Connecticut

Adhlere Coffy and Amanda Olberg: How to address Connecticut’s unspoken crisis

Published

5 months ago

February 13, 2024

Adhlere Coffy and Amanda Olberg: How to address Connecticut’s unspoken crisis

New research published at the end of last year by Dalio Education reveals a statewide crisis: 63,000 young people in Connecticut between the ages of 14 to 26 are not engaged in school or work, not on track for gainful employment, or both, while another 17,000 are at the greatest risk for experiencing disconnection.

The report, Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis, is a call to action with recommendations for how local stakeholders can take concrete steps toward addressing this crisis. Through our work with the Connecticut Opportunity Project, a social investment fund of Dalio Education, we know that young people experiencing disconnection can re-engage and thrive if they have the support they need. The investments we make in community-based nonprofits across Connecticut aid our grantee partners in achieving results with young people every day, demonstrating that the report’s recommendations are impactful. In short, we know they work.

CTOP invests currently in seven Connecticut-based organizations: COMPASS Youth Collaborative, Forge City Works, Our Piece of the Pie, and Roca Hartford Young Mother’s Program in Hartford; Connecticut Violence Intervention and Prevention in New Haven; Domus Kids in Stamford; and RYASAP in Bridgeport. Heroic individuals at these organizations have worked tirelessly for years – decades, even – serving young people who are experiencing disconnection. Yet the challenge they have faced in their work, common across the nonprofit sector, is that the level of resources available to deploy in advancing their missions is insufficient to meet the need we know exists.

Embodying one of the report recommendations, CTOP is working to change this status quo, providing financial and non-financial resources to our grantee partners to help them strengthen their organizational capacity for continuous improvement and high-quality service delivery – which means helping a growing number of young people to positively alter their life trajectories.

CTOP provides unrestricted grant dollars along with extensive technical assistance over the long-term time horizon that we know is necessary for organizations to engage in meaningful capacity building that translates into improved outcomes for young people.

What this capacity building looks like is supporting our grantee partners in internalizing what we know from the evidence works to re-engage young people, and then redesigning their programming and training their staff in new skills accordingly. It also looks like building and deploying robust data systems that enable their organizations to monitor and manage service delivery, and how those activities are impacting the skills development of young people. And it looks like strengthening the infrastructure of their boards and internal management systems in ways that are critical to the long-term health of the organization, making it possible for high performance to be sustained over time.

In our just-published 2023 Annual Report, CTOP reports on a metric we use called the active program slot that has advanced our grantee partners’ efforts to understand, manage, and drive up the social value they are creating on a day-to-day basis. Going beyond a basic count of young people served, the active program slot requires that a program participant receive the kinds and levels of services and supports that the organization’s evidence-informed program model says is needed to promote successful re-engagement in education and/or gainful employment.

In 2023, our third year of implementing CTOP’s 10-year social investment strategy, the number of active program slots our grantee partners delivered in aggregate rose to 925, up from 387 just two years prior. And in this past year, our grantee partners are seeing more and more of their young people achieve the long-term results that prove that strengthening organizational capacity leads to positive youth outcomes. For example, at Domus Kids – which, like all of our grantee partners, enrolls in its core programming the very same young people who are part of the shocking statistics revealed in Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis – 93% of their program graduates are still enrolled in post-secondary education or employed on the path to self-sufficiency twelve months following their graduation from Domus’s programs.

The work of CTOP’s grantee partners is a testament to the return on investment from strengthening a nonprofit’s capacity to do its work effectively and sustainably – as well as to the profound potential to succeed and thrive that is within every young person currently experiencing disconnection.

What we see in our work every day is that it is possible to address Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis, if our statewide community commits to doing so together.

Adhlere Coffy and Amanda Olberg are Senior Portfolio Directors at the Connecticut Opportunity Project.

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Connecticut

Boar's Head May Be Tough to Find Around Connecticut Tonight

Published

9 mins ago

July 26, 2024

Press Room

Boar's Head May Be Tough to Find Around Connecticut Tonight

You might want to ‘Compromise Elsewhere’, Boar’s Head deli meat fans. Numerous grocery store chains are temporarily shutting down their deli departments for a deep-cleaning following a reported multi-state outbreak of listeria.

Big Y has announced that their deli’s will be temporarily closed after Boar’s Head Provisions Co recalled all of their liverwurst product. Boar’s Head has also more of their deli meats that may have been produced on the same production line. According to Big Y, the USDA has recommended a deep-cleaning/sanitization of all surfaces, and to discard any open meats and cheeses in the deli. The other Boar’s Head meats that have been recalled are:

Virginia Ham – Old Fashioned Ham
Italian Cappy Style Ham
Extra Hot Italian Cappy Style Ham
Bologna
Beef Salami
Steakhouse Roasted Bacon Heat & Eat
Garlic Bologna
Beef Bologna

All of the Boar’s Head deli meats have sell-by dates of “AUG 10”, and the Heat & Eat Bacon has a sell-by date of “AUG 15”.

Big Y did not offer Boar’s Head deli meats in their Connecticut markets for the longest time, I recall that it’s only been a year or two that I’ve been able to buy my favorite – Boar’s head low-sodium ham, at the Big Y – Torrington and New Milford locations.

Stop & Shop supermarkets around Connecticut will also temporarily close their deli’s for a deep cleaning according to nbcconnecticut.com. The good news is that if your local deli does not carry Boar’s Head deli meat, there should be a pile of clean, shaved beef waiting for you.

What Would the Olympics Be Like If They Were Held in Connecticut?

The 2024 Paris Olympics are underway, and while watching the opening ceremonies, I started imagining what kind of games, celebrities, and venues our state would present as our finest. What would an Olympics look like if the games were held in Connecticut?

