Nonprofit service providers were in Hartford Monday to ask the legislature for a $186 million increase next fiscal year.
“They're fighting a battle across the board to stay open and provide services,” Gian-Carl Casa, CT Community Nonprofit Alliance president and CEO, said during a press conference at the Legislative Office Building.
Casa said funding for nonprofits has not kept up with inflation and nonprofits are struggling with increased costs for insurance, supplies and rent.
They’re also having difficulty hiring and keeping staff. Nonprofit clients also came to the Legislative Office Building to testify as part of an Appropriations Committee hearing on Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal.
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“We don’t want to see people homeless, without medicine, without shelter, without food,” Joseph Mercer, a client of Norwich-based Reliant Health, said.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers came to Monday’s press conference to show support.
“You have taken over many, many roles for the state,” Sen. Lisa Seminara (R-Avon) said. “You do it well and you do it more affordably.”
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A spokeswoman for Lamont said he supports the nonprofits, but was noncommittal on increasing funding to them.
“Gov. Lamont recognizes the incredibly vital role of the state’s nonprofits in providing life-changing services that lift people up and help our communities thrive,” spokesman Julia Bergman said.
She also noted aid for nonprofits has increased by more than $1 billion over the last four years.
Lamont’s proposal did not include any increases for the nonprofits in the second year of the two-year, $52-billion budget.
He’s maintained the state needs to stay within its fiscal guardrails, a series of rules meant to limit spending. Many Republicans have agreed.
“As Republicans we’ve always wanted to fund them as feasible, we have guardrails to enforce, though, in the state of Connecticut,” Rep. Jason Perillo (R-Shelton) said.
The nonprofit alliance also wants lawmakers to tie their funding to inflation in the future, a measure that would mean automatic increases in most years.
The Human Services Committee is considering a proposal to do just that.
