Yale, UConn Fall Among Peers as Full-Time MBA Enrollment Continues Nationwide Decline

Full-time two-year MBA programs in the United States have seen declines in application volumes since 2014. Last year, only one-third (32%) of programs reported increased application volumes; 64 percent saw declines, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s Application Trends Survey 2017. When Bloomberg Businessweek ranked the nation’s business schools offering two-year full-time MBA programs, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the MIT Sloan School of Management topped the list, issued in late-2017.  Among Connecticut business schools, Yale University ranked at number 16 and the University of Connecticut placed at number 66.  Yale dropped two places from the previous year, UConn dropped three.  In 2015, Yale ranked #11.  A total of 85 schools nationwide received rankings.

Each school’s ranking is based on surveys of recruiters, alumni, and students, as well as recent graduates’ success at landing jobs and securing high starting wages. The methodology Bloomberg Businessweek uses to arrive at its annual MBA ranking involves weighting each of five principle factors: 35 percent for the Employer Survey score, 30 percent for the Alumni Survey score, 15 percent for the Student Survey score, 10 percent for the Job Placement Rate score, and 10 percent for the Starting Salary score.

UConn’s employer survey rank was 77 among the 85 business schools tallied, the job placement rank was 67, and the student survey rank was 73.  The bright spots in the rankings were UConn’s alumni survey rank, 48^th, and salary rank, 39^th.

Yale’s top rankings were in the alumni survey (9^th) and salary survey (15^th), with the School of Business ranked 21^st in the employer survey, 27^th in the student survey and 42nd in the job placement rankings.

The Graduate Management Admission Council report, issued in September 2017, pointed out that “For many years, U.S. programs have come to rely on international candidates to add to their application pipeline. However, the recent change in political administration became a concern among potential international candidates. Three-quarters (75%) of programs reported declining international application volumes.”

That same month, the Wall Street Journal reported that “applications to full-time M.B.A. programs in the U.S. fell for a third straight year, the latest signal that business schools are struggling to entice young professionals out of a strengthened job market.”  Fortune later reported that “while applications to business school overall have declined over the past three years, this isn’t necessarily the case across the board. On the contrary, the top-ranked business schools are seeing a massive influx of interest from students. Yale University’s School of Management, for example, has seen a whopping 45% increase in applications since 2013.”  Harvard increased by 11 percent during that period; UPenn’s Wharton School by 3 percent.

In addition to Yale and UConn, full-time MBA programs are in place at Connecticut schools including Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut, and the universities of Hartford and New Haven.

Number of World Language Students in Connecticut More Than Triples Over Past 25 Years

In 1991, 65,252 students were enrolled in world languages in Connecticut’s K-12 schools.  A dozen years later, in 2003, that number had climbed steadily, reaching 95,154.  By 2015, another 12 years later, the number of students taking language instruction had more than doubled, to 208,627 during the 2015-16 academic year. Data provided to CT by the Numbers by the state Department of Education also showed that nearly one-quarter of those students were taking Spanish.  Also, during those two and a half decades, the number of students taking Chinese language instruction has grown from less than 100 to more than 5,500.

Twenty-five years ago, in 1991, the most popular languages taught were Spanish, with 37,963 students; French, with 17,281; Latin, with 4,764; and Italian, with 2,989.  There was also a smattering of German (1,290 students), Russian (318), and Portuguese (193).  The number of students other languages was relatively tiny – 72 were learning Chinese, 67 were taking Japanese and 36 were in Polish language classes.   

By 2003, the most frequent world language choices for Connecticut students had not changed, but the numbers had jumped.  Spanish grew from just under 38,000 students to just over 62,000.  The number of French students was virtually unchanged, and would drop slightly in the years following, as the number of Latin students grew from just under 5,000 to just over 7,500 and the number of students taken Latin closed in on doubling from just under 3,000.

By 2015-16, there were 54,308 taking Spanish, plus another 2,142 taking Spanish for Native Speakers.  Just under 27,000 students were taking French, and 5,500 taking Chinese. The ratio of French students to Chinese students had dropped from more than 200 to 1 in 1991 to about 5 to 1 by the 2015-16 school year.

