The Impact

Sustainable CT Fellows Adrian Huq and Jackie Flaherty take over the big microphone this month to interview collegiate movers-and-shakers in the sustainability movement. Their guests include: Dylan Steer, President of EcoHusky, lead organizer with Fossil Fuel Free UConn, and UConn Office of Sustainability intern; Amelia Kearney, Founder and Former President of Tunxis Sustainability Club, and Communications Lead at Sunrise Movement Connecticut; and Derek Faulkner from Southern CT State's Office of Sustainability. It's a lively and informative conversation that you won't want to miss!

Thought Partner Solutions (TPS) is invested in opening doors to authentic social impact through values-based leadership development. With an unwavering commitment to a more inclusive world, they offer solutions to help their partners to build a more inclusive and equitable workplace. They are experts at uncovering organizational values and turning those values into action with a framework that they call the Be READI© Approach. Join us for an in-depth discussion with TPS dynamic founder and leader, Jamal Jimerson.

We catch up with Bryan Garcia, long-serving president and CEO of Connecticut Green Bank - a quasi-public agency that leverages ratepayer funds with private capital to offer low-cost, long-term financing for clean energy projects. CT Green Bank was the first of its kind back in 2011, and they've not let up on innovation since. Hear about the Green Bank's current and future plans to support resilient infrastructure and so much more.

Weston High School teacher Michael Aitkenhead and a few of his industrious students joined us to discuss their pollinator garden project - an interactive ecosystem where students can get hands-on experience with wildlife and problem-solving. Good things happen in the spring at Weston HS, so join us to hear the buzz. A Community Match Fund project!

Nicole Chevalier - philanthropist, activist, writer, member of the Sustainable CT Board of Directors, and chair of our search committee for a brand new Executive Director - talks about the ED's role, how finding the right person is so important, and what the future holds for Sustainable CT.

A recent addition to the Sustainable CT Board of Directors, Mike Purcaro has been working with the Town of Vernon in one capacity or another for almost 20 years and as town administrator for the last seven years. Vernon is truly a Sustainable CT "success story" - over-achieving in nearly every action area since their registration in 2018. Join us to discover how they did it and what lies ahead for the Silver certified Town of Vernon.

As a newly-elected First Selectwoman of Chester, Cindy Lignar's plate is pretty full these days, but she's graciously made time to chat with us. Prior to her election, Cindy headed the Chester Sustainability Team, demonstrating achievement in 12 sustainable impact areas ranging from inclusive community building and thriving local economies to vibrant arts and culture and well-stewarded lands. Please join us for a conversation about all things sustainability in the Silver certified town of Chester.

We had the good-good fortune to be joined by Ted Shafer, currently serving as the director of economic development for the towns of Winchester (a recently Bronze certified town) and Barkhamsted. Ted served for 10 years as first selectman of Burlington, from 2011 until 2021, overseeing much of Burlington’s evolution into a climate and sustainability-conscious municipality and guiding the town to Bronze certification in 2019. In addition, Ted has been involved with Sustainable CT from the very beginning – helping us to organize and to launch back in the dear dark days of our founding in 2017. He’s been a member of the Sustainable CT Board of Directors and has served as treasurer of that august body as well. But more than that, Ted shows up – we can always count on his good counsel, his positive energy, his willingness to attend, to participate, to support. And that is a rare and wonderful thing.

We had the good-good fortune to be joined by Ted Shafer, currently serving as the director of economic development for the towns of Winchester (a recently Bronze certified town) and Barkhamsted. Ted served for 10 years as first selectman of Burlington, from 2011 until 2021, overseeing much of Burlington’s evolution into a climate and sustainability-conscious municipality and guiding the town to Bronze certification in 2019. In addition, Ted has been involved with Sustainable CT from the very beginning – helping us to organize and to launch back in the dear dark days of our founding in 2017. He’s been a member of the Sustainable CT Board of Directors and has served as treasurer of that august body as well. But more than that, Ted shows up – we can always count on his good counsel, his positive energy, his willingness to attend, to participate, to support. And that is a rare and wonderful thing.

We gain some important insight about the value of the Sustainable CT Fellowship Program from the people who know it best and have seen it in action. We're joined by Adrian Huq, a 2023 Fellow with the Capitol Region Council of Governments; Dylan Steer, a 2023 Fellow with the Metropolitan Council of Governments; Michael Towle, deputy director of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments; and Ben Lovejoy, director of regional planning and municipal services at the South Central Regional Council of Governments.

