Trainings & Events

The Glastonbury MLK Community Initiative (GMLKCI) presents: A Community Conversation: Affordable Housing: Myths, Benefits and Solutions. This virtual conversation will be held on Monday, May 10, 2021, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. via a Zoom Webinar. The event is jointly sponsored by the Open Communities Alliance (OCA) and TALK (Truth in Action with Love and Kindness, Inc.).

Connecticut is one of the most racially and economically segregated states in the union. A substantial body of evidence shows that residential segregation undermines the well-being of individuals, communities and American society as a whole and that everyone benefits from the greater tolerance, fair-mindedness, openness and opportunities that result from racial and economic diversity.

This webinar is the second in a series of three conversations on affordable housing. The first, on March 15, was sponsored by TALK, and focused on the Fair Share model for apportioning the region’s affordable housing need among the towns in the region based on their affordable housing resources and financial capacity. The featured speakers were Open Communities Alliance’s Erin Boggs and Sam Giffin, and Connecticut General Assembly House Majority Leader Jason Rojas. The third conversation, on June 1, will be a collaboration between TALK, Open Communities Alliance, Glastonbury Housing Authority, and Glastonbury’s Commission on Racial Justice and Equity. It will focus on Glastonbury’s affordable and subsidized housing resources, including how people access.
 

Following a brief overview of general forest climate adaptation strategies, this talk will present one experimental project begun in Scituate, Rhode Island, in 2015, when Christopher Riely helped manage 13,000 acres of forestland buffering the reservoirs for Rhode Island’s largest water utility. Site work included planting both native tree seedlings and non-native species projected to be adapted to future climate conditions, such as shortleaf pine and sweetgum. To assess deer impacts on one site, half the seedlings were planted inside a large exclosure fence. While foresters monitor early results, the project has provided significant educational value through engaging public audiences and a professional community of practice.

Are you new to risk communication and struggling with where to start? Attend this in-depth workshop to develop your own actionable risk communication strategy and identify next steps for how to interact with your specific audience.

About the Workshop:

This workshop is for local government staff and community partners working to engage various audiences in planning for natural hazards.This virtual workshop will start May 12, 2021, with live sessions every other week. The workshop includes interactive, instructor-led sessions, discussion with peers, as well as individual and small group work on your specific project. Teams or pairs are encouraged to participate and work together on their strategy. This workshop focuses on improving risk communication skills for coastal hazards planning and preparedness, not crisis communication when a disaster is imminent.

You will learn how to:

    - Understand how and why people respond to risk the way they do

    - Define an actionable goal you would like your audience to reach

    - Assess your specific audiences’ characteristics and values

    - Identify ways to engage your audience based on their characteristics and values

    - Develop a strategy for engaging your audience that supports the actionable goal you defined

Requirements:

    - Come with a specific risk communication project to tackle

    - Be able to join us for the duration of the course

    - Participate in a 2 hour session every other week (2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 12, May 26, and June 9)

    - Spend up to 60 minutes of your own time completing assignments and engaging with course participants electronically
 

Accurate statistics about 2020 will rely on much more than the decennial census data collection. Developing reliable data will require an understanding of challenges resulting from the pandemic, combined with greater use of non-traditional sources like administrative records. The solutions to these problems will impact how data is gathered going forward for a variety of purposes: education, housing, economic development, public health, and more.

Register today for this series of town hall events and trainings. During this workshop series you will learn more about the quality of the data that state and local leaders rely on and how you can improve and supplement it.
 

This two-part workshop occurs on May 13 and May 20 from 10am-12pm ET.

You may use and communicate data on a regular basis, but know that you still want to improve your skills in producing data and conducting analyses. During this day-long, hands-on workshop you learn about and practice asking and answering data questions, and using new tools to help save you time and improve the accuracy of your next data project.

During this hands-on workshop you will manipulate data and learn how to:

- Use questions to decide what kind of analysis to conduct.

- Identify the types of data you have, and what you can do with each.

- Clean your data

- Use Excel and Google Sheets to conduct basic analyses.

