Philadelphia Agency For Disabled Lays Off 130 Staffers Due To Funding Cuts

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A local nonprofit agency for the disabled, reeling from state funding and reimbursement cuts, has laid off staff and is freezing its client list.

Liberty Resources, in center city Philadelphia, now provides assistance for about 7,000 disabled residents in the Delaware Valley.

CEO Thomas Earle (right) says that because of a $13-million budget gap, more than 130 employees have been let go and no new clients will get the services they need to help them live independently in their homes rather than go into nursing facilities.

And according to Earle, the organization has been adding nearly 100 clients a month to its service list.

"You're going to have people living in a more expensive setting that's isolated, not as a therapeutic, not part of their communities," he said.  "The folks we serve are able to work part-time, become taxpayers, (or) work full-time."

Liberty Resources' current clients will continue receiving services, Earle said.

Reported by Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060