I want to share some highlights including state and local updates.
In this email you'll find updates on district resources and news. Please click the links below to read the section that corresponds with the highlighted headline.
A NOTE: If you're having trouble clicking through the following links, open this email in a browser, use a computer or scroll through this email to the relevant section.
Yom Kippur – the holiest day of the year in Judaism – begins at sunset on Sunday. Known as the "Day of Atonement," Yom Kippur's central themes are atonement and repentance. The Jewish faith traditionally observes this holy day through fasting and intensive prayer until sunset the next day.
Happy #HispanicHeritageMonth! Join me all month long in celebrating the rich culture and contributions our community brings to Connecticut.
I am pleased to share that the Hispanic Heritage Essay Contest is now live! This contest is open to middle and high school students (grades 6-12) The theme this year is making connections to Hispanic culture, and prizes include a $3,000 cash scholarship and iPads. Details can be found atwww.Optimum.com/HHM
Legislative Updates
CT DEEP Website
Whether you’re looking for waterfalls or white water, backcountry camping or glamping, hiking or horseback riding, find more information on Connecticut's 142 state parks and forest that covers 255,000 acres of our beautiful state by clicking here.
New year, new wage! Effective January 1, 2024, the state's minimum wage of $15 will increase to $15.69 as part of its first-ever economic indicator adjustment.
This increase was made possible thanks tolegislation passed in 2019, which implemented five incremental increases in the minimum wage between 2019 and 2023, followed by future adjustments that are tied to the percentage change in the federal employment cost index.
Beginning on January 1, 2024, and occurring annually each January 1, the state’s minimum wage will be adjusted according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s calculation of the employment cost index for the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year. The law requires the Connecticut Department of Labor to review this percentage change and then announce any adjustments by October 15 of each year. The minimum wage adjustments become effective on the next January 1.
Providing livable wages to the lowest-earning workers is a step in the right direction to help them make ends meet and provide for their families. This increase not only assists hard-working Connecticut families, but it can spur local economies by putting more money in people's pockets, which drives up spending power and makes it easier to pay household bills. Approximately 60% of minimum-wage earners in Connecticut are women, according to the Current Population Survey, calculated by the US. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
No one should be forced to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. I stand in strong support of this pay adjustment and the workers who will benefit from it.
Today In History
Wilbur Olin Atwater, who died today in 1907, was a nineteenth-century pioneer in nutrition science who talked about food and metabolism 150 years ago in a way that would seem totally at home on the pages of a health magazine or nutrition brochure today. The son of a New York minister and librarian, Atwater attended Wesleyan University and graduate school at Yale, where he got his PhD in 1869 for a thesis studying the chemical makeup of corn in dizzying detail.
Though lacking an epicurean interest in food, Atwater wanted to know everything about it on the tiniest scale: he wanted to know if humans really are what we eat, and how we might change our bodies or energy levels based on what we put into our mouths.
Unknown. circa 1907. “Subject on bicycle ergometer.” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library.
After receiving his doctorate, Atwater further developed his toolkit, working in agriculture, physiology and chemistry to pick apart the nutritive values of various fertilizers and foods ranging from fish to beans. Curious about how growth and the consumption of food might affect energy in the human body, Atwater studied metabolism in Germany. Noticing that European researchers used a model that leaned on the use of experimental agricultural stations, he became eager to set up a similar sort of practical farm lab in the United States. On his return to the states, Atwater implemented an experimental farm facility at Wesleyan for research purposes, the first of its kind in America.
Unknown. circa 1907. “Calorimeter subject washing clothes, Washington D.C..” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library.
This facility, and the addition of government funding, meant that Atwater and his colleagues could dig into nutrition research. Their reports included information that would be very familiar to the modern fitness enthusiast: about food’s macronutrients and energy value, about how bodies turn food into fuel, and how changes in exercise or diet could help both athletes’ performance and everyday health. The passage of the federal Hatch Act in 1887 meant that land-grant colleges could access money for agricultural stations, and Atwater was named director of Connecticut’s second station at the Storrs Agricultural College (now UConn).
Wilbur Olin Atwater’s other major contribution to nutrition science was the development of a calorimeter for measuring actual energy use in the human body. The machine worked, at its most basic, by measuring the heat a person produced after eating certain foods and going through physical activity. It could not have been terribly comfortable – it was, basically, a box that measured 7 by 4 by 6 feet and acted as the world’s smallest studio apartment for the experiment subject – but it effectively measured calorie information and allowed Atwater and his teams to demonstrate that people burned food for fuel, and stored as fat what they couldn’t burn.
Atwater’s legacy continues today in both agricultural research and nutrition – the USDA food charts and nutrition guidance you may remember from your school days have their roots in the nutrition research he conducted many years ago.
Unknown. 1910. “Subject emerging from large respiration calorimeter.” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library.
Please arrive early to be in line for 9 am as the truck leaves promptly at 9:30 am. Open to the public--bring a sturdy grocery bag! This program is made possible by Foodshare and Winn Residential - Resident Service Program. For more information call 860-646-1280.
Squire Village, 48 Spencer Street, 06040 (1st parking lot off Imperial Drive #78)
The Town of Manchester is launching two reimbursement grant programs to assist businesses in town. One is the Business Investment Fund Grant Program which offers reimbursable matching grants to eligible Manchester small business owners. The second one is the Business Façade and Signage Improvement Fund Grant Program which offers reimbursement grants to eligible Manchester small business owners to improve the exterior appearance of commercial and mixed-use buildings and signage.
