Changing Leadership At Helm of Local Nonprofit Organizations

When Jay Williams takes over the leadership of The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving next week, he will be part of a significant changing of the guard in leading community nonprofit and business organizations. Williams succeeds Linda J. Kelly, who served the Foundation as its President for over 11 years. He recently served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development where he led the federal economic development agenda for the United States as head of the U.S. Economic Development Administration. He brings experience and knowledge in capacity building, workforce readiness, economic security and urban revitalization.

“He is the right person, at the right time and the right place,” said JoAnn H. Price, Board Chair of the Hartford Foundation.  “Jay has a track record of strong leadership, innovation, community and economic development and public/private partnerships. He brings a long list of accomplishments and sound skills that will help move the Foundation’s new vision and strategic focus forward.

Foodshare announced this week that Jason Jakubowski has been named president and CEO of the regional non-profit anti-hunger organization, which is headquartered in Bloomfield, and will assume his new role on July 31.  Jakubowski, currently the vice president of External Relations at the Hospital for Special Care (HSC), was chosen after a national search by Foodshare’s Board and Transition Committee.

“Jason is a recognized leader and builder of community partnerships with a lifelong dedication to tackling the issues of hunger, poverty, literacy, personal health, and job retention,” Foodshare Board Chair Tom Buckingham said in a statement. “He is well-prepared to execute Foodshare’s mission of leading an informed, coordinated response to hunger in our community.”

The Connecticut Main Street Center announced that its national search led to the selection of Patrick McMahon as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective August 21, 2017. McMahon will succeed CMSC's founding CEO John Simone, who is retiring after leading the organization for the past 17 years. 

McMahon currently serves as the Director of Economic Development for the Town of Suffield, and has previously worked in economic development in the towns of Windsor and Windsor Locks.  He is the Immediate Past President of the  Connecticut Economic Development Association (CEDAS), and a member of the Northeast Economic Development Association (NEDA).  CMSC's mission is to be the catalyst that ignites Connecticut's Main Streets as the cornerstone of thriving communities.

Judith Meyers, who for nearly two decades has been a leader improving children’s health and well-being in Connecticut, announced plans to step down as President and CEO of the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut (CHDI) as of September 30, 2017. At its June meeting, CHDI’s Board selected Jeffrey Vanderploeg, CHDI’s Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives to become the next President and CEO. Meyers has led CHDI since it began operations as a non-profit dedicated to improving children’s health and well-being in 1999. She became President and CEO of both CHDI and the Children’s Fund of Connecticut in 2002.

The MetroHartford Alliance also recently announced that Oz Griebel, the President and CEO of the Alliance since its inception in 2001, has informed the organization of his decision to leave his position at the end of the calendar year to pursue other leadership opportunities. Andy Bessette, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Travelers Companies and newly elected Board Chair, said:  “Since the Alliance’s beginning in 2001, Oz has provided invaluable leadership driving numerous economic development initiatives.  The Alliance’s marketing of the Region’s assets to national site selectors and to our local entities and residents and the creation of HYPE are just two examples of how the Alliance effectively uses investor resources to strengthen and promote the Region.”

Photos:  Jay Williams, Jason Jakubowski, Patrick McMahon

Connecticut Ranked #2 Among States for Fitness Centers/Gyms

The United States has more fitness centers than any other country in the world, and Connecticut is one of the reasons why.  The state is ranked #2 in the nation, just behind Minnesota, among states with the most gyms/fitness centers, according to data compiled by the website exercise.com.  Rounding out the top 10 are Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. The states were ranked based on the most gyms using these four categories: total number of gyms, state population in 2016, people per gym, and gyms per capita (100,000 people).  Totals were based on the 14 largest gym chains in America. There were more than 36,000 health clubs in the U.S. last year, up from 29,000 a decade ago.

As of 2017, the average yearly number of U.S. gym members is around 58 million, the website points out, with an average gym membership fee of $58 a month. Interestingly, two-thirds of gym members say they don’t actually go to their gym.

According to a Gallup survey of 335,050 adults, only 51.6 percent of Americans report exercising three or more days a week for at least 30 minutes.  Connecticut has nearly 300 gyms/fitness centers.

According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), total health club/gym/studio visits surpassed 5 billion a year ago.

UConn Study: When State Pays for ACT Exam, More Poor Youth Reach College

New research finds a simple strategy can modestly boost the share of students with limited financial resources who go on to college: requiring, and paying for, all students to take the ACT or SAT.  A University of Connecticut researcher examined the effects of requiring and paying for all public high school students to take a college entrance exam – which 11 states have done since 2001- and found that while the impact isn’t enormous, the policy is relatively inexpensive, and does move the needle on college enrollment. At just $34 per student, increases in four-year college attendance reach about 1 percentage point for low-income students, the higher education website Chalkbeat reports.  Ohio was the latest state to require all members of the junior class to take the exam, as of this past spring.

