New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
State’s nonprofits need help
We ask Gov. Lamont to propose funding increases before considering tax cuts or rebates.
Community-based nonprofits in Connecticut and across the country are losing experienced staff to higher-paying jobs at businesses like Walmart and Amazon as a nationwide workforce shortage converges with the omicron surge.
While for-profit businesses have been able to find ways to raise wages, nonprofits do not have that option. They contract with the state to provide quality services including for substance abuse and mental health treatment, day and residential services for people with disabilities, homeless and domestic violence shelters and employment and re-entry support for people leaving prison. Contracted funding has simply not kept up with costs over the last decade and a half — and then came COVID.
Connecticut’s nonprofits are in crisis. They are losing staff and face stiff competition to recruit and retain new workers. More than ever, they desperately need funding and a commitment from policymakers that their work is, and will continue to be, a priority.
The coronavirus pandemic put our staff on the front lines of health care. While people in other lines of work could do so from home, they did not have that choice. Every day, for nearly two years, nonprofits’ staff have continued to come to work to serve some of the state’s most vulnerable people.
At the same time, the need for services has increased. We’ve seen news stories about children facing mental health challenges who are languishing in emergency departments because there is a shortage of beds in community-based, nonprofit treatment centers.
The pandemic came after more than a decade of fighting for increases in funding that would have allowed nonprofits to meet the true cost of providing services and to pay their staff competitive wages.
After years of budget cuts, rescissions and stagnant funding, nonprofits were $461 million behind in annual funding. With the state’s fiscal health the best it has ever been, with $3.1 billion in the Rainy Day Fund, we proposed a five-year plan to restore that funding.
The General Assembly, led by the fearless co-chairs of the Appropriations Committee, heard our plea and successfully fought for an historic increase in the fiscal year 2023 state budget passed in June. The increase was the first step in funding increases we so desperately needed, and nonprofits were very grateful.
But six months later, many were still waiting for the state’s budget office to release the funds to their programs. Providers who are unionized found it extremely difficult to negotiate contracts without knowing what level of funding we would receive, or when we would receive it.
Nonprofit staff, many of whom have stayed for years because they believed the work they do is so important, can no longer make ends meet with the low salaries our state contracts currently fund. They are taking jobs at fast food restaurants, in big box stores, or with the state, which can pay up to 30 percent higher wages for the same work.
And now, as we prepare for the 2022 General Assembly session, while many nonprofits still wait for 2021 funding and need still more, there is talk of tax cuts or tax rebates.
Community nonprofits are in Connecticut and across the country because government leaders recognized that the services they provide are the most successful when they are delivered where people live. Their programs help people and families in every one of the state’s 169 towns, and make the state a better place to live and do business.
If they cannot staff vital programs, they cannot continue to provide the level of services that the people of Connecticut need and deserve. Indeed, the public’s wait for services grows at the same time that some have had to be scaled back.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a deep and devastating impact on all of our lives. We can recover and thrive, but only when every sector of our economy is empowered and supported.
We ask Gov. Lamont to propose funding increases before considering tax cuts or rebates. The state asked nonprofits to take the financial hit when times are bad, and they did. Today, the state has the funding to properly fund nonprofits; Taking care of Connecticut’s people is what it’s for.
And we need the General Assembly to continue its great work to increase funding, and to insure it gets to community nonprofits in a timely manner so they can meet the burgeoning needs.
There is no pandemic recovery without community nonprofits, the state’s safety net.