Slightly more than 7,000 students were learning Italian in 2015-16, more than double the number in 1991. Arabic, which barely registered in 1991, was being taken by 343 students and Russian was the language of choice for 86 students by 2015-16.

According to “The State of Languages in the U.S.: A Statistical Portrait,” Connecticut was one of seven states, along with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, where more than 30 percent of K-12 students were enrolled in language. As of 2014, only twelve states had more than one in four elementary- and secondary-school students studying languages other than English.

The report was published by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2014, noting in the introduction that “While English continues to be the lingua franca for world trade and diplomacy, there is an emerging consensus among leaders in business and politics, teachers, scientists, and community members that proficiency in English is not sufficient to meet the nation’s needs in a shrinking world.”

“What a lot of Americans remember is language as an academic pursuit,” Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages told the nonprofit organization Great Schools in 2016.  “They learned a lot about a language, how to conjugate every irregular verb. Today, the emphasis is on developing students’ communications skills — what they can do with a language. That’s a radical departure.”

There were approximately 191,000 students taking a world language in Connecticut in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years; that number jumped to more than 208,000 the following year, in the most recent data available from the state Department of Education.  Data for specific languages may vary, as course descriptions differ from district to district in Connecticut.

Michelle Obama Influences Children's Trick-or-Treat Choices, Yale Study Says

The conclusion is striking:  Michelle Obama’s initiative to reduce childhood obesity has influenced children’s dietary preferences. Researchers estimated that viewing a photograph of Michelle Obama’s face caused children to be 19 percent more likely to choose fruit over candy, on Halloween.  The experiment – Yale University researchers - was conducted on a New Haven porch over three consecutive Halloweens, and the results are published this month in a journal of the Public Library of Science (PLOS). The participants were 1,223 trick-or-treaters in New Haven over three years; on average, 8.5 years old and 53 percent male (among children whose gender was identifiable). To be eligible for inclusion in the study, trick-or-treaters had to be over the age of three.

The porch of a home had photographs clearly visible in front of the trick-or-treating children.  One was of Michelle Obama.  The other side, the “comparison” side in the study, “had a photo of Ann Romney (2012), a photo of Hillary Clinton (2014, 2015), or no photo (2014, 2015).”

At both sides of the porch, children were asked their age and whether they would prefer to receive fruit (a box of raisins) or candy (a more typical small packaged piece of name-brand chocolate such as Snickers or Milky Ways). Each child was given the option (fruit or candy) that they requested.

“The experimental set-up allows us to measure what proportion of children chose fruit instead of candy when in the presence of an image of Michelle Obama’s face, as well as the proportion of children who chose fruit instead of candy when not in the presence of an

image of Michelle Obama’s face,” the researchers pointed out.

Publishing the research are Peter M. Aronow, Dean Karlan, Lauren E. Pinson.  Peter Aronow is Assistant Professor of Political Science and in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies and of Public Health at Yale University; Dean Karlan is a Professor of Economics at Yale; Lauren Pinson is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Yale University.

The experiment was conducted in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, which is about one mile from the Yale University campus, and contains many single family homes owned by Yale faculty, as well as some multi-family homes in which many graduate students live, the study explained. “There are also low income neighborhoods within a mile of this neighborhood,” and “due to the high level of activity during Halloween, many families drive from further away in order to trick-or-treat in this neighborhood.”

The study provides background, explaining that “During her tenure as First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has spearheaded one of the largest public health initiatives focused on childhood obesity. In 2010, Obama unveiled her Let’s Move Initiative, aimed at fostering a healthy lifestyle and reducing childhood obesity. As the public face of the campaign, Obama urged healthy eating and exercise in a variety of classic and social media venues accessible to minors and their parents, including appearances on Sesame Street and Oprah and posts of online videos.”

In regards to the results, the researchers caution that “we ran the experiment on a day where candy is readily available, the influence on children’s dietary preference for fruit instead of candy may differ from other days of the year; for instance, perhaps children are more willing to choose fruit since it is unique for the holiday, or children are less willing to choose fruit because they are under the influence of sugar consumption.”

