Several Reach Up case managers made the case for their jobs today, criticizing the Shumlin Administration’s plan to cut 12 positions during the next two years.
The state workers whose jobs are at stake provide employment counseling to families on Reach Up, the state’s family welfare program. They are employed by the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) but the positions are funded through a grant from the Department of Children and Families.
The administration proffered the plan for the cuts, which would redirect a $1.2 million grant from the labor department to hire mental health and substance abuse counselors instead, after the House passed its budget bill.
The Senate was skeptical, and the budget they approved today only authorizes a two person cut, equal to a $150,000 reduction in the VDOL grant.
Three VDOL employees held a press conference at the State House today to thank the Senate for preserving the bulk of these positions and to ask the House to follow suit.
Diane Lackey, a VDOL Reach Up case manager for six years, called the Senate’s solution a “good compromise.”
Pat Barberi, who recently retired from the same position, told the crowd, “When I heard the news about the proposed cuts to the Department of Labor’s Reach Up program, I was stunned because I know firsthand how successful this program has been.”
Department of Children and Families Commissioner David Yacovone has said he has enough case managers, and families on Reach Up would be better served if the money went to counseling services.
But with long waiting lists for treatment services, members of the Health and Welfare and Appropriations Committees concluded that counseling wouldn’t have much impact.
Barberi said VDOL employees already juggle high caseloads, and reducing the staff would only exacerbate the problem.
