CT Saves Week Focuses on Individual Finances (Not State Finances)

When the Legislative Office Building hosts a Financial Education Expo on Wednesday as part of Connecticut Saves Week, there may be more than one passerby suggesting that legislators pay particular attention, given that the state budget has been perpetually out-of-balance in recent years. The Expo, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., is open to the public.  Connecticut Saves Week, which runs through March 3, is part of America Saves Week, which began in 2007.

In addition to the expo at the State Capitol complex, there are three financial action workshops this week at American Job Centers around the state, with a focus on setting financial goals, reducing expenses and improving credit. They are being held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday in Hamden, 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday in Bridgeport and 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday in Hartford.

UConn Extension will also be holding a Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck workshop series at its New Haven County Extension Center from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on March 5 and March 12 (The first of three sessions was held on Feb. 26).

“These workshops are designed to help individuals and their families take charge of their educational and career goals by providing budgetary guidance that will lead to future success,” said state Labor Commissioner Scott D. Jackson. “Whether the plan is to purchase tuition and books, buy a car to get to work, or start a savings plan, the end goal is improving economic security and employment opportunities for our residents.”

According to a May 2016 report from the Federal Reserve, 46 percent of adults surveyed said they could not cover an emergency expense costing $400.  Results from the 2015 FINRA Investor Education Foundation US Financial Capability Study indicate that among Connecticut residents, 48 percent do not have emergency funds, 52 percent have not set aside money for children’s college education, and 18 percent are spending more than their income. Financial literacy is offered in some Connecticut schools, but it is not required by the state for high school graduation.

Chris Lee, president of Connecticut JumpStart, a local nonprofit that works to get financial literacy into schools, told WNPR in December 2017 that a part of the state’s budget problem might be because lawmakers aren't very financially literate, the news station reported.

"I've always said I think a lot of members of the House and Senate both need to take some financial literacy courses and get some background in it before they go in to do some budget talks just to understand how all this stuff works," Lee told WNPR. "They don't understand financial literacy and they don't understand why it's important."

A financial literacy survey of high school and college students in Fairfield and New Haven counties and surrounding areas conducted last year showed 29 percent of local young adults do not have checking accounts or regularly use only cash, highlighting the need for expanded financial literacy education.  The survey was conducted by Stamford-based Patriot Bank.

An online “pledge” is available for interested individuals that will trigger periodic information, advice, tips, and reminders sent by email or text message, designed “to help you reach your savings goal, ” according to the CT Saves website.

The Connecticut Saves campaign encourages residents to assess their savings and save automatically to achieve financial goals. It is coordinated by UConn Extension and partners that include the Connecticut Department of Banking; the Connecticut Department of Labor; Connecticut State Library; Hartford Job Corps Academy; People’s United Bank; Human Resources Agency of New Britain, Inc.; Connecticut Association for Human Services; the Better Business Bureau Servicing Connecticut; Chelsea Groton Bank; and Community Renewal Team.

Pay Equity Remains Elusive in Connecticut, Data Shows

The average Connecticut worker is paid over $7,398 more per year than workers across the country. By many measures, Connecticut is a very rich state. Disparities, however, remain abundant. Analysis by New Haven-based DataHaven of  the most recent U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data indicate that working women in Connecticut are paid 69 cents for every dollar paid to working men, as the state’s wage gap stubbornly continues.  The Connecticut gap is slightly wider than the national average, which indicates that women are paid 71 cents for every dollar a man earns.

The wage gap appears within each education level, according to the DataHaven analysis. In fact, Connecticut women who have attended some college but didn't complete a degree earn less money than men who never started college, and women with graduate degrees on average earn less than men with only a bachelor's degree.

Only 54 percent of working women in Connecticut work full-time, compared with 67 percent of men. That may be a possible explanation for women's lower wages - fewer women work full-time than men. DataHaven notes that part-time workers tend to earn much less money than full-time workers, and there are many reasons why someone might not be working full-time. “But that doesn't explain everything,” the DataHaven summary notes.

