CONNECTICUT NONPROFIT PROVIDES VITAL FUNDS FOR NEW MOMS
Along with CT Paid Leave, creates income replacement safety net
Hartford CT — Connecticut’s Paid Leave Authority reminded Connecticut workers today that the paid leave program works in tandem with other programs, including those provided by nonprofits like the Bridge Project, to provide a safety net of income replacement for workers who need to take time off to recover from a serious illness, to care for a family member, or to welcome a new child into their family. The Bridge Project, a 501(c)3 organization, supports healthy development for babies during their first 1,000 days of life by providing their mothers with consistent, unconditional cash on a biweekly basis. In 2024, The Bridge Project expanded to serve families in Connecticut.
“We are the largest, consistent unconditional cash program for moms and babies in the US. Over the first 1000 days of a baby’s life, we give moms a stipend every two weeks, starting with a prenatal stipend, which is larger, to help moms with expenses like buying a car seat, buying a stroller, buying a crib,” said Laura Clancy, Executive Director of the Bridge Project. “We all know that babies cost a lot of money, and we also know that that for many families, when the mom gives birth is the time when they’re making the least amount of money they’ll ever make in their working lives. One of the amazing things about being in Connecticut, though, is there are incredible offerings like Connecticut Paid Leave, like the maternity care bundle from Husky, like the baby bonds, that moms can choose to draw on. Giving people cash is intuitive: Low-income families lack flexible cash, live paycheck to paycheck, and are unable to save and generate wealth. Providing them with consistent, unconditional, and immediate cash is sometimes all it takes to lift them out of poverty.”
Under the Bridge Project, applicants must be 18 years or older, 23 weeks or more into their pregnancy, can reside anywhere in the state of Connecticut, and must have an annual household income of $44,000 or less. If selected, the new mom may receive an upfront, one-time prenatal stipend of $1,125, primarily designed to help offset the cost of things like buying a crib, car seat, and stroller. Then, the applicant receives $750 a month for the first 15 months of the program, stepping down to $375 a month for the final 21 months of the program.
Under CT Paid Leave, workers are required to have earned at least $2,325 from a covered employer in the highest-earning quarter of the first four of the five most recently completed quarters (the “base period”) and must be currently employed or had been employed within the last 12 weeks by a covered employer. Self-employed individuals or sole proprietors who are CT residents who enrolled in the program and meet the minimum earning requirement may also qualify. If the worker’s average weekly wage is less than or equal to the Connecticut Minimum Wage multiplied by 40 (i.e. $654 as of 1/1/2025), the weekly benefit rate will be 95%. If their average weekly wage is more than CT minimum wage multiplied by 40, the weekly benefit rate will be 95% of the CT minimum wage multiplied by 40 plus 60% of amount that average weekly wage exceeds the CT minimum wage multiplied by 40.
“Since the day we started paying claims under Connecticut’s Paid Leave Program, childbirth and bonding have been two of the most common reasons why workers apply for income replacement and that’s because it makes a huge difference, especially for workers who don’t have access to time off to recover and bond,” said Erin Choquette, CEO of the CT Paid Leave Authority. “Nonprofits like the Bridge Project work in tandem with paid leave to fill those financial gaps that happen when workers take leave to welcome a new child into their lives.”
To learn more about the Bridge Project, please listen to this podcast: https://www.ctpaidleave.org/resources-and-guides/paid-leave-podcast
For more information about CT Paid Leave and how to apply, please visit www.ctpaidleave.org.
