Most CT Residents Concerned About Loss of Jobs, Access, Care in Aetna-Humana Merger, Poll Shows; Missouri Decision Points to Adverse Impact

The State of Missouri raised a red flag today, waving it directly into the headwind that is the pending merger between health care giants Aetna and Humana.  Missouri’s action came just as a public poll was released in Connecticut by consumer advocates opposing the merger which indicated a general lack of public awareness about the merger plan and substantial concern about potential job losses and adverse health care affordability and choices here if the merger goes forward. The Missouri Insurance Department issued an order banning Aetna and Humana from selling certain types of insurance in the state if the companies’ planned $37 billion merger comes to fruition. The order states that Aetna and Humana should “cease and desist from doing business” throughout Missouri with respect to individual and small group insurance and the group Medicare Advantage market if Aetna’s acquisition of Humana is completed.

In Connecticut, the Connecticut Campaign for Consumer Choice coalition released results of a recent poll which found that most Connecticut voters “didn’t know that the five major national health insurance companies – UnitedHealth, Anthem, Cigna, Aetna, and Humana - are attempting to merge down to three companies from five. The new research found that only 27 percent of respondents were aware of the plans.

After they were given more information about the consequences of the mergers among the five national health insurance providers (Aetna-Humana and CIGNA-Anthem), 71 percent of Connecticut voters were opposed to State Insurance Commissioner Katherine Wade approving the mergers in Connecticut.

Nine in ten state voters (91 percent) think that it’s either very or somewhat important that Commissioner Wade “considers the impact of these mergers on the affordability of insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and their potential to limit health care choices, in her decision making process.” And those surveyed were overwhelmingly concerned that the proposed mergers will lead to job losses in Connecticut.

The Connecticut survey, conducted earlier this month by Public Policy Polling, found that 89 percent of Connecticut voters are either very or somewhat concerned that the proposed mergers will lead to job losses in Connecticut. Additionally, 89 percent of those polled believe it’s either very or somewhat important that the impact of these mergers on job losses in Connecticut be considered by state regulators.

Missouri is the first state regulator to release findings against the proposed deal, announced last year, published reports indicated. The deal is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as state regulators and antitrust authorities, who are also reviewing competitor Anthem’s plan to buy Cigna Corp. Aetna has filed for regulatory approval in the 20 states where Humana is domiciled and of those, 15 have approved the deal thus far, including Connecticut.  Because of Humana's limited footprint in Connecticut, the review was more form than substance.  The Cigna-Anthem merger, however, is to receive a much fuller review, according to state insurance officials, as Cigna is a state-domiciled company.

Regarding Aetna-Humana, the Missouri Insurance Department “found that in its current, unmodified, form – as to a few specified lines of insurance – that the proposed acquisition would violate the competitive standard set forth in Missouri law, meaning that as to those lines the acquisition would substantially lessen competition in this state.”

The Missouri Insurance Department stressed that the decision “is not a final order. The statute provides that Aetna and Humana may submit a plan to remedy the anticompetitive effect of the merger as to those specified lines.”  If that step is taken, the department “would evaluate the plan and may modify or vacate” the order issued today banning the merged company from certain lines of insurance in the state.

"The Missouri order does not impede the Department of Justice approval process," Aetna said in a statement. "We're disappointed, but expect to have a constructive dialogue with the state to address their concerns."

In addition to the public poll, Connecticut Campaign for Consumer Choice – a coalition that includes the Universal Health Care Foundation, Connecticut Citizen Action Group and Connecticut State Medical Society -  released a letter to Commissioner Wade signed by 17 state legislators calling for multiple public hearings on the merger, intervenor status for interested consumer advocates, and a study that would “analyze the potential impact on cost, access, and the Connecticut economy, including jobs” and warning that if the merger is approved, “the resulting mega-insurer will cover 64 percent of covered lives in Connecticut, with an even greater concentration in some regions of our state.”

The Missouri decision comes following a public hearing held on May 16.  In testimony provided as part of the public record, Consumers Council of Missouri expressed “profound concern,” warning that the merger would result in a “significant reduction in competition (that) will most certainly result in increased cost to consumers,” adding that “the results will be catastrophic and we will have no power to undo it.”

The Missouri Hospital Association, in offering a detailed 21-page analysis, indicated that “Consolidation will affect the ability of hospitals and other health care providers to bargain competitively for contracts containing appropriate fees for medical services. In turn, such providers are less able to invest in the resources to maintain and improve the quality of care. An anticompetitive suppression of healthcare payments will suppress innovation, to the detriment of consumers.”

Colorado’s Governor Recalls Time at Wesleyan

The first time someone told Governor of Colorado and Wesleyan alumnus John Hickenlooper ’74 that he should run for public office, he nearly laughed them out of the room. “I said, ‘Why the hell would I ever do that,’” Hickenlooper said. “[Even growing up,] I never ran for student council or class president, and I didn’t really hang out with the people that did. This kind of caught me by surprise.”

If there ever was a perfect example of the triumph of a broad liberal arts education, Hickenlooper’s serendipitous path to the Governor’s mansion is it. The English major, turned geologist, turned brewpub owner ran for Mayor of Denver in 2003 as something of a joke.

