Small Business Development Center is Re-launched At UConn Campuses, Chambers of Commerce

The Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC), a collaborative initiative of the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), State of Connecticut and University of Connecticut, is being rebooted, redesigned and re-launched in an effort to be more responsive to the state’s small and newly-forming businesses. CTSBDC is a five-year, $11.6 million program to provide financial and technical assistance to businesses with 500 or fewer employees – which accounts for roughly 93 percent of Connecticut employers.

The initiative was announced by UConn’s Vice President for Economic Development Mary Holz-Clause and state Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Catherine Smith during Connecticut Business Day at the State Capitol.  They were joined by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, President and CEO of the Business Council of Fairfield County Chris Bruhl, UConn Board Chair and Middlesex Chamber of Commerce President Larry McHugh and business leaders from across the state.

“The new SBDC is designed to focus more like a private sector business: close to its customers, interconnected, efficiently using scarce resources, and offering a slate of innovative new services,” Bruhl said. “With a statewide network of 11 local SBDC offices, the Center strives to build the local ecosystem, recognizing that small business begins at the local level.”

The program will fund 16 full-time positions and two part-time positions, with individuals located at each of the 11 service centers, including seven local Chambers of Commerce and four regional UConn campuses, as well as the UConn campus in Storrs, and the Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center in Middletown.

During the news conference, Holz-Clause pointed out that the University is an ideal home for the SBDC, as the power of UConn’s network of more than 100,000 alumni can be tapped to serve as both mentors and connectors for small businesses to ensure they are successful. In addition, the six regional campuses provide the SBDC with an established network of satellite sites that are already engaged in local, state, and national business development efforts. She also noted the work of organizations such as UConn Ventures, which are helping to launch new businesses based on research and innovation at UConn.

“UConn is really focused on growing Connecticut’s economy from the ground up,” said Holz-Clause. “That’s why this partnership is such a perfect fit for us. It builds on some of our existing strengths and gives us a front-row seat for truly exciting developments in the state’s business community.”

Governor Malloy pointed out that “The reinvigorated Small Business Development Center takes our economic development strategy to a new level, combining the academic strength and resources of our flagship university with the knowledge and reach of our chambers of commerce, to bring technical and financial assistance to the sector responsible for the overwhelming majority of our jobs: small businesses.”

The Small Business Development Center program, administered by the federal government’s Small Business Administration, has been providing service to small businesses for more than 30 years and is one of the largest professional small business management and technical assistance networks in the nation with over 900 locations across the country.  In Connecticut, it had been based at Central Connecticut State University and the Connecticut State University System in recent years.  Previously, UConn had hosted the program.

For more information regarding the SBDC and its programs, please visit the newly designed  website at  www.ctsbdc.org. To learn more about UConn’s Office of Economic Development, please visit www.innovation.uconn.edu.

CT Ranked #5 in Green Job Creation in 2012

Connecticut ranked #5 in the U.S. for green job creation during 2012, according to a national business association compiling of media reports. Environmental Entrepreneurs, a New York City-based organization, ranked all 50 states for green job creation based on projects completed, in progress, or announced in 2012 and the estimated number of jobs created by those projects.  Nationwide, companies and communities announced more than 300 clean energy and clean transportation projects in 2012 that are expected to create 110,000 jobs, the report said.

Connecticut had four projects in 2012 expected to generate 4,958 jobs, the Hartford Business Journal noted in its reporting.  Those projects were the construction of the $97 million headquarters of North Haven construction parts manufacturer Sustainable Building Solutions; the opening of Scottish power company Renewable Resources in Stamford; the construction of the New Britain-to-Hartford busway; and the Plainfield Renewable Energy biomass plant.  The report indicated that Connecticut had 50 projects in progress.

Connecticut was the only New England state in the top 10. Leading the states was California with 25,354 jobs followed by Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Connecticut, Arizona, New York, Michigan, Texas, and Oregon.

As a region, the Southeast led the country in manufacturing-related clean energy job announcements, with more than 13,700 jobs announced last year, accounting for about 80 percent of the nation’s total. Solar, advanced vehicles and wind energy were the leading clean energy manufacturing industries in the Southeast.  Nationwide, clean transportation projects led the job growth last year, followed by clean power generation, manufacturing and energy efficiency projects.

