Caitlin Belley

I am employed by a small charitable nonprofit organization and the past year I have seen a number of nonprofits struggle financially. Federal funding was cut significantly and even though we have primarily relied on private grants, competition for these grants have sky rocketed. Money, we used to be able to count on is no longer assured. Taxing the property of nonprofits will cause many doors to close. Manchester was a pioneer with its ACERT program, which other communities around the country have gone on the replicate. ACERT is a collective of nonprofit agencies that help address childhood trauma for kids present at crime scenes. ACERT works in partnership with local police. Unaddressed childhood trauma leads to poor school attendance, the inability to hold a job, heart disease, depression, drug abuse and a number of other conditions that impact our communities negatively. These nonprofits build the families back up and help change the trajectory for the child. Again, this started in Manchester and is something granite staters should be immensely proud of. Taxing the properties of already struggling nonprofits will end initiatives such as this. Nonprofits are amazingly savvy and can seem to move mountains with a small amount of resources, however everything had a breaking point, and this bill will be the final nail in the coffin for many. Just because you do not personally need the support of a charitable organization does mean that they are not desperately needed in our state.