“In 2001, some smart people who did work in politics—and they were my customers so I knew them—suggested I run for mayor,” Hickenlooper said. “They said, in a funny way, you’re perfect for who ought to be in politics. You’re a small-business person, someone in the service industry who understands restaurants, and somebody who understands science. So kind of as a joke, we decided to run. We didn’t do opposition research and I’ve never done a negative ad. Our focus was really on putting up a positive vision for Denver. And we did a few very funny TV ads that are still up on YouTube. And no one could believe it as we were running, because in 2003, we beat these lifetime politicians who had been in office since 1987 two to one.”

Hickenlooper may not have taken the most direct route to a career in politics, but growing up, he always had the sense that he wanted to leave a public legacy. Despite his initial disinterest in the political sphere, public service is actually in his blood: his great-grandfather Andrew Hickenlooper was a renowned Civil War general and both a Lieutenant Governor and U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio.

However, Governor Hickenlooper learned little about his family heritage growing up. His father died from cancer when he was eight, and he felt the absence acutely.

“Especially for men and boys, if your father dies you have to figure out [how] to raise yourself,” Hickenlooper said. “You know, showing yourself how to comb your hair, or what kinds of pants look good. Because you learn that stuff when you are very young.”

For a long time, Hickenlooper had little idea what he wanted to do with his life, but he believes there was something deeply existential about his lack of direction toward one set path. According to him, he internalized the family tragedy as motivation. He wanted to make enough noise in his life to leave a legacy that one day would be impossible to ignore.

“When I was a kid, I was skinny, had acne, and wore really thick, ugly black plastic glasses,” Hickenlooper said. “So I always sort of felt like I had to prove myself. After my dad died, there was this sense that you want your voice to be heard out in the cosmos. Kind of in a weird way, you want your father way, way out there to be able to hear your voice.”

With his father absent, Hickenlooper taught himself many adolescent rites of passage. Yet, he discovered Wesleyan through family ties. He attended his half-brother’s graduation from the University in 1968, and reminisces fondly about how cool he thought it was that The Grateful Dead played a show on Foss Hill amidst widespread campus unrest in 1969. Beyond this trivia, Hickenlooper loved Wesleyan’s approach to diversity and its open-minded curriculum.

In going about his academic experience, Hickenlooper forged as eclectic a path as he could. Although he majored in English, Hickenlooper was dyslexic and felt that he could never keep up in classes where there was heavy reading. Thus, he took a course load that included piano, “how to design and fabricate stained glass windows,” dance, and electronic music.

“I took all different things I thought would help me,” Hickenlooper said. “I thought I wanted to be in some sort of creative role in life. But it turned out everything I taught, I was never very good at. But it’s nice, because I can still play the piano, guitar, and banjo to this day.”

It was only just before his undergraduate education came to a close that Hickenlooper finally found his niche. After sitting in on a lecture in one of his friends Earth & Environmental Science classes, he realized that he loved the subject more than anything he had ever studied.

Subsequently, Hickenlooper was accepted into Wesleyan’s Master’s program in geology for students with a non-science background. He then took chemistry and math classes for two years and over the summer at Harvard University. He did field work in the Beartooth Mountains of southern Montana, where he observed the most beautiful landscape he’d ever seen. After graduation, he drove a beat-up Volkswagen fastback from his brother’s house in Berkeley to do more fieldwork in Costa Rica.

If Hickenlooper’s post-college years seem like a narrative straight out of “On the Road,” their surrealistic nature has never escaped him, especially when he settled down in Denver to become a professional geologist in 1981. After working for the oil company Buckhorn Petroleum for five years, Hickenlooper realized that he was a pretty big extrovert, and a nine-to-five desk job was never going to do it for his more adventurous tendencies. Before he could make a career switch, the price of oil collapsed and most of his company was laid off, including Hickenlooper himself. Even though he was out of work for almost two and a half years, Hickenlooper faced this latest setback the same way he had dealt with adversity all his life: reinvention.

“It’s funny, when I first got laid off, I was lucky,” Hickenlooper said. “Our company had found a lot of oil and we had some anti-takeover provisions in our compensation, so I ended up getting a year of severance. You know, I was looking through my old letters and I was never moping around, I was kind of excited. This didn’t work out, now I have to find something else, and what am I going to try next.”

After trying to find another job as a geologist and even toying with becoming a writer, the next chapter in Hickenlooper’s life was spurred by a visit to a California brewpub, a trip made with the same brother who had inspired his interest in Wesleyan. Enamored by the self-sufficiency of the restaurant-brewery fusion, Hickenlooper began to talk incessantly about the superiority of the establishment’s beer.

Eventually his friends started to tell him to open a brewpub of his own. Despite no experience with running a restaurant, that is precisely what he decided to do. After going to the library to figure out how to write a business plan, Hickenlooper dove headfirst into his new life as a small-business owner and opened the WynKoop Brewing Company in 1988.

Initially, getting the business off the ground was grueling. Hickenlooper worked between 60 and 70 hours per week and paid himself a salary of less than $26,000. But soon, things started to pick up, and Hickenlooper and his co-owners began to open brewpubs all over the Midwest. It was the opening of Coors Field two blocks away in 1995 that caused the WynKoop to explode in popularity.

“All of a sudden, we became rich,”Hickenlooper said.

While Hickenlooper could have franchised his pub or enjoyed the revenue stability that Coors Field had provided, he was still restlessly searching for his place in life. He began to become deeply engaged with the Denver community, joining non-profit boards such as the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts and the Denver Art Museum. He got involved with the battle over the naming rights for the Broncos’ new stadium, and soon he become a well-known figure in the city.

