Advancing Racial Equity in Nonprofits to be Among Themes for National Conference This Month in Hartford

When members of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, a national association now based in New York City, hold their 20^th anniversary conference later this month, they will be gathering in Hartford.  The conference, “Re-envisioning Our Field:  Advancing Racial Equity & Leading Innovation in Capacity Building,” will be held October 10-12 at the Hartford Hilton. The organization’s Board Chair is Anne Yurasek, Principal of Fio Partners, which is based in Chester, CT.  Yurasek has been an organizational development consultant and trainer for over twenty years in the nonprofit and private sector.

The Alliance is the “national voice and catalyst for the field of capacity building.”  The organization’s mission is to “increase the effectiveness of the individuals, groups and organizations that help nonprofits and communities achieve positive social change.”  The Alliance seeks to “create spaces for professional dialogue and learning by amplifying research in the field and promoting its implications for effective practice.”

More than 250 attendees are anticipated, to include consultants, coaches, funders, academics, and executives from across the country. The conference intends to “convene the diverse perspectives that shape and advance our field.”

The conference provides participants with the chance to “convene, dialogue, learn, shape and advance our field for the good of the nonprofits and communities we serve,” official explained.  The theme was selected because now “is a critical time for our field to reflect, to learn together, and to consider how our work should evolve to address racial inequities in our society. From amplifying emerging approaches to reflecting on research and exploring its implications for practice,” participants are urged to “bring your perspectives, experiences, and energy” to the annual conference.

The three-day event includes presentation opportunities with local nonprofits, work-sessions for Affinity & Interest Groups, twenty-plus workshop sessions “curated for capacity builders by capacity builders, and thought provoking plenary sessions.”  Among the session leaders and speakers:

• Jay Williams, President, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Sam Cobbs, Chief Program Officer at Tipping Point Community  
• Oscar A. Chacón, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Alianza Americas
• Cyndi Suarez, Senior Editor, The Nonprofit Quarterly
• Cynthia Silva Parker, Interaction Institute for Social Change
• Trina Jackson, Community Engagement Manager of TSNE/Mission Works 

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management is the result of the 1997 merger of the Nonprofit Management Association and Support Centers of America. The organization is described as unique as a cross-sector professional association of individuals and organizations that are devoted to increasing the effectiveness of the individuals, groups and organizations that help nonprofits and communities achieve positive social change.

The 2017 conference was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Bender-Fromson to be Honored for Community Involvement; Public Service Career Included Historic Run for Lt. Gov.

In December, the Hartford Public Library’s Caroline M. Hewins Medal will be presented to Sandra Bender Fromson and Howard Fromson, longtime supporters of the library and numerous community organizations. It is the third year the award will be presented to a person (or persons) who have had a transformational impact upon and legacy of service to Hartford, according to library officials. Sandra Bender’s service to her community dates back more than a quarter century, where it flourished in the suburbs, was reflected in organizations across the Capitol City, and was part of an historic election year in Connecticut - the first time two women were candidates for Lieutenant Governor on the same November ballot.  Decades ago, she had a role in a series of unanticipated and groundbreaking political events that contributed  to increased prominence of women at the highest echelons of politics and public service in Connecticut.

Sandra Bender served as Mayor of South Windsor 1975-77, when relatively few women served in that role in Connecticut, rising to prominence in the financial services industry, also very much a male bastion at the time.

Just over a decade later, her business acumen and history of public service put her on a ticket for statewide office.  In 1990, New Haven-area Congressman Bruce Morrison won a primary to be the Democrats choice for Governor, former U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker started his own political party to launch is comeback with a candidacy for Governor, and Republicans nominated another Congressman, John Rowland of Waterbury.

Morrison selected Bender as his running mate, Weicker chose Hartford corporation counsel Eunice Groark, and Rowland decided on then-House Republican leader Robert Jaekle.

That year, the Weicker-Groark ticket was elected with 40.4 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating the Rowland- Jaekle ticket, which received 37.5 percent of the vote.  Finishing third in the unusual three-way race, the Democratic ticket of Morrison-Bender was the choice of only 20.7 percent of voters making their way to the polls on November 6.  Groark, not Bender, became the state’s first female Lieutenant Governor.  Only Ella Grasso, elected Governor in 1974 and 1978, had risen higher in statewide office.

