If you work a full-time job in Connecticut, or anywhere in the United States for that matter, you should be able to afford the basics you need to live – housing, enough to eat, heat, transportation to work, and a little savings. But every day there are people, mothers, fathers, and grandparents, who work 40 […]

My grandmother Nellie Grace arrived in Boston from Ireland in 1909.  On the ship manifest she was described as a domestic servant.  Many people’s relations have come from similarly humble beginnings.  The fabric of Connecticut history is made of many threads, spun from the sweat and blood of working men and women.  It’s a shame […]

Central to the mission at Partnership for Strong Communities is to build the political and civic will to prevent and end homelessness. As such, in 2013, the Partnership’s Reaching Home Campaign, partnered with Yale University and the Center for Children’s Advocacy to publish “Invisible No More,” the state’s first-ever comprehensive look at youth homelessness. Researchers […]

Politicians who receive millions in public financing for their election campaigns should spend the money in Connecticut — not with out-of-state advertising firms.

Thanks for your recent article “Do public hearings influence what health insurance costs?”  Given that Connecticut has the fourth highest healthcare costs and health insurance rates in the US, this is an especially important question for all of us. As leaders in CONECT (Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut), we have argued for public hearings as […]

The enormous unfunded pension liabilities of the State of Connecticut have hardly been discussed so far in the run up to the November gubernatorial election. Nevertheless, the question needs to be raised, for whoever is governor after the November election will inevitably have to reform the state’s employee pension plan or face the possibility of […]

For the record, my colleagues and I who support charter schools are deeply disturbed by the scandal surrounding Family Urban Schools of Excellence (FUSE) — yet another charter school-related problem of criminal activity allegations. We are upset not only with the idea of anyone misusing public funds, but more selfishly perhaps, we know that we, as […]

As we prepare for an election season with more financial talking points than usual, we should ask candidates who make promises a basic question: How? How will you both cut spending and address issues about which you purport to care? What is the process to “reallocate” money from an over-funded function to something that makes sense? […]

In 1965, almost half of America’s seniors had no health insurance. For the men and women who survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, retirement often meant insecurity and hopelessness. Our nation’s seniors reached their most medically vulnerable years with few, and sometimes no health care options. That’s why, after decades of failed attempts […]