Hickenlooper soon realized that his favorite part of the day was the time he spent in the non-profit community. The intersection between business, arts, and public relations work suited both Hickenlooper’s multifaceted interests and his extroverted personality. Becoming some sort of a public servant could fulfill the higher calling he had sought since the death of his father. While he laughs that he initially ran for mayor as a joke, considering this decision, you get the sense that deep down, his political move was serious and deliberate from the beginning.

In 2005, Hickenlooper was named one of Time Magazine’s top five big-city mayors, and after getting re-elected as mayor in 2007 with 97 percent of the vote, there was talk of him filling Ken Salazar’s vacated Senate seat. While that didn’t pan out, Hickenlooper got the call in 2010 from incumbent Governor Bill Ritter, asking him to run for the soon-to-be open governorship. Hickenlooper easily defeated challenger Tom Tancredo and became the first Denver mayor to be elected Governor of Colorado in over 130 years.

For a public servant who has thoroughly disproven the conventions of how to carve out a career in politics, he has been a remarkably shrewd and effective leader. Despite running a nonpartisan campaign focused on balancing Colorado’s deficit, Hickenlooper has acted on the front lines of implementing socially liberal policies. He took on the NRA to institute stricter gun control regulations. He questioned the practice of capital punishment. He’s championed criminal justice reform after originally embracing harsher policing policies as mayor.

Most famously, he’s spearheaded Colorado’s marijuana legalization efforts. However, in this case, he did not always agree with the pace of reform. While supporting the decriminalization of marijuana and its use for medicinal purposes, he has publicly expressed opposition to Amendment 64, which was passed in 2012 and legalized possession of up to one ounce of the drug. Has his mind changed in the following years?

“I was against it, because you don’t want to be in conflict with federal law,” Hickenlooper said. “You don’t want to be the first to create an entire regulatory framework. But, now that it’s been going for a few years, we have anecdotal reports that I think are reliable, that we have fewer drug dealers than we had before.”

Hickenlooper also wanted to dispel the notion that legalization is merely driven by a financial calculus.

“Some people said we wanted to do it just to get the tax money,” Hickenlooper said. “That’s stupid. Why would you risk the health of your kids and your citizens? If this is really bad for people, getting tax revenues is a pretty bad excuse. But if you end up sending less people to jail, and you end up with less drug dealers trying to sell drugs of all kinds to kids or anybody, that is reasonable. We’ve taken the tax revenues and we’ve helped fund programs for drug rehabilitation and kids that get derailed from a constructive life. We’ve dedicated a lot of money to try and get them back in a good life.”

If politics forces everyone to eventually take sides, Hickenlooper likes to at least preserve his nonpartisan, centrist appeal in tone. What has allowed him to push deeply progressive policies in a politically divided state has been pairing his utilitarian philosophy with the desire to keep his finger on the pulse of the communities he serves.

“I think mostly just by listening,” Hickenlooper said. “You know states and cities are made up of all different kinds of people, so you really have to listen hard to understand what is the rhythm behind all that noise out there. There’s a melody and a rhythm in there somewhere, and what is it that will make the greatest number of people happy and give the greatest value to the community.”

Staying true to his business and non-profit experience, he has also streamlined government in Colorado and filled his cabinet with many people who possess management skills. While he certainly doesn’t speak about the relationship between business and government in the way that Donald Trump does, he does agree that government benefits from employing individuals with diverse backgrounds, especially those with organizational management and leadership experience.

“We’re taking all this [management] training that people receive from getting MBAs, and we’re giving it very narrowly to just business,” Hickenlooper said. “If you look at it, government is about 30 percent of our economy. And non-profits are another 30 percent. And yet all the training in management and leadership goes into business.”

Hickenlooper operates in a tranquil space, and his desire to forge a consensus on major issues seems sincere. What, then, does he think of an election season that has been the complete opposite? Specifically, what would he do if Donald Trump becomes president? One has to wonder if another extended trip to Costa Rica is in his future.

“No, I’d have two more years of being a sitting governor, so I couldn’t leave and do that to my adopted state,” Hickenlooper said. “But I do think that he might be reinventing himself again. So, I’m not going prejudge him. I will say that he scares the living daylights out of me. Some of the things he says are just so provocative and difficult. If he somehow manages to get elected, which I’m going to work hard to make sure doesn’t happen, he’s the President of the United States. And I respect the system our country has created.”

There’s even a chance that Hickenlooper himself may play a direct role in the election to come. A longtime supporter of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Hickenlooper is one of the superdelegates that has already pledged support to her campaign. And while he has dispelled rumors of being a potential pick for the Vice Presidency, they persist anyway. Since Hickenlooper occupies a space between the establishment and outsider status, what does he say to students who are disillusioned by the DNC’s cozy relationship to Clinton, or their frustrations with the lack of viable alternatives?

“What I tell young people all the time is, ‘get your friends to vote,’” Hickenlooper said. “Don’t complain because the more experienced people in the party are supporting Hillary. Go out and get more people to vote.”

His take on the activism of today is similarly nuanced, if not a little nostalgic for the great battles for equality of the past.

“I say to kids, ‘I was you once,’” Hickenlooper said. “I marched on Washington to oppose the Vietnam War. I went to the first Earth Day in 1969. But, I also understood that there were people who were older and they thought they had answers, and maybe they were right and maybe they were wrong. But we had a system whereby everybody had a voice, and that is the amazing thing about America.”

