Awards Will Recognize Innovative Efforts Invigorating CT Main Streets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CT Ranked Third Best State for Working Moms

Despite ranking 37^th in professional opportunities for women and 12^th in child care, Connecticut has been ranked as the third best state for working moms on the strength of a number one ranking in “work-life balance," according to a new analysis from the financial website WalletHub. With Mother’s Day just days away, the WalletHub analysis revealed 2016’s Best & Worst States for Working Moms.

The top five states were Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut, North Dakota and Massachusetts.  Vermont also ranked first in child care, and was the top-ranked state (after D.C.) in professional opportunities.  At the bottom of the list, considered the worst states for working moms, were Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama and Nevada.

The website also noted that “women still earn only $0.79 for every dollar that men make and have far less upward mobility, as evidenced by the fact that only 4 percent of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are female.”

WalletHub’s analysts compared the attractiveness of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to a working mother, using 13 key metrics such as median women’s salary, female unemployment rate and day-care quality.

Connecticut’s ranking across the categories included in the survey ranked from second in parental leave policy to 24^th in the ratio of female to male executives.  The state’s rankings by category, in the WalletHub analysis:

• 2nd – Parental Leave Policy
• 6th – % of Single-Mom Families in Poverty
• 6th – Access to Pediatric Services
• 8th – Length of Average Woman’s Workday
• 9th – WalletHub’s “Best School Systems” Ranking
• 24th – Ratio of Female Executives to Male Executives

The Child Care metrics included Day-Care Quality, Child-Care Costs, Access to Pediatric Services, and WalletHub’s “Best School Systems” Ranking.   The Professional Opportunities category included Gender Pay Gap, Ratio of Female Executives to Male Executives, Median Women’s Salary, Percentage of Families in Poverty, Female Unemployment Rate, and Gender-Representation Gap in Different Economic Sectors.   The Work-Life Balance category included Parental Leave Policy, Length of the Average Woman’s Work Week, and Women’s Average Commute Time.

Data used to create these rankings, according to WalletHub, were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Child Care Aware® of America, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Council for Community and Economic Research, National Partnership for Women & Families and WalletHub research.

Link Literacy and Social-Emotional Skills to Improve Children’s Success in School, Report Urges

Experts agree that there is a deep connection between social-emotional development and literacy in children’s early school success including achieving reading proficiency in the early grades – and it turns out that the benefits of effectively making those connections sooner rather than later are significant, and can endure for a lifetime. A new report from the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut (CHDI), “Connecting Social and Emotional Health and Literacy: Critical for Early School Success,” explores the interplay between young children's social-emotional development and early literacy and language skills, and “elevates awareness of the connections between these essential competencies,” according to CHDI and the report’s researchers.

The detailed 36-page report provides examples of linking strategies and outlines recommendations with the goal of accelerating actions by states and communities to advance children's readiness for school and successful educational achievement.

“Early cognitive and social-emotional skills are interactive and woven together - like strands of a rope,” notes Ann Rosewater, lead author of the report and co-leader of the Connecticut Peer Learning Pilot on Social-Emotional Development and Early Literacy. “The strategies and tools in this report will help communities implement approaches to align children’s literacy and social emotional health.”

The report urges a series of coordinated state actions to advance the linkage and integration of supports for children’s social-emotional health and learning:

• Align systems that address social-emotional development and literacy
• Increase support and education for parents
• Invest in professional development for those working with young children
• Institute universal and routine screening for social-emotional development and
• appropriate follow-up
• Expand the reach of evidence-based practices and programs
• Focus attention on special populations

The recommendations are drawn from the experiences of nine communities in Connecticut that explored researched-based strategies over the past year, to link supports for social-emotional and literacy skills. The effort was part of the Connecticut Peer Learning Pilot on Social-Emotional Development and Early Literacy, developed and led by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, in partnership with the National Center for Children in Poverty and with support from the Irving Harris Foundation and others.