A note about the fee:

Workshops build skills, clear up confusion, and enhance professional development, but you didn’t need us to tell you that. Studies have found that by charging a small fee, it increases the likelihood that you will attend this workshop and reap the benefits of the training. For this reason, CTData charges a small fee to help you follow-through on your desire to improve your data skills - which is why you signed up. However, if you are truly unable to pay the fee, please contact Sarah (sarah@ctdata.org) to attend this training free of charge.
 

This free, three-part, virtual equity workshop series provides a comprehensive framework of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion (REDI). Attendance at all three sessions is required. Sessions run 9:00 am - 1:00 pm on: April 27th, May 18th, and June 22nd. Content will be geared to help Sustainability Teams integrate REDI considerations into their Sustainable CT initiatives. Who should attend? Sustainability Team members (elected officials, municipal staff, commissioners, volunteers) in registered Sustainable CT communities. Attendance is capped at 30.

Advancing equity increases the prosperity, health, and safety of the entire community. In order to transform structures, organizations, communities, and systems, community leaders and residents need an equity lens focusing on the unique experiences of marginalized identities including People of Color, LGBTQ+, and Immigrants. This highly interactive training provides:

- A comprehensive framework and definitions of racial equity, diversity, inclusion (REDI)

- An overview of the value of REDI, community engagement, and why representation is important

- Practical strategies for advancing REDI through inclusive town events, community dialogue, resident feedback, and town responsiveness.

Workshop leaders offer a variety of tools and teaching methods including graphic facilitation, visual imagery, theoretical models, small group dialogue, and kinesthetic interaction, to create a dynamic space that supports all types of learners.

If you can't make the Spring series, check out our Winter, Summer, and Fall workshop series.

This session will provide participants with practical tips for developing affordable housing plans to meet the needs of your community. Under state law, affordable housing plans are required to be completed by June 1, 2022.

Guest speakers will provide guests with input on assessing housing needs, engaging the community in planning efforts, and best practices for implementing affordable housing plans. In addition, participants will be joined by small town leaders who will share tips and lessons learned in developing their affordable housing plans.
 

This is the May meeting of Connecticut's Equity and Ethics Community of Practice. It is open to anyone who works is data that is interested in this topic.

Join the Equity in Data Community of Practice as they delve more deeply into how we collect demographic data.

For the May session, participants will be discussing demographic data collection in preparation for the June session with Jasmine Laroche (Program Association, Evaluation and Learning at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies) who will present and facilitate a discussion based on the report, More Than Numbers: A Guide Toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Data Collection.

Demographic data collection (items about people's characteristics - their race and ethnicity, age, income, etc.) offers great promise. It allows us the chance to disaggregate data to learn whether different groups are benefiting more than others.

Yet it also offers the opportunity to harm and make groups more invisible than they already feel.

During this interactive discussion, participants will be talking about some of the successes and challenges we have experienced while using or collecting demographic data in our work.
 

The interconnected crises of climate change, ecological collapse, institutional racism and economic inequality are expanding. When facing these challenges, the focus is often placed on immediate crisis response and the built environment without accounting for the underlying cultural causes. Join UMass Sustainable Solutions Lab for a conversation that will explore the wisdom and beauty of different cultures, cultural organizing and artistic expression in the development of resilient and sustainable communities.
 

Have a great idea for a conservation project in your community or land trust, but not sure you have the staff power, technical know-how, or energy to carry it out? Wouldn't it be great to connect with local youth in that effort? Tune in to this webinar to learn how the UConn Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) is engaging high school students in wildlife monitoring, water quality, promoting pollinators, outdoor recreation, and other environmental projects in communities throughout Connecticut. NRCA faculty will share insights on ways to build capacity for your organization through youth engagement. Through this webinar, you'll learn about tangible projects that can help address local environmental needs and hear directly from teen and adult participants about their experiences in UConn NRCA programs and the community actions they carried out.

Speakers:

-  Nicole Friedenfelds and Amy Cabaniss, Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA), UConn Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment
 

Litter on our streets. Plastics in our waterways. Carbon in our air. These are all forms of mounting mismanaged waste causing acute challenges for communities across America.

Now, imagine that incineration and landfilling waste is no longer an option? Over the coming decades, these are very real possibilities as communities face the sustainable concerns facing the planet. Zero waste offers a powerful, positive, and possible alternative.  

Across the United States, businesses, investors, elected officials, regulators, consumers, and communities are coming together to explore the idea around a waste-free world.  