The report was issued by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), described as “a national community of individual business leaders who advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity.”

Quinnipiac Skates to New Heights; Games Over for MCC

While one is flying high, the other is grounded.  That’s the world of difference now facing student-athletes at two Connecticut higher ed institutions.  Quinnipiac University’s hockey team is ranked number one in the nation, the first time that’s happened for a team from the Hamden school.  Over at Manchester Community College, officials have announced plans to eliminate all sports at the school, due to budgetary cutbacks, abruptly ending the collegiate sports careers – and possibly the college attendance – for student athletes in soccer and basketball.  Baseball was eliminated earlier this decade. Quinnipiac was just voted atop the USCHO.com poll on Monday for the fourth successive week, according to The New Haven Register.  The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll consists of 50 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 22 beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.

The Bobcats (24-5-5) received 36 of 50 first-place votes to keep them ahead of No. 2 Minnesota, which had 12 first-place votes. The nationally-ranked No. 1 Quinnipiac team defeated No. 18 Dartmouth, 4-1, in its final regular-season game of the 2012-13 season. Quinnipiac improves to 24-5-5 overall and will finish the ECAC Hockey regular season at 17-2-3. The Bobcats were 11-0-0 against ranked opponents for the year.

In Manchester, college President Gena Glickman told The Hartford Courant that the athletic program costs the school about $370,000 - at a time when hard decisions and cuts need to be made.  While announcing plans to eliminate the sports program, she acknowledged that some students who would otherwise not attend college do so because of the athletic opportunities, and have a high rate of academic success, with many continuing on with their education after earning their Associate’s degree.

Men's soccer coach Darren Foster said that he would not be where he is now without having attended Manchester CC, after his military service in Afghanistan. Athletic director Cynthia Washburne attended MCC for a semester in 1981 before going on to play softball at Eastern.

No word on whether the funds can be located – or donated from an outside benefactor – to reverse the decision and keep the programs alive at MCC for at least another year.  Such a rescue appears unlikely.  Of Connecticut's 12 community colleges, only New Haven's Gateway Community College is slated to offer sports next year, even though education officials acknowledge that athletics is a way in to higher education for some students - students who might not otherwise pursue college.  .

After winning its first Cleary Cup, for the ECAC Hockey Regular-Season Championship, two weeks ago, Quinnipiac earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey Tournament. The Bobcats will host an ECAC Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals series on Mar. 15-17.

The thinner ice, it turns out,  is in Manchester.  In Hamden, there’s solid ground.

Nonprofit Density Impacts Unemployment Rate; CT Misses Top 10

Communities with better civic health have weathered the recent recession far better – and experienced considerably smaller increases in unemployment – than other communities that faced similar economic circumstances, according to a report by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC).  Counties across the nation that were rich in nonprofit organizations lost considerably fewer jobs than the low-nonprofit counties, the study revealed. A state-by-state analysis by the organization placed Connecticut in the second tier of states in both the density of nonprofit organizations, and social cohesion (interacting with friends and neighbors), the two measures used in the study, released in 2012.  Connecticut ranked between #11 and #20 in each category, just outside the first tier, top-10 states.

For individuals who held jobs in 2008, the odds of becoming unemployed were cut in half if they lived in a community with many nonprofit organizations rather than one with a few nonprofits, even if the two communities were otherwise similar, the study found.  Among the New England states, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont placed in the top ten.

Overall, counties with more nonprofits per capita prior to the recession had lower unemployment in 2006. And while almost all of the counties lost jobs during the recession years, the counties with more nonprofits per capita lost fewer jobs between 2006 and 2009. Both patterns remain even when holding education, median income, housing prices, and other economic factors constant, according to the report.  Counties ranking in the top 10% in nonprofit density experienced an increase of only 2 percentage points in their unemployment rate between 2006 and 2009, compared with 5.1 percentage points for the counties in the bottom 10% in nonprofit density.

These results suggest – according to the report – that nonprofits may bring economic benefits by directly employing people and also by changing the economic climate of the whole community. Nonprofits support civic engagement and social cohesion; in turn, when citizens feel committed to their communities and connected to their fellow residents, they are more likely to make decisions that boost local employment.