The analysis points out that the wage gap isn't closed among full-time workers.  Women working full-time earn 81 cents on the full-time male dollar.  The gap among full-time workers is smaller, but still persistent.

Taking the analysis one level deeper, DataHaven found that even within the same occupation type, women are paid less, and the gap is worse in some occupations than others. There's an especially large pay gap within the high-salary management, business, and finance occupations.

Connecticut also has a racial divide.  White and Asian women are much closer to closing the wage gap than Black and Latina women. On average, white and Asian women in Connecticut actually make more money than Black and Latino men, the data indicate. When looking at just full-time workers, white and Asian women are closer to equal pay with men, but black and

Latina women are paid far less.

DataHaven's mission is to improve quality of life by collecting, interpreting and sharing public data for effective decision-making. The organization has served Greater New Haven and Connecticut as a nonprofit organization since 1992, working with many partners to develop reports, tools, and technical assistance programs that make information more useful to local communities.

(Infographics developed by DataHaven)

MassMutual Tax Break Raises Questions in MA; Enfield Looks for New Tenant 4 Years After CT Celebrated Renewed Commitment

When MassMutual moves up the road from Enfield to Springfield, adding 2,200 jobs in Massachusetts over the next four years, and adding a new $240 tower to the Boston cityscape that will employ about 500, the company will see $46 million in tax breaks that has some questioning the Bay State’s return on investment. In the lead business story in Sunday’s Boston Globe, the newspaper described the package provided to MassMutual, announced earlier this month, as “huge for a state that has historically been tight-fisted with corporate subsidies.”  It is “twice as generous as the next largest award ever handed out” under the specific state program utilized, and the largest ever state subsidy in Western Massachusetts, the Globe reported.

By comparison, the report indicated that the $120 million that helped lure GE from Fairfield to Boston was an investment in real estate to seal the deal, which should remain with the state should GE decide at some future date to depart.  MassMutual, however, need only create 2,000 jobs in Massachusetts during the next few years to receive the tax break.

The move comes just under four years after MassMutual stressed its commitment to Connecticut, receiving a 10-year, $13 million tax abatement from the State of Connecticut for renovations to their Enfield location, which employed between just over 1,500 people.   (On the day of the announcement in 2014, the company indicated 1,600; the Governor’s Office indicated 1,900 employees.)

For Enfield, the news isn’t great, but many of the people who live in town won’t have to relocate their families when their business address crosses the state line.

“Those people will still be part of the local economy,” Enfield town Manager Bryan Chodlowski told the Globe, adding that “maybe this facility represents a corporate headquarters for a new user.”

MassMutual has been the town’s largest taxpayer, and the largest major corporate presence since the departure a few years ago of Hallmark, which moved operations to the mid-west. Hallmark, which was the fifth largest taxpayer, decided to close its 1-million-square-foot Enfield distribution center in 2015 and eliminate 570 jobs, ending 63 years of operation in the town.  The Kansas City-based company said in announcing the closure that about 40 percent of Hallmark products had shipped out of Enfield.  Hallmark’s departure announcement came one year –almost to the day - after the MassMutual tax break and renovation announcement.

In 2014, MassMutual led the announcement of its Connecticut facility renovations by “Underscoring its commitment to the insurance and financial services sector in Connecticut,” as it “unveiled the more than $38 million renovation of its Bright Meadow campus, the primary location for the company’s retirement services and workplace insurance businesses.:”

Company Chairman, President and CEO, Roger Crandall said: “We now have a world-class facility to accommodate the excellent growth potential of this business, and we look forward to delivering an outstanding service experience for our customers here for many years to come.”

Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy added: “Most importantly, MassMutual's long-term commitment to expand in Connecticut keeps 1,900 good paying jobs with good benefits here and will have a lasting impact on the state and local economies for years to come."

The tax abatement was to come through the Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit (URA) program. Administered by the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the tax credit program allows for a dollar-for-dollar corporate tax credit for an investment up to a maximum of $100 million in a project, according to an announcement by the Governor’s Office in 2014.

