Bridges Healthcare is asking for your assistance in addressing a major problem we are facing: a workforce shortage.
Bridges is seeing many new faces at our clinics and through telehealth sessions, as people are reaching out more than ever for our assistance to manage increasing mental health and substance use problems. As you may know, Bridges is contracted by the State of CT to provide these services to our most at-risk, uninsured, and under-insured residents. Nearly 80% of the individuals and families we serve are from low and very low-income households.
The current labor shortage is at crisis levels, as many non-profit service providers like Bridges struggle with employee vacancy rates of 10-20%. This means at any given time, an employer with 200 staff could be down 20-40 employees which can have a profound impact on the quality of care and services.
For decades, community non-profits have been forced to pay less than the market salary for positions that require clinical or other specialized training. Clinical staff (such as licensed clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors) earn at least 15-25% less at community non-profits than in private, hospital, and other settings.
While the Governor’s proposed budget does include additional funds for non-profits to deliver new services, there have been no increases on our State contracts to offset higher costs to provide current programs and services.
Will you help us advocate for adequate funding of CT’s community nonprofits to address our workforce shortages and lack of pay parity?
Please contact your legislator today: https://ctnonprofitalliance.org/contact-your-legislator/