If there’s anything that sticks out about Hickenlooper’s political philosophy, it’s his respect, and even admiration, for a democratic process that once seemed completely foreign to him. Then again, he didn’t expect to become a brewpub owner or a geologist either. Perhaps he’s still got a few more tricks up his sleeve.

This article was written by Aaron Stagoff-Belfort and first appeared, in a lengthier version, in the Wesleyan Argus.  Abridged and published with permission.

Hartford Foundation Growth Responds to Community Needs

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for 29 communities in Greater Hartford, awarded more than $33 million in grants to the region’s nonprofit agencies and educational institutions in 2015, according to the organization’s newly released annual report. The Foundation’s 2015 grantmaking was based on the recognition that "a vibrant and strong Greater Hartford region requires that all residents, especially those with the greatest need, have equitable opportunities to achieve and flourish," the report stated.  In order to make this possible, the Foundation provided support to nonprofit and public entities that "work to ensure everyone has access to the resources and services they need to thrive."

The Foundation invested 30 percent of its grants in education from birth through high school, and new and renewed college scholarship, according to the report. Grants for family and social services received 20 percent; health – 11 percent; arts and culture – 11 percent; community and economic development – 19 percent, general – 5 percent and summer programs – 4 percent.

“Thanks to the support of our generous donors, the Hartford Foundation, working with our many community partners, is leading and participating in collaborative approaches to harness resources and increase community impact,” said Linda J. Kelly, president of the Hartford Foundation.

The Foundation received gifts totaling $17.5 million and established 29 new funds, including a new giving circle, the “Black Giving Circle Fund,” to address issues facing Greater Hartford’s Black community.

“Our newly adopted strategic plan, with its focus on equity and opportunity, prioritizes learning from birth through college, vibrant communities and family economic security,” Kelly said. “We look forward to amplifying our efforts to address community needs to meet the broad-based and changing issues in our region, and create pathways to opportunity for all residents.”

The annual report highlights the wide variety of work the Foundation has supported throughout Greater Hartford, including:

Alliance District Grants (Bloomfield, East Hartford, Windsor): More than $1.5 million was awarded to three Greater Hartford school districts to establish or deepen each district’s partnerships with family and community, to improve student outcomes and promote equitable educational opportunity throughout the region.

• Bloomfield was awarded a grant to significantly expand Bloomfield Public Schools’ family and community partnerships supporting an extended school day and increasing yearlong support of student learning.
• East Hartford Public Schools received a grant to develop a new Teaching and Learning Center and other strategies that will enable it to support children’s learning, development, and success through increased family, school, and community partnerships.
• Windsor Public Schools received a grant to establish a new Office of Family and Community Partnership to develop families, school staff, and community partners’ knowledge, skills, and other capacities to engage in productive partnerships focused on student success.

The Hartford Foundation has approved $3.95 million over three years in grants and technical assistance to support the Career Pathways Initiative, a collaborative, crosscutting approach to providing residents with education and workforce training that places them on a trajectory to ascend a career ladder in industries that have job openings. The initiative targets low-literate and low-skilled residents of the Capitol Region, including single parents, at-risk youth, immigrants, homeless heads of household, former offenders, and others who need a broad range of coordinated services to be successful. The initiative enhances or expands existing programs and pilots new approaches.

Journey Home was awarded a three-year, $199,197 grant to support the region’s Coordinated Access Network, a collaboration of services providers whose goal is to establish a coordinated region wide placement and referral system for homeless individuals and families.

The Nonprofit Support Program continues to be a critical source of capacity building and knowledge sharing among our region’s nonprofit organizations.  In 2015, 218 nonprofits were awarded 96 grants totaling $1.74 million. These grants included support for technical assistance, strategic technology, human resources, board leadership development, executive transition, financial management and evaluation capacity.

Metro Hartford Progress Points, a partnership between the Hartford Foundation and eight other regional entities, launched the second edition of the Progress Points Report which focused on access to better schools, better jobs and stronger neighborhoods.

Since its founding in 1925, the Foundation has awarded approximately $654 million in grants.

CT Is National Microgrid Leader, Seeking Electricity Resiliency

The cover story in this month’s edition of State Legislatures magazine, published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, examines new technologies that are keeping the lights on when disasters strike the electric grid.  And it turns out that New England – especially Connecticut – is showing the way for states across the country in one of the new approaches, the electricity microgrid. The sit-up-and-take-notice event that has sent state legislature scurrying to act was SuperStorm Sandy, which knocked out power to nearly 8 million people across 15 Eastern states, including wide swaths of Connecticut.  One of the primary responses aimed at making the electric system more resilient has been the development of microgrids, and Connecticut has been swifter than most in seizing the technological advance. 

Microgrids are an example of how state legislators are seeking to make the electrical grid more reliable and resilient through strategies that strengthen infrastructure and shorten the time it takes to restore power, reporter Dan Shea explained in the article.  The whole idea is to minimize the damage and disruption of a disaster.

The article was drawn from research for the NCSL report, State Efforts to Protect the Electric Grid, published in April.  The report points out that nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population—over 123 million people—live in coastal shoreline counties, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

“We had Irene. We had Sandy. We had a snowstorm that went on forever. We had people in the dark, substations threatened by flooding and power out for eight, 10, 12 days,” Connecticut State Representative Lonnie Reed (D-Branford) told the publication. “We began to see just how vulnerable the whole interconnected system is.”

