Serve Learn Earn asks lawmakers to increase base funding to expand paid youth training statewide

Serve Learn Earn Director Kate Lachman told the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry on Aug. 12 that the statewide network of youth service and training programs is requesting an increase in state base funding to $2,500,000 to sustain and expand paid workforce programs across Vermont.

Lachman said the organization has grown since 2020 into a network that partners with Forests, Parks and Recreation, AmeriCorps programs and local providers such as Northwood Stewardship Center to deliver paid training and service opportunities for Vermonters ages 14 and older. “All of our programs are paid, so there's no financial hurdle that folks need to cross to be able to get that training,” Lachman said.

The request follows a mix of one-time and base funding in the current biennium: Lachman said Gov. Phil Scott included $500,000 in the base budget for the program and that the legislature provided a $2,000,000 one-time appropriation this past year. The Serve Learn Earn coalition asked the committee to convert and expand ongoing base support to $2.5 million, which Lachman said would leverage roughly $8,000,000 in additional public and private funds annually to operate about $10,500,000 in programming statewide.

Why it…