MassMutual, founded in Springfield in 1851, plans to bring in employees now located not only in Enfield, but in North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.  The company anticipate

s a workforce of 4,500 in Springfield, somewhat larger than the 3,150 currently at company offices in the city, the Globe reported. The company expects to retain offices in Amherst, Mass., New York City and Phoenix, AZ, which provide access to specific talent pools and business solutions, a company news release pointed out.

Company facilities in Springfield and Enfield were each about 60 percent occupied, a company spokesman indicated, explaining the logic behind the move. In total, MassMutual Plans to invest nearly $300 million into the Commonwealth and increase its workforce in the state by approximately 70 percent by the end of 2021, the company said earlier this month.

Was an expansion in Connecticut ever considered?  “It’s not clear,” the Globe reported, indicating that a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community development declined to comment on whether state officials had been involved in any negotiations with MassMutual this year.

MassMutual is ranked number 77 on the Fortune 500 list with $675 billion in assets under management.

PERSPECTIVE: Closing the Resume Gap To Keep Careers on Track and Benefit Businesses

by Emma Buth Pay equity has been a hot topic in recent national debates. We even observe gender pay discrepancies in the workforce right here in Connecticut.

There is a drive today not only to combat this problem, but many others. Pay equity, the wage gap, and what is coined ‘the motherhood penalty,’ are metrics frequenting our news more and more. We all want to ensure women receive equal treatment when finding a job and while working. However, there is another measurement yet to be termed and quantified that further documents workforce inequalities. Often it fails to come up on our radar, but it takes an economic toll on women, businesses, and the economy alike.    

Do males and females with comparable education and equal years of professional experience record salary differences? When one (often the female but possibly, or even increasingly, the male) has paused their career for caregiving, they suffer reduced pay for the remainder of their career or are sidelined entirely.

The Center for Work-Life Policy finds a woman’s earning power declines by 11 percent when having a gap in employment of less than a year.  This increases to 37 percent for those who have been out of the workforce for over three years (Helping Women Opt-in 2018). Similar to the effects of “the motherhood penalty”, smart women, with experience, are making much less relative to peers (male or female with equivalent degrees and years of experience) when starting their careers once again.

One firm, a social enterprise launched in Connecticut, Untapped Potential Inc., is working to remove barriers that keep those with a gap sidelined. It is estimated that Connecticut women are paid just 83 cents for every dollar a man makes, women of color experience an even greater disparity in pay (CWEALF 2015). It’s projected that a woman cannot expect to earn the same as a man for the same job within our state until the year 2061! Since these figures fail to include the variation in income of equivalently educated and experienced workers underemployed (or un-engaged), Founder Candace Freedenberg contemplates whether the true pay equity is being captured.

While pay equity details that a woman should be paid the same as a man when doing equal amount of work in the same job, the gender wage gap differs. It describes the measured statistical difference in income between men and women. In Connecticut, the wage gap results in full time working women losing collectively $15 billion (Connecticut Women and the Wage Gap 2017).

Note the use of the qualifier ‘full time working women’. The Center for Talent Innovation highlights that 30 percent of working mothers choose to opt-out of full employment to manage work and family. During the opt-out years and beyond women experience a pay gap within the pay gap down the line. This overall gap may be tied to the employers relying on the historical salary question, and exclude those who have taken a break from their careers.

It is critical to observe that not all of those investing in higher education are taking part in the workforce. A Vanderbilt study concludes that the, “full-time employment rate for MBA moms who earned bachelor’s degrees from a tier-one institution is 35 percent” (Wolf 2013). Loss of 65 percent of educated professional women from a subset of higher universities has a measurable impact to an economy that critically relies on innovation.

Neither the wage gap nor the motherhood penalty take into account the many who have paused their careers to raise our nation’s next generation. Opt-outers or those who have left their job, find difficult barriers to overcome in order to get back in the workforce. Since 2000, 25- to 29-year-old women having a bachelor’s degree or higher college degree outnumber those attained by their male counterparts by ten percent (The Condition of Education 2017).

