The Connection was one of five agencies in the State awarded a $205,346 Women’s REACH Grant from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services (DMHAS). Under the auspices of this grant, women with lived experience of substance use will serve as Peer Navigators, reaching out to and working with women who are struggling with addictions in order to bring them into services and facilitate their ability to find recovery and live clean and sober lives. The Connection’s Women’s REACH Peer Navigators will focus on DMHAS Region 2, which includes New Haven and Middlesex Counties, with work concentrated in the cities of New Haven, Meriden, and Middletown.
Near and Far Aid, a Fairfield-County based foundation has awarded a $7,500 grant to support the HomeWorks program, an innovative partnership between The Connection, Bridgeport ABCD Early Learning, and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago that seeks to address deep housing insecurity in young families. Funds will be used to identify those ABCD Early Learning families who are at risk for homelessness and to support the work of The Connection’s Housing Navigator in helping to ensure that identified families at risk for homelessness will receive the resources and support they need to find and maintain stable housing. Safe and stable housing has been shown to be inextricably linked to an individual and family’s ability to achieve economic stability. Family mobility and literal homelessness increase school absence, limit classroom engagement, and reduce school achievement. Children who experience crowding, doubling up, utility shutoffs, and related problems have poorer outcomes than peers and are at increased risk for child welfare involvement.
The Blum Shapiro Foundation has awarded $1,800 to The Connection’s Hallie House program for Women and Girls to help support a variety of wellness-related programming and an array of activities that will help build our clients’ resilience and self-esteem, reduce stress, enhance focus, and provide them with the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in managing their recoveries and making a life in the community. Hallie House, established in Middletown in 1991, serves pregnant or parenting women 18 and older struggling to overcome addictions by providing case management, quality clinical services and individualized treatment in a warm, supportive environment. The program has a capacity of eight mothers and up to seven children at any time.
The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut’s Southeast General Grant program has provided a $5,000 grant to Mother’s Retreat, established in 1995 to serve pregnant or parenting women 18 and older struggling to overcome addictions by providing case management, quality clinical services and individualized treatment in a warm, supportive environment. Funds will be used to support a variety of needs not funded through State contracts, including but not limited to opioid treatment education and an array of experiential, educational, community-building, therapeutic, outreach, and social activities Trauma-Informed Gender-Responsive Care, and Parenting while in Recovery trainings.
The Liberty Bank Foundation has awarded a three-year, $15,000 grant to the Eddy Shelter of Middlesex County to help support basic program needs for guests. These items include food, transportation costs, identification/birth certificate fees, interview and work-related clothing, and other necessary expenses not funded through State and other funding sources. The Eddy Shelter is the only homeless shelter for adult men and women in Middlesex County and is a place of last resort for some of our guests, many of whom suffer from chronic mental illness and addictions or are dually diagnosed. Upon admission, every Shelter guest is assigned a case manager with whom he or she works to secure access to health care, including mental health services; entitlements such as social security and social security disability insurance; access to housing; and assistance with accessing educational and vocational programs, and assistance with searching for and securing jobs. The goal is to help guests move toward independence and full reintegration into the community.
The Joey Logano Foundation has awarded a $30,000 grant to support the needs of the Connecting Children and Families (CCF) program. CCF is a licensed, therapeutic foster care program that supports foster parents caring for Department of Children and Families (DCF)- involved children who are at risk of being placed in long-term residential psychiatric settings. The CCF program is designed to provide a clinical intervention for children and youth ages 6–18 in the foster care system who have severe trauma, emotional, or behavioral health needs. Through participation in the program, foster parents become part of a team that includes CCF staff and other parents, all of whom work closely with one another and are focused on helping the therapeutic needs of the child or children placed in their care. The Joey Logano Foundation invests in organizations offering second chances to children and young adults during times of crisis and works to inspire others to live a life of generosity.
The Workers Compensation Trust has awarded $10,280 in funding to support The Connection’s Safety Committee as it seeks to bring resources, education and awareness to current and future staff about the importance of making establishing and maintaining universal health and safety standards and care. Funds will be used purchase and distribute a variety of agency program-related safety items not directly funded by state contracts including first aid kits, universal precaution kits, folding carts to reduce staff lifting-related injuries, Narcan kits, and safety signs and documents.
The Workers’ Compensation Trust is a comprehensive workers’ compensation insurance program designed to meet the unique needs of the Connecticut healthcare and human service industries. The Trust was formed in 1981 for the sole purpose of providing a cost-effective alternative to the traditional insurance market for healthcare and human service employers in the State. Membership consists of over 450 employers representing over 60,000 employees in the healthcare industry.