We catch up with Steve Winter, New Haven's Executive Director of Climate & Sustainability, along with his compatriots, climate activist Amelia Fortgang, and Giovanni Zinn, New Haven’s City Engineer, to talk about all that glitters in the Elm City... well, all things sustainable anyway. New Haven is the first municipality in Connecticut to achieve Sustainable CT's Gold level certification. We talk about how they did it, what it means, and how the City's efforts can help the whole state shine.

It was my great pleasure to have a conversation with Joshua Steele Kelly, Town Manager and CEO of the beautiful Town of Winchester, Connecticut. He’s held that post since April of 2021, and, prior to that, Josh served as the Town Administrator of Bolton, Connecticut and as Conservation Commissioner in Waterford. And Sustainable CT will be having its 2023 Awards Celebration in Winchester – in October – at the site of the American Mural Project, so it was timely and appropriate to talk about all things Winchester with their dynamic and engaging Town Manager.

We had an opportunity to sit down with Fionnuala Darby-Hudgens, director of data strategic planning with CT Data Collaborative. "Finn," as we affectionately know her, was joined by our own Lynn Stoddard to discuss some of the greatest challenges facing the non-profit community when it comes to data management.

It's Old Home Week at the IMPACT, as we've invited three - yes, three! - alumni of the Sustainable CT fellowship program to join us to ask the "Where are they now?" question and find out how their participation in our fellowship program may - or may not - have impacted their career paths. But we also wanted to get their perspectives on some major issues of the day because they've all done very well since their respective fellowships with Sustainable CT, and their opinions are definitely worth hearing and sharing.

We have two – yes, two! – delightful guests – Inez Ortiz and Dorothy Piszczek. They’ve both just recently joined Sustainable CT as program assistants, and this was a great opportunity to get to know them a little better, and to discover what their aspirations are at Sustainable CT and in the wider world. We discussed carbon pricing, campus sustainability efforts, the generational differences of perspective when it comes to climate change, and a good deal more.

I had a lively and informative conversation with Richard Johnson, the erstwhile and long-serving Town Manager of Glastonbury. Prior to his formal retirement in March, Richard worked in Glastonbury town government for 42 years – a remarkable achievement. His is a career that spans, not just decades, but enormous change – in technology, communications, environmental action, political upheavals and polarization, and, truthfully, how we view the world and our place in it. We were very lucky to have him with us to share his wisdom, his experience, and his perspective.

This month's show is a little late, but for good reason: we're bringing you a special crossover episode in conjunction with the Sustainable CT Coffee Hour, Earth Day Edition, featuring Eric Fine of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Eric joined us to discuss the YPCCC’s research on climate change public opinion and messaging. Our special Earth Day Coffee Hour covered how you can most effectively communicate with your community members, local elected officials, and municipal staff about sustainability. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

I was joined by John Elsesser, Town Manager of Coventry since 1988. Now, 1988 was a long time ago... that's 1988 BC (Before Cellphones)... but John is nothing if not up-to-date and innovative in his approach to municipal governance. In energy, waste management, housing, farm and open space preservation - he's by no means stuck in the past. John has guided Coventry through Bronze certification in 2018, and Silver in 2019 and 2022. He's left the town well-positioned to go for Gold, too, which is a very good thing, because he'll be retiring this summer. We didn't want to miss the opportunity to benefit from both his experience and unique perspective.

Sam Gold, Executive Director of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, was kind enough to put up with my Covid voice (and brain) for a wide-ranging discussion about Connecticut's demographic challenges, housing, regional planning, energy and some trash talk, too. Sam's been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planning since 2006; he served as chair of the Connecticut Association of Councils of Governments for four years; he’s a member of the state Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations; and he’s a member of the Sustainable CT Board of Directors. We recorded our conversation via Zoom on February 8.

We begin our second season of The IMPACT with three fabulous guests. Monet Paredes and Lilly Adamo are both attending the University of Connecticut and they, along with a cohort of UConn students, attended the 27th United Nations Conference of Parties (or COP27) that took place in November of last year in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. We were joined as well by Dr. Anji Seth, a professor of Climate, Weather, and Physical Geography at the University of Connecticut, who was one of the lead faculty directors on the trip. We recorded our conversation on January 10.