Participating community teams represented Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund Discovery Initiative coalitions from Bridgeport, Colchester, Danbury, Enfield, Norwalk, Torrington, Vernon, West Hartford, and Winchester.  Their involvement, according to the report, “catalyzed notable progress in most participating communities, building on significant efforts their collaboratives had undertaken before engaging in the initiative.”  The communities “found reinforcement, inspiration and impetus to pursue as vigorously as their circumstances allowed strategies that recognized and promoted the relationship between children’s social-emotional health and literacy and language skills,” the report concluded.

In addition to urging state action, based on these experiences the report highlighted steps that can be taken at the community level to promote school success by reflecting the understanding that literacy and social-emotional development build on and reinforce each other.

Promising strategies used by communities include the following:

• Raise community awareness and reinforce community efforts to integrate social emotional and literacy skills fundamental to success in school and life
• Promote nurturing parent-child relationships, which are essential to children’s social-emotional development and can simultaneously stimulate literacy learning
• Screen for social-emotional competencies, with appropriate follow up and intervention
• Enhance home visiting and book distribution programs
• Incorporate professional development related to the connections between social-emotional development and literacy for those working with young children
• Promote attendance in early education programs and the early grades
• Support special populations, particularly children living in poverty, dual language learners or those faced with potentially unstable environments (foster care or homelessness)

The report indicates that “Far too many children are at a disadvantage in their development because they lack the language and literacy competencies they need to enter kindergarten, significantly hobbling their success in reading proficiently by the end of third grade. Disparities begin as early as infancy and become more pronounced in the toddler years, with children from families below 200 percent of poverty scoring lower than children from higher income families on measures of cognitive development.”

The report goes on to state that “At kindergarten entry age, only 48 percent of poor children are ready for school, compared to 75 percent of children from families with moderate or high income.”

The Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut (CHDI), a subsidiary of the Children’s Fund of Connecticut, is a not-for-profit organization established to promote and maximize the healthy physical, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and social development of children throughout Connecticut.  CHDI works to ensure that children in Connecticut, particularly those who are disadvantaged, will have access to and make use of a comprehensive, effective, community-based health and mental health care system.

Public Supports Action to Protect Youth From Weight-Based Bullying

Parental support for enactment of laws and policies to protect youth from weight-based bullying is “present, consistent, and strong,” according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. All 50 states currently have anti-bullying laws, but only three states – New York, Maine and New Hampshire - include body weight as a characteristic that places youth at risk of being bullied.

Many school districts have anti-bullying policies, yet body weight is often overlooked, stating that “evidence from students, parents and teachers indicates that weight-based bullying is one of the most prevalent forms of peer harassment towards youth in the school setting.”

The study found that support for including weight-based bullying in anti-bullying laws has grown during the past two years, stressing that “the omission of body weight in existing policies has important implications for youth who face weight-based bullying.”

“Parental voices can be influential in mobilizing advocacy efforts, and enacting policy change affecting children’s health,” said Rebecca Puhl, a study author, professor in UConn’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and deputy director of the Rudd Center.

The study findings, published in the journal Pediatric Obesity, can inform policy discussions about remedies for weight-based bullying among youth as increasing national attention is being paid to this issue.  The study indicated that “parental support is an influential catalyst motivating political will for policy decisions affecting youth, but has received limited research attention.”

Specific findings of the study include:

• Parental support has been consistently high (at least 81 percent) over the past two years for policies to address weight-based bullying among youth at the school, state, and federal levels.
• Support appears to have increased over the past two years for measures to better protect youth from weight-based bullying through improvements to state anti-bullying laws (87.9 percent – up from 84.7 percent) and through enactment of federal legislation (86 percent – up from 81 percent).
• While previous research has shown that mothers express more support than fathers for similar types of policies, this new study found no gender difference, suggesting that fathers’ support for these measures may be increasing.

“As a next step, it will be important to communicate with policy makers and school officials to identify interest and feasibility of viable policy initiatives,” said Puhl, “and to examine potential avenues for enacting change through law.” Puhl told CT by the Numbers that Connecticut’s law includes “physical appearance” but not body weight. There is, therefore, room to strengthen the state law, she pointed out, because physical appearance is a broad category that can include everything from clothing style to hair color, and body weight could easily slip through the cracks if it is not specifically enumerated.

