NEW BRITAIN, CT – Gov. Ned Lamont traveled to New Britain on Wednesday to announce nearly 100 nonprofit mental health service providers across the state will get more than $35 million in state funding.
“We’ve made the biggest investment in our nonprofit mental health providers in the history of the state,” Lamont said while standing in the lobby of Community Mental Health Affiliates, which will receive funding. “It’s making a difference. We’re offering operating support for our nonprofits. in addition to what we are doing in terms of supportive housing, and making sure that everybody can be all that they can be.”
The grants are being released through the state’s Nonprofit Grant Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. Established in 2013, the program has provided more than $130 million to the state’s nonprofit organizations, supporting about 750 projects. Today’s awards are the program’s eighth round of grants.
They will be used to fund capital projects not typically reimbursed through other funding mechanisms and will support items such as facility alterations, renovations, improvements, and additions; as well as Americans with Disabilities Act projects, information technology systems and other capital intensive projects.
CMHA received two grants through the program. One grant for $715,000 will allow the organization to purchase supportive housing units to help clients with severe and persistent behavioral health issues live independently in preparation for a transition back into community living. The second grant for $387,000 will allow for renovations and improvements to the properties once they are purchased.
The grants were awarded through a competitive process where nonprofit organizations which focus on delivering health and human services applied for funding. Of the 210 organizations which applied, 94 were awarded funding through the program, including five projects which received $1 million or more. There will be two more additional rounds of grant funding through the program.
“We are very excited that the governor has been championing this program. It hadn’t been in operation for a number of years, and it was a commitment we made to get this restarted, and so for the first time in five years we’re going to be able to award these grants,” said Claudio Gualtier, senior policy advisor to the secretary at the Office of Policy and Management (OPM). “The exciting part is that the budget also has another $50 million so we can keep this program moving and do more rounds of funding in the future.”
Nonprofit healthcare providers have been struggling with a series of crises including staffing shortage, the opioid epidemic and post pandemic recovery, and additional grant dollars can help with capital improvements that might otherwise just be unattainable, said Nancy Navaretta, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. “These grants have a meaningful impact on the individuals living with mental health and substance use disorders. We are so pleased with the state’s investment in adult behavioral health and helping individuals to have safe places for attaining wellness and recovery.”
Nonprofit organizations serve a critical role in providing services for the state’s residents. From mental health and addiction services to helping the formerly incarcerated upon release, hundreds of nonprofits step in to offer assistance where resources are often otherwise scarce. Nonprofit organizations often fill the gap between what state and for-profit organizations can provide.
Despite the important role they play, nonprofits in the state are facing headwinds. The COVID-19 pandemic hit nonprofits across the state particularly hard. A study conducted by the National Council of Nonprofits in 2023 found that 93% of the state’s nonprofit organizations had staffing vacancies, and that the vast majority of those vacancies came in program and service delivery areas. Additionally, more than half of Connecticut’s nonprofits are experiencing longer waitlists for services than before the pandemic.
A report from the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance dug deeper into the staffing crisis that nonprofits are experiencing. That report found that the vacancy rate in the state’s nonprofits is nearly 20%, with more than 9 in 10 organizations stating that it is “extremely difficult or difficult” to recruit new employees. With new funding from the state for capital improvements, nonprofits have at least one less thing to worry about.
“We are grateful to the governor for grants announced today. Long term underfunding has made it difficult to impossible for community nonprofits to make capital improvements. These grants will make many much-needed projects a reality,” said Gian-Carl Casa, president and CEO of the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance.
