A Message from NYSOFA Director Greg Olsen on Federal Actions and ... April 2, 2025 | 4:24 PM EDT Learn more about A Message from NYSOFA Director Greg Olsen on Federal Actions and Agency Restructuring Efforts

By NYSOFA Director Greg Olsen

Last week the nation was notified of a major restructuring of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) that will impact agencies, including HHS divisions that many people are familiar with – like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National institutes of Health (NIH).

One lesser-known agency that is caught up in the HHS reorganization is the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). ACL was established in 2012 and brought together the Administration on Aging (AoA) and two independent disability agencies to better coordinate aging and disability policy.

Globally at HHS, the proposed target for job cuts across all agencies and divisions is 20,000, and those employees have begun to be terminated on April 1. These workforce reductions will impact individuals working on tobacco control, injury prevention, workplace safety, birth defects, reproductive health and substance abuse. That is just from the CDC.

Here in New York, the federal administration has also taken $400 million from money that was already approved to be spent, impacting the New York State Department of Health, New York State Office of Mental Health, and the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. Twenty-three states, including New York, recently filed suit to block this action.

The Administration on Aging oversees the Older Americans Act. It is the reason that NYSOFA and the Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) were established, and it is responsible for our federal funding. HHS has announced it will be dismantling ACL and giving its functions to other agencies within HHS.

At this time, we have not yet received any details on what this reorganization means or if NYSOFA federal funding is being targeted for cuts. On April 1, NYSOFA learned that 33% of ACL staff were terminated, including NYSOFA’s regional liaison to ACL. NYSOFA also learned that the regional office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program had closed.

Prior to these recent actions, NYSOFA conducted a statewide, county-by-county and Congressional district analysis of what the impact would be if federal funds were lost. Links to these analyses are below. (See the resources section.)

Most people know some of the services we and our partners provide, but they may not know where those funds originate – under ACL. Services that would be severely impacted by federal funding actions include:

• NYSOFA staff
• AAA and not-for-profit staff
• Home delivered meals
• Congregate meals
• Nutrition counseling and education
• Transportation
• Case management
• Social adult day services
• Legal assistance
• Information and assistance
• Outreach
• Senior center programming
• Health promotion
• Personal emergency response system
• Services for individuals providing uncompensated care to a loved one, and
• Health insurance counseling

While Older Americans Act funds have the most direct impact on NYSOFA programs and services, we also must keep an eye on other federal funding that helps older adults and their families across major safety nets, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, as well programs for low-income older adults, like food assistance (SNAP, food pantries), the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), Title V older worker program, and so many more.

Please reach out to your member of Congress. These programs and services are not “waste, fraud and abuse,” as they’ve been wrongly characterized. They are lifelines to help people live independently, with dignity and with a level of security in retirement. (As a reminder, limitations apply to the use of federal funds. No federal funds may be used for lobbying purposes or to offset the cost of any lobbying activities, which includes reaching out to your members of Congress.) 

Any one of these changes will hurt older adults. Collectively, they will significantly impact their health, housing, and will send our older adults into devastating poverty.

Resources

Statewide Analysis: Federal Funding Actions on NYSOFA Services (PDF)
County-by-county Analysis: Federal Funding Actions on NYSOFA Services (Excel)