PLOS was founded in 2001 as a nonprofit Open Access publisher, innovator and advocacy organization with a mission to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.

Norwalk, New Haven Among Communities Receiving Free Home Smoke Alarms

With the Connecticut Home Fire Campaign, the American Red Cross is working to reduce death and injury from home fires by 25% by 2020.  “Sound the Alarm. Save A Life.”, a series of home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events in Connecticut and nationwide, is deploying volunteers will install 100,000 free smoke alarms in high risk neighborhoods. In Connecticut, the initiative has been to 76 cities and towns, replacing nearly 1,000 smoke alarm batteries and installing more than 12,000 smoke alarms.  The program has conducted more than 700 in-home visits, making an estimated 4,400 households safer, according to officials.

Norwalk was the center of activity last month, and New Haven is next in line. 

Teams make visits to homes sharing fire safety and preparedness information and install smoke alarms in homes as requested. Volunteers help families understand the importance of fire safety and help them develop personalized family escape plans to use in the event a fire breaks out in their home.

The program was in Norwalk in December in conjunction with the City of Norwalk, and will be in New Haven in the spring.  A large-scale event is scheduled for New Haven to install 1,000 smoke alarms in and around the city on April 28, 2018.

“Our mission at the American Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate human suffering caused by disasters,” said Mario Bruno, CEO, American Red Cross Connecticut and Rhode Island Region. “Home fires are the biggest disaster threat faced in the U.S. On average, in our region, we respond to about two home fires each day. Our goal is to reach as many homes as we can with this program to help ensure people know what to do and are prepared in the event they experience a home fire. We want people to be safe.”

Nationally, the Red Cross just installed its one millionth smoke alarm last fall.  Since October of 2014, the Red Cross has worked with fire departments and community groups across the country as part of a multi-year campaign to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries.

Officials indicate that 60 percent of house fire deaths occur in homes with no working smoke alarms. The campaign initiative is in direct response to that “dire threat,” with the Red Cross committing to install 2.5 million free smoke alarms in neighborhoods at high risk for fires, and to educate those residents about fire prevention and preparedness.

Officials estimate that as of November 2017 the Red Cross and partners have saved more than 285 lives nationwide as part of the campaign.  In Connecticut, individuals can make an appointment by visiting http://www.redcross.org/local/connecticut/home-fire-safety-visit or by calling 877-287-3327 and choosing option 1 on the menu to request a smoke alarm installation.

Accrediting Organization to Decide Fate of Plan to Merge 12 Community Colleges into One

Plans to merge Connecticut’s 12 community colleges into a single institution, expected to be called the Community College of Connecticut, are now being reviewed by the region’s accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, known best by the acronym, NEASC. Back in August, after first learning about the Connecticut merger proposal in an 18-page outline provided by Connecticut officials, NEASC had questions, and many of them.  In a detailed four-page letter to the leadership of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU), NEASC indicated they had yet to receive “sufficient information to be confident CSCU’s process will result in arrangements that are compliant with the Standards for Accreditation.”  The letter from David Angel, Chair of NEASC's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, was shared with the leadership of all the colleges and universities in the state's public CSCU system.

NEASC officials met three times with Connecticut officials last year, the Connecticut Post reported recently. Another meeting in Connecticut is planned for this month.

The President/Chief Executive Officer at NEASC, since 2011, is Cameron Staples, a former Connecticut state legislator and former chair of the legislature’s Education Committee and Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.  In 2010, he briefly sought the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.  

The letter from NEASC also indicated that “the materials submitted to date have been very clear on the financial reasons for the proposed change but less clear on a rationale tied more directly to the mission of the colleges.”  NEASC noted that the proposal stated plans to retain the “unique mission” and “local community connection” of each of the 12 institutions after the merger, but indicated the need for “further information about how this will be accomplished through the proposed merger.”

