MetroHartford, Connecticut Have Strong Linguistic Diversity; Plus for Global Marketplace

The number of languages spoken in Connecticut is considerably larger than most people expect.  That fact was highlighted in the recent MetroHartford Progress Points Report, prepared for the MetroHartford Alliance.  The linguistic diversity and global connections of the region are reflected in schools and employers, with more than 100 different languages spoken in homes of students attending schools throughout the region, according to the report. The “number of students with non-English home language” according to data on the website of the State Department of Education include Avon, 185; Bloomfield, 59; East Hartford, 1,124; Farmington, 474; Hartford, 8,371; Manchester, 335; Newington, 653; Simsbury, 228; South Windsor, 328; Tolland, 14; West Hartford, 1,876; and Windsor, 280.  The report indicated that 75 percent of English language learner (ELL) students are Spanish-speaking, 25 percent speak other languages at home.

Some of the languages spoken in the homes of students attending schools in the region may be unexpected.  In Manchester, for example, the lead languages are Spanish, Bengali, and Urdu, and the list also includes Twi/Fante, Telugu, and Gujarati.

The Hartford region consists of 750,000 people living in the city of Hartford, its surrounding inner-ring suburbs, and outer-ring and rural towns that have historical, economic or social ties with the city.

In 2013, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving gathered a group of regional stakeholders to develop a unique community partnership that came together to collect, analyze and disseminate a broad range of data, to place a spotlight on some of the central challenges and opportunities for the region. The goal was to share critical information “with residents and policymakers that will result in meaningful dialogue and propel action in our communities.”  Among the report’s areas of research is “increasing globalization through immigration,” using data from the state Department of Education (SDE).

Sponsoring organizations of Metro Hartford Progress Points include Capital Workforce Partners, Trinity College’s Center for Urban and Cultural Studies, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Hispanic Health Council, MetroHartford Alliance, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Urban League of Greater Hartford and the City of Hartford.

Data on English-language learners and languages spoken in schools is based on reports retrieved from the SDE CEDAR Data Tables on English Language Learners, for both Number of English Language Learners (ELL) and Languages Spoken by Connecticut Students for the 2010-11 school year, the most recent data available.

Statewide, the variety of languages spoken by Connecticut students is considerable.  Nearly 73,000 students live in homes with a “non-English home language,” according to the State Department of Education. The leaders include:

• Spanish                        47,190
• Portuguese                  2,846
• Polish                          2,279
• Albanian                      1,263
• Chinese                       2,215
• Creole-Haitian             1,714
• Arabic                         1,159
• Vietnamese                 1,157
• Urdu                            1,131
• Russian                        811
• French                         762
• Gujarati                       738
• Serbo-Croatian            705

For the uninitiated, Gujarātī is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 46 million people in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, and also in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan, Réunion, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  And, apparently, Connecticut - in the homes of 738 students.

Close to 100 million people around the world speak Urdu. It is the official language of Pakistan, a status and is also spoken and understood in parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Middle East.

The Progress Points partners include: Capital Workforce Partners, Capitol Region Council of Governments, City of Hartford, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Hispanic Health Council, MetroHartford Alliance, Trinity College Center for Urban and Global Studies, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut , and the Urban League of Greater Hartford.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0zTQjsbNlw0

Pay Equity Gap Between Men and Women Begins As Children, Studies Show

The stubborn pay equity gap between men and women – larger in Connecticut than some neighboring states – apparently has its roots in childhood. National surveys indicate that parents are more likely to give their sons an allowance than their daughters. Among all young people surveyed, 67 percent of boys compared with 59 percent of girls say they get an allowance from their parents, according to Junior Achievement USA® (JA) and The Allstate Foundation’s 2014 Teens & Personal Finance Survey.

A study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research found that girls do two more hours of housework a week than boys, while boys spend twice as much time playing. The same study confirmed that boys are still more likely to get paid for what they do: they are 15 percent more likely to get an allowance for doing chores than girls.  Study Director Frank Stafford indicated that the trend continues into adulthood. 

Writing this month in the National Journal, Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro pointed out that “right now, women make less than men in nearly every occupation for which wage data are tracked. One year out of college, women are paid 18 percent less than their male counterparts. Ten years out of college, the wage gap leaves women earning 31 percent less.  Over a 35-year career, these earnings discrepancies swell to exceedingly large sums. Across the entire workforce, the average career-long pay gap is $434,000. For college-educated women, the pay deficit averages $654,000.”

