Anora Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee that the state should include $167,700 in the FY26 Budget Adjustment Act to fund a short‑term transition for Bridges to Health, an outreach and care‑coordination program serving migrant and immigrant workers.

Horton said the funding would allow Bridges to Health to move from UVM Extension, which she said is no longer willing to house the program, to a new host without interrupting services. "This funding is really critical to make that transition possible without an interruption of Bridges to Health's critical services," she said.

Bridges to Health, Horton testified, connects immigrant and migrant workers and their families to health care, transportation and food resources. The program is staffed by eight regionally based community health workers and engages "well over 1,000 individuals a year," Horton said, providing one‑on‑one navigation for people who otherwise lack access to existing programs.

Horton and other witnesses said many of the program’s clients are ineligible for some federal food programs and that a lack of trusted entry points can push people to delay care or seek help in emergency departments. "If these thousand plus folks, adults and children alike, don't have a trusted way to get connected to free sources of health care and food ... they're going to end up, ultimately, in a hospital emergency department that's already overstretched," Horton said.

Amy Schallenberg told the committee that language in H.91 had included funding for Bridges to Health but the appropriation did not go through; UVM stepped in to provide temporary, roughly six‑month support that will end when the program leaves UVM Extension. "When H.91 got to that money was not appropriated, and ... that's did not go to the Bridges to Health," Schallenberg said, and UVM "stepped up and provided funding for the 6 month period that they will stay there." Horton said the requested $167,700 reflects a specific budget gap between UVM's housing ending in June and the cost to rehouse the program within the Vermont free and referral clinics.

Committee members asked for additional details about client demographics, including how many children are served; Horton said Bridges to Health may have that data but she did not have it at her fingertips. She also outlined transition costs beyond staffing, citing the need to acquire secure servers and health‑records protections the program used while housed at UVM.

Committee members discussed where the request might be pursued; Schallenberg said the program could seek action from the Appropriations Committee, and Horton said she would also testify before the House Committee on Health Care later that morning. No appropriation or committee vote was recorded during this hearing.

Next steps included possible coordination with the Health Committee and drafting a multi‑committee letter to Appropriations; the committee scheduled additional witnesses later in the morning.