The consolidation plan was subsequently approved by the Board of Regents of CSCU in December, with only one member of the Board abstaining and others unanimously supporting the plan, developed to save money across the system by eliminating staff positions, many said to be duplicative, that would not adversely impact students.  Student and faculty groups at the campuses have raised questions about the ultimate effectiveness of the plan, or have opposed it outright.

Following approval by the Regents, a more detailed plan was submitted to NEASC seeking approval from the accrediting organization.  If NEASC accreditation is obtained, Connecticut officials hope to have initial implementation by July 1 of this year and the new structure fully in place by July 1 of next year.  That is predicated on receiving NEASC approval by June; published reports indicate that NEASC officials anticipate consideration at the organization’s board meeting this spring.

NEASC’s Barbara Brittingham, president of the Commission, recently told the CT Post that Connecticut’s timeline was “ambitious,” particularly for a “substantive change” that involved 12 colleges.  The newspaper also reported that several Regents committees are at work looking at 1) integrating new positions and selecting people to fill those jobs, 2) aligning 12 academic course catalogs and 3) fine-tuning the projected savings of the new system.

Since December’s Regents approval, in media interviews and public explanations, details of what’s planned are being highlighted, while the system awaits NEASC approval.  The merger plan was initially proposed last April as an “expedient solution” in reaction to state funding cuts to the colleges and an ongoing “structural deficit” resulting from operational costs outpacing revenue.

The plan calls for 12 college president positions to be eliminated, with a new structure to take its place that would include a creation of a “vice chancellor” position to lead the new 12-campus community college system, along with three new regional president positions that would report to the vice chancellor, each with presumably jurisdiction over four college campuses.  Each of those 12 campuses would be led by a campus vice president.

The Regents plans would consolidate college functions in six areas:  Information Technology, Human Resources, Purchasing, Financial Aid Services, Institutional Research and Assessment, and Facilities Management. 

The plan anticipates saving $28 million a year by eliminating college presidents, a process that has already begun, as well as budget staff and other administrators at each institution and creating a centralized staff to run the public colleges. Another plan aimed at saving an additional $13 million by reorganizing how financial aid, enrollment management and other services are delivered is also part of the proposal.

The proposal would create one of the nation’s largest community colleges with about more than 53,000 students. Among the largest currently are Miami Dade College with 174,000 students; Lone Star College in Houston, with 90,000; Northern Virginia Community College, in Springfield, VA, with 76,000 students; Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, with 67,000 students, and Houston Community College with 63,000 students.

Officials note that Connecticut’s higher education system has changed previously, including when the four regional state universities and 12 community colleges, along with the on-line Charter Oak State College, were brought together under the newly established Board of Regents umbrella six years ago, and when the state’s technical colleges and community colleges merged in the 1990’s.

NEASC is the regional accreditation agency for colleges and universities in the six New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. NEASC accreditation is a system of accountability that is ongoing, voluntary, and comprehensive in scope.  It is based on standards which are developed and regularly reviewed by the members and which define the characteristics of good schools and colleges, according to the organization’s website.

Climate Change, Children and Pollutants: Recipe for Health Concerns

The environmental damage caused by continuing to burn fossil fuels affects children most, with one study indicating that an estimated that about 88 percent of the disease from climate change afflicts children. In an article this month in the web-based science publication Massive, Renee Salas, an academic emergency medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University Medical School, says that while studies on climate change are still emerging, there has been enough research to result in a broad scientific agreement that climate change is negatively affecting children’s health.

The article points out that Frederica P. Perera, a professor of environmental health sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, recently released a review article “showing yet again how air pollution and climate change interact to multiply the negative health effects children face.”  The combination of air pollutants and warmer temperatures creates a perfect storm where chemicals emitted into the atmosphere interact to multiply the effects that each would have alone, the article states.

“People of all ages are exposed to this myriad of air pollutants in the changing climate, but children are more at risk of a wide spectrum of negative health effects because their developing bodies can suffer permanent damage from interference with their growth, Salas explains.

Investigators at the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE) at the Yale School of Public Health are engaged in a number of population-based studies in the U.S. and China intended to give us a better understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to relatively low and high levels of air pollution in childhood and during pregnancy.

