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Connecticut’s 2023 budget could include $220 million for nonprofits

Gian-Carl Casa
Jessica Hill
/
Associated Press
Gian-Carl Casa, CEO of the Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance

Governor Ned Lamont is expected to sign a $24 billion adjustment to Connecticut’s fiscal year 2023 budget, which includes $220 million in new funds for nonprofit community providers.

Before the 4% increase in the fiscal year 2022, over a decade of flat funding left nonprofits struggling.

Heather Gates, president and CEO of Community Health Resources, said the need for community health services increased during the pandemic, but money remained tight.

“We had sort of a collision of inadequate funding and increased need, and it has been really just kind of excruciating over the last couple of years,” Gates said.

Gian Carl Casa, president and CEO of the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, said the Alliance would like to see more predictable funding in future budgets.

“What we would like to see is something in statutes that say, in Year A we get this much and in Year B we get another portion of funding to try to keep up with inflation and changes in the market as things go on,” Casa said.

The funding comes as a report finds that over 850 small businesses and nonprofits in Connecticut closed during the first year of the pandemic, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Molly is a reporter covering Connecticut. She also produces Long Story Short, a podcast exploring public policy issues across Connecticut.