The good health of our economy is as important to Connecticut’s nonprofit providers of health and human services as it is to Fortune 500 CEOs and businesses across the state. A strong economy not only creates opportunities for the half-million individuals our providers serve every year, but also supports the individual providers — small businesses in their own right.
As president and CEO of the Connecticut Community Providers Association (CCPA), representing organizations that provide mental health and substance abuse treatment, services to individuals with developmental disabilities, and health and well-being services for children and families, I see the effects of the changing economy every day. Our members rely on taxpayer-funded state dollars, and on the businesses and communities where they are located.
An economically competitive Connecticut means more private-sector job growth, which is essential for providing many of the at-risk individuals our members serve with the employment opportunities they need to go beyond recovery and become productive members of their communities.
In addition, a strong state economy means human service providers can be fully funded for the cost of care. That in turn means greater access to high-quality care, treatment programs, rehabilitative services, and job training.
The services of nonprofit community providers are also vital to a healthy economy. The individuals we serve don’t disappear if services aren’t available; they go to emergency rooms for basic care, or worse, can end up in the criminal justice system or in jail — a high price for our communities, not just in dollars and cents.
The problem everyone in Connecticut faces today, however, is an economy struggling mightily to recover from the Great Recession. In fact, we have been one of the lowest economic-growth states since 2008.
Recognizing how critical a strong economy is for CCPA’s members and the populations they serve, I recently joined the steering committee of the CT20x17 campaign, a multiyear initiative sponsored by a diverse group of business, professional, and community organizations to move Connecticut into the top 20 states for economic competitiveness by 2017.
In national business-climate indexes, such as CNBC’s Top States for Business, Forbes’s Best States for Business, and Chief Executive magazine’s Best & Worst States for Business, Connecticut typically ranks in the bottom third of the country.
CT20x17 seeks to change that.
The campaign is raising awareness of the many factors that, despite Connecticut’s competitive advantages, have held back business investment and job creation.
Campaign organizers, including the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, have put together working groups of volunteers from chambers of commerce, cause-related organizations, and business and industry to develop specific recommendations for improving Connecticut’s business costs, regulatory environment, state spending and taxes, transportation infrastructure, and more.
Their goal is to release recommendations prior to the November elections and to raise these issues during the 2015 General Assembly session that begins in January.
It may seem curious that the human services community would take an active role in an initiative that, on the face of it, seems so economic- and business-oriented.
The reality, however, is that we’re all in this together.
CCPA’s members are businesses too.
Our job is to serve Connecticut’s most vulnerable individuals, and we have to stay in business, because there’s a huge price to pay if we don’t.
Morna Murray is the president and CEO of the Connecticut Community Providers Association.