The study used statistical models to investigate the relationship between civic health and unemployment in the 50 states, 942 metro areas, and more than 3,100 counties since 2006.  NCoC was chartered by Congress in 1953 to harness the patriotic energy and national civic involvement surrounding World War II. In 2009, Congress  expanded the organization’s Civic Health Assessment to become the nation’s largest and most definitive measure of civic engagement.

CT Girlcott Set to Make History, Opens Make-Up Free Photo Exhibit

March is Women’s History Month, and a number of local organizations in Greater Hartford have come together looking to make some history of their own.   They’ve organized CT Girlcott, a movement of women willing to go makeup free for the month (or part thereof) and to donate the money usually spent on cosmetics to organizations that benefit women and girls in Connecticut and around the world.  The effort also aims to raise awareness around body image and the relationship between women and the makeup they wear. Among the organizers are Charter Oak Cultural Center, YWCA Hartford Region, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, University of Hartford Women for Change, Women’s Education and Leadership Fund, CT Humanities, and the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.  A website, www.ctgirlcott.org has been launched highlighting the initiative.

The Charter Oak Cultural Center is hosting a photography exhibition as part of CT Girlcott which features the images of the women leaders who have “dared to bare it all for the camera.” Revealed: Images of Women Leaders Who Bared to Make Change opens with a reception on February 28, 6-8 PM, and runs through April 13.  Photographs of over thirty women leaders from the Greater Hartford community will be revealed without their make-up, including many familiar names (and faces).

Girlcott is "a movement of Connecticut women raising consciousness" on behalf of women around the world and the issues currently confronting women in 2013.  Girlcott asks women to “girlcott” (as opposed to boycott) make-up for the month of March and to donate the monies spent on cosmetics to organizations and programs that help and support women and girls in Hartford and internationally. Connecticut Humanities provided funding for the exhibition, which includes the work of photographers Nilofer Haider, Lena Stein, and Nicolette Theriault.

CT Girlcott hopes to encourage conversations among women about body image, definitions of beauty, and what cosmetics are really covering up, and support the flourishing of women and girls in Connecticut, as well as in developing and war-torn countries.  The initiative also seeks to raise awareness about the representation of women in the media, the pressures women live with to look a certain way, the objectification of women, and the impact all of this has on women’s lives and the life of the nation and world.

Sustainability, Green Infrastructure Advance in CT

When considering Connecticut’s progress in sustainability, green infrastructure, and green investments, a variety of statistics help to tell the story.  Among them:

• The U.S. Department of Energy considers 13 percent of Connecticut’s electricity as coming from renewable resources, ranking the state 31^st in the nation.  The majority of the renewable power comes from biomass and hydropower, as reported in the Connecticut Green Guide (www.CTGReenGuide.com).

• Connecticut’s transportation sector employees more green workers than any other industry in the state, with 8,238 green jobs.

• In the Northeast, 76 percent of companies use at least one type of green technology or practice.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most popular green methods are:

1. Energy efficiency
2. Waste reduction
3. Conserving natural resources
4. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
5. Removing pollutants from workspace
6. Generating onsite renewable energy

• Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public investment firm, currently puts 6 percent of its portfolio into clean technology start-ups.  Here’s the portfolio breakdown:

1. Information technology               49.5%
2. Bioscience                                           42%
3. Clean tech                                           6%
4. Photonics                                            2%
5. Advanced materials & other       .5%

• The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports that Connecticut ranks fifth in the nation among the states consuming the least amount of energy per capita.  The top ten:

1. Rhode Island
2. New York
3. Hawaii
4. California
5. Connecticut
6. Massachusetts
7. Arizona
8. New Hampshire
9. Florida
10. Vermont

• Connecticut leads the New England states in demand response resources – businesses and facilities that power down when electric prices and demand spikes, according to data from ISO New England.

State                                     Megawatts of Demand Response

Connecticut                        996.6

Massachusetts                  800.5

Maine                                   447

New Hampshire              183.2

Vermont                              144

Rhode Island                      140

Among the most common practices used by employers are asking employees to conserve, turn off or dimming lights, adjusting indoor temperature, and turning off equipment such as printers, copiers, and PCs).  Other steps, used less often, include shutting down production, starting emergency generation, limiting the use of elevators and escalators, and shutting down an entire plant.

