‘Limitless Opportunities:’ Economic Action Plan Charts New Course
The CBIA Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity released its long-term economic action plan Sept. 12, featuring strategic recommendations addressing workforce, the economy, and the state’s quality of life.
Opportunity Connecticut: Reimagining Our Workforce, Economy, and Quality of Life was developed through the active participation and collaboration of a diverse group of stakeholders including business, nonprofit, education, and community leaders.
The foundation, a 501(c)(3) created in 2023 to develop a response to the evolving needs of Connecticut’s economy, engaged national consulting firm Economic Leadership LLC to research and develop the plan.
It features a series of recommendations for boosting the state’s competitiveness, retaining and attracting investment and talent, fostering innovation, expanding career pathway opportunities, and growing a vibrant economy.
CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima said that while the organization develops policy priorities for each two-year legislative cycle, “there’s a missing piece to the advocacy puzzle.”
“Connecticut lacks a long-term economic strategic plan,” he said. “The foundation is producing a holistic, long-term response to the evolving needs of our economy.”
‘Growth, Predictability, Opportunity’
DiPentima noted that partnerships and collaborations were critical to shaping the economic plan, “ensuring that everyone not only had a seat at the table, but has a stake in its success.”
“Connecticut’s economic opportunities are limitless,” he said.
“Our goal with the foundation and this plan is to chart a course for sustained economic growth, growth that drives not only predictability, but greater opportunity for all residents.”
Over a period of eight months, Economic Leadership conducted extensive research and stakeholder engagement and analyzed more than 25 reports and studies conducted since 2018.
That effort included a series of 30 forums across the state involving diverse groups of stakeholders, including employers, nonprofit organizations, education institutions, community leaders, and government officials.
“We examined the state’s positioning in four categories—business climate, workforce, infrastructure and innovation,” Economic Leadership’s Kat Saunders explained.
“What was different here was that we had education advocates, we had childcare advocates, we had housing advocates at the table from the beginning.”
Opportunity Connecticut
“Without collaboration, success is impossible,” Dalio Education co-CEO Andrew Ferguson, a member of the foundation’s advisory board, said at the Sept. 12 press conference where the report was released.
“Connecticut’s got an opportunity to lead. It’s got an opportunity to model for this country what it looks like for a state in the Northeast to actually strengthen our economy, to build a business better business climate, to improve our quality of life, to really build a public education system that doesn’t work for some and many but works for all.
“We aren’t there yet.”
Opportunity Connecticut focuses on three strategic pillars as the framework for driving sustained economic growth and creating more opportunities for all residents.
- Business climate
- Workforce and education
- Quality of life
The plan outlines key recommendations for each pillar that provide the structure and goals that can be endorsed, promoted, and implemented through public-private collaboration.
“There are some deep, systemic changes that need to be made in order to help all the other elements of this: workforce, housing, childcare, quality of life,” Saunders said.
Business Climate
“One of the things we heard consistently through the forums is that businesses continue to stay in Connecticut, but their growth is happening elsewhere,” DiPentima said.
He explained that the economic action plan’s business climate recommendations address Connecticut’s competitiveness and overall reputation.
“Almost every state I go into to do this type of work, workforce is the leading part of the conversation,” Saunders said.
“In Connecticut, the recurring theme that kept coming up over and over again was how hard and complex and difficult it was to do business here.”
Key recommendations include:
- Streamlining regulations
- Reducing tax burdens
- Easing barriers to occupational licensing
- Creating a unified economic development mission across state agencies.
“What’s very troublesome is we’re hearing from several businesses that when it comes to growth, they’re looking outside of the state, they’re looking down to the Sun Belt,” added General Dynamics Electric Boat VP of human resources and foundation board member Shawn Coyne.
“I am absolutely ecstatic with this collaboration on the foundation. This is going to put in place solutions to drive statewide economic growth.”
Workforce and Education
The workforce and education pillar features recommendations designed to build an education system that matches the needs of the economy.
“There’s sort of this synergy between education and economics that really needs to be explored,” said Connecticut Education Association president Kate Dias, a foundation advisory board member.
Key recommendations include:
- Aligning graduation standards with workforce needs
- Updating the state report card to include experiential learning
- Expanding tax credits for apprenticeship programs
- Increasing collaboration between education and business stakeholders
Dias noted CEA’s concerns that too often, students are pushed into a singular pathway that often may not meet their needs or the economy’s needs.
“Our educators want to be a part of a dynamic system that supports and helps our students,” she said.
“We’re taking and seizing this opportunity to really be stakeholders and investors in a frontline economic vision for the state.
“It is innovative, it is strategic, and it is thoughtful about the needs of not just today’s workforce, but the workforce of the future.”
Quality of Life
The final pillar of the plan centers on quality of life, featuring recommendations to improve key factors for retaining and attracting residents and businesses.
“Quality of life is a reason that people do choose to either move to Connecticut or stay in Connecticut, but it’s under threat,” said foundation board member and Accenture Hartford office managing director Carol Quinn Toomey.
“The way that work has changed in terms of where it gets done and how it gets done.
“People have options, and they can choose where they want to live. We want Connecticut to be that place they choose.”
Key recommendations include:
- Enhancing transportation project visibility and improving last-mile options
- Developing a multi-decade strategy for energy infrastructure
- Streamlining housing development processes
- Supporting innovative childcare initiatives, including cost-sharing models
“If we don’t address what our workers need to be able to just get to work, to be at work, to live in the state in an affordable way and available way, we can’t grow our businesses,” said Toomey.
“It’s that simple.”
Best Practices
As part of the process, the foundation and Economic Leadership engaged with economic development leaders from other states.
The goal was to share best practices for growing a sustainable, competitive economy and driving generational change.
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Doug Loon and Vermont Futures Project executive director Kevin Chu joined Saunders on a panel at CBIA’s Sept. 4 The Connecticut Economy conference to preview the Opportunity Connecticut plan.
Loon noted the importance of identifying the state’s strengths and work together to protect and enhance those strengths.
“How do we protect those things?” he noted. “Identify opportunities, identify threats, and bring something to the table so that we can rally around.”
Chu said that setting a plan in place is a critical starting point.
“The way you get things done is doers, dollars, and direction,” he said.
“With an economic action plan, you set a direction, and then you can bring in the doers and dollars to get things done.”
Commitment to Action
DiPentima said the foundation will meet with policymakers, legislative officials, and administration officials to review the plan’s recommendations and discuss implementation.
But he stressed that the plan transcends any administration, legislature, or election cycle.
“This is a long-term plan with many stakeholders and many folks who can help implement it,” he said.
He said they will work to educate chambers of commerce, childcare providers, housing advocates, and more on the plan.
One of the key goals of the foundation is to update the plan over time.
“It’s not just going to sit on a shelf somewhere,” foundation director Dustin Nord said during an interview on WGCH Radio.
“This is a living document that we’ve created that we plan on continuing to improve.”
DiPentima said the foundation is committed to driving greater opportunity for all Connecticut residents.
“Opportunity comes in a lot of forms,” he said. “Someone’s first taste of success, their first job, their first car, their first apartment, their first house.”
“All those opportunities are driven by economic growth. That’s what this plan tries to not only preserve, but grow upon.”
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CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.