The study involved online questionnaires of diverse national samples of parents in 2014 and 2015, totaling 1,804 parents over the two years. The research was funded by a donation from Rudd Foundation and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study co-authors include Young Suh and Xun Li of the UConn Rudd Center. The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity is a non-profit research and public policy organization devoted to promoting solutions to childhood obesity, poor diet, and weight bias through research and policy.

PERSPECTIVE: Every Generation Has Something to Teach - Why You Should Leverage All Levels of Knowledge in the Workplace

by Kim Sirois Pita Have you noticed the dynamics of your work environment changing right before your eyes? Our technology-connected youth are swooping in with their infinite wisdom and scooping up the jobs once occupied by our elders. We are in the midst of a true generational shift stemming from the reality of the graying of America.

This shift has brought five generations together into the workforce for the first time spanning from our aspiring teens to our active seniors. As these generations naturally converge, it becomes even more necessary to understand the vast differences among them, and how each can share essential knowledge.

Gloria Steinem, an 81-year-old pioneer of the feminist movement, said it best: “We need to remember across generations there is as much to learn as there is to teach.”

Take for example The Intern movie featuring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro. The 2015 movie cleverly unveils work style differences between boomers and millennials by putting 20-something Hathaway in charge of 60-something DeNiro at her thriving Internet company.

While waiting for an assignment from the “boss lady,” he reads the morning paper from his brown leather attaché case. Hathaway barely notices him as she pedals her retro bicycle through the swanky open-space office, doing business from a blue tooth apparatus stuck to her ear.

Hathaway’s character is a smart, savvy young businesswoman, who doesn’t want to face overwhelming feelings of stress and unease. But she is being forced to recognize her lack of business management experience by her company’s Board of Directors. When Hathaway finally realizes DeNiro’s value, she opens herself up to learning from him, and even yields to his advice on major business decisions.

Learning, most definitely, is a two-way street. When you change your attitude and free your mind to take it all in and refrain from the “know it all” attitude, an amazing behavioral shift and transfer of knowledge begins to occur between people of all ages.

While teaching a generational marketing class at Capital Community College, I remember an adult student commenting about the younger generations who seemed to look down on the older generations in her office. She used the word “aloof” to describe how the young professionals felt about the baby boomers.

By the end of the class, this student realized that perhaps she and her coworkers never fully embraced the talents of the younger generation, and perhaps they were being a bit dismissive of what they could contribute. Thanking me for opening her eyes, she went back to the state office with a new outlook — one where learning across generations should be embraced rather than dismissed.

Younger generations are entering the workforce with far greater expectations than their older counterparts. They are highly educated, information hounds with 24-hours access to knowledge. An afternoon at the library has since been replaced with a 15-minute Google search from anywhere, at any time — and they have harnessed the power of this.

The term “paying your dues” is no longer relevant in our changing workforce. Instead it is more about the skills and talents you can bring to the job. Sure, this will cause resentment among many, but it is the new reality that, ultimately, needs to be accepted to maintain a happy and cohesive workplace environment.

And not only do employees need to play nice in the sandbox during the work day, company leaders needs to understand and address the communication and work style differences across generations. They need to encourage collaboration and knowledge swapping between generations.

Gen X (age 34 to 45) and Millennials (age 18 to 33) tend to communicate in sound bytes using email, social media and mobile, while the older generations (Silent and G.I.) prefer lengthy detailed explanations. Baby Boomers (age 46 to 64) fall somewhere in the middle — they want details, but they are often time-challenged to absorb too much, often balancing work, home, kids, volunteer commitments and elderly parents.

While companies are trying to adapt to varying preferences among the generations, immediate change is not always possible. Company leaders need to balance what will work best for the business and its evolving employee population.

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Kim Pita is founder of Pita Peaces and former managing principal of The Pita Group. She is a transformational brand leader who works with industry pioneers and family owned businesses in transition. She takes them from a place of chaos and uncertainty to harmony and prominence. Kim serves as chair of CBIA’s Small Business Advisory Council and vice chair of the Mental Health Connecticut Board of Directors.

