State using $875M investment to help struggling neighborhoods

Connecticut kicked off on Monday a two-month scramble for funding from an $875 million pot to help struggling neighborhoods draw better paying jobs under a broad range of qualifying initiatives.

The new Community Investment Fund 2030 will award the funding in 10 rounds over five years. Nearly a third of Connecticut cities and towns are eligible to apply based on their economic profiles, along with nonprofits and community development corporations that raise outside funding to revitalize neighborhoods. Multiple applicants are allowed to file joint applications for specific projects.

Connecticut would finance the program by issuing bonds it would have to pay off later with interest. Gov. Ned Lamont ran for governor in 2018 on a pledge to put Connecticut on a “debt diet” in his words. This spring, he has mentioned repeatedly Connecticut having paid down $5 billion in pension obligations, eliminating some $400 million in annual contributions to prop up those pensions.

Speaking two weeks ago to the state Office of Workforce Strategy, however, Lamont called the current economy “once in a lifetime” and said he wants to make sure all workers have opportunities to lift their prospects.

“There’s too many kids in this state and young people in this state who have said, ‘These are jobs not for me — they are probably jobs for somebody else, but I would never get a job like this,’” Lamont said in mid-May during the Office of Workforce Strategy meeting. “This is an economy where we need each and every one of those young people standing up, nobody left behind. Whether from a poor community, a rural community, maybe they were formerly incarcerated and coming out — we need people trained for these jobs.”

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development will run the program with oversight from a board chaired by House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and Senate President Martin Looney, D-11th. Speaking during a May 10 meeting of the Community Investment Fund

2030 board, Ritter said the goal was for sustained support to trigger lasting results for specific communities, in contrast to onetime investments that do not stick.

“If you’re going to make true economic investments, the ‘oneoffs’ don’t always work,” Ritter said during the May 10 meeting. “Challenge them — what could you do if you had a steady stream of funds for five to 10 years? What would you do with that?”

DECD named Matt Pugliese as director of the Community Investment Fund 2030 program, with Pugliese previously with the Connecticut Small Business Development Center and before that managing director of the Connecticut Repertory Theatre at the University of Connecticut.

Applications are due July 25 for an initial round of up to $75 million in funding, for projects valued at $250,000 ore more. Information is online at portal.ct.gov/communityinvestmentfund.

DECD is planning a trio of webinars to review the program, with the first scheduled for June 1, and is also offering one-on-one sessions online to help applications.

Any applications that do not get approved can get feedback on where they fell short, according to Alexandra Daum, deputy DECD director, speaking at the May 10 meeting. Daum added non-municipal applicants would “get priority” in her words if they get an endorsement from an elected official in any city or town that would benefit from the project.