Rowland ran again four years later, facing then-Lieutenant Governor Groark when Weicker chose not to seek re-election.  His choice as a running mate in his second run at the state's top job was a woman - M. Jodi Rell, a member of the state House of Representatives.

The Rowland-Rell ticket’s victory in 1994 meant Connecticut would have its second consecutive female Lieutenant Governor, rather than its second female Governor.

Rell later earned that distinction as well, succeeding to the office when Rowland resigned amidst a scandal and impeachment hearings, announcing on June 21, 2004 that he would step down on July 1.  Rell went on to be elected in her own right in 2006.

Bender-Fromson’s recognition later this year affirms her contributions over many decades to the Hartford Public Library and numerous other organizations.

She is also remembered as the Democratic candidate the first time two women were on the November ballot for Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut.  That occurred again in 1994 and 2014.   At least one woman has been a candidate for Lieutenant Governor or Governor - or both - in every election cycle since 1986, and Connecticut's voters elected Nancy Wyman to serve as Lieutenant Governor in 2010 and 2014, following one term of a man in that role, the only such term since 1990.  This year, Susan Bysiewicz is on the ballot for that office.  A woman has been elected either Governor or Lieutenant Governor in Connecticut in every election since 1990.

The Caroline M. Hewins Medal recognizes an individual who embraces the City of Hartford and its people, who breaks the mold and provides service of a revolutionary kind, who stretches the boundaries of a social or cultural institution with a humanistic approach to public service, and who shows strong guardianship of and advocacy for the basic right of equal access to information and opportunity.

DataHaven to Launch Innovation Awards to Recognize Data-based Initiatives in CT

In conjunction with its 25th anniversary celebration this year, New Haven-based DataHaven has announced plan to launch the DataHaven Innovation Awards, which will be open to nominees from throughout the state. Winners will be selected in a number of education and community impact categories. Nomination will be accepted through October 1, and the award recipients will be announced at DataHaven’s 25th Anniversary Celebration on November 19, 2018. DataHaven is a non-profit organization with a history of public service to Greater New Haven and Connecticut. The organization’s mission is to improve quality of life by collecting, sharing, and interpreting public data for effective decision making.

“We are proud to highlight the creativity and ingenuity of those who employ data to make Connecticut a better place,” explained DataHaven Executive Director Mark Abraham. The awards will recognize organizations, groups and individuals who have demonstrated the ability to use data to improve the well-being of Connecticut communities.

The inaugural Data in Education Awards will recognize the outstanding use of data for projects developed within a classroom or educational setting. Nominations will be accepted in two categories, University and Graduate Level and K-12 Level.  Nominees can include teachers, students, school-based organizations, and non-profits working with youth.

The Data for Community Impact Awards will recognize the outstanding use of data to make a positive difference in one or more Connecticut communities. Nominations will be accepted in two categories: Large Organization, with more than 20 employees, and Small Organization, with less than 20 employees.  Nominees can include nonprofits, for-profits, funders, unincorporated groups, and municipal/state agencies.

Liberty Bank Foundation is underwriting the DataHaven Innovation Awards.

DataHaven maintains extensive economic, social, and health data, including information collected through the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Surveys in 2012 and 2015. DataHaven is a formal partner of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership of the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.

“We believe that data is a powerful force, uniting our state and helping make life better in Connecticut communities,” says Abraham. “Our statewide survey provides neighborhood-level data in key areas such as health, education, civic engagement and economic opportunity, so that programs and resources can be deployed to change lives for the better. Our goal is still to make life better for our neighbors.”

Presenting sponsors for the organization’s 25^th anniversary year are the City of New Haven, Yale University, Yale New Haven Health and The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.  Nomination forms for the DataHaven Innovation Awards can be found at http://www.ctdatahaven.org/anniversary and are due by October 1, 2018.

CT Journalists to Focus on First Amendment, Press Freedoms

Erica Moser was told, “newspapers are a dying industry,” when she began classes at Northeastern University in Boston in 2011. Since June a higher education and business reporter for the Day of New London, Moser will be back on campus in Boston next month as one of four Journalism Fellows from Connecticut selected to participate in the New England First Amendment Institute, organized by the New England First Amendment Coalition.