Educated and experienced women re-joining the workforce often face difficulties due to a lack of connections and bias when looking for jobs. Roughly 80 percent of jobs come through networking, and once women fall out of the know-to circle, it is much harder to get back on the career path (Adler 2016). Current job board systems sift out not only those with a gap but those missing key terms that rely on recent work engagement. These factors along with the fact that the prevailing requirements of industrial-age workplace modes in the internet-age largely keep mothers from seeking employment during their caregiving years.

That is where Untapped Potential (UP) comes in. Based in Hartford, the Benefit Corporation offers a programmatic approach to remove the barriers that keep educated experience professionals from engaging in our nation’s economic engine.  By creating a network of support, a skills portal to ramp up with latest tools and short courses and crucial mid-career engagements (Flex-returns) with forward-thinking companies, UP’s three prong solution tactically addresses the barriers of lack of contacts, skill currency and confidence.

Why would women who have opted out be so crucial to the work environment?

Freedenberg explains that businesses and our GDP ultimately struggle when these smart educated women are left out of the economy. As the Hamilton Project relates, “[B]arriers to participation by women also act as brakes on the national economy, stifling the economy’s ability to grow.” The lives and fortunes of women in the workplace affect us all. Untapped Potential curates talent not currently available in the marketplace, and businesses benefit from that high caliber talent that is eager to engage and grow the economy.

Ted Pizzo, SVP of Lockton companies, stressed how vital UP’s services are to the workforce by contending that, “Untapped Potential’s approach is almost like a surgical strike, they create a returnship for business that fuses talent to business needs.”

UP will host upcoming educational seminar titled the “Economic Value of Returning Women to YOUR Workforce Pipeline”  where businesses can meet our talent in a speed interview format. The third event of this kind is planned for March 9 in Hartford. The event is sponsored by Travelers and Quinnipiac Corporate Training. The event works to overcome the barrier that prevents hiring managers from ever seeing the caliber of talent that would inevitably be missed in the jobs board/keyword search scenario.

By pricing the Flex-returns at a competitive rate UP hopes to reduce the friction for companies to open their workplace to a mid-career internship with a high potential candidate that is indeed missing the latest key terms from their resume. Companies can learn how they can host a Flex-Returner at www.upotential.org.  Doing so works to return women to the company’s pipeline for senior roles, impacting gender equity over one’s career.

_______________________

Emma Buth, an aspiring journalist, is a senior at Avon High School interning for Untapped Potential as part of the  “Achieve" Avon High School Internship Program.

Transportation Officials Announce "Stunning" Findings in I-95 Congestion Study

“For years, the accepted thinking was that the only way to relieve congestion on I-95 was to add a lane in each direction from border to border. After a detailed study of alternatives, we have determined that strategic, directional widening on I-95 between New Haven and New York can significantly reduce congestion and can be built within existing right of way.” Those comments, from Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Commissioner James P. Redeker , accompanied the release of a study on the impact of widening and improving both the western and eastern portions of Interstate 95 in Connecticut, and which also outlined “the consequences of failing to act.” The report indicated that “limited,  directional and strategic widening yields major benefits.”

Redeker added that “Similar strategic, localized investments can also reduce congestion between New Haven and Rhode Island. These findings indicate that we can achieve congestion relief through strategic and much less costly investments far sooner than previously thought. In addition, the return on these investments would far exceed the cost of the projects.”

Currently, peak morning and evening congestion on the highway accounts for 54 million hours of delay and costs $1.2 billion in lost time annually. Key areas studied were Fairfield to Bridgeport Northbound (6.3 miles), Stamford to New York Southbound (9.3 miles) and Stamford to Fairfield Northbound (11.1 miles).  The report noted that safety, as well as travel time, was a key element in the recommendations.  For example, from Branford to the Rhode Island border, it was indicated that there were 3,380 crashes during 2014-2016, including 997 injuries and 23 fatalities.

The I-95 widening projects were included in the $4.3 billion in projects canceled or suspended by the CTDOT last month because of what the Governor’s office described as “long-term failure to adequately fund the Special Transportation Fund.”  The Governor’s revenue proposal – which includes a seven-cent increase in the gas tax over four years and the implementation of electronic tolling – would allow for these investments to go forward, the Office said.

