NEW CITY – People with disabilities and the frontline direct care workers who support often struggle on the margins. Jawonio, which serves one group and employs the other, has launched a food pantry as one way to help.
On May 14, the nonprofit opened the H.E.A.R.T. Food Pantry — it stands for Helping Employees and Individuals Access Resources Together — officially launched. The pantry at Jawonio’s main campus in New City will offer twice-monthly non-perishable food distributions.
Albany-based New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc. secured grant money for the pantry from from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. NYSID then selected Jawonio as a site for the pantry.
The pantry itself is being run by Jawonio’s pre-vocational program, so its provided the added benefit of job and skills training.
Low wages, set by state, plague the job
Low pay has been an ongoing frustration for workers in nonprofits that serve people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Wages for these workers, known as DSPs or direct service professionals, are set by a state reimbursement rate.
Every year, a battle ensues to increase pay for these workers in the state budget and this year is no different. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2027 fiscal budget proposal increases DSP reimbursements by 1.7%. State Legislature budget plans have pushed for a 4% increase.
While a budget deal is wrapping up, details about DSP wages have not been released.
The numbers, advocates say, make clear the need: New York’s minimum wage has gone up 26.5% in the last five years but direct-care workers’ salaries have increased 15.8% in the same period, according to New York Disability Advocates.
When DSP wages go down in value compared to other pay, staff leave. In 2024, according to NYDA, the DSP staff vacancy rate statewide was 20% and the turnover rate was 34%.
Jawonio CEO Randi Rios-Castro said it’s frustrating that the agency needs launch a food pantry to support the workers who support individuals with disabilities. “We’re just trying to meet a need.”
A job that demands sensitivity, skills
DSPs are often paid below what easier entry-level jobs offer. DSPs offer whatever kind of supports people need, from help dressing and toileting, to dispensing medications to helping people learn life skills.
For many older people with disabilities, their DSP staff is their family.
In the Lower Hudson Valley, DSP wages are just under $19 an hour, on average.
In Rockland County, a “survival rate” wage is $26.93 for a single adult or $37.03 for one adult with a child, according to United Way’s calculation called ALICE — or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
NYSID President & CEO Maureen O’Brien said research shows up to 51% of individuals with disabilities and support workers face food insecurity. The H.E.A.R.T. Food Pantry is just one way to help. “We’re thrilled to be able to help get this off the ground.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Jawonio launches food pantry to help its workers as wages fall behind
Reporting by Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
