Topeka ? Advocates for elderly Kansans and those with disabilities have set a series of meetings to push for equity in funding for services provided in homes or communities.

“Persons in need of services should not have to fit into a rigid pattern of having to go into a nursing home,” said Shannon Jones, executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas. “Through Home and Community Based Services, the state is able to offer choice and independence. And at the same time it is a more humane service and less expensive.”

SILCK and the Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living will hold meetings from 10 a.m. to noon today in Garden City, Thursday in Hays and Oct. 10 in Parsons.

Jennifer Schwartz, executive director of KACIL, and Jones said home and community services should have the same financial standing as nursing home care in the state budget.