This three-day institute is open each year to 25 New England journalists and “provides the support and training necessary to become more accomplished investigative reporters, well versed in the freedom of information laws that govern today’s difficult reporting landscape,” according to NEFAC officials.

NEFAC provides the institute — from Sept. 16-18 this year at Northeastern University — at no cost to those who attend.  Joining Moser and representing Connecticut will be Ben Lambert of the New Haven Register, Barry Lytton of the Stamford Advocate and Skyler Frazer of the New Britain Herald.  It includes workshops and presentations featuring some of the country’s elite investigative reporters, editors and media attorneys.

Ben Lambert, a reporter for the New Haven Register, worked previously for the Torrington Register-Citizen, Mass Live News and the Valley Advocate.  Barry Lytton, a Stamford Advocate reporter since 2016, previously covered New Milford and surrounding towns for the News-Times in Danbury. Skyler Frazer is a government and education reporter for the New Britain Herald.  A Wethersfield native, he joined the paper in 2016.

NEFAC is the region's leading advocate for the First Amendment and the public's right to know. Formed in 2006, the coalition is a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of an informed democratic society.  Among the 2018 Fellows are four reporters from Maine, eight from Massachusetts, and three from New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Stephanie McCrummen of The Washington Post, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year for investigative reporting, will deliver the keynote address. Joining McCrummen as featured speakers are Terence Smith, a contributing columnist for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., and David Cuillier, an associate professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism.

Other speakers include Jennifer Bjorhus of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn.; Michael Kilian of the Burlington Free Press; Cheryl Thompson, a contributing investigative reporter for The Washington Post; Cindy Galli of ABC News; Todd Wallack of The Boston Globe; Mike Beaudet of WCVB-Boston and Northeastern University; and Tim White of WPRI-Providence.

In recent years, attendees from Connecticut have included Susan Haigh of the Associated Press, Stephen Busemeyer, Suzanne Carlson and Mikaela Porter of The Harrtford Courant, Jill Konopka of NBC Connecticut, Kaitlyn Krasselt of the Norwalk Hour, Patrick Skahill of WNPR, Martha Shanahan, Lindsay Boyle and Julia Bergman of the Day, and Estaban Hernandez and Ann Misaro of the New Haven Register.

Avon Library to Explore First Amendment, Freedom of the Press

Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote, “our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost,” is the centerpiece of a lecture series hosted by the Avon Public Library examining freedom of the press in America’s democracy. Anti-media rhetoric from President Trump, which was a constant during his campaign and since, has spurred interest in the topic.  The discussions in Avon, which are free, will be led by local educators and historians and continue into the fall.

Upcoming sessions are:

Discovering Katherine Graham  - Wednesday, August 15, 2018, 2:00 pm:  This program will consider relevant sections of Katherine Graham’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, Personal History (1997) alongside the film adaptation, The Post . It will focus on Graham’s representations of the Newspaper Guild and the pressman’s strike, the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate Affair, and the Vietnam War in light how The Post depicts the struggle to uphold the principles of journalistic integrity when faced with adversity.   The literature discussion will be led by Aimee Pozorski, CCSU English Department; film discussion will be led by Dr. Karen Ritzenhoff, CCSU Communication Department.

“We Hold These Truths”: The Declaration of Independence; A Single Page that Changed the World - Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 2:00 pm:  An interactive and illustrated discussion about the events surrounding the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress will be led by Bev York, Education Director for the Windham Textile and History Museum.  Attendees are asked to review the declaration of Independence prior to the session.

The Bill of Rights for High School Students - Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 3:00 pm:  What can students say and do to exercise the First Amendment right of free speech and freedom of religion in schools?  How has the Supreme Court ruled on these issues, and what avenues of redress are open to students if they think that their rights have been violated?  These and other questions will be explored in this session, led by Stephen McGrath, CCSU History Department.  It is geared for teens, but attendance is not limited.

