Independent Living Centers FY24 Request: $3.2 million for CURRENT SERVICES
While less than we’d sought, a $233,000 increase proposed by Appropriations Committee will begin the long process of restoring service areas.
Connecticut’s five Centers for Independent Living (CILs) help people of all ages, with all types of disabilities, live independently in the community. They operate with a mix of state, federal and private funding.
The CILs have had few funding increases in their 36 years of operation. The CILs were flat-funded in FY23 at $2.36 million in total state funding. While they have received small increases, the centers remain 35% behind inflation. An increase of $840,000.00 would begin to restore lost funding and expand access for consumers.
At $462,970 Connecticut provides the lowest amount of state funding
compared to adjacent states.
Connecticut
$462,970
New York
$13,360,999
Massachusetts
$7,146,117
Rhode Island
$302,560
(has only one CIL)
In 2016, the State Independent Living Council, a Governor appointed body, commissioned a US Census data-driven funding formula developed by the Indiana Business Research Center. The report concludes that $5.5 million is the true cost to fully fund CT’s ILCs, permitting them to meet the needs in the state, with a base level of state funding of $550K per center.
Services provided by Connecticut’s five Independent Living Centers help individuals live the lives they desire and deliver a substantial return on public investment.