services and programs
for social skills, ongoing skills for possible employment, and not be obscured from the community. All of these programs
are critically crucial for my son and on behalf of many young adults.
Families and the most vulnerable depend on this happening. Unsustainable for families if it doesn’t. Don’t let.them down.