BREAKING NEWS - updated 12/03/24

City of Madison Proposed Budget Cuts

NewBridge is facing a budget cut of $277,970 from the City of Madison's Community Development Division (CDD).

• Last week the CDD staff released their revised 2025 older adult services funding recommendations that included $103,870 added to their budget by the Madison Common Council in November. The CDD staff recommendations include restoring $50,000 of the proposed $103,870 cut to NewBridge case management services. Unfortunately, the city is not restoring the cuts to our older adult activities, home chore, and volunteer guardian services. These city of Madison budget changes to our budget are expected to go into effect on April 1, 2025.
  

• The Committee on Aging will be voting on the CDD funding recommendations on Wednesday, December 4 at 2:30 pm at their virtual meeting.
  
  We anticipate the City of Madison Committee on Aging will support these revised staff recommendations and that pushing any further change might do us more harm than good. Therefore, we are NOT asking for individuals to testify at the December 4 Committee on Aging meeting. Nor are we asking you to register in favor or against the proposed recommendations.
  
  NewBridge will have two staff testify on December 4 to remind everyone how these cuts will impact the older adults we serve. A call to action will be requested of committee members to advocate for additional funding for older adult services in 2026.
  
  In the end, the city of Madison is cutting our agency's funding by $228,000 and NewBridge is desperately seeking other sources of funding to make up for this major deficit. 

Thank you for ALL the advocacy you have done to testify, email, or call your alders, the Mayor and Committee on Aging members. Though we did not get the result we wanted, YOU made a difference! We increased awareness of NewBridge and the great work we do and increased discussion about the need for additional funding for older adult services.

We will send out another update after the Committee on Aging meeting on December 4.

The proposed cuts to NewBridge are:

• $138,887 for older adult activities 

• $102,394 for case management 

• $20,563 for home chore/food bridge

• $16,125 for volunteer guardian/representative payee 

**Update 11/13/24: Thank you to everyone who contacted the City's Common Council and who spoke and who registered. The Common Council meeting occurred last night, Tuesday, November 12. Click here to watch a recording of the meeting. Three Alders - Verveer, Harrington McKinney, and Knox - sponsored amendment #4 which adds $103,870 to the CDD Older Adult Programs. The amendment was approved by the Common Council. The CDD staff will now be allocating those funds to the agencies that they choose. The Committee on Aging will be voting on those recommendations Wednesday, December 4 at 2:30 pm. 

**Update 10/28/24: Thank you to everyone who contacted members of the City's Finance Committee and their Alders. The Finance Committee unanimously voted to re-refer the CDD's proposed funding cut to NewBridge back to the Committee on Aging for their next meeting on Wednesday, December 4 at 2:30 pm. Alder Verveer commented that if the City's referendum is successful they could potentially add more funding to the older adult services budget. This would help fund the new agencies and alleviate the cut to NewBridge. To watch a recording the Finance Committee meeting - Click Here.

**Update 10/23/24: An email was sent this morning at 10:30 am from the City of Madison: “Based on responses from committee members, we will not have quorum for today's meeting, so it will be canceled. In terms of next steps, the resolution approving the allocation of City funds designated to support older adult programming will be presented to the City’s Finance Committee on Monday, October 28th, followed by final adoption by the Common Council on Tuesday, October 29th.”

**Update 9/26/24: After 2 hours of testimonies, presentations, and discussion, including 9 individuals who spoke out against the cuts to NewBridge, the Committee on Aging (COA) ultimately voted to refer the Community Development Division's (CDD) proposal to their next meeting on Wednesday, October 23 at 2:30 pm. In response to advocacy from NewBridge's supporters, many COA members seem open to considering an alternative proposal. Alders Verveer and Knox, Jr. will update the full Common Council at their October 8 meeting that the COA needs more time to discuss the CDD's proposal for older adult services funding. We would like to thank everyone who attended the COA meeting, gave testimonies, and wrote to their alders and the Committee on Aging. Your impact was felt!

Programs

263 Diversity & Inclusion Participants

1,627 Activity Participants

Case MANAGEMENT

1,084 Case Management Clients

12,514 Case Management Hours

Volunteers

415 Volunteers

10,885 Volunteer Hours

All Are Welcome

NewBridge is a LGBTQ+ friendly organization. We aim to create an environment that is supportive, respectful, and non-judgmental. The LGBTQ+ community deserves freedom without exception, liberation without exception, joy without exception, and pride without exception.

Our Dedication to DEI

NewBridge will actively promote antiracism in our organization and our community to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities through our daily work with older adults.