Paul Marks | Special to CTMirror.org

The New London Homeless Hospitality Center is lucky that donations have risen lately, because the state’s contribution has fallen since five years ago.

Twenty-seven-year-old Dan Fiorentino has a job, a supportive family and a passion for the Boston Red Sox. But because he has Down Syndrome, there’s no telling when he’ll be able to live on his own.

At a workplace where employees haven’t had a raise in a decade, retaining staff who have been carefully trained, and who have forged trust relationships with clients, is a persistent concern.

In June 2017 spending cuts ordered by the state in coping with its budget crisis closed many day programs for developmentally disabled clients. For Sarah Reith, who has autism and Down Syndrome, it meant the loss of a routine that kept her feeling happy and safe.

Catholic Charities of Fairfield County is finding it a little harder every year to operate its outreach and treatment program for clients who struggle with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.

NEW BRITAIN – Behind a rusting iron fence, inside an aging red-brick building leased from the 170-year-old St. Mary Roman Catholic Church next door, Farrell Treatment Center offers a way out for people gripped by drug and alcohol addiction.

Robert Embardo is a 29-year-old guy in a Red Sox cap who weighs upwards of 300 pounds. Approaching with a slightly unsteady gait, he greets visitors with a left-handed handshake and a nod. But he doesn’t say much, even to his mother. The word he uses – the only word – is “key.”