[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TEN YEARS OF STELLAR SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 4, 2005

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, ten years ago the Howard Center for Human 
Services was established. It is a remarkable organization, one which 
provides essential services to the citizens of four counties in 
northern Vermont. Although its origins are in the nineteenth century, 
its earliest forebearer was a ladies' aid and relief society in 1873. 
Its willingness to join together several different NGOs in 1994, 
overriding several smaller portfolios in the interest of providing a 
broad umbrella of services to the community, is testimony to its 
commitment to serving the needs of Vermont.
  The focus of its staff and programs is on developmental disabilities, 
those with mental problems, and on children, youth and families who 
face difficulties of many sorts. It serves those in crisis and those 
with ongoing problems. Altogether, the Howard Center serves over 15,000 
Vermont residents each year through Howard Community Services, the 
Baird Center, and Adult Behavioral Health Services. It does so 
efficiently, dedicating almost 90 percent of its budget directly to 
programs and outreach for those thousands of Vermonters in need of the 
services it provides.
  The Howard Center provides accredited services in the areas of mental 
health, alcohol and other drug addictions programs, family services, 
and employment services. Its many programs range from crisis 
intervention and stabilization to outpatient treatment, case management 
services coordination, community housing, residential treatment, job 
development and supports, and criminal justice service case management. 
In addition to a dedicated staff and hundreds of contracted workers 
supporting individuals and families in their homes and in the 
community, 500 volunteers help the Howard Center meet the needs of our 
friends and neighbors in northern Vermont.
  I could go on at length about the individual programs of the Howard 
Center, but in the interest of time I will mention just one, one that 
is representative of the remarkable commitment and innovation that the 
Howard Center brings to providing human services to northern Vermont. 
The Streetwork program provides daily assistance and support to people 
with psychiatric disabilities, and to those dealing with substance 
abuse, homelessness and other unmet social service needs; it provides 
those services on the main streets of downtown Burlington, by going out 
to people rather than waiting for them to come into offices or clinics.
  In these difficult times, when the middle class is under siege and 
shrinking and low income families see the social safety net in shreds, 
when fringe benefits for many jobs axe disappearing and more people are 
medically uninsured, when low and moderate income housing is often 
unavailable, the Howard Center provides a bulwark and a refuge to those 
who are in need of social services. I congratulate them on the past ten 
years, and look forward to a new decade in which they continue to 
sustain tens of thousands of Vermonters.




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