The Center’s website points out that environmental factors are estimated to account for 24 percent of global diseases (WHO – Preventing Disease through Healthy Environments). In terms of the environmental contribution to disease, respiratory infections are ranked second, perinatal conditions seventh, and asthma fifteenth.  Air pollution is a major environmental risk factor in all three diseases.

Asthma is a major chronic disease in the US, accounting for more than two million emergency room visits and $14 billion in health care costs and lost productivity per year, the website indicates. Asthma is the most common chronic illness of childhood, accounting for more absenteeism (14 million missed school days per year) than any other chronic disease.  Absenteeism impacts academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities, and peer acceptance.

The Yale School of Public Health also points out that “underserved populations are especially affected by asthma.” In Connecticut, for example, asthma prevalence of 9.9 percent is among the highest in the U.S., they report. The rate among children enrolled in Connecticut’s HUSKY program (health insurance program for uninsured children) is 19.5 %. Increases in asthma and allergy are likely due to a combination of factors--genetic, environmental, socioeconomic, lack of access to care, and differential treatment.

The Massive article goes on explain that the potential harm starts early.  Once a child is born, the brain, lungs, and immune system aren’t fully formed until the age of six, the article states. “Even their air and food exposure in proportion to their size is much higher than adults – the amount they eat in relation to their body weight is three to four times greater than that of adults.”

She goes on to state the “Children also have an increased risk for being developmentally delayed, having lower intelligence scores, and less of a certain part of the brain called white matter, the stuff that helps you walk and talk. Their mental health is also at risk as children exposed to air pollution have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and difficulty paying attention.”

Salas notes that in addition to caring for patients who have negative health impacts from climate change, she uses her masters in Clinical Research and masters in Public Health in Environmental Health for research, education, and advocacy in this field. Says Salas, “I believe that climate change is the biggest public health issue facing our globe and am dedicating my career to making any positive difference I can.”

New England Colleges Prepare Report on Employability of Students; Draft Recommendations Outlined

December 22 is the deadline for those seeking to comment on the draft report and recommendations of the Commission on Higher Education & Employability, established earlier this year by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE).  The Commission, which includes nine representatives of institutions and organizations in Connecticut, released its preliminary findings at a day-long Summit in Boston. “Despite the region’s strength in postsecondary institutions, employers remain concerned about a lack of qualified, skilled workers, particularly in technology-intensive and growth-oriented industries,” the draft report notes. “The Commission has proposed a draft action agenda, policy recommendations, strategies and next steps to align institutions, policymakers and industry behind increasing the career readiness of graduates of New England colleges and universities—and facilitate their transitions to work and sustained contributions to the well-being and competitiveness of the region.”

In addition to five strategic priorities,  the draft report includes specific recommendations are being considered in five areas:  Labor Market Data & Intelligence; Planning, Advising & Career Services; Higher Education-Industry Partnerships; Work-Integrated Learning; Digital Skills; and Emerging Credentials.

Among the recommendations being considered are a call for higher education institutions to incorporate employability into their strategic plans/priorities; determine their effectiveness in embedding and measuring employability across the institution; and develop a regional partnership for shared purchasing and contracting of labor market data, information and intelligence services.

The proposed recommendations also call on the New England states to “collaborate to launch multistate, industry-specific partnerships beginning with three of the top growth-oriented sectors, including: healthcare, life and biosciences and financial services.” It further urges the states to explore “implementing policies (public and institutional) that incentivize businesses (through tax credits or other means) to expand paid internships.”  The draft report also calls for the establishment of a New England Planning, Advising and Career Service Network.

The draft report calls on the states to “confront notable college-attainment gaps and the related personal and societal costs,” and “consider specific employability strategies to target and benefit students who are at risk of not completing postsecondary credentials, including underrepresented populations.”

Eastern Connecticut State University President Elsa Núñez led a session at the Summit about the Commission's “Equity Imperative.” Officials indicate that Commission's workforce vision serves all New Englanders ... “as a matter of social justice, but also as a matter of sound economics in the slow-growing region.”  Núñez highlighted her internship work with students who may not have cars or other resources to capitalize on off-campus work-integrated learning.