The Popularity of Alexander Hamilton - Thursday, September 13, 2018, 3:00 pm: An illustrated talk about the inspiring story of the Alexander Hamilton, and his contributions, struggles, and tragic death.  After years of being perceived as having only a supporting role, Hamilton’s star has risen, confirming his belief that “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” The discussion will be led by Bev York, Education Director for the Windham Textile and History Museum.

Social Media, the Press, and Us - Monday, September 17, 2018, 6:30 pm:  The everyday reality of media use around the globe is changing rapidly due to the proliferation of smart phones, tablets and multiple screens that allow access to, and immediate dissemination of, the news. This talk will focus on the way social media is not only shaping our human relationships in a digital age but also our understanding of the world around us. How does user-generated content allow for new participatory energies to develop while also deeply affecting cultural identities and generating new types of intimacies. Lecture and discussion will be led by Dr. Karen Ritzenhoff, CCSU Communication Department.

A full description of the upcoming lectures is available, and the library also has resources available through their website, at www.avonctlibrary.info.

Study: Working-Class Candidates Less Likely to Run in Public Financing System

A new academic study has found that working-class first-time candidates for the Connecticut legislature became rarer after the state enacted public campaign financing, when compared with candidates in neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The study, by a Harvard University researcher, found that working-class candidates in Connecticut were less likely to qualify for the state’s public financing for candidates, apparently because of the requirement to raise a large number of small-dollar private contributions to qualify for public financing.

The findings demonstrate that when public financing is available, fewer low socio-economic status candidates run for state legislative office, and “those who do run are not more likely to win and are less likely to utilize public financing.”

The study’s author, Mitchell Kilborn, is a PhD candidate at Harvard University’s Department of Government concentrating in American Politics. His research focuses on inequality in political participation and the interaction between commercial activity and political behavior.  The study was published in the journal State Politics & Policy Quarterly last month.

Candidates running for the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the State, State Comptroller, State Treasurer, State Senator or State Representative can participate in the state’s Citizens Election Program. To participate, candidates must agree to abide by certain requirements, including strict contribution and expenditure limits and mandatory financial disclosures.

Candidates must raise an aggregate amount of small-dollar monetary contributions from individuals (“qualifying contributions”) between $5 and $100 in the case of statewide office candidates and between $5 and $250 in the case of General Assembly candidates.

Gerrymandering Lessens Compactness, Which Lessens Voting, UConn Study Finds

The less geographically compact a district is, the lower the voter turnout. That’s the bottom-line finding of a study by a University of Connecticut political scientist, published in the June issue of Election Law Journal.  The study suggests that gerrymandering – often criticized for skewing political representation to one party or the other – has additional ill-effects, including the act of voting itself. Using a dataset on the compactness of U.S. House districts—with multiple measures generated by geographic information system (GIS) analyses over two redistricting cycles, UConn Associate Professor Jeffrey Ladewig estimated the effects of congressional district compactness on electoral turnout. The conclusion:  compactness matters.  The study “Appearances Do Matter”: Congressional District Compactness and Electoral Turnout” was led by Ladewig.

“Districts that were less geographically compact had lower voter turnout – measured both from election data and individual survey data – even controlling for district demographic and election characteristics,” the Boston Globe reported in a brief news item about the study.

States determine their district lines for Congressional seats and state legislative seats every ten years, following the U.S. Census.  The next Census will be in 2020, with district lines slated to be redrawn for the 2022 elections.

According to Governing magazine, states around the country have a range of criteria in drawing district lines, including:

• Compactness: Having the minimum distance between all the parts of a constituency (a circle, square or a hexagon is the most compact district).
• Contiguity: All parts of a district being connected at some point with the rest of the district.
• Preservation of counties and other political subdivisions: This refers to not crossing county, city, or town, boundaries when drawing districts.
• Preservation of communities of interest: Geographical areas, such as neighborhoods of a city or regions of a state, where the residents have common political interests that do not necessarily coincide with the boundaries of a political subdivision, such as a city or county.
• Preservation of cores of prior districts: This refers to maintaining districts as previously drawn, to the extent possible. This leads to continuity of representation.
• Avoiding pairing incumbents: This refers to avoiding districts that would create contests between incumbents.

Connecticut has no guidelines or limitations in drawing Congressional District lines. (Although it does have a process.)