Foreclosure Rate Drops Nationally, CT Better Than National Average

Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 150,864 properties across the U.S. during January, a decrease of 7 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from January 2012. The report - by RealtyTrac®, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties and real estate data - shows one in every 869 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month, down 28 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since June 2006 — a 79-month low. Each of Connecticut’s eight counties is below the national average, and the state continues to be outside the top 10 states for the number of foreclosures, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for January 2013.  The prevalence of foreclosures, based on the number of housing units, was greatest in Windham, Tolland, and New Haven Counties.

The Florida foreclosure rate ranked highest among the states for the fifth month in a row. One in every 300 Florida housing units had a foreclosure filing in January — more than twice the national average. A total of 29,800 Florida properties had a foreclosure filing during the month, up 12 percent from the previous month and up 20 percent from January 2012.

With one in every 344 housing units with a foreclosure filing in January, Nevada posted the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate for the fourth consecutive month. A 32 percent month-over-month jump in scheduled foreclosure auctions helped the Illinois foreclosure rate rise to third highest among the states in January. One in every 375 Illinois housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 highest were Arizona (one in 501 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Georgia (one in 513 housing units), Ohio (one in 612 housing units), Washington (one in 674 housing units), California (one in 753 housing units), Indiana (one in 784 housing units), and Michigan (one in every 837 housing units).

In Connecticut, New Haven County had the largest number of foreclosures in January, with 317, followed by Hartford County with 265 and Fairfield County with 193.  Overall, Connecticut had 5,187 home foreclosures during the month, with the average foreclosure sales price of $186,405.  The county-by-county breakdown:

• Windham            51 foreclosure properties             1 in every 958 housing units
• Tolland                 52 foreclosure properties             1 in every 1,109 housing units
• New Haven        317 foreclosure properties          1 in every 1,138 housing units
• Hartford               265 foreclosure properties          1 in every 1,409 housing units
• Litchfield              57 foreclosure properties             1 in every 1,530 housing units
• New London      78 foreclosure properties             1 in every 1,546 housing units
• Fairfield                193 foreclosure properties          1 in every 1,865 housing units
• Middlesex           37 foreclosure properties             1 in every 2,013 housing units

In New Haven County, the numbers were driven by Waterbury with 84 foreclosures and New Haven with 59.  West Haven had 38 during the month.  In Hartford County, there were 44 foreclosures in New Britain, 35 in East Hartford and 26 in Manchester, according to the data provided by RealtyTrac.

Connecticut Ranks #25 in Homelessness, Federal Data Shows

Connecticut ranked #25 in the nation in state-by-state comparisons of the homeless population in emergency and transitional shelters in each state, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and reported in the AARP Bulletin. Earlier this week, The Hartford Courant reported that “volunteers and social service workers roved the streets for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's national ‘point in time’ homeless census, which provides more up-to-date data to consider along with the 2010 census data that was the basis of the state comparisons.

Mandated at least every other year, the ‘point in time’ count helps advocates and housing officials analyze trends in homelessness, determine who stays in the shelters and gain insight into why, despite a stronger government push to combat homelessness, people remain out in the cold, the Courant reported.

About 4,210 homeless people lived in the state in 2012, including men, women and children in emergency shelters and transitional housing, federal data show. Among the nearly 770 reported homeless in Hartford — the biggest homeless population of the state's urban centers — 141 were children, according to a report released Wednesday by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

Latinos are overrepresented among clients using the state’s many homeless shelters, and they tend to be much younger, according to coverage of the report by ctlatinonews.com. “While Hispanic/Latino persons represent only 12.3% of the Connecticut population, they comprised 28 percent of all emergency shelter and 23 percent of all transitional housing clients.

“They also tended to be younger. The most common age of Hispanic/Latino emergency shelter clients was between 18-29 years old (29 percent), while that of non-Hispanic/Latino clients was 40-49 years old (31 percent).”

“Connecticut’s emergency shelters alone served 11,700 people, including more than 1,500 children. The number of people in shelters and transitional programs at any given point in time increased 3% from 2009 to 2010, while shelter bed usage has exceeded 100% during all of 2010 and much of 2009. While collectively we may have slowed the rate of growth in homelessness over time, the numbers continue to increase,” the report said.