In addition to Núñez, the nine members of the Commission from Connecticut are:

• Andrea Comer, Vice President, Workforce Strategies, Connecticut Business & Industry Association Education and Workforce Partnership
• Freddy Cruz, Student, Eastern Connecticut State University
• Maura Dunn, Vice President of Human Resources & Administration, General Dynamics Electric Boat
• Mae Flexer, State Senator
• Tyler Mack, Student Government Association President, Eastern Connecticut State University
• Mark Ojakian, President, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities
• Jen Widness, President, Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges
• Jeffrey Wihbey, Interim Superintendent, Connecticut Technical High School System

The commission also includes six members from Vermont, seven members from New Hampshire and Maine, 11 from Massachusetts, 12 from Rhode Island, as well as two regional members and six representatives of NEBHE. The Commission's Chair is Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo.  The proposed recommendations, developed during the past six months, have broad implications, according to officials, “critical to building a foundation for moving forward the Commission's efforts toward strengthening the employability of New England's graduates.”

At Eastern Connecticut State University—which is about 30% students of color—lower-income, minority and first-generation students often had no cars, so had difficulty traveling off campus to internships. White students got most of the internships, President Elsa Núñez told the NEHBE Journal earlier this year.

The Journal reported that Eastern’s Work Hub eliminates that need, allowing students to develop practical skills doing real-time work assignments without having to travel off campus, and providing the insurance company Cigna with a computer network and facility where its staff could provide on-site guidance and support to Eastern student interns.

The draft report’s strategic priority recommendations include:

• New England state higher education systems, governing and coordinating boards, together with New England’s employers, should make increased employability of graduates a strategic priority—linked to the strategic plans, key outcomes, performance indicators and accountability measures for the higher education institutions under their stewardship.
• New England higher education institutions should incorporate employability into their strategic plans/ priorities supported by efforts to define, prioritize and embed employability across the institution and in multiple dimensions of learning and the student experience—both curricular and extracurricular.
• New England should make strategic efforts and investments—at the state, system and institution level— to expand research, data gathering, assessment capacity and longitudinal data systems to enable more effective understanding and documentation of key employability-related measures and outcomes.
• New England higher education institutions should undertake formal employability audits to review the strategic, operational and assessment-oriented activities related to employability–and their effectiveness in embedding and measuring employability across the institution.
• To confront notable college-attainment gaps and the related personal and societal costs, states must consider specific employability strategies to target and benefit students who are at risk of not completing postsecondary credentials, including underrepresented populations.

The Boston-based New England Board of Higher Education promotes greater educational opportunities and services for the residents of New England. Comments on the recommendations are accepted on-line through Dec. 22.

Philanthropy 101? CCSU to Offer Course, Capstone Project Aimed at Boosting Philanthropy

Throughout Connecticut, philanthropic organizations distribute more than a billion dollars every year and individuals donate nearly $4 billion more. Responding to both the State’s philanthropic needs and need for skilled philanthropy professionals, Central Connecticut State University is offering an innovative course in the practice of philanthropy beginning next semester. The ambitious 16-week course is to include 25 presenters from local nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, many based in New Britain, as is the CCSU campus.   As part of the course, students will study local needs, create a case study, and write a proposal following the American Savings Foundation grant-making guidelines.  Officials say that at the conclusion of the course, up to two of these projects may each be funded with a $5,000 grant from the American Savings Foundation.

Connecticut ranked 47th among the 50 states in philanthropic giving as a percentage of income, with a “giving ratio” of 2.4 percent, 25 percent lower than the national average, according to an analysis earlier this year by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The giving ratio is the total of a locality’s charitable contributions as a share of its total adjusted gross income.

“They will learn more than just philosophy,” points out Professor Carol Shaw Austad, who will co-teach with former CCSU President Richard Judd. “This class is hands-on. Students will work in teams to design a philanthropic strategy. They will meet with New Britain nonprofits and evaluate impact, just like any foundation. We expect them to make a strong case statement for an organization or project.”