“CTDOT is excited to announce that after a detailed study of options for relieving congestion on I-95, we are able to report a stunning set of findings,” Commissioner Redeker said in releasing the report.

Among other findings, the report notes that just one of the projects proposed – adding one northbound lane between exits 19 and 28 – would reduce travel time from the New York border to Bridgeport from 63 minutes – if no improvements are made – to 41 minutes during weekday afternoon peak times. .Short-term, mid-range and long-range options were presented for I-95, including exists 54 to 55, 88 to 90, 80-74 80-82A, and the I-95/Route 32 interchange.  Long-range improvements from exit 54 to 69 “requires further study” the report said.  It also called for “strategic improvement” Northbound from Exit 19 to 28 to “remove bottleneck.”

In announcing the report’s findings, Governor Malloy warned that without legislative action this session to shore up the Special Transportation Fund (STF), this type of investment will be impossible.

“These improvements shouldn’t be seen as optional,” Malloy said. “But without new revenue to stabilize the Special Transportation Fund, critical projects like the I-95 widening will not be possible. I put forward a reasonable proposal last month, and I look forward to working with the legislature this year to find real, long-term transportation solutions.”

“Connecticut deserves this rational, sensible and cost-effective investment to support our economic growth,” Redeker added. The DOT first announced a study of the I-95 corridor in October 2016.

Private Schools in Connecticut Among Most Expensive in USA

If you’re considering sending a child to private elementary or high school, know that there’s virtually nowhere in the United States more expensive in Connecticut. The average cost of private high school tuition in Connecticut, $31,413, is the second most expensive in the nation, just behind Vermont ($31,532) and just ahead of Massachusetts ($30,186).  New Hampshire and Main round out the top five most expensive states for private high school tuition.

The most expensive average elementary school tuition cost is also on the East Coast, and Connecticut leads the way.  The average private elementary school tuition is $13,412, with Massachusetts ($10,822), New Hampshire ($10,773), Virginia ($10,755), and New York ($10,513) rounding out the top five.

The average cost of private school tuition has grown at a rate that is higher than inflation over the past 20 years, according to data analyzed by the website hommuch.net   The site indicates that administrative employee compensation has been the main catalyst for the increases in private school expenses, noting that the rise in the volume of employees who have a larger compensation package than a typical teacher has created the upward trajectory in private school tuition costs.

The website Private School Review indicates that the private elementary school average is $9,263 per year and the private high school average is $14,017 per year.

In a ranking of the best private schools in Connecticut this year, the website Niche listed Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford), The Hotchkiss School (Lakeville), Hopkins School (New Haven), Kent School (Kent), Greenwich Academy (Greenwich), The Taft School (Watertown), Loomis Chaffee School (Windsor), Brunswick School (Greenwich), Miss Porter’s School (Farmington) and Westminster School (Simsbury) as the top 10.

100 Best Companies to Work From Home? CT Has Four, Led by Aetna

Working from home – for a major company – isn’t the aberration it once was.  And a handful of Connecticut companies have made the national list of the Top 100 Work From Home companies. Aetna, now planning to stay in Connecticut, was the top-ranked Connecticut business, at number 17.  For those thinking about the proposed merger ahead, Rhode island based CVS Health also made the top 100, ranked number 93.

Stamford-based Xerox was number 31 on the list, dropping from number 14 in 2017, and The Hartford came in at number 69, a similar ranking to last year’s number 69.  Cigna was number 90, falling from number 74 last year. 

The list was featured recently in Forbes magazine, and was developed by the website Flexjobs.

“With mobile devices and videoconferencing technology becoming more widespread, telecommuting jobs are also becoming more common,” the publication pointed out.

The top sectors offering such work are health care, computer/IT, education/training, sales, customer service, finance and travel/hospitality of the 19 industries represented on the list.

Five of the fastest-growing remote career categories are therapy, virtual administration, client services, tutoring, and state and local government, the analysis of the list indicated. The 20 most common telecommuting job titles include teacher, writer, developer, analyst, sales representative, nurse, accountant and program manager.