“Although these increases in the four-year college enrollment rate might not appear to be dramatically large, relative to other educational interventions this policy is inexpensive and currently being implemented on a large scale,” writes Joshua Hyman, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut.

Hyman cautions, however, that paying for every student, regardless of income, to take the exam only goes so far.

“The results suggest that requiring all students to take a college entrance exam increases the supply of poor students scoring at a college-ready level by nearly 50 percent. Yet the policy increases the number of poor students enrolling at a four-year institution by only 6 percent. In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

The research and 30-page journal entry “validates recent efforts … to expand access to these tests,” Chalkbeat points out, “which are required to enroll at most colleges and universities.”   In order of adoption, according to the paper, the states are Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, North Carolina, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alabama.

In Connecticut, April 5, 2017, was the Connecticut SAT School Day administration.  SAT scores are used by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) for school and district accountability purposes, state Education Commissioner Diana Wentzell explained in a letter to parents earlier this year.

The research, published this summer in the peer-reviewed journal Education Finance and Policy, examined Michigan’s policy to require — and, importantly, pay for — high school juniors to take the ACT. Unsurprisingly, the number of students taking the exam jumped from 56 percent statewide to 91 percent after the policy was implemented in 2007. College attendance in the state then increased by nearly 2 percentage points (though the study can’t show how much of the increase was because of the mandatory ACT).

“The mandatory college entrance exam policy is more cost-effective than traditional [college financial] aid at boosting postsecondary attainment,” the study states.

Hyman found that, prior to the policy, a substantial number of Michigan’s low-income students didn’t take the ACT even though they would have scored at or above the standard for college readiness. That might been due to financial or logistical barriers, like the cost of the test (between $30 and $50) or difficulties traveling to an exam center on a Saturday. (Both the SAT and ACT offer fee waivers to low-income students, but the study notes that the waivers are underused.)

“I show that for every ten poor students taking a college entrance exam and scoring college-ready, there are an additional five poor students who do not take the test but who would score college-ready if they did,” Hyman explains.  “In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high-achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

Hyman, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, has a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and Neag School of Education. His research focuses broadly on labor economics, public finance, and the economics of education. As for the interest in Michigan, Hyman earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 2013.

Quantum Science is Specialty for CT Medal of Science Recipient

Professor Robert Schoelkopf, Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics and Director of the Yale Quantum Institute, has been selected as the 2017 recipient of the Connecticut Medal of Science for his seminal contributions to the entire field of quantum science and to the new field of circuit quantum electrodynamics. Schoelkopf is a leading experimental physicist, whose research has helped establish the field of quantum computation with solid-state devices.  The Connecticut Medal of Science is the state’s highest honor for scientific achievement in fields crucial to Connecticut’s economic competiveness and social well-being.

Connecticut’s most talented young scientists and engineers were also honored by the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering at its 42nd Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner, held this spring.  Winners of this year’s Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair, Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and Connecticut Invention Convention were recognized during program ceremonies.

Together with his faculty collaborators at Yale, Michel Devoret and Steven Girvin, Schoelkopf has pioneered the approach of integrating superconducting qubits with microwave cavities, known as Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics. Some of Schoelkopf’s other inventions include the Radio Frequency Single-Electron Transistor and the Shot Noise Thermometer.

He is regularly called on to advise industry and federal agencies on the development and commercialization of quantum technologies, and he is a co-founder of Quantum Circuits, Inc., a Connecticut-based company working to deliver the first quantum computers.

Modeled after the National Medal of Science, the award is bestowed by the State of Connecticut, with the assistance of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, in alternate years with the Connecticut Medal of Technology.

Student work was also honored by CASE.  The H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence, established by CASE and presented in partnership with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, was awarded to the top winners of the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair. The medal was created to recognize and honor H. Joseph Gerber’s (1924-1996) technical leadership in inventing, developing and commercializing manufacturing automation systems for a wide variety of industries, making those industries more efficient and cost-effective in a worldwide competitive environment.

The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering was chartered by the General Assembly in 1976 to provide expert guidance on science and technology to the people and to the state of Connecticut, and to promote the application of science and technology to human welfare and economic well-being.