Saturday, September 23, 2023 | 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Sunday, September 24, 2023 | 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Monday, September 25, 2023 | 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
A giant tag sale will benefit the Manchester Land Conservation Trust and its work to preserve open space lands.
Shop Friday, September 22 through Saturday, September 30, from 10:00 to 3:00 each day at 330 Bush Hill Road, Manchester, in the old cider barn on our farm property. Browse through 5,000 square feet of books, games, dishes, tools, artwork, jigsaw puzzles, toys, furniture, machinery, household and sports items, near-antiques, glassware, holiday décor, and items both useful and decorative. There are four miles of trails at the farm, so you can shop and hike on the same day. Donations may be placed in shed on right side of barn, or phone Terry any time 860-643-1823. Please, no computers, televisions, encyclopedias, clothes. Info about the Land Trust and its events at www.manchesterlandtrust.org.
Source to Sea Cleanup
Litter cleanups will be taking place this September all along the Connecticut River and its tributaries, covering four different states!
Join us for our local cleanup event on Saturday, September 23, 10am-12pm at Center Springs Park, 39 Lodge Drive.
Opportunity to submit for funding of up to $50,000 to address resiliency, equity, and sustainability within the Town of Manchester
This competitive grant program is open to Manchester non-profit organizations to support eligible projects of up to 12 months in duration. Online applications will be accepted starting Friday, September 8, 2023. The deadline for submitting a grant application is Friday, November 3, 2023.
Manchester has launched planning efforts for its 2023 Bicentennial Celebration. This year long celebration will consist of a variety of opportunities to remember the past, celebrate the present, and dream about the future. Festivities will include historical and educational programs, special events, and commemorative projects.
East Hartford’s Greater Together Community Fund has released its second open call for project proposals. Amounts from $250 to $2,500 will be awarded in grant funds to selected proposals. All projects must benefit the residents of East Hartford. For further details on project guidelines and how to apply, please visit: hfpg.org/EastHartfordcf. Completed applications are due by September 8, 2023. Grant Awards will be announced in October 2023.
East Hartford Farmers Market
The East Hartford Farmers’ Market are excited to present to you their new and improved Farmers' Market, with new vendors and updated hours. The 2023 farmers’ market dates are held Tuesdays from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00p.m. They invite residents to celebrate Connecticut-grown fruits, vegetables and locally produced foods, as well as enjoy our market - a place to connect with others in our community.
Location: Raymond Library at 840 Main Street, East Hartford, CT 06108
The Town of East Hartford Invites You to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the Latin Festival
The Town of East Hartford in collaboration with East Hartford Parks and Recreation, invites all to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the Latin Festival.
Due to anticipated rainy forecast, the event has been moved inside the Community Cultural Center at 50 Chapman Place.
The celebration will take place Saturday, September 23 from 12 to 6 PM at the Community Cultural Center (50 Chapman Place). Admission is FREE.
We expect this event to be one of our biggest family events of the season for everyone as we celebrate our Hispanic Community and embrace our uniqueness and enrichment with local vendors and crafters, cultural activities and live performances.
Please be advised the Town of East Hartford is looking for East Hartford residents to serve on the newly established Fair Rent & Quality Housing Commission.
During the past year, residential rents have dramatically increased across the state. For more than 50 years, Connecticut towns have been authorized by state law to create fair rent commissions to address these very issues. Such commissions are empowered to stop or delay an unconscionable rent increase and also to limit rent to a fair level when there are health or safety violations. Fair rent commissions have been proven to be an important municipal tool to prevent unreasonable rent increases and to buttress housing code enforcement.
In 2022, the Connecticut legislature passed Public Act 22-30, which requires each town with a population greater than 25,000 to adopt a fair rent commission ordinance in accordance with the Fair Rent Commission Act (C.G.S. 7-148b through 7-148f).
East Hartford will be enacting a Fair Rent Commission in the next couple of months and has begun recruiting residents to the commission. The Town will take in applications and prioritize them in the order in which they come in.
Commissioners will receive training from CT Fair Housing and training related to procedural operations of the commission before the Town starts to accept complaints for the commission’s consideration.
East Hartford Parks and Recreation has resumed our aquatics operations at the East Hartford Middle School Pool, offering opportunities for residents and non-residents to continue swimming during the school year and now we are excited to announce that we are also offering Fall swim lessons!
Group Swim Lessons at the Middle School Pool
Group Swim Lessons will be held on Wednesday evenings or Saturday mornings beginning October 4th. Lessons are offered as an 8-week session and the fee for the session is $40 for residents or $50 for non-residents. Registration is required online atwww.ehparks.org, and registration will open on Tuesday, September 19th for residents and Tuesday, September 26th for non-residents. Our group swim lessons are taught by certified American Red Cross Water Safety Instructors with an enthusiasm and dedication to helping children and adults achieve their swimming goals.
Semi-Private Swim Lessons at the Middle School Pool
Semi-Private Swim Lessons will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and are available for ages 4 and up. Each session includes four 30 minute lessons and the fee for the session is $59 for residents or $69 for non-residents. Registration is required online atwww.ehparks.org, and registration will open on Tuesday, September 19th for residents and Tuesday, September 26th for non-residents.
Private Swim Lessons: Private lessons are available for ages 4 and up. Please check www.ehparks.org for the schedule and fees for private lessons.
East Hartford Middle School is located at 777 Burnside Avenue, but the pool is only accessible from the school entrance on Scotland Road.
For more information on our swim programs, or to review the pool rules please visit www.easthartfordct.gov/parks-recreation or call our office at 860-291-7160.
My office is always open if you or your family are in need of assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me by email atJason.Rojas@cga.ct.govor by phone at 860-240-8541.