Jeffrey W Ladewig earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Government at University of Texas at Austin in 2002 and his B.A. from the Department of Political Science and the Department of Economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993. He teaches courses on the U.S. Congress, the U.S. President, American political economy, and American political parties.

Toll Technology, Revenue Considered in Indiana, Minnesota and (Possibly) Connecticut

“Toll technology advancements significantly altered the tolling landscape, expanded the types of toll facilities being operated and improved customer experience,” a report on tolling feasibility developed for the Minnesota Department of Transportation explained.  “New toll facilities using all-electronic tolling are being implemented in several places across the country to add new roadway capacity, manage congestion and provide a sustainable revenue source for asset lifecycle costs.” The 106-page report, issued in January, concluded that more study is needed — if that’s the direction the state wants to take, the Minneapolis StarTribune reported.  The StarTribune noted that “Minnesota doesn’t have the kind of toll-road system that is common on the East Coast and other regions of the country. The E-ZPass electronic toll system, for example, was first deployed in New York 25 years ago and now serves 17 states, stretching from Maine to Illinois to North Carolina.”

The MnDOT study, initiated at the legislature’s behest, cost $175,000 and recommended a follow-on in-depth study, anticipated to have a considerably larger price tag.  The report stated that “results of the feasibility analysis are a high-level revenue assessment based on numerous assumptions and a more detailed study would be required before any decision is made to implement a specific toll project.” The report was prepared by four consultants – the Minneapolis offices of WSB and HNTV Corporation, and Prime Strategies, Inc. and Lock Lord LLP, both of Austin.

Indiana is also giving tolls a careful look, with the type of in-depth study recommended in Minnesota, and proposed by Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy, who signed an Executive Order authorizing a $10 million study.  Malloy’s proposal is to be considered by the State Bond Commission later this week.  “Without transforming the way the state funds its highways,” Malloy said recently, “we will be unable to pay for the large-scale construction and rehabilitation projects that our state needs to ensure continued safe travel while attracting businesses and growing our economy.”

In Indiana, a strategic plan that could clear the way for that state to add tolls to its interstate highways, including inside the I-465 loop in Indianapolis, is currently being developed by one of the companies utilized by Minnesota.

The Indianapolis Star reported earlier this summer that the state signed a $9.6 million contract with HNTB Indiana Inc. to study the impact of tolling and provide project planning if the state chooses to move forward with tolling.  The administration of Gov. Eric Holcomb is required to study tolling under a road-funding plan lawmakers passed in 2017, but a decision has not been made on whether the state will go forward with authorizing a tolling plan, according to published reports.

Under the law, Indiana’s Governor is permitted to draft a strategic plan "if the governor determines that tolling is the best means of achieving major interstate system improvements in Indiana."   That decision has yet to be made.

"He wanted more information to make an informed decision and will use the strategic plan due Dec. 1 as a basis for that," a spokesman for the Governor told the Star. "If after reviewing the plan the governor determines that tolling is not the best option, the state won’t move forward with the remainder of the contract."

The contract with HNTB lays out specific requirements for the consultant if the state chooses to add tolling. For example, the Star reported, HNTB would be required to assist with project start-up for tolls in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Area, which includes Indianapolis and portions of nearly all of the bordering counties.

In Iowa earlier this year, a state DOT report on tolls was received by political leaders with distain.  In an editorial, The Gazette noted the possibility of tolls “is worthy of much more careful consideration than the political class is willing to grant.”  The publication added “Political fecklessness will not solve Iowa’s mounting transportation funding problems. Iowans love driving, we have a lot of roads and somebody has to pay for them.”

“Many Iowans have noticed a pattern in state government, a repetitive cycle of studies, recommendations and inaction. That may serve politicians fixated on their next election, but it does little to solve the very real problems Iowans face.”

https://youtu.be/kQxCVcMUq1s

Video: Connecticut House Democrats

Graphics:  2018 Minnesota DOT Toll Study Report

Fiscal Commission’s Work is Done (Technically), But Members Aren’t Going Away

They may be disbanded, but they’re sticking together – driven by a belief that the state’s future hangs in the balance. The Connecticut Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, a panel of primarily state business leaders appointed by the state legislature and Governor last year to help the state grapple with its ongoing fiscal challenges, went out of existence on March 1 when they issued a comprehensive 119-page report following three months of public hearings and deliberations. 