Earlier this year, CT Mirror reported that “women in Connecticut earn about 78 percent of what men make.  Numbers from the 2012 Census show that Connecticut's gender wage gap is wider than in many other states in the Northeast; and that, within the state, the gender difference varies as well. The most pronounced gap…is in Fairfield County.”

In a November 2013 report, the Governor’s Gender Wage Gap Task Force indicated that “Connecticut still has a long way to go before the gender wage gap is eliminated.”  The 14-member task force found that that “more mothers than ever before are the sole or primary breadwinners of their families. Yet, women in Connecticut are more likely than men to live in poverty and below the self-sufficiency standard. 24% of households in Connecticut headed by women with children fall below the federal poverty level. Eliminating the wage gap would provide critical income to these families.”

The report also indicated that “among all full-time, year-round workers, Connecticut women earn, on average, 22%-24.2%less than men. This gap is even more pronounced among minority women. Understanding this inequity is not a simple matter. Many factors contribute to the overall wage gap including education and skills, experience, union membership, training, performance, hours worked and the careers women and men choose. However, even after these factors are controlled for, an estimated wage gap of 5-10% remains.”

In 2012, the National Partnership for Women and Families reported that “If the wage gap were eliminated, a working woman in Connecticut would have enough money for approximately:

• 109 more weeks of food
• 7 more months of mortgage and utilities payments
• 14 more months of rent
• 44 more months of family health insurance premiums
• 3,410 additional gallons of gas

The Connecticut Task Force issued a series of recommendations to address the pay equity gap, focused on current workplaces, businesses, training and education.  Apparently, efforts need to begin sooner, when youngsters begin household chores and ask for an allowance.

New Haven - Milford Has Nation's Highest Concentration of Italian Heritage

The New Haven-Milford metropolitan area has the highest concentration of individuals of Italian heritage in the nation. In an analysis that ranked ancestries on the estimated percentage of U.S. population and then identified the three metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of each ancestry or origin, Bloomberg Businessweek determined that the concentration of individuals of Italian heritage made up just under 24 percent of the population in the New Haven – Milford area. The next highest concentration was in Kingston, New York, and Poughkeepsie – Newburg – Middletown, New York, each with just over 20 percent of their population of Italian heritage. Overall, the largest ethnic populations across the country are German (15.6% of the population), Irish (11%), Mexican (10%), English (8%), Italian (5%), Polish (3%) French (2%) Scottish (1% and Puerto Rican (1%).

The Census Bureau defines ancestry as a person’s ethnic origin, heritage, descent or “roots,” which may reflect their place of birth, place of birth of parents or ancestors and ethnic identities that have evolved within the United States. Data for European, Middle Eastern, Arab and Sub-Saharan African ancestries were directly captured by ancestry questions in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The largest concentration of individuals of German descent was in Bismark, ND (60%) and the largest population of Irish was in Ocean City, New Jersey (30%) – followed by Barnstable, MA at 27 percent and Boston-Cambridge-Quincy at 24 percent.

Bangor, Maine had the highest concentration of individuals of Scottish ancestry, at 6 percent and the largest Puerto Rican population by percentage was in Vineland, Millville-Bridgetown, New Jersey at 14 percent and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, at 12 percent.

In the data, South American ancestries were calculated using data from the "Hispanic or Latino origin by specific origins" tables, while Asian ancestries were calculated from "Asian race & ethnicity" tables. American Indians and Alaskan Native ancestries were counted only if individuals identified with specific tribes. Spaniards only included people who specifically identified their ancestry as Spaniard.

Celebrated DJ Who Started at WCCC Going Strong as Station's Rock Era Ends

There were two milestones in radio broadcasting during the past 12 months that connected to the career of on-air personality and Hartford native Rusty Potz. Last week, Potz’ former radio home, WCCC in Hartford, was sold to new owners who abruptly ended the station’s decades-long rock-n-roll format. It was in the early ‘70’s that Potz was a leading DJ at the Hartford station, which later that decade featured a DJ named Howard Stern. Potz was well known in Hartford, moving on, like Stern, to new opportunities. That’s where the other milestone draws attention. Potz didn’t move too far – to radio station WLNG in Sag Harbor on Long Island. And he has been there ever since – from 1975 though the station’s 50th anniversary celebration last year, and continues on the air six days a week.

