The Young Demographic

In the second of a series of posts, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley discusses his stance on issues relevant to young professionals. Foley is a Greenwich businessman and won his party’s endorsement in the Republican Convention earlier this year. He will face four other contenders in the Aug. 10 primary.

What do you think are the three issues young professionals in Connecticut are most concerned about?

 Foley: Jobs, the economy, and making Connecticut an affordable place to live.

How would you retain young professional talent in Connecticut?

Foley: I have a Plan Forward for Connecticut that emphasizes bringing back jobs and the economy to Connecticut by making our state a more attractive place for business to locate and hire people. I will work to develop and market the ‘Knowledge Corridor’ from Enfield to New Haven as a unique national asset combining our well-educated and highly skilled workforce with some of the best academic institutions and infrastructure in the nation.

What kinds of initiatives would you enact to create more affordable housing for young professionals?

Foley: In order to create affordable housing we need to improve the housing market in our state, and the first step in improving the market is bringing back jobs and the economy. If we can develop a strong economy with good paying jobs housing will be more affordable.

 What would you do to improve public transportation?

Foley: First of all we need a transportation policy that makes sense and is well funded. Right now we don’t have one. Improving transportation should be an integral part of any jobs program.  Getting people to and from work in a safe and cost effective manner will improve job opportunities for everyone in Connecticut.

In the first of a series of posts, Democratic gubernational candidate Dan Malloy discusses his stance on issues relevant to young professionals. Malloy is the mayor of Stamford and won his party’s endorsement in the Democratic Convention earlier this year. He will face Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont in the Aug. 10 primary.

What do you think are the three issues young professionals in Connecticut are most concerned about?

Malloy: Issue number one for Connecticut’s next Governor is job creation, and in my talks with young professionals around the state I think they understand that.  In fact, I’m tempted to say it’s issue one, two and three, because the fact is if we can’t grow jobs and get Connecticut’s economy back on track, it will be impossible to make headway on any of the critical issues facing Connecticut. Jobs are important to all Connecticut residents, but especially so for young professionals who are looking to begin their careers and adult lives in Connecticut. If they cant find good jobs here, they’ll move elsewhere – and when that happens the state suffers.

 Secondary but related to that, young professionals are concerned about health care, and affordable housing.  They need to know that an illness won’t devastate them financially, and that can afford to live here and still maintain a good quality of life. 

 How would you retain young professional talent in Connecticut?

 Malloy: I’ll lead an effort to maintain the good jobs we have, and to grow new, well-paying jobs as well so that our young professionals have a reason to stay here.  Growing jobs will be a multifaceted approach, one that includes: a refocused effort on recruiting out-of-state companies to come to Connecticut; investing in high-tech industry while working to revitalize the state’s manufacturing industry; reducing health care and energy costs to make the state more business friendly; and making statewide improvements in infrastructure and transportation.  Under my administration we can and will make progress on all those fronts, and in doing so we’ll make Connecticut a more attractive place for young professionals to work and live.

 What kinds of initiatives would you enact to create more affordable housing for young professionals?

Malloy: I know something about the importance of affordable housing – during my time as Mayor of Stamford we built more affordable housing than any other municipality in the state.  Affordability is key to attracting and retaining young skilled workers, and it’s key to attracting and retaining small innovative companies that can grow to be major employers.  Connecticut should do more to support applicants for federal funding and tax credits. It should expand the affordable housing bonus in its Historic Preservation Tax Credit program – a program that creates jobs and preserves our historical assets by encouraging rehabilitation of old buildings.

 Connecticut should consider bonuses for affordable housing that are consistent with Transit Oriented Development. It should approach affordable housing expansion in a way that builds community and grows neighborhood connections.

 Finally, it must tackle homelessness by doing more to support sustainable housing programs and addressing the root causes of homelessness linked to mental illness and economic opportunity.

What would you do to improve public transportation?

 Malloy: As Governor I’ll be committed to pursuing strategies that reduce congestion and that provide attractive mass transportation options.

 In Stamford, I did just that. Commuter rail service in Stamford grew 200 percent under my leadership. We completed major improvements, including the addition of 1,100 parking spaces, to our train station, the 2nd busiest stop on the Metro-North Line after Grand Central Station. And, toward the end of my tenure, we secured millions of federal dollars for the 1-mile Stamford Urban Transitway, which will vastly improve access to rail service, including access to high-speed rail.

It’s never too early to start talking about the upcoming elections in November, especially to you, my young professional friends. Because the trends are disheartening. In 2006, another off-year election, only 25.5 percent of people aged 18 – 29 voted, while almost 54 percent of people aged 30 and older voted. (This statistic, and a full report on youth voting trends can be found here.)