Nonetheless, the 14 members, mostly prominent business leaders, continue to seek opportunities to discuss their recommendations in public forums, regularly advocate for substantial changes in the management of state fiscal affairs, have begun meeting with gubernatorial candidates, and are urging business leaders across the state to keep up the pressure on state elected officials to take comprehensive action consistent with their wide-ranging recommendations.

“We committed to see it through,” said Commission co-chair Jim Smith, Chairman and former CEO of Webster Bank. “We knew it wouldn’t be one (legislative session) and done.  This is about policy, not politics.  We’ve all checked our politics at the door.  This is about the greater good, and how we change the course of Connecticut’s future.”

With all 187 legislative seats and the six state’s statewide constitutional offices – including Governor - up for election this November, the Commission co-chairs believe Connecticut’s best opportunity for much-needed systemic structural changes will be in the next legislative session, which begins in January. They intend to “actively engage” throughout this election season and in next year’s legislative session, and have already met with about half of the current field of gubernatorial candidates.

Smith and Robert Patricelli, former CEO & Founder of Women's Health USA, who co-chaired the panel, were featured along with Commission member Cindi Bigelow, CEO of Bigelow Tea, at an event coordinated by the Hartford Business Journal last week. It was one of nearly 100 forums, discussions and one-on-one meetings that the co-chairs and other commission members have had since their findings and recommendations were issued.

The Commission uses the analogy of a “burning platform” to describe the current budgetary process, fiscal structure and economic status of the state, a frame of reference that reflects the public’s concern about the state’s precarious standing.  Smith said he is encouraged by the response they’re receiving.

“When we talk about the platform burning, people are riveted.  They’re anxious to hear solutions,” Smith explains, noting that the approaches proposed by the Commission are resonating with audiences because they provide a comprehensive – if challenging – path to douse the flames and stimulate economic growth, achieve sustainable budgets long-term, and re-establish the state’s competitiveness.

“Our findings are irrefutable, inescapable and require action,” Smith told CT by the Numbers.  “That comes across loud and clear.”

The Commission leaders are committed to generating a spirited public conversation about their findings and recommendations.  They told an attentive audience in Hartford last week that the 14 members remain in communication, and have now been working longer since they ceased to exist as a Commission than during the 76 days that they were officially constituted by law.  And they have no plans to walk away from the work they began.

In underscoring their commitment to remain involved beyond the life of the Commission, the co-chairs have evoked the memorable phrase from the 1976 movie Network – they’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take this anymore.  In fact, their goal remains to do something about it.  Pursuing a public conversation and meeting privately with leading gubernatorial candidates are parts of the strategy.

Smith indicates that as the Commission’s work unfolded, members were concerned that the “platform was even hotter than we knew,” but encouraged that creation of the Commission reflected a willingness to involve the private sector in charting the path forward.

Patricelli, in fact, has floated the idea of having 500 businesses to sign a letter to the state’s elected officials urging action on the Commission’s recommendations, which include changes in spending, tax policy, investments, infrastructure, transportation and competitiveness. Only with sustained pressure, he argues, will the incoming legislature and Governor take action.  They point to the sustained drop in Connecticut’s Gross State Product (9.1% over the past decade), while the state’s New England and Tri-State neighbors saw growth, as among the numerous factors that led to their conclusion that substantial changes are needed in the state’s fiscal policies.

The co-chairs say it is understandable that more was not done with the Commission’s recommendations during the short 2018 legislative session, largely because an election was just around the corner.  Instead, the legislature opted to have the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) coordinate two studies, soon to get underway.  One would look at the Commission’s recommendations that involve “rebalancing of state taxes to better stimulate economic growth without raising net new taxes”; the other would conduct a study of the proposal for reform of the Teachers' Retirement System.

The legislature also voted to have OPM issue a request for proposals to hire a national consultant to study and make recommendations regarding efficiency improvements in revenue collection and agency expense management that will result in a savings of at least 500 million dollars.

Each is a potential step forward, but not nearly enough, the co-chairs have indicated since the session ended on May 9. Some aspects of the Commission’s work is evident in those actions, and the timing of those efforts, to be ready in January as newly elected officials take office, may provide pieces to build on.