As WCCC has slipped away, WLNG is going strong. The station’s oldies format, local news coverage, and community orientation has loyal listeners in high places, as was evident in March this year.

The Sag Harbor Express reported this spring that WLNG was the prime topic of conversation on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Mr. Fallon asked Mr. Joel to join him in crashing Sag Harbor’s oldies station WLNG 92.1 and the singer, a longtime resident of Sag Harbor, enthusiastically agreed, the newspaper reported. The celebrities plugged the small station in front of a nationwide audience—over four million— resulting in a flood of listeners and website traffic for WLNG.

“We’re a nostalgia station,” Potz told the Sag Harbor Express last year. He is the executive vice president and has been with the station for 38 years. “We’re a part of people’s lives… People like a station that’s familiar. They want to know what they can expect. The oldies we play, we have just about every hit that ever came out.”

Potz earned his degree from the University of Hartford, and has been in radio since 1963 - on 20 different radio stations, most of them in Hartford, New Haven, and Springfield, MA.  At one time, he worked at four stations simultaneously.

In 1967, at WPOP Rusty's show was the top rated evening show in Connecticut, his station biography reports.  In 1969 WAVZ in New Haven received the TV-RADIO MIRROR award for Rusty's show as the top show on the east coast. Rusty was the program director at WCCC in Hartford for many years, including the years when the station featured the "All Request Radio" format, and came to WLNG on September 1, 1975.

The history of WCCC counted numerous broadcasters who went on to enduring careers. Howard Stern is perhaps the best known nationally. But for listeners in Eastern Long Island, Rusty Potz remains a household name.

An additional Connecticut connection was apparent recently. One of Potz’ guests on his WLNG program last month was former Channel 8 newscaster and ESPN broadcaster George Grande. Both were quite prominent on the Connecticut broadcast scene in the ‘70’s. Grande hosted the first edition of SportsCenter on ESPN in 1979, going on to a sportscasting career in New York, Cincinnati and as host of the annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony for more than two decades.

Most Exciting in Connecticut? New Haven, New London, Hartford Lead the Way

Wondering where the most exciting places are in Connecticut? If New Haven is the first place that comes to mind, you’re right. New Haven was named the “Most Exciting Place in Connecticut,” followed by New London, Hartford, Stamford, and Manchester in an analysis by the real estate website Movoto. Described as “the most thrilling, the most rousing, and the most downright exciting,” the top 10 list for Connecticut includes five Fairfield County municipalities and many of the state's largest cities:

1. City of New Haven 2. City of New London 3. City of Hartford 4. City of Stamford (tie) 4. Town of Manchester (tie) 6. City of Bridgeport 7. City of Norwalk 8. Town of West Hartford 9. Town of Greenwich 10. Town of Westport

The website’s analysis pointed out that “New Haven had a ton of nightlife and music venues per capita” and was “much more densely populated than most other places in the state.” New London scored points in the website’s analysis for its “high percentage of young folks (just like New Haven, 36 percent between 18 and 34), and for its high number of nightlife options, music venues, and arts per capita.” New London ranked No. 1 in both nightlife and music venues, and No. 2 for its arts.

The highlights for Hartford noted that the Capitol City is “the second-most densely populated place in Connecticut; a good portion of that population is between the ages of 18 and 34- 31 percent, to be exact. With bars like Pourhouse and the Russian Lady, music venues like Webster Theatre, and so many museums, galleries, and festivals we can’t even name them all, Hartford is certainly way more exciting than just insurance.”

In order to come up with the list of 10, the website started out with a list of all the places in Connecticut with populations of 10,000 or more, according to the U.S. Census (2010), which provided 38 towns and cities. Then, they used the Census and business listings to assess:

• Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
• Live music venues per capita
• Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
• Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
• Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
• Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
• Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
• Population density (the higher the better)

The municipalities were then ranked with scores from one to 38, where the lower the score, the more exciting the place.

Two Greater Hartford communities, in addition to the city, made the list – Manchester and West Hartford.

“Manchester also scored highly for its number of arts and entertainment options per capita, like the unique MCC on Main,” a program of Manchester Community College located on Main Street in the heart of the town. West Hartford, the website reported, “seemed to find its excitement, not in the nightlife … but in lots of healthy options,” including sports stores, gyms, galleries, theaters and “tons of restaurants.” Westport “really shined” in the number of yoga studios, sports stores, running clubs, parks, and places to get fit.”

