Greenwich Time: Nonprofits adjust to austere reality
By Ken Dixon, Greenwich Time Reporter
[Family ReEntry Executive Director Jeff] Grant said that with state agencies withdrawing support, the main
strategy he and other private nonprofit providers are taking is outside
support. “We’re looking at more private funding, foundation funding, and to be
considerably less (reliant) on the [government] to fund solutions to social
problems,” Grant said. “We need to get a real private-public
partnership that’s innovative and supportive. Unfortunately, it means we
have to make do with less and find ways to seek and get support.”
______________
Reprinted from Greenwich Time, Nov. 27, 2017
Facing an austere state budget, nonprofit social-service providers are tightening their belts and doing more with less.
They’re cutting programs, reducing staff and seeking more private
donations. When the next session of the General Assembly meets in
February, service providers will be asking state lawmakers to let them
handle more programs, in exchange for more funding, because they are
less-expensive than state-employee-run treatment centers, day programs
and residences.
Gian-Carl Casa, president and chief executive officer of the CT
Community Nonprofit Alliance, said the current budget, which lawmakers
crafted during a contentious year that finally eliminated a $5 billion
deficit, culminates a decade of underfunding for the state’s private
social-service providers, and sharp reductions in state aid in more
recent years.
“It’s really a
cumulative effect on a lot of places,” Casa said during a recent
interview, adding that between July and October, when state services
were sharply curtailed under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s executive order,
years of stress were added on nonprofits.
“While some providers eventually received the state funding they had
counted on, across the board, folks are having a hard time,” said Casa,
whose umbrella group represents dozens of nonprofits that focus on
developmental disabilities, arts, children, adult behavioral health and
community justice.
Executive-order hardships
Robert Francis, executive director of the Bridgeport-based Regional
Youth Adult Social Action Partnership, said the new two-year, $41
billion state budget restored money for the organization’s Street Safe,
program, which offers alternatives for teens and young adults who are at
risk of joining gangs or are already gang members.
“I think we’ll get about
$233,000, which will enable us to run the program in full force,” said
Francis, who had to lay off two employees when the new fiscal year began
on July 1 without a budget and Malloy’s executive order sharply cut
social-service funding. “It’ll enable us to run the program full-force
and get everyone back who we let go.”
Still, Francis is worried about other funding he usually gets from
the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. He said
that state officials want to merge the 14 regional action councils such
as RYASAP with regional mental health boards.
Overall, RYASAP provides direct services for about 2,000 people a
year and trains as many as another 5,000 in its juvenile-justice
initiatives, youth development, public service and parent education,
Francis said.
Kelly Donnelly, Malloy’s communications director, said changes in nonprofit funding reflect hard economic reality.
“Nonprofit social-service providers are an integral part of the
system,” Donnelly said. “Regrettably, they, like other important
entities that receive state support, have been affected by our state’s
present budget constraints. We continue to work with them to explore
options to mitigate the impact of cuts in funding.”
Looking for outside support
Jeff Grant, CEO of Family ReEntry, which concentrates on helping
inmates transition back into their communities, said that the contracts
his nonprofit has with the state Judicial Branch have not been affected.
“Thus far, the only reduction that we have received is a 4.5 percent,
across-the-board cut by the Department of Correction,” said Grant, a
former white-collar offender.
“After losing approximately $2 million in
behavioral health contracts on July 1, 2016, we have grown and made back
almost half of that.”
Family ReEntry serves about 3,500 individuals and families in eight cities.
“I think our biggest problem is that as of 18 months ago, the state
dismantled nonresidential mental health programming. So there are no
mandated services,” Grant said. “There are some very progressive
programs going on inside the prisons.”
Grant said state officials believe that inmates leaving prison who
need mental health services will find them through Medicaid and other
programs.
“But since there is no enforcement, most are not going to go,” he said.
Grant said that with state agencies withdrawing support, the main
strategy he and other private nonprofit providers are taking is outside
support.
“We’re looking at more private funding, foundation funding, and to be
considerably less (reliant) on the [government] to fund solutions to social
problems,” Grant said.
“We need to get a real private-public
partnership that’s innovative and supportive. Unfortunately, it means we
have to make do with less and find ways to seek and get support.”
kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT