As many of you know, DRTx has recently experienced reduced funding and was forced to lay off staff and reduce services. And now, federal funding for all protection and advocacy (P&A) agencies like ours is on the chopping block for the coming year.
The good news: The Senate Appropriations Committee has level funded P&A programs. This means they want us to get the same amount of money as last year. (But it doesn’t cover the growing demand for our services.)
The bad news: The budget still has to pass the House, and earlier drafts of the President’s budget called for big cuts to our programs. Also, a leaked budget from HHS earlier this year signaled major cuts and complete elimination of some of our top federal grants.
The bottom line: The level of services and the number of people we can help may be changing drastically.
You can help: If we have helped you in any way in the past, whether through one of our resources, a training event, or case services, we’re asking you to consider helping us in one of the following ways:
- Share our Facebook post with the above message.
- Share with us how we’ve helped you so we can share it with others.
- Donate if you can. Any amount helps.
- Raise money for us by creating a Facebook fundraiser. Here’s how. If you are on your cell phone, open your Facebook app, go to our Facebook page, click on About and scroll down until you see Fundraisers. Then click on the 3 dots and select “Raise money.” From your desktop, go to our Facebook fundraiser page and click on the “Raise money” button.
- Follow the National Disability Rights Network on Facebook or Instagram to get more details about what is going on at the national level with P&As.
We are extremely grateful for all of the support you have given us over our nearly 50 years of doing this important work. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to us.