Falling just outside the top 10 were West Haven, Stratford, Torrington, Middletown, Groton, New Britain, Storrs, Danbury, Derby and Wethersfield.

Jonathan's Dream Reimagined to Kick-Off Next Chapter

The original Jonathan's Dream playground, inspired by the Barzach family of West Hartford and built in 1996 as what would become the prototype for Boundless Playgrounds across the country, an inclusive, accessible play space for families and children of all abilities. It was a vibrant playground until 2013, when time and heavy usage of the wooden playground necessitated that it be taken down. But now, community leaders are back at it again, developing plans for what is described as “Jonathan's Dream Reimagined” – a new playground that will be accessible to children of all abilities - and include some new innovations for today's children.  Sunday, July 27, from 12 Noon to 3 PM,  will be the kick-off for the new effort, with free activities for children at the Mandell Jewish Community Center, site of the playground.

The new Jonathan's Dream will be designed to extend the original legacy with an engaging playground that keeps children of all ages and abilities active and moving. Leadership Greater Hartford (LGH) has convened a taskforce of alumni from its Quest and Third Age Initiative programs to help rebuild the new Jonathan's Dream, working with the Mandell JCC.. The project is also supported by Shane’s Inspiration and Jumpstart, along with a “Dream Team” of local agencies and individuals who have joined forces to advance the initiative.

Jonathan’s Dream Re-Imagined will be rebuilt three to six months after the needed funds are raised. Donations to help rebuild Jonathan’s Dream will be accepted at the July kick-off event. The project to rebuild Jonathan’s Dream is expected to cost $950,000 and, once funds are raised, will take three to six months to complete.

The original Jonathan’s Dream (photo at right), a wooden, wheelchair- accessible, inter-generational playground, was built by more than 1,000 volunteers in 1996 in memory of Jonathan Barzach, who died before his first birthday. Had Jonathan lived, he would have needed to use a wheelchair for his entire life. His family imagined that in Jonathan’s dreams, he would have wanted children of all abilities to be able to play and celebrate together.

Jonathan’s Dream was one of the first inclusive playgrounds in the country.  It led the way for the nonprofit organization Boundless Playgrounds, which coordinated the construction of similar playgrounds throughout the country.  Today, more than 100,000 children play on more than 200 Boundless Playgrounds in 31 states.

It began in Connecticut, with the inspirational leadership of Amy Barzach, Jonathan's mom. Back in 1994, she was at a playground with her two sons when she noticed a little girl in a wheelchair who could not join in the fun because the playground was not accessible to her.  A year later, she remembered that little girl when disability, then tragedy, reached her family, with Jonathan's passing.  With husband Peter and son Daniel, they began the effort to build an inclusive playground, and called it Jonathan's Dream.

To learn more about Jonathan’s Dream Reimagined please visit www.jonathansdreamreimagined.org.

Strong Freedom-of-Information Laws Reduce Government Corruption About 20 Percent, Study Finds

Freedom of Information (FOI) laws in states across the country have reduced the rate at which officials committed corrupt acts by about 20 percent, according to an analysis by Adriana S. Cordis of Winthrop University and Patrick L. Warren of Clemson University. In the immediate aftermath of implementation of strong FOI laws, corruption-conviction rates approximately doubled, suggesting that the regulations made it easier to detect malfeasance. Over time, conviction rates declined, suggesting that overall corruption diminished, the authors say. The changes are more pronounced in states with more intense media coverage, the study noted.

The paper states that “if we consider only state and local convictions per government employee, then the most corrupt states for the years 1986-2009 are Montana, Mississippi, North Dakota and New Jersey, and the least corrupt states are Iowa, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota and New Hampshire.”

Connecticut, which came to be referred to as “Corrupticut” in the wake of political scandals involving former Gov. John G. Rowland, former State Treasurer Paul Silvester, former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano and former Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganci (among others), is not highlighted in the study. The state was among the first to adopt strong FIO laws in the 1970’s. In the aftermath of the killings at Sandy Hook in 2012, state officials have been revising some of those laws, raising concerns among FOI advocates.