PERSPECTIVE commentaries by contributing writers appear each Sunday on Connecticut by the Numbers.

LAST WEEK: Progress Made on Regional Cooperation

Editorial Cartoon by Bob Englehart

Connecticut Earns A+ in Government Data Transparency

Connecticut is one of five states providing state residents with the most comprehensive online access to government spending data, according to an analysis by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG). Nationwide, government spending transparency is improving, but many states still lag far behind, according to “Following the Money 2016: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the sixth annual report by the organization’s Education Fund.  Some states have improved their spending transparency web portals significantly, earning perfect scores in this year’s report, while others are still barely achieving the minimum standards.

Based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states' transparency websites, the report assigns each state a grade of “A+” to “F.” The leading states with the most comprehensive transparency websites are Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon, and Connecticut, with each receiving an A+ grade.

“This A+ is great news – and comes at an important time as Connecticut navigates new fiscal challenges and prickly public policy debates. Facts and truth – not shadowy special interests – should be driving our discussions here at the capitol. The only way to ensure an honest discussion about our financial future is to open government and deliver the truth to the public," said State Comptroller Kevin Lembo. "We are doing everything we can to deliver state financial information in bigger and better ways each year. With a few keystrokes, all of us can find out where state money is going and where it came from. Most recently we have been working to extend that transparency to our quasi-public agencies, as well as towns and cities across the state. We are grateful that ConnPIRG recognized our efforts – and promise that we will treat this grade as a starting point, not a finish line, in making Connecticut the most open and accountable state in the country.”

The Comptroller’s Office website providing state government financial data is www.osc.ct.gov/openCT

The report indicates the cost to maintain the website at $18,000, with start-up costs from existing budgetary resources.  Among the state programs cited as providing easily accessible data to the public are the Enterprise Zone and Urban Jobs Tax Credit, Film and Digital Media Tax Credits, Jobs Creation Tax Credit, Manufacturing Assistance Act, and Small Business Express programs.

Connecticut’s most significant improvements include the addition of a page that details what data is excluded from the site, allowing citizens to better understand the universe of information the state is providing, according to the state Comptroller's Office. The state also added more information about the projected and actual public benefits of some of its largest subsidy programs. The state could continue to improve its transparency efforts by expanding its site to include spending information from municipalities and more local government bodies, the report noted.

USPIRG officials point out that states that have created or improved their online transparency have typically done so with little upfront cost. Top-flight transparency web portals can save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts.

“Citizens deserve to be able to follow their tax dollars, from the most minor state expenditures to the most major development subsidies,” said Michelle Surka, program associate with U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. “This year, it’s clear that several states made a commitment to meeting the high national standards for spending transparency. Other states continue to lag behind, unable to overcome some of the barriers that prevent comprehensive spending disclosures.”

“States’ online spending transparency efforts are paying off in better informed citizens and a more efficient government,” said Elizabeth Ridlington, policy analyst with Frontier Group and co-author of the report. “Our research found that top-ranked states have been making steady improvements to their transparency websites over the years, giving citizens in most states unprecedented access to information on where their tax money goes.”

While many states continue to improve, the states that most distinguished themselves as leaders in spending transparency are those that provide access to types of expenditures that otherwise receive little public scrutiny. Only 11 states- including Connecticut - provide checkbook-level information that includes the recipients of each of the state’s most important subsidy programs.

This year, most states have met basic standards for providing online access to information about state contracting and an increasing number provide information about economic development subsidies and off-budget agencies.  Several states have made substantive upgrades to their transparency sites or added new features that give the public unprecedented ability to monitor how their government allocates resources. Of particular note, as highlighted in the report:

• Michigan streamlined its transparency data and added functionality to its transparency website, including allowing bulk download of all its data.
• West Virginia launched a new site with data on projected and actual public benefits of the state’s major subsidy programs.
• Utah and Arizona have joined several other states in adding data from localities, municipalities and school districts to their state transparency portals. This provides an inexpensive way to improve the transparency of the spending that often affects ordinary citizens most directly.
• Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Washington now prominently feature data on quasi-public entities with web pages dedicated solely to these agencies, boards, authorities and commissions.