Five companies are fully remote, and 30 are newcomers to the list.  Xerox – along with Kaplan and UnitedHealth Group - are among the 29 companies who have made the list every year since 2014.

Each year for the past five years, Flexjobs listed the 100 companies that posted the most remote-friendly job openings throughout the last year. Remote-friendly means the openings must offer some level of telecommuting (the levels on the Flexjobs site are 100 percent, mostly, some, or optional telecommuting).

Last fall, Working Mother magazine reported that Aetna was offering "working-mom-friendly perks, like a work-from-home program that more than 43% of its employees participate in."  According to Aetna’s career website, Working Mother pointed out at the time, the company had openings for 222 jobs that can be done remotely from home. "The jobs are based across the country and are available in a range of fields, including marketing, management, information technology and more."

PERSPECTIVE: Republic Still at Risk; Connecticut Edges Forward

by Peter L. Levine My colleagues and I have worked on civic education for several decades, but I’ve never seen such an upsurge of interest as we’ve observed during the past year. Demands for more and better civics are not only coming from critics of the Trump administration who are concerned about a perceived erosion of constitutional principles. There’s also alarm across the political spectrum about polarization: Americans believe different facts, hold different opinions, and dislike their fellow citizens who disagree with them. “Fake news” is also a widely-shared concern, even though we debate what is “fake.”

And beneath these trends is a slow but profound decline in our everyday civic engagement at the community level (distinct from politics and government). For instance, in a 2017 poll, only 28 percent of Americans said they belonged to even one organization that had accountable and inclusive leaders. These concerns are shared by many Americans who voted for Donald Trump, as well as by many who opposed him or who didn’t vote at all.

Students can and must be educated to participate in politics and community life. That means that we must certainly give more attention to civic education in our k-12 schools. But sometimes the conversation about k-12 civics gets off on the wrong foot. I constantly hear people ask, “Why don’t kids study civics anymore?” Or “Why isn’t anyone working on that problem?”

Sometimes these complaints are reinforced with evidence of adults’ lack of basic knowledge. For instance, after the national political conventions in 2016, just 37 percent of Americans could name the Republican candidate for vice president and just 22 percent could name the Democratic candidate.

This is not the right place to start because we already teach civics in schools. Almost all students are required to study the US system of government in history and other social studies courses. Almost all face tests on this material. Every state has lengthy requirements for learning basic civic information. And thousands of dedicated social studies teachers do an excellent job with this material. We must not erase their contributions or ignore our students’ learning by posing the issue as “Why don’t kids study civics anymore?”

Yet much more needs to be done. Civic education has been a backwater at a time when basic literacy, science, and math have received relentless attention. The social and political world has changed dramatically--for example, newspapers have shrunk and social media has arrived--yet very little money has been spent in revising social studies resources and methods for our new era. Teachers report a lack of support for educating future citizens.

We also tend to focus attention in somewhat the wrong places. For example, most students learn the mechanics of the political system in order to demonstrate knowledge on a test, but few develop habits of following the news out of interest and commitment. If a 50-year-old doesn’t know who was nominated for Vice President, it isn’t because we failed to teach social studies. It’s because the adult never became interested enough to keep up. Motivation is crucial in civics.

Finally, we don’t devote as much attention as we need to addressing the real weaknesses of American civil society: polarization, shrinking voluntary associations, and a fragmented news environment.

Connecticut has taken some positive steps lately. In February 2015, the state adopted new frameworks for Elementary and Secondary Social Studies. I think they are well done. They move beyond random-seeming information toward a coherent “Inquiry Arc” that should help to prepare citizens.

Secretary of State Denise Merrill and Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell are both advocates for civics. In 2017, they launched the “Red, White and Blue Schools” initiative that recognizes Connecticut schools for good civic education. This year¹s theme is local community engagement.

I’m proud to serve on the board of Everyday Democracy, which has helped start the Connecticut Civic Ambassadors Program. Citizens are asked to become “Ambassadors” who will engage with their local community to encourage civics education and engagement.

Another nonprofit based in Connecticut is the Civic Life Project, which “brings civics to life by empowering students to produce and screen short documentary films on community issues they care about.”

