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Bridges Community Healthcare urges continued city support as federal grants shrink
Summary
Bridges CEO Jennifer Fiorello told aldermen the agency serves the majority of Milford clients for mental-health and substance-use services, asked for $395,000 (a $10,000 increase), and warned that federal grant revenues of about $2.8M face possible reductions that could create multimillion-dollar shortfalls.
Jennifer Fiorello, CEO of Bridges Community Healthcare, told the board the nonprofit provides the bulk of Milford’s publicly funded behavioral health services and faces mounting financial pressure as federal and state contracts shift.
"Milford residents make up more than a majority of services that our agency provides annually," Fiorello said, noting adult and child outpatient services and medication management are the largest-volume programs. She said the agency’s original request to the city was $395,000 — a $10,000 increase from the prior year — and that local funding helps bridge reimbursement gaps for outpatient services.
Fiorello told aldermen Bridges receives about $2.8 million annually in federal grants and has already lost roughly $500,000 this cycle; she said the agency could lose an additional $1.1M–$1.5M if two larger initiatives do not receive federal renewal funding. She said state contracts (with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Department of Children and Families) and Medicaid reimbursements are important, but staffing shortages and wage pressures make outpatient operations financially challenging.
Why it matters: Bridges provides direct services to thousands of Milford residents; reductions in federal or state contract funding could reduce service capacity or require increased municipal support. Council members asked for program details and the agency supplied client counts and the distinction between unduplicated and duplicated service figures.
Follow-up: Aldermen thanked the agency and asked for any additional documentation the board might need to evaluate the city allocation during upcoming budget decisions.
