Advocacy Victory! CDC Funding For Arthritis Boosted by $1.5 Million in 2016, Directly Impacting Arthritis Community in 12 States!

We first came to you with the need for swift action around the potential cuts to CDC arthritis funding in early November . CDC funding had been cut from $13 million dollars (which was only enough to support 12 states) to $9.5 million in 2015, which meant anywhere between 10-50% of program funding would be cut in the 12 states being supported by grants and community programs afforded by the budget.

We urged you to contact your members of Congress. With your help, in the first week, our Advocates contacted over 150 legislators via over 900 letters sent to the Hill.

We then shared with you the community programs that would be impacted by the maintenance of this funding cut in 2016, and you heard us. All in all, our Advocates contacted 161 members of Congress and sent over 1,000 letters to the Hill.

Your voice was heard! Today, as a result of your efforts, we got back half of the budget that was cut from CDC funding. Funding for arthritis in 2016 has been  boosted by an additional $1.5 million. This is a huge milestone in our efforts to make sure the arthritis community is considered and accounted for when it comes to dispersing funding at the federal level. It’s because of you today that this victory was achieved.

Thank you to our team of over 125,000 passionate Advocates and Ambassadors for helping us achieve this victory and moving the needle one step further for the over 50 million people living with arthritis!