The study indicates that 12 states switched from weak to strong FOIA during their two decade sample period: New Hampshire (1987), South Carolina (1988), Idaho (1991), Utah (1993), Washington (1993), West Virginia (1993), New Mexico (1994), Texas (1996), North Dakota (1998),Nebraska (2001), New Jersey (2002), and Pennsylvania (2003).

“Based on average scores, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Colorado, and Vermont are among the states with relatively stronger access laws, while South Dakota, Alabama, Arizona, Wyoming and Nevada are among the states with relatively weaker access laws,” the researchers stated.

The authors pointed out that “FOI laws provide clear guarantees regarding the rights of individuals and organizations to access information about government activities, and they make it easier for members of the press and members of the public at large to hold those in power accountable for their actions.”

They conclude that utilizing a variety of econometric specifications, that the short-run effect of a state moving from weaker to stronger FIO laws “is an approximate doubling in the probability that a corrupt act is detected and convicted.” They continue, “corruption conviction rates decline from this new elevated level as the time since the switch from weak to strong FOIA increases.” Cordis stressed to CT by the Numbers that the approximately 20 percent decline in the rate at which officials commit corrupt acts in response to a stronger FOI law is an estimate based on the research.

The paper was published this month in the Journal of Public Economics and has been featured this year on the Social Science Research Network and was highlighted by Harvard Business Review.

Adriana S. Cordis is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Winthrop University in South Carolina. Her areas of teaching expertise include managerial and cost accounting, and her research focuses on capital-market and transfer-pricing issues. She also has a long-standing interest in corruption from a public policy perspective. Patrick L. Warren is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Clemson University. His research has focused on decision making in public sector organizations, auditing and political accountability.

New Owners, Big Changes at Former “Big D”; Classic Rock Formats Differ by Geography

At the start of this week, Westport-based Connoisseur Media became the new owners of Connecticut’s oldest radio station, WDRC, owned for the past half-century by Buckley Broadcasting. The sale also included Buckley Connecticut stations WMMW AM in Meriden, WWCO AM in Waterbury and WSNG AM in Torrington, which have been added to Connoisseur stations in New Haven and Fairfield counties, WPLR, WYBC, the Fox and Star. At WDRC, virtually within minutes, several on-air personalities, the general manager and program director became former employees. The station’s website and Facebook changed, a new logo was launched, and a station with a heritage as one of the nation’s best know music stations as rock-n-roll took root in the 1960’s adopted a tagline that read “Classic Hits of the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and More.” Veteran broadcasters Mike Stevens, ‘Rockin’ Ron Sedaille, Floyd Wright and Grahame Winters were all dropped by WDRC’s new owners this week, along with Vice President/General Manager Eric Fahnoe.

The company’s largest cluster of stations is in the Northeast, predominantly in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. But Connoisseur also owns stations in markets including Billings, MT, Rapid City, SD, Witchita, KS, Omaha, NE, and Bloomington, IL.

The station’s website now lists the quartet of Kim Zachary, Mike Lapitino, Allan Lamberti, and Rob Ray as on-air talent. Lapitino has been 99.1 WPLR’s afternoon air personality; Lamberti has handled the evening hours at the New Haven-based station. Lamberti, who has also been on air at Connoisseur’s Fairfield County classic rock station, 95.9 FOX, was on the afternoon drive shift at WDRC-FM. Chaz & AJ, the veteran morning drive duo, are heard simultaneously on both the New Haven and Fairfield County stations.

CEO Jeffrey D. Warshaw founded Connoisseur Communications Partners, LP, in 1993. Through strategic purchases of multiple single radio stations in medium to small sized radio markets, the company grew to 39 stations (owned or operated) prior to this week’s final sale of the Connecticut stations.

In May, the company also announced plans to purchase WALK-AM/FM on Long Island, where the company already owns four radio stations. Among them are some Classic Rock formatted stations, although a national study released this week suggests that what listens hear in such a format varies across the country.

A new study by the well-respected data-driven website FiveThirtyEight “found that classic rock is more than just music from a certain era, and that it changes depending on where you live. What plays in New York — a disproportionate amount of Billy Joel, for example — won’t necessarily fly in San Antonio, which prefers Mötley Crüe.” The website studied the airplay of classic rock stations in the nation’s top 30 markets for a week, and analyzed what was played.