The Keep America Beautiful webinar series, “Exploring the Transition to Zero-Waste Communities,” is a 2021 convening discussion designed to explore the vision around re-defining communities and how that can look in a waste-free world.

Join Sustainable CT for informal discussions the third Friday of each month. We'll share program updates and resources, explore your questions, and strengthen the network of Sustainable CT champions. These sessions are open to all and will be recorded.

Recordings of Previous Coffee Hours

Organizing Your Sustainability Team with the Town of New Milford

Equity Coaching and Old Lyme's Approach to Equity

All Eyes on Our No-Cost Assistance

The Many Flavors of Municipal Collaboration
 

Join the Windham/Willimantic Branch of the NAACP for a conversation about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

By 1921, Tulsa’s Black population had grown to almost 11,000, and the Greenwood community was booming. It was a time of prosperity for the residents. The neighborhood boasted grocery stores, Black movie houses, Black newspapers, drugstores, Black public schools, a Black public library, barbecue and chili parlors, and about 13 churches. But it was also a dangerous time to be Black in America. Between 1917 and 1921, racial violence was rampant. In cities across the country, Blacks were being beaten, burned, and lynched in alarming numbers. No one, Black or white, was prepared for what happened on the night of May 31, 1921.

Join the conversation as participants come together to remember the events of 100 years ago. What have we learned and what do we still need to learn from our shared past?

The conversation is expected to last around 2 hours. Participants are encouraged to watch the PBS American Experience episode Goin' Back To T-Town prior to the event, but it is not required.
 

Join the UMass Sustainable Solutions Lab for the fourth event in their Climate Justice Partnerships series where participants learn how researchers can support climate justice at the local level and successfully collaborate with community organizers.

On May 26, we will hear from representatives from the team that organized the Chelsea and East Boston Heat (C-HEAT) Study. The study is a collaborative research project led by researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and GreenRoots. The goal of the project is to build the capacity for these communities to respond to extreme heat events with engagement of multiple stakeholders including the cities and other organizations concerned with heat in vulnerable populations.
 

The State of Connecticut has a vast number of open space and outdoor recreational opportunities, however information for trail users can be inconsistent, inaccurate, and difficult to find. The Connecticut Trail Finder, currently in development through UConn Extension, will be a free, interactive mapping website designed to help Connecticut residents and visitors explore trail and outdoor recreation opportunities, trailside services, and events across the state. Connecticut Trail Finder will compile trail manager approved trails with the goals of becoming the primary trails data source for the State of Connecticut and connecting users with trail management organizations and resources. This webinar will provide an overview of the resource to trail users, exploring the current and developing features of the website, and provide information for trail and land managers on how you can add your trail systems to the Connecticut Trail Finder.  The Connecticut Trail Finder is funded through generous support from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation.

Speaker:

- Kimberly Bradley, UConn Department of Extension and Trails Program Coordinator, PATHS (People Active on Trails for Health and Sustainability) Team
 

Throughout the month of June, hear about innovative Resilient Connecticut climate change research in this CIRCA "brown bag" webinar series. Focused on specific topics and condensed on time, enjoy one or all nine of these free webinars by clicking on the Register link above.

Each event will be held for 30 minutes during the lunch hour with ~ 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of Q&A. The final webinar on June 25 will run an extra 30 minutes and feature a panel of previous speakers who will discuss policy implications of their work in a moderated Q&A format. Each event will be moderated by CIRCA's Assistant Director of Research, Dr. Yaprak Onat.

An abstract and more information for each webinar will be added below this schedule in the Program Details later this month. If you can't attend these live events, please feel free to watch them on UConn CIRCA's YouTube channel later.
 

Dr. Juliana Barrett, Principal Investigator for the grant that funded this speaker series, will describe the history of the Hoffman Preserve in Stonington, CT, and climate projections for 2050. Now underway, she presents a progress report on the careful selection of trees and shrubs that may withstand climate change in coastal N.E. Her work is guided by new ideas of assisted migration, or how to introduce tree species that can lead to more resilient forests. This project will involve the community in tree planting in a local forest, but more importantly, introduce people to new ideas about how to select and nurture the right tree for the right spot, and at the right time.