Weekly Digest: April 17, 2008

NY Times Article: Income Gap in Connecticut Is Growing Fastest, Study Finds

This New York Times article highlights a study by two groups based in Washington- the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  The study finds that the income gap between the wealthy and the poor is widening faster in Connecticut than in any other state.  The study also concludes that Connecticut is the only state in the nation where the poorest 20 percent of people lost real ground over the last 20 years.

To read this article, visit The New York Times website at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/nyregion/09income.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Income+Gap+in+Connecticut+Is+Growing+Fastest%2C+Study+Finds&st=nyt&oref=slogin

CSSP Event: Governance

The next community planning TA session will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 from 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Graustein Memorial Fund. The session topic is governance and community teams will practice using tools from the CSSP Learning Guides 1 & 2. In addition to working in community teams, There will be an opportunity to share challenges and strategies across communities. The session will be lead by Juanita Blount-Clark and will focus on developing effective structures and linking the community planning process to local leaders.

Each community can bring a team of four people. The maximum number of participants is 50 and registration will be on a first come/first serve basis. Communities are encouraged to bring a diverse team to the session and may want to consider inviting leaders from municipal government and the school district as the issues of governance will have a direct impact on how they do business.

Please register by May 9th at: http://discovery.wcgmf.org/reg/event.php?event_id=16

IMPORTANT: This session will be canceled if we do not meet the 20 person or 6 Community registration required by May 9, 2008.

Discovery Website Highlight: CSSP Community Planning and Decision Making Materials

The presentations and handouts from the the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) Community Planning and Decision Making trainings (held on February 26-27 and March 31-April 1) can now be downloaded from the Seminars and Meetings section of the Discovery website.

These materials were distributed at the February and March trainings.  Each community that attended these trainings received one hard copy set of these materials, all of which are now available on the Discovery website.

To download these materials, visit the Discovery website at http://www.discovery.wcgmf.org/category_280.html