By Gian-Carl Casa
SPECIAL TO THE COURANT
Connecticut’s projected surplus continues to grow. Just this week, the state Comptroller’s office said revenues will run $126 million ahead of expenditures for the fiscal year. By the end of this month, that will put $2.6 billion in the state’s rainy-day fund, by far the highest amount ever held in the account.
It’s interesting, not surprising and yet frustrating news for Connecticut’s nonprofits.
For more than a decade, since the recession of 2008, state funding for community nonprofits has been cut or not kept up with increasing demand for services. Programs for some of the state’s neediest — substance abuse treatment and mental health clinics, homeless and domestic violence shelters, day and residential services for people with developmental disabilities and re-entry programs for people coming out of prison, to name a few — have been cut back or eliminated, leaving people without services they need.
Throughout the recession and the economic recovery, we have seen the need for community-based nonprofit services only grow.