Many Northeastern states have taken action on microgrids, but the Connecticut General Assembly has been the most active legislative body, Shea reports, passing or updating microgrid-inclusive bills in each of the past four years (2012-2015). These laws offer a range of options for potential microgrid developers—and could even incentivize distributed generation developers to expand their projects to incorporate microgrid technologies.

The three main incentives are:

• A microgrid grant and pilot program;
• The Connecticut Green Bank’s commercial sustainable energy program;
• And municipal energy improvement districts.

The Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation enacting a microgrid pilot program in 2012 – the first in the nation according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). Initially, the program granted $18 million to nine projects. The initiative was later extended and given an additional $30 million to expand microgrid deployment, Shea reports.

Eligibility was extended to municipalities, electric distribution companies, municipal electric companies, energy improvement districts and private entities. On March 6, 2014, Wesleyan University in Middletown became the first of the CT microgrid projects to come online, according to the DEEP website.

The State Legislatures article reports that in 2015, lawmakers in 17 states, including New York and New Jersey, introduced more than two dozen bills on microgrids, six of which have been enacted. Several pending bills direct state agencies to study microgrids, while at least six states are considering legislation that would offer grants, loans or other incentives to develop them. Microgrids, although growing most rapidly in the Northeast, are taking root elsewhere, including California, State Legislatures reports.

In addition, a growing number of businesses and organizations are also investing in resilient systems that allow them to operate independently whether the grid is up or down.

“You’re really talking about having an economic leg up if you have the capacity to stay open and operational when others aren’t,” Reed told State Legislatures.

The state legislature has also directed the Connecticut Green Bank to include microgrid projects within its definition of “energy improvements” that the bank is authorized to make appropriations and issue bonds or other obligations to help finance.

The legislature has also authorized any municipal government to establish an energy improvement district by vote of its legislative body. The state statute outlines how the district’s affairs will be managed and authorizes a board to fund the development of energy improvement projects within the district.

Nationally, more than a dozen states introduced legislation in 2015 that calls for greater diversity in power sources—from expanding renewables to supporting nuclear and fossil fuels.  The State Legislatures report indicates that those efforts are likely to intensify in the years ahead, as weather events are predicted to become more frequent and more severe.

Tourism Awards Recognize Diligence in Promoting State

The 2016 Connecticut Governor’s Tourism Awards — individuals and organizations "who go above and beyond to enhance both the appeal of our state as well as the health of our economy," were presented at the 2016 Governor's Conference on Tourism, held in Hartford.  Sessions at the day-long conference included Using Creativity to Reimagine Tourism, Digital Marketing, Social Media Practices, and Innovative Trends in Cultural Tourism.

The  ctvisit.com website was also highlighted, and key stats reflecting the success of the state's Still Revolutionary campaign were promoted.  Among them:  3 million visits to the tourism website, 250,000 followers on social media, 25 percent visited Connecticut after seeing an ad, summer tourism was up 12 percent last year, leaf-seaon visits were up 16 percent, hotel occupancy was up 4 percent and room tax revenue up 7 percent.  Total economic impact is $14 billion.

Award recipients recognized during the conference include:

Tourism Volunteer of the Year - Jeffry and Maryan Muthersbaugh, Nehemiah Brainerd House B&B

As valuable members of the Central Regional Tourism District’s Board of Directors and members of the Executive Committee, Jeff and Maryan are tireless in their efforts to support statewide and regional tourism marketing. In addition to being owners and operators of the Nehemiah Brainerd House B&B in Haddam, CT, Jeff also serves as the Vice President of the CT Lodging Association and Chairman of the Bed & Breakfast Association. They have been instrumental in forming the CT Bed & Breakfast Association under the CLA umbrella.

Tourism Rising Star Award - Regan Miner, Norwich Historical Society

At the age of 23, Regan has already accomplished more in the area of regional tourism than some seasoned professionals. A life long native of Norwich, she worked with Norwich Historical Society to unite the city’s many historical entities into a comprehensive destination, securing a grant to open the Norwich Heritage and Regional Visitors Center on the Norwich town green in 2015. Ms. Miner has also developed a series of “Walk Norwich” trails and seasonal events hosted by volunteers and supported by a strong social media presence.

Tourism Partners of the Year Award - Carmen Romeo, Fascia’s Chocolates and Howard Pincus, Railroad Museum of New England

Fascia’s Chocolates and the volunteer-run Railroad Museum of New England have truly laid the track for a sweet collaboration. They’ve joined forces to operate special train tours, including a wine-and-chocolate-themed sunset ride and Halloween event for families, and are adding a regularly scheduled “Chocolate Train” in 2016 to market to charter groups such as bus tours. This partnership has resulted in a unique experience that has attracted high interest at recent ABA and NTA conferences and is a model for other partners statewide.

Leader of the Year - Stephen Tagliatela, Saybrook Point Inn, Marina & Spa

An influential proponent for the tourism industry as a board member of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and University of New Haven, Stephen is a strong advocate for arts and culture, education, and both historic and environmental preservation in the state. Under Stephen’s direction, The Saybrook Point Inn, as well as Spa and Marina, have won numerous awards for its often best-in-class green practices, including the first Connecticut hotel to be named a Certified Energy Hotel in 2007.

