Legislators urged to boost efforts to fight poverty

from The Stamford Advocate

By Natasha Lee
Staff Writer

STAMFORD - CTE President Phillip McKain yesterday urged state legislators to fight for funding for social programs to help beat poverty in Stamford and neighboring towns.

Lower Fairfield County's wealthy demographics make it difficult for agencies such as CTE to get state and federal money, McKain said. Eligibility is difficult for low-income residents, particularly those working two or three jobs to make ends meet, because their income can be counted against them, he said.

"People almost have to be on the streets to qualify," he said.

CTE Inc. is federally designated to reduce poverty in Stamford, Greenwich and Darien, and serves about 5,000 low-income people each year through educational, social and employment programs.

According to federal poverty guidelines, about 8.7 percent of Stamford's population, or 10,316 people, live in poverty. The U.S. Census Bureau's latest estimate puts the city population at about 120,000 residents.

The 2000 census reported about 2,400 Greenwich residents lived in poverty, and 391 in Darien.

"People don't think of Greenwich or even Darien as places where people exist in poverty, but they do," McKain said.

CTE struggles to maintain funding for its $350,000 Community Service Block Grant, which pays for education and youth programs, and its $380,000 Human Services Infrastructure funding, which supports employee training and family services programs, he said.

The formula used by the state Department of Social Services and Department of Labor to allocate money fails to account for the cost of living, which limits or denies the amount of funding CTE receives.

"That's the sort of battles we have to fight all the time," he told state officials and CTE employees yesterday. "I'm appealing to you to pay close attention to this so that the low-income community on this end aren't hurt."

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and Moira Lyons of Stamford, former speaker of the state House of Representatives, were joined by state Reps. Gerald Fox III, D-Stamford; Carlo Leone, D-Stamford; and Christel Truglia, D-Stamford, at yesterday's legislative breakfast, held at CTE in the South End.

Cassandra Arcano, a graduate of CTE's Individual Development Accounts program, stressed why such programs are needed to help low-income families become self-sufficient.

Arcano, a single mother of four boys, signed up for the program in 1999, after the birth of her last son. Arcano was living in public housing in Darien and juggling to provide for her family while working and taking classes at Norwalk Community College.

Arcano joined the program so she could learn how to save money for a house, but later changed her goal to operating her own business after an opportunity came to take over a fledgling pizza place.

Today, Arcano owns Four Brothers Pizza in Darien and two other businesses, including a catering company. She owns her home in Westport.

"I kind of achieved all my goals, so I'm making new ones," she said.

Arcano catered yesterday's breakfast.

Fox, also a CTE board member, said the agency must keep legislators informed about gaps in funding. The legislative session begins Feb. 6.

"It's one of the most important issues that we as public servants can address. We're committed and hope to develop more stories similar to Cassandra's," Fox said.