“There is so much to like about this course,” notes Maria Falvo, president of the American Savings Foundation.  “For one, many of these young people may go on to work at or volunteer with nonprofits. They may be fortunate enough to become donors themselves. This essential training lays the groundwork for a future in philanthropy,” Falvo says.

The giving percentage varied across the state, according to the Chronicle study:  the Fairfield County giving ratio was 2.8%, New Haven County and Litchfield counties 2.1%, Hartford County 1.9%, New London County 1.8%, Middlesex and Tolland Counties 1.7%, and Windham County 1.6%.

Donations from households earning $200,000 or more now total 52 percent of all itemized contributions. In the early 2000s, that number was consistently in the 30s, the Chronicle reported.  The report raises questions about the traditional habit of charitable donations among middle and low income individuals lessening, perhaps as a lingering after-effect of the recession. The Chronicle’s conclusion: “The number of households making room in their budgets for charitable giving is shrinking.”

CCSU President Dr. Zulma R. Toro said “I am especially pleased that this course engages our hometown of New Britain. This is a perfect example of what we mean by “CCSUConnected.” We are connecting to our communities in a mutually beneficial way by engaging our students academically in the life of our community. Our students learn skills and experiences that can prepare them for rewarding careers, and our communities can benefit from our students’ work focused on New Britain’s needs.”

“These community leaders are such a diverse and thoughtful group,” said Dr. Toro.  “Pastor Thomas Mills of Grace Church shares a session with New Britain Mayor (and CCSU alumna) Erin Stewart.  Dr. Ali Antar of the Berlin Mosque is on the agenda as is Dr. Claudia Thesing, formerly director of development at the New Britain Museum of American Art.  The speakers represent a real cross-section of the community.”

The course will run from January 17 to May 9, and is open to undergraduate students at CCSU.

Health and Safety Among Top Concerns in Choosing Childcare, Survey Finds

When choosing a childcare or preschool, many parents try to gather information to make their decision. Yet only 54 percent of parents were very confident that they could tell if a childcare option would be safe and healthy for their child, according to a new national survey.  Beyond that challenge, 2 out of 3 parents said it’s hard to find childcare options with the characteristics they want. In selecting a childcare or preschool, parents consider a variety of health, safety, educational, or practical factors. Overall, 62 percent of parents agreed that it’s hard to find childcare options with the characteristics they want. The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked about these factors in a national sample of parents of children age 1-5 years who attend childcare or preschool.

Nearly half of parents reported their child currently attends preschool (48%), while the other half reported their child attends either a childcare center (25%) or in-home childcare (27%) for at least 5 hours per week.  Most parents (88%) felt that childcare centers and in-home childcare providers should have the same health and safety standards.  Parents selected up to 5 factors they would consider most important when choosing a childcare or preschool. The top 5 factors differed by the child’s current setting:

• Preschool: staff background checks (45%), active play every day (40%), doors locked (38%), staff have early childhood training (30%), and safe outdoor play area (30%)
• Childcare center: staff background checks (46%), staff have early childhood training (42%), doors locked (36%), cost (33%), and location/hours (32%)
• Home childcare: healthy foods served (28%), active play every day (28%), books/educational toys (27%), kitchen area cleaned (26%), and staff background checks (24%)

Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood provides information on its website, including a “Child Care Checklist for Parents,” to assist in choosing a child daycare program. It suggests asking if the program is licensed, ensuring that unannounced visits are permitted, that there is adequate staff and that the program is safe.  The website also includes an “online lookup tool” to determine licensing status for family child care home providers, group child care homes, child care centers, family child care home staff-substitutes and assistants and youth camps.

A report published last month by Connecticut Voices for Children indicated that for more than a decade, Connecticut has made expanding early care and education programs and wrap-around supports a priority. The state has increased funding for early childhood programs for low-income families and communities,"making a real, sustained effort to build a strong infrastructure to support the early childhood system. Increased spending has increased both the availability and the quality of care."  Those efforts, the study found, "have begun to pay off in terms of both access and quality of care." 

