Katie Blair House advocates for continued state funding

Norwich – Residents, staff and board members at the Katie Blair House for formerly homeless women pleaded with local state legislators this morning for continued funding for a program that works in the face of proposed state budget cuts.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed budget calls for cutting $2.4 million, about 5 percent of the housing/homeless line item in the state Department of Social Services budget.

Bethsaida Community Services, which runs the Katie Blair House, receives $55,000 annually from DSS. Because the grant is competitive, the agency fears losing some or possible all of its grant, board member Angela George said.

Four Katie Blair residents addressed legislators this morning and told them how the home and its programs turned their lives around.

Resident Nakesha Phillips said she reluctantly walked through the doors at Katie Blair House at age 40 to try to regain custody of her 1 ½-year-old daughter. She received a call on Friday that her efforts have paid off, and she will be reunited with her daughter and “moving on.” Her daughter is in foster care.

“I’m doing things I never thought I could do,” she told legislators, at times breaking down in tears. She said she is training to become a nurse, but after hearing about the state budget cuts, she also has a yearning to be in Hartford fighting for funding.

“Something tells me I should be sitting with these state representatives in Hartford,” she said.