Gallery Credit: Getty Images/Google

35 Reasons Why I Love Living in Connecticut

Gallery Credit: Ethan Carey

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Connecticut

Bears wreck car amid rising incidents in Connecticut

Published

7 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Press Room

Bears wreck car amid rising incidents in Connecticut

Amid rising bear encounters in the state, an adult black bear and its cub were found trapped inside a car outside a home in Winsted, Connecticut, on July 15, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

DEEP environmental conservation officers were called by the vehicle owner in the northwestern town. Upon arrival, officers opened the car door, releasing the two bears. The bears reportedly ran off with a third bear that had been running around in distress while the two were trapped.

State officials believe that the bears opened the car door themselves to enter the vehicle.

A bear that broke into a car in Winsted, CT, on July 15, 2024 is visible through the vehicle’s front window.

AP Photo

Newsweek reached out to DEEP’s communications team for comment via email on Friday.

The car’s interior was completely torn apart from the bears thrashing. The bears appeared to blare the horn and play the radio.

The northwestern part of the state has the highest concentration of black bears, according to DEEP. Last year, bears were found in all but three cities and towns across the state, with sightings in 165 of 169 municipalities. This past week, there have been three publicly reported bear-related incidents.

The black bear population is growing in the state, and based on data published in DEEP’s 2024 State of the Bears, there are an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 bears in the state, adding that “the population has a high potential for growth,” given their habitat and food sources.

In June 2023, a state law passed that allows individuals to seek permits to kill a bear if it is damaging livestock and agriculture, as well as establishing the right to use deadly force in defense of an attack.

A year after the law was passed, this June, a Connecticut resident shot and killed a 450-pound adult male black bear, claiming it was in self-defense.

Inside of Car — This July 15, 2024, photo shows the damage caused by a bear and cub that broke into a car, and became trapped inside, in Winsted, CT, until freed by state environmental conservation police.

AP Photo

This past week, three bear-related incidents were publicly reported, including a bear being killed after being hit by cars and another euthanized after reportedly biting a woman.

DEEP requests residents to report bear sightings on its website. So far this year, there have been 7,674 reported bear sightings, with 2,255 “bear conflicts” in the state, according to the state’s wildlife sighting public viewer.

In February 2023, DEEP launched it’s “Be Bear Aware” public campaign to raise awareness and lower the total human-bear conflicts in the state through education programs and conflict management advice.

In an email to CT Insider regarding the July 15 incident, DEEP Senior Advisor Ethan H. Van Ness said: “DEEP would like to remind residents to remain bear aware. Always lock your car doors, particularly if you live in areas with regular bear activity.”

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Connecticut

Final Nine Award Recipients Announced For Prestigious Gold Key Dinner

Published

14 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Press Room

Final Nine Award Recipients Announced For Prestigious Gold Key Dinner

CONNECTICUT — Since 1940, the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance (formerly the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance) has presented Gold Keys to deserving individuals who had made a considerable impact on the state’s sports landscape. In addition to the Gold Keys, other awards are meted out in various categories, and the CSMA has named the final nine recipients who will be honored at the 82nd annual dinner this fall.

Receiving accolades at the dinner will be:

Hal Levy High School Achievement Award – Paula Fitzgerald, Westbrook High School. Athletic director for 33 years, longtime varsity girls’ tennis coach with more than 500 career victories, assistant girls’ basketball coach for eight state championships, 2024 inductee into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bo Kolinsky Memorial Special Recognition Award – Rick Leddy, North Haven. Worked for 36 years at his alma mater, Southern Connecticut State College/University, as sports information director and then associate director of athletics. Member of the SCSU Athletics and New England Basketball halls of fame.
Bob Casey Courage Award – the family of Charlie Capalbo, Fairfield. Charlie, a standout ice hockey goalie, fought non-Hodgkins lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia for five years before passing away at 23 in 2022. His family has since worked tirelessly to raise funds for AML research and create awareness of childhood cancers.
John Wentworth Good Sport Awards – Marc Forster, Ledyard, a history professor at Connecticut College who has been an unpaid volunteer assistant softball coach at Ledyard High School since 2011; Mary-Jane Hussey, Windsor Locks, volunteer in the Suffield Special Olympics program from high school through 1991, co-founded what became the Windsor Locks Special Olympics program in 1996, overseeing its growth from four special needs athletes to more than 40; Bob Rafferty, Trumbull, facility manager at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven since 2002, Hillhouse Football Booster Club president since 2006, longtime volunteer with New Haven Gridiron Club, National Football Foundation Casey/O’Brien New Haven County Chapter, North Haven youth basketball and Trumbull youth softball; Jim Reynolds, East Haven, began working at Farnam Neighborhood House in New Haven in 1986, started seventh- and eighth-grade travel basketball program.
Art McGinley Media Award – George Albano, Norwalk. Began sportswriting career in Nov. 1974, celebrating 50 years this fall. Spent 42 years with the Norwalk Hour; the George Albano Press Box at Jack Casagrande Field at Brien McMahon High School was dedicated in 2019. Member of the FCIAC and McMahon halls of fame.
Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship – Casey O’Brien, Ridgefield High School. Lead sports writer and social media manager for school newspaper, The Ridgefielder, and broadcast girls basketball games via livestreaming on RHS YouTube channel. Will be majoring in sports communications at Clemson University.

Gold Key Award recipients for 2024, announced in the spring, are former Daniel Hand High School and Yale University football coach Larry Ciotti, longtime Windham High School wrestling and football coach Brian Crudden, retired Pomperaug High School field hockey coach Linda Dirga, award-winning sportscaster George Grande and Wesleyan University women’s basketball coach Kate Mullen.

Proceeds support the Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship, a $3,000 annual award named in memory of the noted high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past CSMA president, who passed away in 2003 at age 49.

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