2021 Annual Report

I am pleased to present to our supporters the Advancing Connecticut Together 2021 Annual Report. As we all settled into the “new normal” of COVID-19 and virtual or hybrid workplaces, our agency remained committed to providing our services to the communities we serve. Whether meeting our constituents with masks and social distancing or via Zoom and contactless interactions we continued to provide the high quality of services that have come to define us.

In this report you will see the numbers and read the stories of our impact. Throughout the year we continued to evolve and sharpen our services within our 4 areas of focus: AIDS Connecticut, providing HIV care and services; CT Association for Human Services, our subsidiary providing financial empowerment services; the CT Center for Harm Reduction, providing harm reduction and syringe services; and our newest enterprise, Connecticut Pride, a virtual repository of LGBTQIA+ resources.

The board of directors and leadership staff have continued our focus on ensuring that Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) form the bedrock of all our decisions. Thank you to our partners and supporters for walking with us on this ever-exciting journey towards ensuring that everyone in Connecticut can enjoy health, wealth and happiness.

John Merz, CEO

I would like to share a story about my homelessness in CT. I moved to CT from another state after the pandemic due to some unfortunate personal situations in my life. When I arrived in CT, I stayed with friends, but it didn’t work out and I became homeless. I first reached out to ACT and was connected with the HOPWA program director. She helped me link up with the right people who provided case management and housing support and they were extremely helpful with providing housing within an extremely short period of time. I spent a total of one weekend on the street before being placed in emergency shelter and then within three weeks referred to a transitional living program. I’ve since gained employment and am stabilizing my life. ACT continues to reach out to me to make me feel safe and secure in my situation. I know that with the help of ACT and Mercy House, I will soon be in a more stable living situation. I do not know what I would have done without the compassionate and caring team of people who have helped me.

Training & Quality Assurance

In 2021, ACT coordinated 18 trainings through the Case Management Training Institute (CMTI). Trainings covered a variety of HIV and non-HIV specific topics related to client care and services. During this report year, there were 138 unique attendees registered for training through CMTI. Additionally, ACT conducted 8 Quality Assurance Reviews with agencies located in Fairfield and Hartford counties.

One of our many dedicated VITA volunteers related this remarkable client success story during the 2021 tax season. The client initially called to inquire about the monthly advance child tax credit. After reviewing her 2020 self-prepared return and determining she had not taken advantage of the earned income tax credit (EITC) or the child tax credit (CTC), we were able to help her amend her 2020 return for an additional $5,700 refund, consisting of $3,500 for EITC, $1,400 for CTC, plus $800 from the state of Connecticut. Many more of our VITA clients have received higher refunds after switching from self-prepared returns to relying on the expertise of our experienced tax professionals, and all at no cost to the client!

A client of our Syringe Services Program for five years recently decided he was ready to recover from his addiction. He spent two and a half years in and out of prison. He came one morning to the van, not wanting a clean needle, but rather to start a recovery program. In his words he was "done" and decided to finally choose recovery. Our staff were able to get him an appointment with a local substance abuse organization that same morning. With their support and his decision to choose recovery, he has been successfully attending their program. He stops by our van every few days to give us an update on how he's doing and always has a big smile on his face. We are proud of his success and remain committed to providing compassionate harm reduction services to all of our clients with the hope that everyone we serve has the opportunity to choose recovery on their terms.

Connecticut Pride received the following email message from a teacher who was able to use our new website as an important resource for her LGBTQ+ students.

“Hi! I am reaching out today about this wonderful collection of resources, https://pride-ct.org/resources/. I have a few LGBTQ+ students in my class this year and I decided to create a page of helpful resources specifically for them, and anyone else who finds it useful! Your page was really helpful in guiding me to some great ideas and websites - thank you!”

In total, our events, appeals, and community campaigns generated over $135,000 to support our mission. Many thanks to all of our corporate and community sponsors, in-kind donors, event attendees, volunteers, and everyone else who gave from their hearts to support ACT.

View Our 2021 Donors