Student Awards:

The 2017 H. Joseph Gerber Medal of Excellence:

• Shobhita Sundaram, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT

2017 Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair – 1st Place, Life Sciences-Senior Division

Project: Detection of Premalignant Pancreatic Cancer via Computational Analysis of Serum Proteomic Profiles

• Ethan Novek, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT

2017 Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair – 1st Place, Physical Sciences-Senior Division

Project: Novel Low-Temperature Carbon Capture Using Aqueous Ammonia and Organic Solvents

• Maya Geradi, Wilbur Cross High School, New Haven, CT

2017 Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair – Urban School Challenge High School Winner

Project: A Study of Circadian Genetics and Abiotic Stress Towards Sustainable Agriculture

2017 Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair –

Middle School Winner, Urban School Challenge

• Madison Lee, Sport and Medical Sciences Academy, Hartford, CT Project: Natural Plastic: Milk Plastic Biodegradation Versus Commercial Plastic Degradation

2017 Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

• 1st Place: Shobhita Sundaram, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT

Project: Detection of Premalignant Pancreatic Cancer via Computational Analysis of Serum Proteomic Profiles

• 2nd Place: William Yin, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT

Project: Portable, Low-Cost Tattoo-Based Biosensor for the Non-Invasive Self-Diagnosis and Quantification of Atherosclerosis

• 3rd Place: Haya Jarad, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT Project: Identification of Novel Small Project: Identifying Quasi Periodic Patterns in fMRI Versus CBF Data
• 4th Place: Gabrielle Stonoha, Manchester High School, Manchester, CT

Project: Growth and Sustainability of Metarhizium on Low-nutrient Substrates

• 5th Place: Lauren Low, Engineering & Science University Magnet School, West Haven, CT Project: A Novel Rapid Diagnostic Test for Zika Virus NS1 Protein Using Nanoribbon Microfluidics

PERSPECTIVE: Beyond the Land of Unsteady Habits

by Kevin B. Sullivan These days, it may seem like Connecticut is the land of unsteady habits.  As Governor Malloy says, sometimes it just feels like we always see the glass half empty.

For example, those of us in the capital area get a steady stream of bad news about our capital city in crisis.  Yet, right next door, there’s West Hartford where our state’s 8^th largest municipality exemplifies diversity, good governance, fiscal sustainability and continuous economic re-invention.

So let’s not waste time obsessing about Aetna’s headquarters move, like we did with GE.  Neither move is about competitiveness in taxes or cost of living.  Both are more about the beggar-thy-neighbor bidding war among the states for public subsidies.

Make no mistake, our rhetoric – especially our political rhetoric – influences how we see ourselves and how others see us.  No democracy or economy, national or state, can thrive by looking backwards, devaluing our shared assets or chasing short-term satisfactions.  So stow the political back-biting and skip the pity party.  Let’s get back to work.

I am a realist, but not a pessimist.  Being a realist means building from our strengths, facing our weaknesses, embracing our challenges and creating new opportunities.  Right now is the best opportunity we have to get it right.  That starts by understanding there is no magic – just smart decisions, hard work and a vision that’s fiscally sustainable and economically nimble.

With long years of service in the State Legislature behind me, I see so many things we did right but also many that we did wrong or just ignored.  Now, as Revenue Services Commissioner, I get to have a new window on the state economy every day.  So what do I see?

Prior to the Great Recession, Connecticut experienced one of the strongest and longest runs of economic growth in the nation.  Confident in our highest per capita income and traditional economic base, we were complacent.  Then, in the hard times that followed, we failed to see that a very long and very deep recession also masked tectonic economic shifts.   We have been struggling ever since just to understand that this time it’s not about recovery – it’s about renewal.

Under Republicans and Democrats, state spending has outpaced economic growth and personal income growth for the past twenty years.  Worse still, most of the growth and most of every state budget is fixed costs.  Unfunded liabilities that no one before Governor Malloy has challenged.  No wonder, under Republican and Democratic governors, three major tax increases in the past twenty years have now reached a point of diminishing return.

Connecticut’s income tax is the third most progressive in the nation.  It includes an earned income credit that helps working families and puts money back into the economy.  Income taxes should be progressive.  But over-reliance on a highly progressive income tax and a relatively small segment of very high income taxpayers produces big revenue volatility.

While our [tax] rates are comparatively high, the business-backed national Council on State Taxation continues to rank Connecticut among the lowest total effective tax burden states.  But that does not mean we cannot do better.

Led by DRS, supported by the Governor and working with the business community, we have already achieved a trifecta of corporate tax reforms.  With conversion to a unitary, single factor, destination sourced approach, we have ended a tax regime that used to favor out of state businesses while burdening Connecticut-based businesses.  Whether corporate income or pass-through income, DRS is also stepping up in audit to challenge those who tilt the playing field through off-shoring and transfer pricing schemes that are tax evasion by any other name.

However, fewer and fewer businesses are organized as corporations.   Personal taxation of pass-through business income now drives state business tax revenue.  Different taxes and different rules for businesses that differ in form only.  There are also many other types of Connecticut business taxes determined solely by the nature of the product or service provided.