Finally, Kid Governor started in Connecticut in 2015 and has since spread to Oregon. It’s an absorbing and deeply educational program for 5th graders that culminates in a mock election.

These are the kinds of steps we need. More must be done in the face of a deeply caustic media and political environment. Strengthening civics isn’t easy, considering all the other challenges that confront our schools. But it is good to see civics receiving new attention and creativity, and I’m optimistic that the rising alarm about our politics will lead to even more improvements in Connecticut and nationwide.

____________________________________________

Peter Levine is Associate Dean of the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. For additional background, please see “The Republic is (Still) at Risk—and Civics is Part of the Solution,” a recent paper by Peter Levine and Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, released at a summit on civic education keynoted by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Report Reflects Good News, Continuing Challenges for Women, Girls in Eastern CT

Women and girls in Eastern Connecticut are progressing in many ways, but gender equity is elusive in many others, according to a new report.  The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut commissioned DataHaven to develop a report on the Status of Women and Girls in Eastern Connecticut, and the findings provide an insightful snapshot of disparities that persist, and challenges that remain and may increase, as well as diminish, in the years ahead. The purpose of the 26-page report, explains the Community Foundation’s President and Chief Executive Officer Maryam Elahi, is “to help inform and guide thoughtful conversations and inspire local ideas for social and policy advancements and investments.”   It is designed to be a “platform for action” to increase opportunity, access and equity for women and girls in Eastern Connecticut, officials indicated.  It is the first time that such a report was developed.

Among the key findings:

• Young women are achieving in school, but greater educational attainment has yet to translate to economic equality.
• Positive educational outcomes and economic equality are further out of reach for women of color.
• Many occupations remain segregated by gender, and women make up a majority of part-time workers.
• Women are at greater risk of financial insecurity, with single mothers at the greatest risk. 25% of all children in Eastern Connecticut live with a single mother, and 90% of single-parent households are headed by a mother.
• Women in Eastern Connecticut are healthy, with a life expectancy of about 82 years—slightly above the national average, but below the state average.

The report also found that:

• The opioid epidemic continues to ravage our communities, with deaths of women in 2016 more than double those of 2012.
• Young women are at heightened risk for many mental health conditions. 35% of female students reported feeling hopeless or depressed vs. 19% of male students, and women are three times more likely to attempt suicide than men.
• Violence against women continues to be a major public health problem. Almost 5,000 women in Windham and New London counties received services from domestic violence shelters.

The report defines Eastern Connecticut as the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut service area:  42 towns that include 453,000 people, 227,000 women.  The population of the region is 80% white, 9% Latina, 4% Black and 4% Asian.  Approximately 33,700 residents, or 7 percent, are foreign born.  Looking ahead, the report noted that the population of women ages 65 and up is projected to grow significantly over the next decade; estimated to increase 44 percent by 2025.

Continuing racial disparities are highlighted by the finding that among 90 percent of girls in the region’s class of 2016 graduated high school within four years, yet nearly 20 percent of women in New London and Windham/Willimantic lack a high school diploma.

The report noted that “a persistent gap” exists for women with degrees in STEM fields. Overall, 51 percent of men vs. 30 percent of women majored in science and engineering fields. Encouragingly, of 25-39 year-old women with degrees, 37 percent majored in the sciences. This is higher than previous generations.

Although women comprise 76 percent of educators, only 11 out of 41 superintendents in the region are women.  The report also found that 25 percent of businesses are women-owned.

“Women’s equality,” Elahi said, “is not just a women’s issue. It affects the wellbeing and prosperity of every family and community.”

The Community Foundation has organized public forums to discuss the report findings.  The first was held last week in Hampton, the next is February 15 in New London.

New Haven-based DataHaven’s mission is to improve quality of life by collecting, sharing, and interpreting public data for effective decision-making. The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut serves 42 towns and is comprised of over 490 charitable funds, putting “philanthropy into action to address the needs, rights and interests of the region.”

