Elm City Market Praised in White House Blog

In a post on the White House blog authored by Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New Haven's Elm City Market received high marks.  The local store is highlighted for demonstrating "just how much progress our country is making when it comes to healthy food access." The blog goes on to point out that "in New Haven, Connecticut, a city where one in four people live in poverty, a Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan from USDA helped construct the first full-service grocery store in the inner city in 2011. Elm City Market created 100 new jobs for local residents with salaries starting at twice the minimum wage.  But the community didn’t stop there: the store is sourcing over half of its products from producers within 200 miles of the city. "

And the concluding update... "The store reports brisk business, serving community members that previously lacked access to the products grown just miles away from them."

State Treasury's Big List Helps Return $2.6 Million

The Office of State Treasurer Denise Nappier reports that $2.6 million has been returned to 2,611 rightful owners of the assets since last November, when the Treasury published the CT Big List – a compilation of individuals eligible to claim assets turned over to the state by financial institutions unable to locate rightful owners. The state holds the assets until rightful owners are located and verified, and publishes a list – in print and online – to help match money with owners.  The claims include dormant balances in savings and checking accounts, unredeemed stocks and bonds, unreturned security deposits and uncashed checks, such as wages or commissions.

A majority of the claims paid were under $1,000; the largest was for $76,948.  The State Treasury has received 348,910 hits on CTBigList.com since November.  Nearly 50,000 names were included on the list published last fall.  State law requires the list to be published every other year.

State Workforce Will Shrink Unless Wage Gap Closes

A report by Connecticut Voices for Children finds that closing Connecticut's “opportunity gaps,” as evidenced in the state’s changing demographics, will be necessary for the future economic health and quality of life in the state as a whole. The report, “Connecticut's Changing Demographics Foreshadow Declining Workforce Income,” noted that Connecticut, with the 7^th oldest population in the nation in 2010, is projected to have a declining working-age population after 2015.  On the national level, the working-age population is predicted to increase.  In 2010, 14 percent of Connecticut’s population was age 65+, which is expected to increase to 22 percent (1 in 5) by 2030.

The report found that if racial and ethnic income gaps continue to grow at recent rates in Connecticut, the average per capita income for the state’s working age population will decline by 8.6% between 2010 and 2030.  However, if racial income gaps are closed by 2015 and incomes for all workers are raised to the same level as white workers, then per capita income for the working-age population will increase by 12% between 2010 and 2030.

State's City Canvas Awards Will Bring New Art to 7 Cities

Coming to a city near you:  City Canvas, a one-time initiative bringing mural-based public art into downtown spaces throughout Connecticut.  It's happening in seven cities, with the financial support of the state's Office of the Arts, part of the newly enhanced Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) into which the former Commission on Culture and Tourism was merged.  Twelve cities applied, and seven were awarded funds for submitted projects.  The rundown: Bridgeport / Bridgeport Arts & Cultural Council: Moving image light projections on a prominent downtown building. $158,000. Hartford / Real Arts Ways:  interactive, water activated, public art piece highlighting Hartford’s history. $125,000. New Britain / New Britain Museum of American Art: new mural at the New Britain/Hartford busway terminal. $98,050. New London / Hygienic Art: Three murals extending the New London Wall to Wall Mural Walk along with trompe l’oeil parking garage adornments. $145,062. Stamford / Stamford Cultural Development Corporation:Illumination and animation of transportation center for Metro North/Amtrak passengers and travelers on I-95. $150.000. Torrington / Northwest CT Association for the Arts: Unifying artwork on the façade of the new Children’s Museum. $165,000 Waterbury / Arts & Culture Collaborative, Waterbury Region: large-scale mosaic with extensive community involvement / $108,744.48

DECD, in keeping with its recently unveiled Creative Placemaking arts strategy, says the City Canvas program is designed to enhance public spaces through the visual arts and to connect the urban regions of Connecticut.  The art installations in the 7 cities are expected to get underway this spring, as municipalities and their respective partnership arts organizations collaborate in each of the local initiatives.

