Seniors and their advocates at the West Side Senior Center on Friday urged the head of the state's Department of Aging to maintain funding for programs that support and enrich the lives of older Pennsylvanians.
Secretary Brian Duke met with the group as part of an effort to reach out to communities around the state to describe the department's strategic plan and outline budget proposals put forward by Gov. Tom Corbett.
Mr. Corbett's budget would increase the department's funding by $50 million for home- and community-based, services but the money is tied to a proposal to privatize management of the Pennsylvania Lottery that Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane rejected in February.
Mr. Duke said the governor's team is working to "clarify those areas of concern" raised by the attorney general, rewrite the management contract and resubmit it for review.
"We remain hopeful that the contract modifications will be accepted by our attorney general and we'll be able to move forward with this budgetary increase," he said.
The additional $50 million would be allocated based on a different formula than the one used to distribute block grants to Area Agencies on Aging, he said, so the state can begin to balance funding disparities that have developed as Pennsylvania's population has shifted.
Audience members raised concerns about the lottery privatization plan, cuts in the hours and days senior centers can afford to remain open, service gaps for people who do not qualify for some department programs and plans to accommodate the aging baby boom generation.
The growing aging population will require new and stronger community collaborations, Mr. Duke said. It will also make it more important for the agency to communicate with people who do not yet need its services.
"As a department, I think we have an obligation to help people know what they should be doing to plan for their own future," he said.
Part of the department's role is also to protect the state's seniors as they become more vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation, he said. He cited a 20 percent increase in the past year in the number of cases of financial exploitation in Pennsylvania.
Grace Zanghi, 74, urged Mr. Duke to make sure senior centers do not have to cut back their programs or hours of operation.
She only recently became a regular at the United Neighborhood Centers' West Side center but she has witnessed how the company and interactions enliven its visitors.
"This is so necessary for these people," she said. "We're a family."
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com