The 39-page report indicated that: • Almost four in every five four-year-olds enroll in preschool. As of 2016, nearly 80% of four-year-olds were enrolled in preschool, an increase of six percentage points since 2005. • Disparities in preschool access have narrowed. The gap in preschool experience rates between the large urban districts and the wealthiest suburban districts has narrowed from 40 percent in 2003 to just 26 percent in 2016. • State programs are serving more infants and toddlers. Head Start and Child Day Care Centers have shifted to address more of the state’s need for infant and toddler care. Combined, they serve almost 80% more infants and toddlers in 2016 than in 2005.

The report stressed, however, that as of 2016, center-based infant/toddler care is affordable to only 25 percent of Connecticut families with a young child. Child care for two young children is affordable to only seven percent of such families.  The need for infant/toddler care "continues to vastly outstrip statewide capacity,"  and community wealth "continues to predict both preschool access and later test scores."

In the national poll, parents identified deal-breakers in selecting childcare – characteristics that would eliminate a preschool or childcare from their consideration. Over half said location in a sketchy area or a gun on the premises would be a deal-breaker; others were: non-staff adults on the premises, unvaccinated children allowed to attend, and having a staff person who smoked.

Some factors rated as most important by the Mott Poll parents may be reflected in the policies of the facility. These include whether staff undergo background checks prior to hiring, whether staff have early childhood certification or training, and whether child and staff members must be vaccinated. For many preschools and childcare centers, this type of information can be found on the facility’s website; it may be more difficult to find such information for in-home childcare providers, the poll analysis pointed out.

CT's Mattress Recycle Program Collecting 14,000 Per Month

Connecticut mattress recycling program collected more than 162,000 mattresses and diverted more than 2,300 tons of material from disposal during the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to a recently released report on the state's program. The mattress industry created the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC), a non-profit organization, in 2013 to develop and administer a recycling program, which was dubbed the Bye Bye Mattress Program.  It is  funded through a $9 fee collected from consumers on all mattress and box spring sales in the state.

The program officially began operating on May 1, 2015 in accordance with a new state law. It now averages recycling 14,000 mattresses a month. MRC collects mattresses from 125 communities and 169 public and private entities that dispose of large volumes of discarded mattresses.

On average, 70 percent of a mattress is recycled.  Officials are pushing to increase that percentage to 75 percent.  Program materials suggest that 80 percent of a mattress can be recycled.  In the program’s first two years, a total of 313,661 mattresses were collected for recycling.

Among the leading municipalities, according to the 54-page report:  Hartford - 336 tons, Bridgeport - 197 tons, Manchester - 138 tons, East Hartford - 84 tons, and Southington - 62 tons.

MRC’s education and outreach efforts are designed to inform consumers, mattress retailers, and other stakeholders about the Bye Bye Mattress Program, that the fee is mandated by state law, why the fee is needed, what the fee funds, how to recycle through the Program, and that some parties have obligations.

In addition to Connecticut, MRC operates programs in Rhode Island and California.

Among the many locations across making use of the program is the Naval Submarine Base in New London.  The Base used the program to assist with the recycling and transportation of 692 mattresses from barracks, submarines, and Navy hotel lodging facilities connected to the Base. MRC collected mattresses from the Base in New London three times during the fiscal year.

Despite the program’s achievements to date, one objective is not being met.  Based on MRC’s experience during the past two years, the report points out, it became clear that the healthcare facility goal was “impractical.”

Mattresses discarded by healthcare facilities are not recycled for two primary reasons: biological contamination and mattress residual value, according to the report. In addition, a strong secondary markets exist for specialty hospital mattresses discarded by healthcare facilities. As a result, discarded units are frequently resold domestically or exported, the report explained.

“Therefore, those units are not being landfilled or incinerated in Connecticut and are not available for recycling. Furthermore, healthcare mattresses with breached outer ticking or physical contamination may pose health risks, and are instead disposed of as solid or biological waste due to liability concerns,” the report points out.

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