NOVEMBER 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 45
Rise Life Services, based in Riverhead, operates programs that fulfill the lives of the people they serve. (Courtesy Rise Life Services)
BY JENNIFER CORR
Group homes run by disability care agencies across Long Island are tasked with
providing a good quality of life for people who need support in their daily lives.
But impeding that mission to provide a good quality of life, full of activities and socialization,
is a lack of funding from the state. Charles Evdos, the executive director of the agency
Rise Life Services, based in Riverhead, said that budget cuts — 16.2 percent in 2020
and 23 percent in 2021, followed by a decade of lack of Cost of Living Adjustments
(COLA) — make it diffi cult to maintain and incentivize staff.
WHAT’S INSIDE continued on page 46
THE BOOK
FAIRIES
48 PARENTING
50 ACTS OF
TIPS
KINDNES 53 PRESS
PETS 55 FAMILY & EDUCATION
COMBATING CUTS TO CARE
DISABILITY CARE HOMES STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN STAFF AMID BUDGET CUTS
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
