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RALEIGH — Representatives of a North Carolina women's group met Wednesday at the General Assembly to lobby for their priorities as lawmakers close in on a final budget.

Veronica Butcher, president of N.C. Women United, said during the Women's Advocacy Day rally that several programs on this year's
$21.4 billion state budget bill impact women.

"Progress has not been made on several issues that are very important," Butcher said. "We are here to ask our legislators why."

Butcher listed the Home and Community Care Block Grant, numerous proposed domestic violence programs, paid sick leave and the Housing Trust Fund as issues that impact women.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat, said several housing programs in the budget bill will benefit women. She pointed to the proposed expansion of the Home Protection Program, resources allocated for foreclosure defense and counseling about subprime lending, and additional funding for the Housing Trust Fund.

"Single women have been the ones who have the greatest need for affordable housing," Dorsett said. "It impacts women more than any other group."

The housing fund, created in 1987, is paid for through annual appropriations and administered by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency.

The fund provides the state's largest source of funds for supportive housing and emergency repairs, and can be used to finance home ownership, rental apartments and new construction.

The Senate's version of the budget bill would add $2 million to the fund each year, and a one-time $7 million boost to aid disabled people.

Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat who is one of the House's chief budget writers, said leaders in both houses recognize the importance of boosting the trust fund.

She added that women head many single-parent households, so the economic situation of women has a significant impact on North Carolina's children.

"When parents live in poverty, their children live in poverty, too," said Adams, who also sponsored a bill to give full-time workers paid leave for illnesses and family emergencies.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat, said at Wednesday's rally that women's issues are much more prominent today because the number of women in elected office has reached a critical mass.

But Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, the meeting's keynote speaker and the first woman elected to statewide executive office in North Carolina, said more progress still could be made.

"The issues that are important to women still remain far too invisible," she said. "Life is not just a pie doled out to a set number of slices, and I do hate that metaphor. There is still room to bring more fairness in our society."

Staff writer Mark Binker contributed to this story.

Contact Emily Stephenson at 373-7080 or emily.stephenson@news-record.com