State spending transparency is a non-partisan issue, USPIRG stressed. The report compared transparency scores against party control of Governors’ offices and the state legislatures. For neither measure did higher levels of spending transparency correspond to Republican or Democratic control, according to the report.

Greater Hartford Grows as Regional Workforce Ecosystem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conversation in the Digital Age: Panel of Experts Will Discuss How We’re Changing

The topic of the evening is an exploration of conversation in the digital age, as two Hartford institutions come together to bring some perspective to how we communicate in the age of technology, and how we don’t. On Wednesday, May 4, The Connecticut Forum in partnership with the Mark Twain House & Museum will present DISCONNECT: Conversation in the Digital Age. The event is described as an (old-fashioned) conversation with three nationally-recognized digital experts to discuss “how social media and our ubiquitous devices have impacted the art of authentic conversation.”  They pose the question: if conversation is how we truly connect to others, what happens when face-to-face communication decreases?

The panel will feature Dr. David Greenfield from the Center for Internet & Technology Addiction, Slow Tech Movement founder Janell Burley Hofmann, and tech ethicist David Ryan Polgar. Jamie Daniel, director of programming at The Connecticut Forum, will moderate the conversation.

Polgar says that opportunities for fluid conversations have diminished, to our detriment. “We have adapted technology faster than we can adjust our norms or our etiquette.  Do we ever have a prolonged conversation anymore?  There’s a difference between communication and conversation,” he suggests.

“We’re constantly packaging ourselves – exercising brand management in our conversations,” he observes.  “We’re so plugged in, we don’t do eye-to-eye communicating much anymore – there’s a need to increase facetime in our communication.”

Polgar is a frequent speaker and respected tech commentator/writer, and has been featured in The Boston Globe, Financial Times, BBC, SiriusXM, Sydney Morning Herald, VentureBeat, US News & World Report, TEDx, and Forbes, among other publications. He is also co-founder of the Digital Citizenship Summit, a global network of summits focused on safe, savvy, and ethical use of social media and technology. With a background as an attorney and educator, he examines tech use from an ethical, legal, and emotional perspective, providing a unique look into emerging trends and business insight.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Twain House on this timely event,” said Connecticut Forum Executive Director Doris Sugarman. “We welcome opportunities like this to facilitate and encourage dialogue about compelling topics that impact our communities and our lives.”

Individuals planning on attending can send in a question in advance of May 4, via a link  that provides a form for questions to be directed at a specific panelist, or the entire panel.

Janell Burley Hofman is the author of the book, iRules: What Every Tech-Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming and Growing Up. She is also a speaker and consultant on topics like technology, media, health, relationships and personal growth. She will be signing copies of her book after the program.

Dr. David Greenfield is the founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading voices on Internet, computer, and digital media behavior, and a pioneer concerning compulsive and addictive use. He is the author of the Virtual Addiction, which rang an early warning bell with tech overuse when it came out in 1999.  He lectures to public and medical/psychiatric groups throughout the world, and has appeared numerous times on national media and publications.

“I am looking forward to hearing from this panel of experts on questions that we consider every day,” said Jamie Daniel, Director of Programming at The Connecticut Forum, who will be moderating the discussion.  “How is technology changing the way we make friends, fall in love, and parent our kids? How is our online discourse impacting the way we engage in politics? Connect with one another? Shape our communities? And how is social media changing our relationships - and our brains? This amazing panel will help us consider all of this, and more.”

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The Connecticut Forum is a (c)(3) nonprofit organization serving Connecticut and beyond with live, unscripted conversations among renowned experts and celebrities, and community outreach programs including the Connecticut YOUTH Forum.  The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author's home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. In addition to providing tours of the National Historic Landmark, the institution offers activities and educational programs that illuminate Twain's literary legacy and provide information about his life and times.

Tickets for DISCONNECT are $10. ($5 for Mark Twain House & Museum members and Connecticut Forum subscribers) The program on Wednesday, May 4 begins at 7 PM.  Photo: (l to r) David Greenfield, Jannell Hofmann, David Ryan Polgar.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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