Need Accreditation? New England Commission Gives CT Regents Extensive To-Do List

If you were attempting to convince the accrediting board for higher education that no harm will come to the quality and caliber of students’ education when 12 community colleges are merged into one, would 51 suggestions for revisions of the initial preliminary draft be nothing more than a series of helpful hints or harbingers of real danger ahead? Time will tell.  As will the final draft of the submission, which must be provided less than a month from now on March 16.  That’s when the Connecticut Board of Regents must send the final version of its consolidation plan for the state’s 12 community colleges to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The proposal is for a “system wide consolidation of administrative functions and the administrative reorganization of the 12 community colleges.”

A letter from NEASC’s Barbara Brittingham to Jane Gates, provost of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, which is led by the Board of Regents for Higher Education, runs seven pages and is filled with questions, suggestions, cautions and requests for significantly more detail on plans.

Among the issues flagged by the NEASC’s Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, were two described as “overarching”:

1) low graduation rates (9 of the 12 institutions had graduation rates for first-time/full-time students below 15% in the 2017 reviews; certainly this rate is highly imperfect, but the percent of community colleges that were below 15% is significantly higher than in other New England states with multiple community colleges); and

2) finances, with the Commission expressing concern for 10 of 12 community colleges in their most recent comprehensive evaluation or interim report. With a proposal to remove $28 million from the collective budgets, the Commission will need to know, among other things, that students will be at least as well served as now and that there are appropriate resources available to support the programs and services being offered. Please include more evidence about the claims made, especially about the need for fewer staff once the consolidation is accomplished.

NEASC also indicated that “We cannot tell in any useful detail what is being removed from each institution in the way of positions, services, contracts, or other expenses. We understand that some (much?) of the reduction in personnel expenses will come through attrition, but we cannot tell what the contingencies are for replacing key personnel who leave during the next several years.”

The accrediting commission is asking for:

• who will be doing what, the timeframe, and expected outcomes
• the cost and timeline to implement new features
• examples of work that has already been accomplished or is substantially underway
• a multi-year budget, incomes and expenses, that reflects each of the campuses, the expenses of the central community college office, and expenses associated with the regional offices.
• Information on the many people now located at the various campuses that would be reassigned to work in Hartford at the system office

The Board of Regents was also directly cautioned “not to unintentionally mischaracterize the words or positions of the Commission,” pointing out an instance in the draft in which a policy was incorrectly attributed to NEASC.

It also notes the proposal’s claim that one financial aid system will “support more students, increase enrollment, and therefore increase tuition and fee revenue.”  The NEASC Commission directs the Board of Regents to “please include evidence to support the claim.”  It also asks for cost and time estimates regarding the Board’s claim that “functions that are currently maintained by each campus could be automated” and evidence to support the claim that a “consolidated structure is well-suited to address the opportunity/achievement gap that exists” in Connecticut.

Among the questions raised about the academic integrity of the proposed consolidation, NEASC includes this:  “With the proposed centralization and the proposed elimination of department chairs and program coordinators, it is not clear how the programs will be coordinated and overseen at the institutional level.”

Questions were also raised about the “aggressive” timeline for curricular changes, whether two years for students to complete discontinued programs is realistic, and planned changes in the number of student services professional and support staff.

The CT Mirror first published the NEASC response to the Board of Regents for Higher Education draft plan.  The Board of Regents has denied The Mirror’s request for a copy of the plan submitted to NEASC, saying it was a draft submitted for feedback and not ready for public release, the news site reported.

According to CSCU booklets, over the course of the past five years, the institutions of the system have collectively experienced a “precipitous decline” in headcount enrollment, both full-time and part-time, of undergraduate and graduate students. From fall 2011 to fall 2016, enrollment declined 11.1%, from 95,962 students to 85,318 students. Among the CSCU System’s 17 institutions, 16 experienced enrollment declines ranging from 29.4% to 0.6%. Three of the institutions experienced declines greater than 20 percent.  Among the CSCU System’s 17 institutions, 16 experienced enrollment declines ranging from 29.4% to 0.6%. The state has also reduced funding to the colleges and universities, a key driver in the consolidation plans.