Even though it is an off-year, it is still important that you be engaged in the political dialogue because Connecticut residents will be electing a new governor.

If you haven’t been staying on top of Connecticut politics, here is a quick rundown:

M. Jodi Rell, the current governor, has served in the position since 2004, but announced last year that she will not seek reelection.  A number of candidates stepped up, hoping to fill the vacancy. The Democrats have two candidates vieing to win the primary election in August, while the Republicans have five.

For this blog, I’ve asked each candidate to answer a set of questions pertaining to issues affecting young professionals. I will post each candidate’s responses as they come in.

The questions are:

1. What do you think are the three issues young professionals in Connecticut are most concerned about?

2. How would you retain young professional talent in Connecticut?

3. What kinds of initiatives would you enact to create more affordable housing for young professionals?

4. What would you do to improve public transportation?

These are general questions, and it’s your responsibility as a voter to do a little extra research on specific issues that you’re passionate about.

Chanie Stone is a community and outreach worker for the Schneerson Center.

If you’re a Jewish person in your 20s or 30s, chances are you’re not going to find many others your age when you go to the synagogue.

“Most of the social events in Fairfield County are for young, married couples with children,” Chanie Stone, 29, of Wesport, said. “There’s not much going on for singles or the unattached.”

So Stone created the Young Jewish Professionals of Westport in October, 2009, and since then, the group has accrued about 100 members.

“We have cocktail parties, holiday parties, we go hiking,” Chanie said.

A lot of Jewish people her age are concerned about continuing the Jewish heritage and traditions, and would like to establish a Jewish home, she said.

“Most of us would like to marry Jewish, but they have a hard time finding each other,” Stone said. “My ultimate goal is for people to find mates, but also to establish long lasting friendships. ”

No matches have been made yet, Stone said, but definitely, “strong, beautiful friendships.”

To find out more about the Young Jewish Professionals, call Stone at 203-635-4118 or visit their Facebook page.

A snapshot from the organization's wine and cheesecake extravaganza.

This photo was taken at the group's Purim Party.

Anthony Harris, left, is transitioning from PR to the sports and entertainment industry in New York City. Mikelah Rose is starting her own online marketing company in Stamford.

Two Stamford young professionals have founded the M.O.D. Success Series (Motivation + Opportunities + Drive = Success), a monthly networking series for career minded young professionals. 

This isn’t your typical happy-hour-exchange-business-cards-over drinks gathering. Come prepared to learn do some serious networking. 

M.O.D. had its first event last night at the Sundance Cafe in Stamford. Local entrepreneur Rick Fidelli, co-owner of MidState Printing Group, spoke about the challenges of starting his own business and gave out a few networking tips. About 25 people came to the event and the response was mostly favorable, M.O.D. cofounder Anthony Harris, 25, said. The YPs in attendance represented the media, non-profit, investment banking and motivational speaking industries to name a few.

 Harris and Mikelah Rose, 25, are both Stamford natives and attended Stamford High. They began discussing creating an educational networking group a few months ago.

“Anthony and I are from Stamford and we both have worked in New York and have seen the best of both worlds,” Rose said. “We found that for young people in this area, there are lots of social events, but we didn’t see abundance of young people trying to network in terms of moving their career along.” 

They chose a speaker with broad appeal for their first event, but future speakers will be more industry specific, so they attract different groups of younf proffesionals. 

“If we have the same people attending every single month, it will defeat the purpose,” Rose said. 

For now the events will all be in Stamford, but as the group expands, they may move to other parts of the state, Harris said.

A Hartford Courant blog covered Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont’s recent round table discussion with a group of young professionals in the state’s capital.

“All my friends are headed to D.C., New York or San Francisco,” said Meg Evans, a 22-year-old senior at Yale University who has lived in Connecticut virtually her whole life. “That’s a big pull.”

Many of her friends, she said, actually live in Manhattan and make the reverse commute to work in Stamford.

“If you go to those train stations in Fairfield County, there are as many people coming in as going out,” Lamont responded.

One woman caught Lamont’s attention when she said she left the famed Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and is now teaching political science at the University of Connecticut. She said that Connecticut would be a better state if there was a light rail system to get from UConn to New Haven.

Others in the roundtable discussed the long-stalled New Britain-to-Hartford busway, although some said that will not make much difference in the quality of life in either of those cities.

Lamont told the YPs he would like to see Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport become powerful cities again.

Read the Courant’s blog post here.

Yes, if:

- You plan to have children in the next ten years.

- You can afford the premiums. (If you’re prioritizing your investments, a 401k probably comes first.)

Read more in-depth information on the subject here.