“Classic rock is heavily influenced by region, and in ways that are unexpected. For example, Los Angeles is playing Pearl Jam, a band most popular in the 1990s, five times more frequently than the rest of the country. Boston is playing the ’70s-era Allman Brothers six times more frequently.” WDRC was not included in their review of classic rock stations in the nation’s top markets.

The website reported that “the trend steadily held” for songs “of the ’70s and through the mid-’80s,” with the 10-year period from 1973 to 1982 accounting for 57 percent of all song plays. When ‘60’s songs were played, they were predominantly from the Beatles, the study summary noted. “Classic rock peaked — by song plays — in 1973.”

The analysis also found that “the top 25 most frequently played artists — the likes of Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and the Rolling Stones — together account for almost half of the spins on classic rock stations in the U.S. Another way of saying that is 5 percent of all the bands played on these stations made up nearly 50 percent of the song plays — which shows that there is at least a classic rock core.”

Staff changes are yet to be finalized, but at present Connoisseur ‘s General Manager for its stations in southern Connecticut, Kristin Okesson, will oversee the Hartford area stations. Okesson currently manages WPLR, WEZN, WFOX, and WYBC.

WDRC is considered the oldest radio station in Connecticut, begun in 1920 in New Haven by Franklin Doolittle Radio Corp., eventually relocating to Hartford (ultimately to 750 Main Street) and then to its current location at 869 Blue Hills Avenue in Bloomfield. WDRC-AM switched from a music to talk format decades ago, with WDRC-FM retaining the “Big D” style popularized in the ‘60’s and tweaked through the decades.

Report Calls for Transition to Livable Communities Across Connecticut

In Connecticut, more than one-third of the population is over the age of 50, and that proportion continues to increase. Connecticut’s Legislative Commission on Aging has issued “Connecticut for Livable Communities,” a new report to the state legislature which outlines more than 50 recommendations for communities looking to enhance livability. The Commission has also launched a website which includes a list of communities that are responding to the call for more livable communities, and suggests a wide range of actions that communities can take.

Connecticut is undergoing a permanent and historic transformation in its demographics, the report points out. Between 2010 and 2040, Connecticut’s population of people age 65 and older is projected to grow by 57 percent, with less than 2 percent growth for people age 20 to 64 during the same period.

Livable communities are vibrant, inter-generational places that are easy to get around, according to the report. “They include affordable, appropriate housing options, supportive community features and services, and adequate mobility options. They foster independence, engage residents in civic and social life, and allow people to age in place. Done well, they benefit community residents across the lifespan.”

The 50-page report indicates that residents born in Connecticut today can expect to live to be 80.8 years old - the third highest life expectancy in the nation. A lengthy series of recommendations are highlighted in seven different areas: community engagement, health and well-being, housing, planning and zoning, safety and preparedness, social and support services, and transportation.

The recommendations include promoting opportunities for intergenerational collaboration, promoting in-home programs that improve health outcomes, creating a balanced transportation system that connects residents with health care services, and adopting policies that encourage incorporation of accessible housing features into new construction. The recommendations also include a call for municipal plans of conservation and development that include planning for older adults and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes and communities, and building compact, mixed-use development “to encourage walking and eyes on the street.”

Creating livability requires “robust partnerships, long-range planning and sustained commitment.” To support those efforts the Legislative Commission on Aging plans to be:

• Providing educational opportunities on livable communities for community leaders and other partners in Connecticut;
• Creating partnerships to support the multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary endeavor of creating livable communities;
• Supporting, inspiring and incentivizing communities to enhance livability; and developing policies to support aging in place

To help communities implement the recommendations over time, the Commission plans to:

• Recognize localities that have implemented livable communities initiatives, pursuant to Public Act 14-73 (which established the livable communities initiative)
• Expand partnerships across multiple sectors to advance livability,
• Continue to convene municipal leaders, legislators and other thought leaders for statewide and regional forums on creating livability;
• Continue to identify funding opportunities for municipal leaders, seeking to implement or sustain livable communities initiatives;
• Work with partners to conduct asset mapping across all Connecticut communities, with the goal of helping each community understand its facilitators and barriers to developing livable communities;
• Continue to research models in other states, nationally and internationally;
• Work with the Connecticut General Assembly to identify and advance policy solutions that incentivize and inspire the creation of livable communities;
• Provide technical assistance to Connecticut communities seeking to enhance or promote livability; and
• Create town-specific data profiles to enable towns to enhance livability in a targeted and strategic fashion.