Patricelli has also suggested that the state’s part-time legislature is not up to the task of governing a 21^st century state, by its very nature.  The legislature is in session for 5 months in even-numbered years and 3 months in odd-numbered years, in accordance with the state constitution.  That’s just not enough, he says, suggesting that a comprehensive study be done on the legislative systems in other states to determine what might be best for Connecticut.

In addition to Smith, Patricelli, and Bigelow, Commission members were Pat Widlitz (Vice-Chair), former state representative from Guilford and Co-Chair of the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding; Jim Loree, President and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker; Chris Swift, Chairman and CEO of The Hartford; Bruce Alexander, Vice President of State Affairs and Campus Development at Yale University; Greg Butler, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Eversource Energy; Roxanne Coady, Founder and CEO of R.J. Julia Booksellers; David Jimenez, Partner at Jackson & Lewis and a member of the state Board of Regents for Higher Education; Paul Mounds, Vice President for policy at the Connecticut Health Foundation; Frank Alvarado, Veterans Affairs Officer, Small Business Administration; Eneas Freyre, New York Life and Michael Barbaro, President, Connecticut Realtors.

Connecticut Adds High School Certificate of Global Engagement

Much has been said but less has been done to encourage Connecticut students to prepare for an ever more connected and interdependent world.  Until now.  The State Board of Education has voted to establish a Connecticut Certificate of Global Engagement, which high school students can earn by completing specific aspects of the curriculum, and aims to prepare “globally competent students who are college and career ready.”  The Certificate would be noted on high school transcripts. The Connecticut Certificate of Global Engagement was established, according to the curriculum overview, “to recognize public high school graduates who have successfully completed a global education curriculum and engaged in co-curricular activities and experiences that fostered the development of global competencies and global citizenship.”

“In today’s intricately interconnected world, informed citizens require an increasingly broader base of knowledge and perspective, because local communities, societies and economies are directly affected by events and trends that occur well beyond national borders,” the newly adopted curriculum guidelines point out.

The Certificate is based on the guidelines of the Connecticut Social Studies Frameworks and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) World Readiness Standards, and builds upon the recommendations of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).  It supports student literacy as defined by the Common Core Standards and provides a pathway for 21st Century Skills.

Officials stress that the Certificate does not require additional resources in local school districts, “as all coursework would already be part of the curriculum. The Certificate, however, gives school districts an opportunity to evaluate the entire school curriculum through the lens of global knowledge.”

The mission of the Certificate program, officials explain, is to provide Connecticut students a “pathway to gain global knowledge and skills that will increase their competitiveness and ability to succeed in college and career and their participation as informed citizens.  In today’s global marketplace, it is in the long-term economic, social, and democratic interests of the United States, Connecticut, and local communities to encourage and facilitate international connections in the community, state and beyond.”

To be recognized for the Certificate, students will need to complete the following requirements:

• coursework in world languages;
• coursework with strong global implications and analysis;
• extracurricular activities and experiences with global themes; and
• a global service learning or action project.

The guidelines indicate that through coursework and co-curricular activities, globally competent students will demonstrate the following competencies:

• investigate and express ideas about the world beyond their immediate environment;
• recognize and articulate their own and others’ perspectives;
• communicate ideas effectively with diverse audiences; and
• translate ideas into appropriate actions to address a contemporary global issue.

Globally-Focused Coursework would require at least 7.0 credits or demonstration of mastery and Globally-focused Student Activities would require competency in global citizenship through active participation in “at least one or more co-curricular and other school-sponsored or endorsed activities over at least 3 years of their high school experience with suggested involvement of a total of at least 15 hours.”

The guidelines for the Certificate of Global engagement were approved at the Board’s May 2 meeting and is now available for high schools throughout the state to implement.  A copy of the guidelines appears on the State Department of Education website alongside the state’s Social Studies Frameworks and Resources.

The curriculum plan was developed by a 24-member committee including Stephen Armstrong, the state’s Social Studies Consultant in the Department’s Academic Office, David Bosso, President of the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies, Robert Rader, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, high school teachers, superintendents, language specialists, college professors and representatives of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut.