05/21/08 UPDATE BELOW

Immediate Need for Advocacy with the Senate
From Corky Klimczak

Dear parents and supporters of the Hampshire County Family Network,

I am sorry to have to tell you that the funding for the Massachusetts Family Network program was eliminated from the Senate version of the state budget, although it was included in the House version, which is quoted below. That means there may be no state funding for any of the family centers in Hampshire County, or in the 41 other areas of the state that have family centers funded by MFN. My job and many of the family center coordinator’s jobs are at risk. Each of HCFN’s family centers stand to lose at least $7,000, which would likely close some centers, and drastically cut services to families. Your Senator, Stan Rosenberg, is familiar with the MFN program and has been very supportive in the past. He is in a unique position to get the funding restored, because he is on the Senate leadership. He needs to hear from as many families and other supporters as possible RIGHT AWAY – no later than Friday, May 16th – so that he will have “ammunition” to document citizen and voter support for the program.

Here is his contact information: Senator Stan Rosenberg 617-722-1532 Sen.StanRosenberg@senate.ma.us

When you call or email, please let him or his staff know that you are calling about funding for Line 3000-7050, Family Support and Engagement. Describe your involvement in the family center which has been funded through that line and say what the center has meant to you and your children, or the families you serve as a professional. Ask the Senator to work to restore the funding for the Massachusetts Family Networks and advocate for the House version of the line item in conference committee. If you have relatives in other parts of the state, it would help if you would forward this email to them, too, so that they can contact their Senators.

Feel free to contact me with any questions and thanks so much for contributing your voice to this efforts to restore funding to family centers across the state! Email: cklimczak@collaborative.org

For your information, here is the language from the House FY09 budget, Line 3000-7050 Family Support and Engagement,which is what we hope the Senate will restore to their budget. In that budget, MFN was funded at $5.4 million:

“For grants to programs which improve the parenting skills of participants in early education and care programs in the commonwealth; provided, that not less than $5,395,694 shall be expended on the Mass Family Networks program; provided further, that not less than $3,000,000 shall be expended for grants for the home-based parenting, family literacy, and school readiness program known as the Parent-Child Home Program; provided further, that the department shall distribute said $3,000,000 not later than September 15, 2008; provided further, that $1,000,000 shall be made available for matching grants to fund a Reach Out and Read program, to provide books to at-risk children through book distribution programs established in community health centers, medical practices, and hospitals for at-risk children; provided further, that the funds distributed through Reach Out and Read program shall be contingent upon a match of not less than $1 in private or corporate contributions for every $1 in state grant funding; and provided further, that the department shall, to the maximum extent feasible, coordinate services provided though this item with services provided through item 3000-7000 in order to ensure that parents receiving services through this item are aware of all opportunities available to them and their children through the department $9,455,694”

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UPDATE

Hello again, parents and colleagues,

The email address I sent for Stan Rosenberg may not be working correctly today. If you had problems getting through, try this one: Stan.Rosenberg@state.ma.us. Or call him at 617-722-7050 or at his Northampton office: 584-1649.

FYI – If you haven’t called or emailed your Senator yet, here are the numbers of families across the state that will lose services as a result of this cut.

Here is information about the number of families and number of children served by MFN in FY 2007:

• Number of families: 23,653
• Number of children birth to age 4: 26,752

Message from my earlier email: restore the $5.4 million allocated for the Massachusetts Family Network in Line Item 3000-7050 in the Senate version of the budget to align it with the House version.

New message: Ask Senators to sign onto and support the amendment by Senator Susan Fargo to restore the full funding for this important family support program.

Thanks so much for all of your advocacy efforts on behalf of families with young children!

Corky Klimczak
Hampshire County Family Network Coordinator
Hampshire Educational Collaborative
97 Hawley St., Northampton, MA 01060
ph: 413-586-4998 x104
ph: 800-519-1882 x104
fax: 413-586-1725

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UPDATE

05/16/08

Hi everyone,

I just spoke to an aide in Sen. Rosenberg’s office with whom I have a good relationship and asked a lot of procedural questions that I know a lot of us have been wondering about. We don’t need to get the amendment passed to have a shot at having the funding restored. That can happen in the
House-Senate budget conference committee even if the amendment fails. My contact explained that there is strategy involved in what amendments get passed. Usually, the House leaves room for the Senate to add in some of their priorities, but that didn’t happen this year. The House budget is
considered irresponsibly large from the Senate perspective and the only way that Senate priorities could get on the table was to cut some of the House’s priorities. That gives them “chips” to use in the final negotiation. He didn’t know if that had anything to do with the MFN cut in particular, but
it might have.

My contact said that he thinks we only have a 50-50 chance of getting the amendment passed, but not to be too discouraged if it fails because that might be a strategy move and he thinks restoration stands a decent chance in conference committee. We know we have at least one strong supporter on that committee, Steve Brewer, who is the Vice-Chair of Senate Ways and Means. It would be great for him to get calls thanking him for his support, especially from the folks in his district. My contact didn’t know who else would be on the committee and thought that it may not have been decided yet. Senator Knapik, who is one of the five Republicans in the Senate, has been on it before and he may be on it again. He has signed on to the amendment, thanks to our friends in Holyoke and the hilltowns, so we can hope for that. It probably makes sense to mount strong advocacy with
the other four Republicans, too, in case it’s one of them instead, because one of them will definitely be on the committee, according to my contact.

Here’s the timeline he outlined. Amendments are due today. On Tuesday the Senate will caucus – which means they’ll talk about the amendments and decide on their strategy together. Sen. Rosenberg has said that he can’t sign onto the amendment because of this leadership position in the Senate, but that he will speak for the program at Tuesday’s caucus. On Wednesday and Thursday the Senate will vote on the amendments, probably working late into the night on Thursday to finish before they go back to the districts on Friday. So we should know about the amendment a week from today unless they weren’t able to vote on it by Thursday night. If it passes and the funding is restored in full, we’re
done, because the only lines that come up in conference committee are those that differ between the House and Senate. If the funding is either partially restored or not restored at all through the amendment process, we will have to rely on the conference committee. We will try to learn ASAP who will be on that committee and plan to make our case strongly with all six of them. The House-Senate budget conferencing will probably begin the last week in May, but I don’t know what, if any, deadline they have to complete their work.

Hope this helps – everyone is doing a fantastic job with their calls and if we get through this, we will definitely come out of it stonger and with our legislators having a much clearer idea how important our programs are to the families and communities we serve – an outcome to hope for. And thanks so much to everyone who has contacted their Senators on behalf of the family networks. The calls across the state seem to be working – about 8 other Senators have announced that they are signing on to the amendment so far. Some have even told us they’ve gotten the message so strongly that they want us to stop calling!

In solidarity,

Corky

Corky Klimczak
Hampshire County Family Network Coordinator
Hampshire Educational Collaborative

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UPDATE: 05/21/08

Hi Everyone,

Well, this has been quite a rollercoaster ride. We may be at a tipping
point. See email below. If we can get Senate President Therese Murray to support us, I’m guessing the amendment will pass tomorrow. Please call her office today at 617-722-1500 if at all possible and ask for her support of amendment EDU #480 to restore funding to the Mass. Family Network.

It’s also a good idea to call your Senator’s office and ask how he or she is going to vote on the amendment. We have heard that the votes may not be roll call votes, so it could be hard to know who our true supporters are. It will be harder for them to vote against it tomorrow if they have committed to lots of people to vote for it today.

Thanks so much for your help and support!

Corky

Corky Klimczak
Hampshire County Family Network Coordinator
Hampshire Educational Collaborative
97 Hawley St., Northampton, MA 01060
ph: 413-586-4998 x104
ph: 800-519-1882 x104
fax: 413-586-1725
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:25 AM
Subject: Calls to Senate President TODAY!

Hello, I have received a call this morning that the Senate President
Therese Murray seems to be leaning toward supporting this amendment. It was suggested that we make phone calls to her…TODAY! Parents, supporters, collaborators, get those phone lines going. Her number is 617-722-1500.

This will be discussed tomorrow during their session. Continue to call your Senators and Therese too.