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Nonprofit service providers ask Appropriations Committee for sustained funding amid rising costs
Summary
Representatives of Compass Youth Collaborative and Containment Care urged state appropriators to maintain or increase funding for violence-intervention and behavioral health providers, citing measurable program outcomes, staff shortages, and rising operating costs.
Nonprofit providers of violence-intervention, behavioral health and housing services asked the Appropriations Committee to increase or annualize funding as state and federal sources shift and costs rise.
Christopher Brecklin, director of data and digital systems at Compass Youth Collaborative, described the organization’s Peacebuilders program and asked the committee for core support as ARPA funding winds down. Brecklin said Peacebuilders combines credible messengers, licensed social work, education supports, workforce development, intensive case management and hospital-based crisis services. He cited program results presented by the organization: last year 79% of participating youth decreased risky behaviors, 73% reduced engagement in violence and 82% were on track for sustained employment. He also said juveniles in Compass’s program had a rearrest rate of 26% compared with 72% statewide and that 20% of young people 18 and older recidivated compared with 59% statewide; Brecklin attributed these figures to the program’s interventions.
Jim Ferales, president and CEO of Containment Care, told the committee that private providers face rapidly rising costs — utilities, food, insurance and leasing — and that state contracts and COLAs have not kept pace with inflation. He said Containment Care serves more than 2,500 people across 60 programs and has had to close one program and place two others on watch because costs outpaced revenue. He asked the legislature to annualize ARPA-funded increases and provide at least a 3% annual increase in the next biennial budget.
Both speakers emphasized staffing challenges: providers are losing applicants to higher-paying private-sector jobs and face trouble recruiting for specialized roles, and nonprofit salary increases lag behind rising minimum wages and inflation.
No appropriation or formal committee action was recorded at the hearing; witnesses requested sustained, predictable state funding to maintain programs and capacity.