Among the communities listed on the new website as having best practices in place in parts of their towns or cities are Branford, Guilford, Madison, Bridgeport, Danbury, Darien, Enfield, Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, New Canaan, Norwalk, Seymour, and Torrington.  The Commission plans to proceed with "asset mapping across all Connecticut communities" and "continue to identify innovations, ideas, and best practices for implementing livability in the state. "

Nicknames Tomahawks, Redmen, Chiefs, Warriors Remain in CT High School Sports

The New Haven Register editorial page has called on Connecticut high schools to do what Washington’s NFL franchise has thus far refused to do. Get with the times. The Register reports that “at least 23 high school teams in the state have names associated with Native Americans that could be considered offensive, from the Derby and Torrington Red Raiders to the Nonnewaug Chiefs or the Killingly Redmen and Glastonbury Tomahawks. Names containing Indians or Warriors are also popular among the state’s high schools,” the paper indicated.

“While these names may have initially been created with the thinking they were honoring Connecticut’s rich history, they are not only offensive, but keep us rooted in a culture of racism that has lingered for too long. And while a name change may temporarily disrupt the identity of the school and its sports teams, if done right, it can be successful and be used to the school’s advantage.”

The list of team nicknames that are of concern varies. Some consider “Indians” inappropriate, yet the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB) have received virtually none of the criticism that has been leveled at the NFL’s Washington franchise. MLB’s Atlanta Braves fans have long been known for doing the “tomahawk chop” at teams’ games, and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs are not seen as being as offensive as the franchise name used in D.C.

Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford recently told WFSB-TV that the school’s teams no longer officially use the name “Indians,” but as of this week, the schools website continued to feature its parent booster club as the “Tomahawk Club.” At Glastonbury High School, the athletics teams are called the “Tomahawks.”

There have been some changes among Connecticut’s high schools and colleges, as the Register indicates. “Quinnipiac University, for example, changed the names of its sports teams and mascot in 2002 from Braves to Bobcats. At the time the name change was announced, the school indicated that ‘the university community clearly recognized the difficulties of using a name that has the potential to misrepresent and denigrate an entire group of people. And, despite our clear intention to honor and remember the Native Americans once known as the Quinnipiaks, to do so only through athletics was found to be no longer appropriate.’”

In addition, “Newtown changed its name from Indians to Nighthawks. Its old Indian chief mascot had previously been discarded. Hall High School in West Hartford voted in 2012 to change its logo and mascot, but kept its team name, the Warriors,” the Register reported.

Among the Connecticut high schools that have received some attention on local and national websites are those with Indians, Chiefs, Warriors, Raiders, Sachems, Tomahawks, Redmen, Red Raiders and Chieftans (see below).

Two years ago, the Hartford Courant reported that a national Native American rights organization, the Morning Star Institute, indicated that “two-thirds of Native American symbols in educational sports have been eliminated since 1970. Among the colleges that have changed nicknames are St. John's University in New York, from the "Redmen" to the "Red Storm," and Marquette in Wisconsin, from the "Warriors" to the "Golden Eagles."

The unofficial list of high school team nicknames that are receiving attention in the midst of the Washington NFL franchise controversy:

Canton High School (Warriors), Conard (West Hartford) High School (Chieftans), Derby High School (Red Raiders),Enfield High School (Raiders), Farmington High School (Indians), Glastonbury High School (Tomahawks), Guilford High School (Indians), Hall (West Hartford) High School (Warriors), H.C. Wilcox Technical (Meriden) High School (Indians),Killingly High School (Redmen), Manchester Senior High School (Indians), Montville High School (Indians), Newington High School (Indians), Nonnewaug (Woodbury) High School (Chiefs), North Haven Senior High School (Indians), Northwest Catholic (West Hartford) High School (Indians), Norwich Regional Vocational Technical School (Warriors), RHAM Junior Senior High School (Sachems), Torrington High School (Red Raiders), Valley Regional (Deep River) High School (Warriors), Wamogo (Litchfield) Regional High School (Warriors), Watertown High School (Indians), Wilcox Technical (Meriden) High School (Indians), Wilton High School (Warriors), Windsor High School (Warriors), Windsor Locks High School (Raiders).