Add to that the irritant of Connecticut’s so-called Business Entity Tax, a fee that is often the first tax slap experienced by new enterprises well before turning even a first dollar of profit.  As other states have done, it’s time to at least consider rationalizing this mess with a single receipts-based tax that includes meaningful start-up and reinvestment credits.

In fact, there are so many ways to use smart revenue policy as an economic driver.  With transportation gridlock and aged infrastructure ham-stringing growth, we need a modern toll system that generates essential reinvestment.  Let’s ramp up tax credits for R&D, job creation, training for new workers, retraining for displaced workers and business reinvestment.

We can even pay for it by getting rid the remaining mishmash of credits and abatements that make no appreciable economic difference at all.  Rather than pile on more loans, let’s drag antiquated systems of public and private higher education into the 21^st century and then use tax policy to provide incentives for graduates to stay in Connecticut as next generation entrepreneurs and skilled workers.

In exchange for real political and structural reform, we can also use tax policy - rather than bailouts, bankruptcies or yet another layer of government – to re-invent livability and economic viability in our struggling cities.

Connecticut’s economic strengths need to be the basis of any diagnostic for improved competitiveness.  A long and strong run of economic performance still leaves us a great state to live and work.  We continue to rank highly on so many key economic measures: personal income, low poverty levels (although dangerously concentrated), R&D investment, GDP per capita, invention and productivity, manufacturing and finance as competitive growth engines, educational attainment, public safety and livability, and location.

Connecticut may not economically be what it was, but there is no good reason why we cannot be what we want to be now and into the future.

________________________________

Kevin B. Sullivan is Commissioner of the state Department of Revenue Services, and previously served as Lieutenant Governor, Senate President Pro Tempore and a member of the State Senate.  This is adapted from remarks delivered in June at the Connecticut Business Summit. 

Hartford Region Ranks 13th in National Fitness Ratings

The Hartford region ranks as the 13^th “fittest” metropolitan area in the nation, according to a nationwide fitness index developed by the American College of Sports Medicine.  Hartford ranked 9^th a year ago and 11^th in 2015 in the ACSM American Fitness Index, now in its tenth year. The top 10 “fittest” metropolitan areas are Minneapolis, Washington DC, San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Boston, Denver, Portland, Salt Lake City and San Diego. The top seven cities in the 2017 AFI are between 4-13 percentage points ahead of the rest of the pack, principally related to lower rates of smoking and cardiovascular disease deaths and higher reported physical activity, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and per capita park expenditures in their communities.

The index publication is supported by the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation.  It is a scientific snapshot of the health and fitness status at a metropolitan level using data made up of personal health, community and environmental factors.

The United States Census Bureau defines the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as containing 54 towns of Hartford County, Tolland County, and Middlesex County. The 2015 population estimate for the MSA is 1,211,324 and is ranked as the 47th largest metropolitan area by population in the United States

Fifty regions were rated, with the Hartford MSA the only region in Connecticut.  Boston-Cambridge-Newton ranked 6^th and Providence-Warwick ranked 31^st, among the New England states.

The Hartford region’s total score has ranked among the top 12 metropolitan areas since 2009, until this year. Strengths include a high number of farmers’ markets per resident, a high percent of parkland as city land area, as well as a high number of recreational facilities per resident, including ball diamonds, golf courses, park units and recreation centers.

The region’s personal health rank was 13; its community/environmental indicators rank was 25, leading to an overall ranking of 13th.  The analysis points to “Areas of Excellence,” in the region, including:

• Lower death rate for diabetes
• Higher percentage of parkland as city land area
• More farmers’ markets per capita
• Higher Walk Score® (75% report engaging in physical activity or exercise in the last 30 days)
• More ball diamonds and basketball hoops per capita
• More recreation centers per capita
• More swimming pools per capita

Nationally, there were numerous positive shifts during the last year:

• 0% increase in the percent who met the recommendations for aerobic and strength in the last 30 days
• 5% drop in the percent with diagnosed angina or coronary heart disease
• 9% increase in walkability scores
• 9% increase in the percent who live within a 10-minute walk to a park
• 7% increase in the total park expenditures per capita
• 0% increase in the number of recreation centers per 20,000 residents

“Our ultimate goal is to offer individuals, families and communities trusted resources that can help them assess, plan and implement policies that promote positive health outcomes,” said Walter R. Thompson, Ph.D., FASCM, who chairs the AFI Advisory Board and is president-elect of ACSM.

The 2017 AFI report also revealed some shortcomings over the past year:

• 7% increase in the rate of diabetes deaths
• 3% reduction in the percent of residents biking or walking to work
• 2% decrease in the percent of individuals eating the recommended number of servings of fruit
• 6% reduction in the number of tennis courts per 10,000 residents

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 50,000 international, national and regional members are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine. The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of Anthem, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve, including Connecticut.