CT Businesses Less Optimistic About Immediate Prospects

Business confidence in both the U.S. and Connecticut economies slumped in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a survey released by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA).   The organization’s Quarterly Economic Survey: Fourth Quarter 2012 found that more than half (52%) of surveyed business leaders expect the state’s economy to worsen in 2013. That represents an increase of eight percentage points over the previous quarter. Just 14% thought the state economy would improve, while 34% believed conditions would remain stable.  Expectations for the national economy also dipped, with 40% of those surveyed responding pessimistically, compared with 36% last quarter. About one-quarter (24%) felt conditions would improve.

The survey, as reported by CBIA,  showed similar results to the two prior quarters, with most differences within the margin of error of the survey. Some noteworthy responses include:

• 34% of respondents expect increases in production and sales, with 21% seeing decreases, the best numbers in the survey.
• 18% see their work force expanding, while 19% expect to shed positions over the next quarter.
• 27% see an improved outlook for their firm against 22% who see conditions declining.
• For their industry, 23% see improving conditions while 28% see declines.

The third quarter rebound in business confidence--recovering from record low optimism in the April-June 2012 survey--was short-lived. And the outlook has taken a turn for the worse since the fourth quarter of 2011, when two-thirds saw improving or stable conditions in the state and 81% forecast the same for the U.S. economy.

Based on the state Department of Labor’s latest figures, Connecticut lost 1,800 jobs in December, finishing the year with a net loss of 100 jobs.  The unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a point to 8.6%. Writing in the Connecticut Economy recently, UConn economist Steven P. Lanza noted that “Connecticut’s economy will struggle to post more than nominal job gains’ in the coming months.

The Connecticut Economic Digest, in the current issue, noted that in December 2012, private sector workweek hours show Connecticut “is still firmly in slow employment recovery mode, highlighted by the hours worked month-to-month volatility.”  The publication is developed by the state Department of Labor and Department of Economic and Community Development.

CBIA’s Quarterly Economic Survey: Fourth Quarter 2012 was emailed to approximately 1,900 Connecticut businesses in January of 2013. A total of 187 responded, for a 10.2% response rate and a margin of error of +/- 7.3%.

Credit Card Debt Increases Among Older Residents

As Connecticut struggles to lift itself from a nagging recession and rebuild a shaky economy and grow jobs, new national data suggest that economic realities plus an aging population are combining to increase the credit card debt among a significant segment of the population. It has been estimated that the state's 65+ population would increase by 69 percent between 2000 and 2030. Middle-income Americans age 50 and older are carrying more credit card debt on average than younger people, according to a National Survey on Credit Card Debt of Low- and Middle-Income Households, released last month by Demos, a national policy think tank and AARP’s Public Policy Institute.

The results of the 2012 survey are a reversal of findings from a survey conducted by Demos in 2008.  It reveals a troubling picture of middle-income 50+ households carrying card debt near or in their retirement years.

The report shows that nationwide, older households carried an average credit card balance of $8,278 in 2012. For those under 50, credit card debt averaged $6,258. Other key findings for middle-income households that carried credit card debt for three months or more:

• A third of older households used credit cards to pay for basic living expenses such as rent, mortgage payments, groceries, or utilities.
• Half of Americans age 50+ carried medical expenses on their credit cards. Prescription drugs and dental expenses were the main contributors.
• A quarter of older households said loss of a job contributed to their credit card debt in the last three years.
• Nearly one in five (18 percent) older Americans nearing retirement said they dipped into retirement funds to pay down credit card debt.
• Older Americans were twice as likely as those under age 50 to take on credit card debt to assist other family members (23 percent vs. 11 percent).

This report suggests that credit card debt among older Americans is primarily a reflection of difficult economic times, not a lack of personal financial responsibility.  State-by-state data was not available.

The findings may help to explain the economic challenges facing Connecticut’s citizenry, which is on track to becoming one of the oldest among the states, expected to grow from 470,183 (13.8% of the total state population) in 2000 to 794,405 in 2030, constituting 21.5% of the projected total state population.