One year after the Outback Teen Center received no town funding as its board at the time sought to forge a public-private partnership with New Canaan, town officials are proposing to put $10,000 into a contingency fund that could support a re-branded facility under new leadership that’s designed to serve a wider demographic.
“The Hub” building in downtown New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
Because the major program expected to run out of “The Hub,” as the newly launched Outback building has been re-branded, would meet a major need by serving special needs adults, the Health & Human Services Commission for next year’s budget is seeking to set aside $10,000 to support the nonprofit organization, according to Judy Dunn, the commission’s chair.
“The state of Connecticut stops aiding special needs people at age 21, so after that they get nothing,” Dunn told the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday in proposing a spending plan for next fiscal year.
“Because this is an entirely new program, we didn’t want to take the entire amount they asked for and just say, ‘Here,’ ” Dunn said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “We did not feel that was fiscally responsible of us to do. So we took $10,000 from what was left over from the old Outback budget and put it into a contingency fund and if after five or six months or so, if this program actually gets going, and they come to us with their plan and the commission approves it, then we will release this $10,000 to aid them. Also they can apply as needed for the program budget, any programs and extras, so there obviously is the opportunity to get more money, but we could not just take X amount dollars and, one more time, feed it to a program that might not survive. Although we have great faith that this one is going to, we still feel responsible enough to keep on the side as a contingency until proven and then we will be glad to support it. Because we do without question support the program for challenges with special needs in our community.”
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi called Dunn’s approach “very, very good” and said he and Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert have been working closely with the new Hub board and its president, Bob Albus.
The Hub had wanted “a lot more money” initially but, Mallozzi said, “I don’t know how realistic that is.” (Note that The Hub has launched an online fundraising campaign to secure $25,000 and in two days has raised $1,220 toward that goal—residents can read more about the project on the fundraising page.)
The first selectman went on to say that The Hub is meeting a real need by serving developmentally disabled and other Special Education students who “age out” of New Canaan Public Schools, including through a program known as “Launch” that serves young adults up to age 21.
“We have a challenge in this town,” Mallozzi said. “We have about 17 kids in the Launch program that will be coming out of the Launch program and their families deserve to have a place in town for them so they can walk to Walter Stewart’s where they are working or they can walk to the Nature Center, in the heart of our community. These are not throwaway kids at all.” Mallozzi said he’s worried that though there are 17 kids in Launch now, that number will grow as more families come to New Canaan for its well-run Special Education program.
“We all know what Special Ed in this town is doing: It’s growing,” he said. “We will be up to 40 of these kids in a few years. It is incumbent on all of us to seek a solution to that number and make that 17 or 40 in five or six years have a really safe, wonderful environment for part of their day.”
Albus told NewCanaanite.com in an interview that The Hub’s board is seeking to “strike a balance between services that the town will assist us in providing and other services where they will be some revenue or contribution to overhead expenses” so that the facility is “not burdensome to the town in terms of subsidizing the entity.”
“By structuring like this, it allows us to have sustainable model that will support the long-term aspects of this facility,” Albus said.
In addition to the program serving special needs adults, other activities at The Hub include after-school tutoring and mentoring and babysitting for parents who are shopping or dining downtown, Albus said.