Reach Up, the state’s benefit program for children and families in need, hasn’t seen an increase in funding since 2004. The program is currently able to cover 35% of a basic needs allowance for the families it serves — but advocates are telling lawmakers that money just isn’t enough.
What’s troubling, said Michelle Fay, executive director of Voices for Vermont’s Children, is that while Reach Up’s spending has decreased by $15 million over the last five years, while the budget for the division of Department for Children and Families, which handles foster care and child abuse cases, among other responsibilities, has seen a nearly $25 million increase.
She’s worried that means the state is treating symptoms, rather than the cause of the problems.
“It’s really about legislators choosing to prioritize prevention,” Fay said. “You could either keep spending on downstream problems or do something about getting to the root of the problem and address basic needs.”
The House passed a $6.1 billion budget bill last week without an increase for Reach Up. But Fay says she’s hopeful for better news on the Senate side. Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, in particular has been advocating for Reach Up funding for several years.
“I have become increasingly concerned about our basic safety net programs, and those are programs that provide financial assistance for vulnerable populations’ basic needs,” Kitchel said. “They pay the rent, they put a roof over the kids’ house.”
Reach Up operates on a $20 million a year budget, and Kitchel says funding has remained flat because federal matching money is no longer available. Any increase in spending would be funded by the state.
“Our benefits that we pay families, you know, from maybe a single mother and two children, I don’t think have been updated since the mid-90s,” Kitchel said. “We’re giving a family of three $630 a month, in most of the state, to feed and clothe and pay rent, which means that we have a public policy that is — by design and by funding — is putting thousands of Vermont children into abject poverty.”
Budget reports from DCF say Reach Up meets 50% of a family’s basic needs, using 2004 figures. Most of the 4,000 families in the Reach Up program use food stamps, Fay says. About a quarter receive housing support. That means basic needs aren’t being met for most families, she said.
A typical family — one parent and two children living outside of Chittenden County — receives $640 a month — the grant’s maximum amount. That barely covers rent and leaves little for other needs.
April Kelley first received Reach Up money in 2008, when she was raising two toddlers and struggling to make ends meet. The grant allowed her to get a bachelor’s degree from Lyndon State College and get a job with Northeast Kingdom Community Action, where she works today.
“It was really important.” Kelley said. “Almost all of it went to rent, which was a struggle. Now, rents are even higher so these families are having to struggle even more, and have almost the entire thing going to rent, which isn’t allowing them to have any sort of wiggle room to move forward.”
Reach Up isn’t the only program where spending is falling short, Kitchel said. Nursing home allowances, community care homes and state supplements to programs for the elderly and disabled are also years behind on much-needed increases in funding, she said.
“These are very basic needs,” Kitchel said. “Everybody’s coming saying ‘we want this new service,’ or ‘we should be giving more for this particular program or activity.’ Very few people are saying, ‘how does this square with just how well are we meeting families basic needs?’”
Fay says an investment in the Reach Up program now would result in less spending on family services in the future.
“It’s about balancing priorities,” Fay said. “The family services division right now is looking to increase staffing, but our concern is if we keep adding staff but no tools to provide support for them, we’re setting the system up to fail families.”
She said the per-child cost of Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center’s $6 million budget is another place they’ve been looking. Fay said helping those youth in community-based settings would be more humane, and could free up several million dollars for Reach Up.
Fay said her organization has pushed back on reductions in Reach Up benefits for families receiving a supplemental security income, a federal disability benefit. Lawmakers then lowered the reduction by $10 — to $115, but Fay said penalizing people with disabilities is still “mind-boggling,” no matter the dollar amount.