On Wednesday, February 18th, Governor Malloy presented his budget proposal for the 2015-16 fiscal year to the General Assembly. The Governor proposed cutting more than $590 million dollars in services to Connecticut.
The cuts, as proposed, would have a significant impact on the Youth Agency’s programming. In the current fiscal year, the Agency receives a total of $27,800 in grants through the State Department of Education (YSB grant money). The Agency has been informed that 40% of this money has been summarily cut, meaning a loss of $11,000.
Although at first glance, this may not seem like a large amount of money, but it would significantly impact our programs and the families we serve. By losing this funding, we would greatly reduce the amount of part time, seasonal staff including teens and their supervisors who benefit from this job experience and also provide meaningful services to the agency and community. Many students who work after school or in the summer help with a variety of tasks that make our programs possible, such as food prep and set up for small workshops, large events like the Health Fair, Parent University and more. In addition, our “work crew” who maintain traffic islands, help with our maple syruping, build hiking trails and bridges, mow historic graveyards and more would have to be downsized.
The impact goes beyond New Milford. A total of 1.3 million dollars that goes to the Youth Service Bureaus throughout Connecticut is part of the proposed cuts.
In addition to the funding cuts, the Governor is recommending that the YSB line item be moved from the current Dept. of Education to the Department of Children and Families. This raises many concerns for YSB’s. In early 1990’s, YSB’s were switched from DCF to SDE, and after many years of settling in, it seems to be a better fit than under DCF.
A request by the Ct. Youth Service Association to begin contacting our local legislators has been made. We ask that you support us in this effort by letter, phone call or email to let them know about the services in our community and throughout the state that would be affected.
Rep. Buck Taylor of the 67th Rep. (R)
(New Milford)
Email: Cecilia.Buck-Taylor@housegop.ct.gov
Website: repbuck-taylor.com
Capitol Phone: 860-240-8700
Capitol Fax: 860-240-0207
Smith of the 108th- Rep. Richard Smith (R)
(Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Sherman)
Email: Richard.Smith@housegop.ct.gov
Website: reprichardsmith.com/
Capitol Phone: 860-240-8700
Capitol Fax: 860-240-0207
Senator Chapin of the 30th Sen. Clark Chapin (R)
(Brookfield, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Warren, Washington, Winchester)
Email: Clark.Chapin@cga.ct.gov
Website: ctsenaterepublicans.com/home-chapin
Capitol Phone: 860-240-0445
Capitol Fax: 860-240-8306
Thank you.