  Tourism Legacy Leader - John Lyman III, Lyman Orchards

John Lyman is a member of the 8th generation of the Lyman family to farm the land in Middlefield, CT. An early proponent of what has become known as “agritourism,” he has helped to steer his 275-year-old family business toward becoming one of Connecticut’s leading tourist destinations, attracting more than 600,000 visitors a year. Fostering working partnerships with other tourism leaders in the state and region, John initiated cause marketing with unique Sunflower and Corn Mazes, contributing $1 to charitable causes for every person who “gets lost” in the maze, currently surpassing $500,000.

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204,000 Self-Employed in CT; Freelancers Increasing Nationwide

The ranks of the self-employed are growing in Connecticut, as the number of freelancers continues to expand nationwide.  In Connecticut, there are now an estimated 204,000 individuals who are self-employed, more than 11 percent of the state’s workers, which exceeds the national average. As of March 2016, approximately 15.3 million people in the United States designated their employment status as “self-employed,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and increase of about 700,000 since May 2014, just over 10 percent of all U.S. employment.

In 2015, 29 states and the District of Columbia had self-employment rates below the U.S. rate of 10.1 percent, and 21 states had rates as least as high. Montana had the highest rate among states, 16.1 percent, followed by Maine (15.4 percent), Vermont (14.4 percent), and South Dakota (14.2 percent). The lowest rates were in the District of Columbia (7.1 percent), Delaware (7.2 percent), and Alabama (7.5 percent), according to BLS data.

Additionally, published reports last fall indicated that 54 million individuals report doing freelance work, either full-time or on the side, in the U.S., representing about one-third of the nation’s workforce.  That is an increase of 700,000 since 2014, according to a comprehensive study conducted by the independent research firm Edelman Berland.

“Americans who are freelancing already contribute more than $700 billion to our national economy and help U.S. businesses compete and find the skills that they need,” said Fabio Rosati, CEO of Elance-oDesk, which commissioned the survey with Freelancers Union.  The study identified five freelancer segments:

• Independent Contractors (36% of the independent workforce / 19.3 million professionals)
• Moonlighters (25% / 13.2 million)
• Diversified workers (26% / 14.1 million)
• Temporary Workers (9% / 4.6 million)
• Freelance Business Owners (5% / 2.5 million)

In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation (of the workforce) will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before," Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, which organized the Davos gathering,  wrote earlier this year. "The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. ... These changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance."

Already, 2.9 million freelancers earned more than $100,000 last year, up from 2 million who hit the six-figure mark just four years earlier, according to MBO Partners.  The report indicated that 60 percent of freelancers surveyed said they started freelancing by choice—up from 53 percent last year—and 67percent of freelancers agree that more people are choosing to work independently today compared to three years ago.

The survey commissioned by Freelancers Union and Upwork in 2015 found that than one-third of freelancers report that demand for their services increased in the past year, and 3 in 4 non-freelancers are open to doing additional work outside their primary jobs to earn more money, if such an opportunity was available.  The report stated that “freelancing is becoming a more prevalent, viable option for workers—a trend that spans across borders, industries and occupations.”

CT Aims to Keep Ultra-Wealthy in State; Tracks Tax Payments of 100 Top Earners

Connecticut is ranked second in the nation in the number of millionaires per capita.  Only Maryland has more.  But with Connecticut’s precarious financial situation amidst what has been described as a “new economic reality,” any drop in the plethora of extremely wealthy residents can almost instantly have far-reaching consequences, officials say. In Connecticut, as well as California, Maryland and New Jersey, the top 1 percent pay a third or more of total income taxes, The New York Times reported this month. “There's an outmigration trend. It's real,'' Sullivan recently told The Hartford Courant, describing the departure of wealthy residents from Connecticut.

But Connecticut is not sitting idly by.  The state is trying to keep its wealthy residents right here in the Land of Steady Habits.

Connecticut, the Times reported, now tracks the quarterly estimated payments of 100 of its top earners. State Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin B Sullivan told Inside Wealth columnist and CNBC wealth editor Robert Frank that about five or six of the highest earners could have a "measurable impact on the revenue stream."

By way of example, Sullivan said that when one of the state's rich hedge fund executives planned to move his family and company to a lower-tax state, state officials met with him and persuaded him to leave some of his work force in Connecticut, the Times reported.  "We knew we were going to lose him," Sullivan said, "but we wanted to keep some of the higher-paying jobs."

He added, “We advised him that there are ways to be close to family and friends in Connecticut on occasion that are perfectly legal.  We're trying to send a more welcoming message to the high earners as a group." Homeowners who spend more than 183 days in the state are considered residents for tax purposes.

The top 10 states in millionaires per capita, after Maryland and Connecticut, are Hawaii, New Jersey, Alaska, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia, according to Phoenix Marketing International’s Global Wealth Monitor.

Earlier this year, the Courant reported that one of three Connecticut residents with an 11-figure net worth, according to the latest Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest individuals, had relocated from Greenwich to Florida, the second individual in that tax bracket to do so recently.  The exits, the Courant reported, “leave Connecticut with 13 billionaires, including Ray Dalio ($15.6 billion) and Steven Cohen ($12.7 billion), both hedge fund owners who live in Greenwich.”  Eight of those 13 state residents list Greenwich as their home address, according to Forbes.

Connecticut is not alone in keeping a watchful eye on its billionaires.  New York is now more closely monitoring wealthy taxpayers who have homes in New York but claim Florida as their tax residence. And New Jersey is collecting data on all of the taxpayers who make more than $1 million to forecast their tax payments more accurately, the Times reported.

