Lamont budget must boost nonprofits

The governor is well aware of the need out there. He was an eyewitness to it growing much higher during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Ned Lamont won’t pitch his budget to lawmakers until Feb. 8, but let’s not kid ourselves that the budget isn’t already pretty set in his mind, and on paper.

Lamont has heard the state’s nonprofits knocking on his door since he took office four years ago, not long after they endured a decade from 2007-17 when the overall state contributions to them remained flat. They’re knocking a little harder these days in the form of a request for $482 million to be pumped into their services. They shouldn’t need to knock at all.

The governor is well aware of the need out there. He was an eyewitness to it growing much higher during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when services were stressed by such matters as children subjected to the fallout of social isolation.

Add to that an increase in reported domestic violence incidents and substance abuse. And, oh yes, the tiresome resistance from too many Connecticut communities to welcoming affordable housing, which puts a further strain on services that exist to provide people with someplace to live.

These are all individual life experiences, many occurring behind closed doors, that don’t make the headlines. Collectively, though, each story of a person in a state of emergency forms a mosaic of a state in crisis.

The state has changed a lot since the budget for nonprofits was frozen in 2007. Former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s strategies included efforts to transition a higher percentage of formerly incarcerated residents back into society. It was the right thing to do, but led to an increase for services outside of prison walls.

And while Lamont has been quick to trumpet the extra income that comes with the likes of legalizing sports gambling, the likelihood of it leading to related addictions has already caused an uptick in the need for such services. The coming months will reveal if the celebrated legalization of recreational marijuana will leave a similar impression.

Those calendar years of flat budgets also include the worst day in the state’s history a decade ago, the response to the Sandy Hook shooting becoming a political tug-of-war between the push for gun safety and the counter-argument to enhance mental health services.

Regardless of the polarizing gun debate, Connecticut has a long way to go to meet the mental health needs of its people.

The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance is leading the call for more funding, pointing out that as the needs for services have increased, many staff members are opting to pursue more profitable careers elsewhere.

Lamont and Co. should also also remember that supporting nonprofits is always preferable to paying more to put the work on the backs of state services.

State leaders need to erase the pension debt that hangs like a massive cloud over the state. But they should show the same discipline in trying to put an end to the cruelty of neighbors in distress being put on waiting lists.

Everyone with fingerprints on the state budget needs to remember that Connecticut’s nonprofits don’t cater to strangers. They serve all of us.