Published: Mar 20, 2026 7:00 am

SCORE, or Service Corps of Retired Executives, is a national nonprofit organization that offers free and confidential business mentoring services to small business owners. There are local divisions of SCORE, as well as a national level, that regularly host events, workshops, and webinars to assist small business owners with growing their business. SCORE of Western Connecticut is hosting a lot of events in this last week of March, into April, and beyond.

On March 23 at Easton Public Library, 691 Morehouse Road, Easton, SCORE of Western Connecticut will host “Start Your Business Here — Business Planning and Goals.” This event will help business owners be specific and clear on their goals for business and personal life, provide instruction on building a step-by-step action plan to achieve those goals, and work on confidently communicating the business idea to others. Presenters Joe Ziskin and Joe McCaffrey will lead this workshop. Ziskin is a strategy and business development advisor and an “entrepreneur in residence” at University of Bridgeport’s Innovation Center. McCaffrey is a business advisor with Community Investment Corporation, a certified business mentor, and subject matter expert in commercial real estate, small business strategic planning, financial management, and capital sources with Fairfield Country SCORE. Registration is requested. Interested parties can register at score.org/westernconnecticut by clicking on “Workshops and Webinars” and registering for “Start Your Business Here.”

On March 25, noon, an online webinar will take place. “Resources for Veterans Starting a Business” will empower veterans with a wide range of national programs and support systems designed specifically to help vets launch and grow businesses. Registration is required for online access. Registration can be completed by taking the same steps as above, but searching for “Resources for Veterans Starting a Business” instead.

There are several other events at the end of March, like “Is Your Business Positioned for Success? Diagnostic Business Readiness Scorecard” on March 25, 6 pm, at Norwalk Library, 1 Belden Avenue, Norwalk; “Creating Effective Surveys for Nonprofits” on March 26 online, noon; and “Developing Financial Projections for Your New Small Business” also on March 26, online, 6 pm for $10.

On April 2, 6 pm, at Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton, “Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business” will take place. Presenter Lorraine Duncan will walk attendees through making LinkedIn profiles “client attractive,” making the time spent on LinkedIn manageable for each person, learning how to reach out to target markets, and applying growth hacking strategies. Duncan has over 30 years in business marketing and consulting experience. She runs her own digital marketing agency, Biz Gone Social, where she advises small businesses on how to utilize social media in their marketing and guides them to online marketing solutions. Additionally, she does the social media management for them. Registration is requested, and can be completed by visiting score.org/westernconnecticut, clicking on “Workshops and Webinars,” and registering for “Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business.”

April has several events for small business owners, too. On April 6, SCORE is back at Easton Public Library, 6 pm, for “Start Your Business Here — Forming and Launching a Business and Key Technologies.” SCORE will also host an event at Trumbull Library, 33 Quality Street, Trumbull, 6 pm, for “Effectively Promoting Your Business in 30 Seconds (or less).”

For an entire list of Western Connecticut SCORE webinars, events, and workshops, go to score.org/westernconnecticut and check out the “Workshops and Webinars” tab.

Gov. Ned Lamont continues to push for a gas tax holiday, even though the proposal appears to have little momentum in the legislature.  

Lamont (D-Connecticut) first floated the idea during a press conference on March 10, saying it could help drivers facing rising gas prices amid the ongoing war in Iran.  

He told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday that he remains keen on the idea.  

“I’ve got 500 million (dollars) I can help people with, and I say sooner rather than later,” Lamont said.  

A holiday would pause the 25-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and the 49-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel.  

The average gas price in Connecticut on Thursday was $3.74, according to AAA, up from $3 per gallon a year ago.  

Lawmakers were receptive to the idea when it was first floated, but on Thursday, they said it was part of broader budget talks.  

“We’ll see how that works out in the budget,” Sen. Bob Duff (D-Majority Leader) said. “We’ll see how that works in the next few weeks.”  

Duff and his Senate Democratic colleagues have proposed a package that includes more sales tax exemptions, a higher property tax credit, and additional tax breaks for renters and low-income families.  

Senate Republicans made a similar pitch in a letter to Lamont on Wednesday, using the proposal as an invitation to talk about their call to use $1.6 billion in budget surplus funds to pay for tax cuts.  

The estimated average tax cuts of $1,500 per person match what Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) has proposed on the campaign trail.  

“It is possible, and not very difficult, to pay for tax relief in the long run if you reduce the growth of spending in the state budget,” Fazio said.  

Senate Republicans have suggested budget cuts in future years could help make their tax cut permanent.  

Lamont on Thursday reiterated his desire for a vote on the gas tax soon. He noted the House and Senate are set to vote next week on some judicial nominations.  

“So there’s certainly a way to vote on it if the leaders want to vote on it,” Lamont said.  

Lamont’s budget proposal includes setting aside $500 million in surplus funds to offer a one-time $200 tax rebate to most people, but he has since suggested the state could draw from that same fund to offset revenue lost by a gas tax holiday.  

He repeated his concerns Thursday about other tax relief proposals, mainly those he questions the sustainability of. 

The state is looking at a $1.6 billion surplus this year in tax revenues from certain unpredictable streams, including income tax from investors.  

A volatility cap limits how much the state can spend from those streams, leading to this year’s surplus. Unspent money goes into the Rainy Day Fund and toward pension debt. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans have both targeted that same surplus to pay for their tax relief plans.  

House Democrats, meanwhile, suggested the state could use some of Lamont’s proposed $500 million pool to increase education aid.  

“Everybody says I want something structural and long-term,” Lamont said Thursday. “That means structural deficits that are long-term. I don’t want that to happen.”  

The state is in the middle of a two-year budget, but the legislature typically makes changes to that second year.  

The legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee has until April 1 to present and propose tax changes, while the Appropriations Committee’s deadline to approve a spending plan is the following day.  

If lawmakers choose to present a plan that differs from Lamont’s, the two sides will likely negotiate a compromise before the legislature votes.  

Those talks typically go until late in the session, which ends May 6 this year. If a gas tax holiday is part of the budget plan, it may not take effect until late spring or early summer.