As is true in a number of states with wealthy residents, including New York, New Jersey and California, even as some of the state's wealthiest residents head to warmer climates and more favorable tax structures, the number of millionaires in the state grows.

Just three years ago, in 2013, the number of millionaires in Connecticut topped 100,000 for the first time.  In 2015, it exceeded 101,000.  That compares with just over 84,000 in 2006.  Millionaires made up 6.2 percent of state residents that year, compared with 7.3 percent in 2015, based on data from Phoenix Marketing International.

Awards Will Recognize Innovative Efforts Invigorating CT Main Streets

A local theater helping to re-energize downtown Fairfield and a New London developer and property manager who took it upon himself to improve a neighborhood by offering attractive housing that is also affordable are just two of the initiatives being recognized with a 2016 Award of Excellence from the Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC). In total, five recipients have been selected to receive the prestigious awards, including organizations and initiatives from Fairfield, Farmington, Mansfield, New London and Waterbury.

Also being recognized with awards are a public outreach effort in Farmington that resulted in hundreds of residents voicing their opinion on plans for a new gateway into the town; a holiday window display competition that draws shoppers back to downtown Waterbury while garnering extra press and marketing for the businesses; and a new Town Square in Storrs Center, built around the unique needs of the space and the people that use it.

This year's awards will be presented on June 6th at E.O. Smith High School in downtown Storrs.  CMSC’s mission is to be the catalyst that ignites Connecticut's Main Streets as the cornerstone of thriving communities. CMSC is dedicated to community and economic development within the context of historic preservation, and is committed to bringing Connecticut's commercial districts back to life socially and economically.

In addition to the competitive Awards of Excellence, where CMSC members submit applications that are reviewed by a jury of industry-related professionals and CMSC staff, CMSC also named Upper Albany Main Street (a CMSC member community) and the University of Hartford to receive the Founder's Award for their long and fruitful partnership - a relationship that has not only helped improve the appearance of the Avenue, but empowered many of the small business merchants in the neighborhood as well.

In addition, the Jack Shannahan Prize for Public Service was awarded to the Legislative Commission on Aging in recognition of their Livable Communities initiative.  This initiative aims to create thriving places for residents to grow up and grow older, notably by helping prepare Connecticut for the challenges presented by a rapidly increasing aging demographic through education, awareness and advocacy.

"This year's crop of winners is really special, because they demonstrate how important incorporating the voice of the people is in the final success of a project," said CMSC President & CEO John Simone. "In Farmington, Fairfield and Mansfield especially, each one either specifically asked - or was smart enough to observe - what people wanted in the space, and made changes accordingly.  As a result, there is greater support and usage of their public spaces and private businesses, meaning more people on Main Street and more money for the town coffers."

The June 6 awards ceremony will be followed by interactive experiences in the new Storrs Center.  Activities will include guided tours of the downtown development, a collaboration with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, time for dinner and exploration among the Center's many shops and restaurants, and a closing concert featuring the Funky Dawgz Brass Band.

Created in 2003 to recognize outstanding projects, individuals and partnerships in community efforts to bring traditional downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts back to life, socially and economically, the Awards of Excellence are presented annually at CMSC's Awards Gala.  The evening’s welcome Reception Sponsor is United Illuminating and awards are presented with support from Webster Bank and Eversource Energy. 

Greater Hartford Grows as Regional Workforce Ecosystem

It may not be widely recognized, but the Greater Hartford area has become a dynamic, participatory, collaborative regional ecosystem.  And during National Workforce Development Week, which is celebrated nationally this week, that is an especially salient development. What exactly does that mean?  First, the definition: any time that partners within a region come together to solve problems, and meet regularly to answer new challenges, a regional ecosystem in is play.  An “ecosystem” is defined as a system, or a group of interconnected elements, formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment. A “Regional Ecosystem” is just that –specific to a geographic region. 

In North Central Connecticut, the regional ecosystem is helping business grow, and find the talent they need, and it is affecting the greater welfare of society, even in these extremely challenging times with budget deficits, and economic pressures that abound.  So says Thomas Phillips, President and CEO of Capital Workforce Partners, among the drivers of progress underway across the 37-town region.

Regional ecosystems are like a chain of links, he explains, with each link playing a key role in holding the work together.  “In workforce development – the regional ecosystem is comprised of strategic partnerships with industry, education, economic development, community organizations, labor and business-led workforce boards – leading programs that are nimble, flexible, adaptable and generating economic opportunity for business and job seekers.”

Among the leading examples of the local regional ecosystems - focusing on workforce development - which use a set of common goals and outcomes:

1. MoveUp! – a regional ecosystem addressing the challenges relating to adult literacy, with 26 partners working collectively
2. Opportunity Youth – a regional ecosystem addressing the challenges of reconnecting out-of-work, out-of-school youth to education, training and careers, with over 50 partners and funders working collectively
3. Best Chance – a regional ecosystem addressing the challenges of returning citizens – finding sustainable employment for former offenders, with 15 partners working collectively
4. The Hartford Coalition on Education and Talent (soon to be renamed) – a regional ecosystem designed to help more youth complete post-secondary education while closing the gap experienced by employers, with 8+ partners working collectively. “Be on the lookout for the work this group is doing – building pathways of success for the youth in our region,” says Paul Holzer, President of Achieve Hartford, spearheading this effort.
5. The Knowledge Corridor – a region that crosses the Connecticut and Massachusetts border, this area is also a home to a robust regional ecosystem that includes 64,000 businesses, 41 colleges and universities, a labor force of 1.34 million and an international airport.

