Jobs For Connecticut Now

– Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today announced the awarding of a $5,800,000 grant from the Green Jobs Innovation Fund to the Connecticut Department of Labor for its Connecticut Green Jobs Funnel Initiative (CGJFI).

This grant will help the Connecticut Green Jobs Funnel Initiative promote career pathways in the green construction industry. The Job Funnel model helps teach unemployed and underemployed workers the skills and crafts of green construction and related industries, including Brownfield remediation, energy management, solar panel installation, and a number of other occupations. The initiative will benefit 975 unemployed and underemployed workers in seven Connecticut communities: Bridgeport, Bristol, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, New London, and Waterbury. Read More.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Department of Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky recently announced that the State Bond Commission is anticipated to approve at its upcoming meeting an allocation of $500,000 that will be used to continue the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Reinvestment Program, which provides matching grants to farmers to expand or improve working farms in accordance with business plans to keep the farms working for at least ten years.

“The Farm Reinvestment Program is an excellent example of how the state can help businesses grow and prosper on a long-term basis,” Governor Malloy said. “Agriculture contributes $3.5 billion to Connecticut’s economy, and the proposed investments will help our farmers strengthen their businesses and add to the 20,000 jobs that their industry already provides.”

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DOVER — Two brothers from Massachusetts are getting ready to pull the trigger on purchasing the Tuttle Farm property, according to Economic Development Director Dan Barufaldi.

Though he refused to name them at this point in time, Barufaldi said the two have the “right requisite skills” for taking on the $3.35 million property and hope to carry on the legacy of the Tuttle brand.

Despite having made no formal commitment at this point in time, Barufaldi said the two have expressed interest in using the farming aspect of the land as a not-for-profit. By teaming up with Suzanne Brown, founder of the New Hampshire Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, the pair would bring in students looking to gain knowledge on farming. Read More.

The best-performing New England state was New Hampshire, with personal income growth of 2 percent. However, despite underperforming most of the rest of the country, Massachusetts income growth actually almost quadrupled from 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Read More.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the new $8.35 million, 30,000-square-foot ambulatory care facility at Windham Hospital is just the type of project in which he hopes the state will invest to spur economic development in Connecticut’s northeastern corner. Read More.

In a blow to the Malloy administration, a large bargaining unit known as P-2 has rejected the SEBAC agreement on health and pension benefits, union sources said early Wednesday morning.

The union represents about 3,800 human and social services workers, including employees at major agencies like the Department of Children and Families, Department of Social Services, and the state labor department.

P-2 had been seen by the Malloy administration as a criticial voting unit in the deal. Read More

Unemployment on the Cape and Islands dropped to 7.6 percent in May compared to 8.1 percent a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

“The May rate continues the seasonal trend and our rates compared to last year show slow and steady improvement,” said David Augustinho, executive director of the Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board. Though the statistics show the unemployment rate was down last month as compared with May 2010, the total number of employed people fell by 780 compared to last year. Read More.

Windham Hospital is slated to receive $8.3 million in state bonding money to build a new medical center, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Tuesday.

The State Bond Commission is expected to approve the funding when it meets Friday. Malloy is chairman of the commission.

Malloy was joined by state Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, and state Rep. Susan Johnson, D-Windham, for the announcement Tuesday in the hospital atrium.

Malloy said northeastern Connecticut is often overlooked by the state, but the location and timing for this project could not be more perfect.

“On all accounts, this project makes perfect sense, to give better care in a more cost-effective setting,” Malloy said. “It simply makes too much sense not to be funded at this time.”

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“We also have an opportunity though to build and rebuild in Springfield and throughout the region better than ever,” said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Governor Patrick focused on the positives Tuesday as he held a rebuilding meeting with local officials in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The governor also announced $15 million dollars in state emergency relief funding for the area affected by the tornadoes.

“I think we’re going to be trying to fill in gaps that aren’t already – really needs that aren’t already being met by private insurance, by the federal resources,” said Govenor Patrick.

Those needs are vast.

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The Worcester metropolitan area recorded a jobless rate of 7.9 percent in May, below the rate of 8.9 percent recorded one year earlier, according to data released today by the state. Other metro areas in Central Massachusetts showed similar changes. The unemployment rate in the Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner area was 10 percent in May, compared to 10.8 percent a year earlier, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The Athol area’s jobless rate of 9.4 percent in May was below a rate of 11.1 percent a year earlier, the state data showed. Read More.