Connecticut History Online Tops 15,000 Digital Sources

Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a digital collection of over 15,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material.   Perhaps not widely known, CHO features a collaboration with the Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online (ECHO) to serve the needs of scholars, K-12 and post-secondary teachers and students, genealogists, and the general public. The four lead CHO partners - the Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut State Library, Mystic Seaport, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn - represent  libraries, museums and historical societies, encompassing the three major communities that preserve and make accessible historical collections in Connecticut.  Participating institutions also include the Hartford History Center, New Haven Museum and Stonington Historical Society.

CT Health Reform Report Card Issued

The New Haven-based Connecticut Health Policy Project, a non-profit, non-partisan research and educational organization dedicated to improving access to affordable, quality health care, has issued aReport Card for Connecticut.  The organization surveyed more than three dozen "thought leaders" serving on health-related state councils, boards, committees and among the leadership of health-related organizations.  The respondents included providers, consumer advocates, labor, business, insurance brokers, and academics.  The results:  Connecticut received a C in health reform, a C+ in effort, and a D in "engaging consumers in policy making."  Connecticut's Medicaid efforts earned a B.

Connecticut Libraries Rank 36th in State Financial Support

There were more than 22 million visits to Connecticut's libraries last year, with visitors borrowing 31.4 million items, according to the Connecticut Library Association.   Association President Betty Anne Reiter, in testimony at the State Capitol recently,  noted that although the state's libraries are among the most frequently visited in the country, the state ranks only 36th nationally in the level of state support ( $.58 per capita in CT vs. $2.94 per capita nationally).  Reiter also expressed concerns, on behalf of the organization's more than 1,000 members, about recent budget cuts sustained by the Connecticut State Library.

Education Reform and Job Creation Key to Bridgeport's Future

Citing the city's increasing population - the first increase in 60 years - and renewed business activity, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch focused on job creation and education reform in his annual address before the Bridgeport Business Council.  The city's population grew 3.4% between 2000 and 2010 according to the U.S. Census.  Finch stressed the importance of businesses collaborating with the school system in Connecticut's largest city to promote opportunities that can lead to jobs.   Finch thanked new business owners, such as Columbia Elevator and Bridgeport BioDiesel, and long-established businesses like Schwerdtle Stamp for believing in Bridgeport.   He also noted that the Police Department has added 45 new officers and the Fire Department has added 25 new firefighters during his tenure as the city's chief elected official, and "continues to lead the nation in the installation of life saving smoke alarms."  More than 30,000 smoke alarms have been provided to city residences that previously did not have the potentially life-saving devices.

Route 1, Route 5 Are Deadliest for Pedestrians in Connecticut

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign has gone through statistics of fatalities on Connecticut’s roads between 2008 and 2010 and rates U.S. Route 1 in Westport and Route 5 in East Hartford as the most dangerous in the state. One hundred twenty one deaths have been reported on Connecticut streets over the three-year-span. Of those, seven were on Route 1 , or Boston Post Road (including 3 in Westport), and four have been on Route 5 (including 3 in East Hartford).

There have been more deaths on the roadways in New Haven County than any other county, according to the report.  In 2010, there were 13 pedestrian deaths in both Hartford and New Haven counties.  The analysis does not include highways and other roads where pedestrians are prohibited.  The mission of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign is to reduce dependency on cars in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Proposal Extends Access to Care4Kids Benefit for Unemployed

Connecticut Voices for Children, a statewide public education and advocacy organization, has testified in support of a legislative proposal that would extend the eligibility period for individuals in the state’s Care4Kids program - for parents looking for work after a job loss - from two to six months. In supporting the measure, Voices pointed out that in 2010, 64 percent of Connecticut’s unemployed workers were out of work for 15 weeks or more, and half of all unemployed workers where looking for work for 27 weeks in  2009 and 19 weeks in 2008.  The average job search in Connecticut in 2010 lasted 36 weeks, up from 26 weeks in 2009 and 19 weeks in 2008.  The data for 2011 has not yet been compiled.