The organizations involved - scores of them - range from well-known names, such as Leadership Greater Hartford, Literacy volunteers, Capitol Region Education Council and the Hispanic Health Council, to those lesser known but just as vital.

“As ‘conveners,’ workforce development boards are often the ‘clasp’ of the chain, keeping all the links together, moving with changes in time,” says Phillips. “That means workforce development, economic development and education are responding collectively to work together toward sustainable jobs, talent creation and business growth.”

The number of organizations that collaborate continues to grow, with different organizations playing a lead role in select initiatives.  But there is definitely strength in numbers, they point out.

At the national level, officials note, the U. S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), Workforce Development Council is spearheading an effort to help each region have better access to best practices in building strong regional ecosystems.  The organizations is also working toward building more consistent communications and program focus that is designed to result in better outcomes.

That can best be accomplished region-by-region –addressing local area needs with locally based organizations.

Andrew McGough, Executive Director of the Portland, Oregon Workforce Development Board and Chair the USCM Workforce Development Committee, stresses that “Business-led local workforce boards lead the system through strategic partnerships with industry, education, community organizations, and labor, resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency in serving businesses and job seekers in our communities.”

The Capital Workforce Partners website includes a list of participating community organizations.

Meriden Re-Make Continues, Spurred by State Support; Additional Funds Sought to Implement Plan

The City of Meriden is seeking $2 million from the State of Connecticut to improve six roadway sections in downtown Meriden, to improve traffic flow, improve accessibility and increase safety for vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians traveling within Meriden’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zoning district. The grant application is the latest effort as part of the city’s “Meriden 2020 Bringing It Together” initiative, which is focused on transit oriented development to recapture the luster of the “Silver City”  and has received a steady flow of state funds in recent months to boost the effort.

The roadway sections - including Colony Street, West Main Street, State Street, Perkins Square/South Colony and East Main Street - were selected and analyzed for improvements in prior studies and investigations.  The initiative is an outgrowth of a two State of Connecticut TOD Pilot grants, a US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Sustainable Challenge grant and a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning grant.

A website, meriden2020.com, highlights the numerous efforts underway to redevelop the city’s central business, including ways to resolve historic flooding issues, repurpose underutilized brownfield sites, remake the rail station area into a modern transportation center, and provide links to the regional trail system.

Meriden’s Transit Oriented Development program seeks to “transform the Meriden Transit Center (MTC) and the half-mile area around it into a vibrant neighborhood that includes new residential and commercial development, public spaces and improved access to public transportation.” Construction of the new transportation center is underway, and local officials recently initiated a study to examine planned ridership and usage by area residents and businesses.

Last week, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) and Department of Housing (DOH) announced approval funds for a proposed mixed use development project at 161-177 State Street, which is phase one of a multi-phase project that includes demolition of the Mills public housing project and implementation of the Harbor Brook Flood Control project north of the Hub site.   The new building will be within walking distance of Meriden`s new Transit center.

The proposed project will have 75-units of mixed-income family housing, with ground level retail space and a preschool. The property will include eight supportive units and 60 units targeted for households with incomes of 60 percent or less of Area Median Income (AMI). In addition, 26 of the 60 units will be supported by project based Section 8.

In February, the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC), the City of Meriden and The Midstate Chamber of Commerce announced the opening of the newest CTSBDC office, to be located at Meriden City Hall.

The new office is offering professional, confidential business advising to entrepreneurs in every stage of business and all industry sectors in the City of Meriden. “This beneficial partnership between the Connecticut Small Business Development Center and the City of Meriden ensures that entrepreneurs of the city have access to the necessary resources available to assist with starting or growing their business. This allows for economic growth and job creation in this area,” said CTSBDC State Director Emily Carter. CTSBDC also has a “virtual” location at the Meriden Public Library, where individuals can connect with CTSBDC advisors online.

In January, Meriden was awarded $100,000 in state funds to further revitalization and redevelopment in the TOD and Choice Neighborhoods target areas. The funding came through the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Brownfield Area-Wide Revitalization (BAR) Grant program, a year-old state pilot program that encourages communities to consider areas such as neighborhoods, downtowns, waterfront districts, or other sections with multiple brownfields and develop strategies to assess, clean up, and reuse the parcels for business, housing, and public amenities that will generate jobs and revenues and revitalize the entire area.

Weeks later, the Department of Economic and Community Development awarded the Meriden a $2 million grant for the demolition and remediation of the Mills Public Housing Complex.  The city plans to demolish the structures at 144 Mills Memorial as a prerequisite to implementing the Harbor Brook Flood Control Plan at the site.  While the 144 Mills Memorial site will be used for flood control purposes and will not be used for development, officials say the construction of the flood control plan at the site will allow for development to proceed at the adjacent sites, which include the Meriden Hub Site (located at 1-77 State Street) and at the Mills Megablock site (located at 161-177 State Street and 62 Cedar Street).

Meriden officials point out that commuter rail service to Hartford and New Haven is scheduled to begin later this year.  The new commuter rail service is expected to spur significant “transit oriented development” in the city center.  Once the rail service is operational, nearly 140,000 workers located within one mile of a rail station will be able to commute to Meriden within a 40-minute ride, the website points out.