Connecticut Launches New One-Stop-Shop Portal for Jobseekers

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced the launch of Connecticut’s new jobs portal, jobs.ct.gov. The portal is aimed at assisting Connecticut residents and those seeking to move to the state in the process of finding a job. It represents the latest development in the Lamont administration’s ongoing journey toward an all-digital state government.

“The new jobs portal is the next step in our administration’s effort to make information more accessible and available for Connecticut residents and businesses,” Governor Lamont said. “Through jobs.ct.gov, jobseekers can access search tools, tips, and resources to help land a job, as well as training and certification opportunities. The jobs portal is also a tool that will help bring qualified candidates to employers’ job openings. It is another step in the right direction in the state’s digital journey, benefitting both residents and businesses.”

Jobs.ct.gov joins health.ct.gov and business.ct.gov as the next service category to be developed in the new digital, one-stop government ecosystem. Some of the resources available through the jobs portal include:

• Powerful job search tools;
• Job search tips and personal help;
• Free and low-cost training, certificate, and classroom programs; and
• Resources to help employers hire, train, and retain employees.

All of the resources are Connecticut-specific and focus on connecting jobseekers with the variety of employment and workforce development opportunities offered in the state.

“Over the past few years, Connecticut has made dramatic progress on its digital journey,” Connecticut Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Commissioner Michelle Gilman said. “Jobs.ct.gov is another example of cross-agency collaboration that will lead to a better experience for the resident. We recognize the need to meet residents where they are, making information more easily accessible while working to break down agency barriers. The jobs portal is an exciting development, giving jobseekers another tool to help connect them to opportunities, and we expect more initiatives like this in coming months and years.”

“Connecticut provides many services to support people on their journey to raise their level of employment, however those services were historically spread out across agencies and websites,” Connecticut Chief Information Officer and DAS Deputy Commissioner Mark Raymond said. “Jobs.ct.gov simplifies how people can find these critical resources.”

“This is an important addition to the job seeker’s toolbox,” Connecticut Department of Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said. “Under Governor Lamont’s leadership, the statewide economy continues to be strong, steady, and add jobs. Yet, employers in some industries still face workforce shortages and jobs.ct.gov will be a valuable resource to them. This portal will help recruiters of all types find and train their workforce, get people into jobs, and keep Connecticut companies growing.”

“Jobseekers need information and tools that will enable them to search and apply for jobs quickly and easily and access training and resources that will support them in attaining a good job,” Connecticut Chief Workforce Officer Kelli Vallieres said. “Jobs.ct.gov provides jobseekers with these tools in one centralized location. Importantly, the new portal also provides employers with information to reach greater numbers of skilled jobseekers from diverse backgrounds, which is critical to a more robust and equitable Connecticut economy.”

The Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) is applauding the portal’s launch, saying it reflects broader calls from employers and residents for solutions that streamline and improve access to state services and resources.

“An easier front door for jobseekers is exactly what is needed to better connect supply and demand, especially for this who are disconnected from the labor force, unemployed, or underemployed,” CBIA President and CEO Chris DiPentima said. “We have the jobs, what we need are the people to fill those jobs and jobs.ct.gov will help connect the two.”

Twitter: @GovNedLamont

Facebook: Office of Governor Ned Lamont

South Carolina State House
Columbia, South Carolina

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  Good afternoon.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon, South Carolina.  Good afternoon.  Please have a seat. 

It is so good to be back.  It is so good to be back. 

I want to thank Grace Fellowship Choir for lifting our hearts with your beautiful voices.  And I just want to thank all of the leaders who are here for the work that you do every day. 

To Senator Devine, I thank you for that beautiful introduction and, most of all, for your courageous leadership and, of course, all the history that you make every day.  Can we please applaud Senator Devine for her work — (applause) — and her recent election?

And to President Murphy and all the leaders of the South Carolina NAACP, thank you for welcoming me today.  (Applause.) 

And, of course, it is always an honor to be in the home state of Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn.  (Applause.)  I do not need to tell South Carolina what a powerful leader he is.  And, of course, he is one of the closest advisors and friends to President Joe Biden and to me. 

Today, we celebrate the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a visionary who saw what could be unburdened by what had been; an organizer who moved the minds, the hearts, and the feet of the American people; a leader who dedicated his life and, in the end, gave his life to advance one of our nation’s highest ideals: the ideal of freedom. 

Freedom is fundamental to the promise of America.  Freedom is not to be given.  It is not to be bestowed.  It is ours by right.  (Applause.)  And in many ways, the story of America has been a story of our fight to realize that promise. 

As Dr. King wrote in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, “The goal of America is freedom.”  And so, we gather this afternoon to honor his legacy.  And I therefore pose a question that I do believe Dr. King would ask today: In 2024, where exactly is America in our fight for freedom?  How are we doing?

Well, as Vice President of the United States, I’d say, at this moment in America, freedom is under profound threat. 

Today, in fact, we are witnessing a full-on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms.  Consider, in states across our nation, extremists attack the sacred freedom to vote.  They pass laws to ban drop boxes, limit early voting, and restrict absentee ballots.

In Georgia, extremists had the gall to pass a law to even make it illegal to simply offer food and water to people standing in line for hours to exercise their basic civic duty. 

I ask the friends, whatever happened to “love thy neighbor”?  The hypocrisy abounds. 

And please note, the governor in Georgia signed that law on the 56th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery.

• Today, in states across our nation, extremists propose and pass laws to attack a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body — laws that would even make no exception for rape and incest. 
  
  And let us all agree: One does not have to abandon their faith and deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.  (Applause.)
  
  Freedom. 
  
  Every person in our nation has a right to live safe and to live free from the horror of gun violence.  And yet, today, these so-called leaders stand by and refuse to pass reasonable gun safety laws to help protect our children and places of worship. 
  
  Every person in our nation has a right to be who they are and love who they love openly and with pride.  And yet, this past year, extremists have proposed or passed hundreds of laws targeting LGBTQ people. 
  
  Every person in our nation has a right to be free to learn and acknowledge our country’s true and full history.  (Applause.)  And yet, today, extremists pass book bans — book bans in this year of our Lord 2024. 
  
  And then they even try to erase, overlook, and rewrite the ugly parts of our past.  For example, the Civil War, which must I really have to say was about slavery?  (Applause.) 
  
  All the while, they tell our children that enslaved people benefited from slavery.  They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates. 
  
  Fundamental freedoms under assault: freedom from fear, violence, and harm; freedom to vote, to live, to learn, to control one’s own body; and the freedom to simply be.
  
  And understand the profound impact these attacks have had on the next generation of leaders.  So many of our young leaders are here this afternoon. 
  
  This past fall, I met with more than 15,000 young leaders in my “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour,” including at the College of Charleston.  (Applause.)  From our young leaders, I heard that the assault on freedoms, well, it’s a lived experience.  It’s not just hypothetical. 
  
  Think about it.  During the height of their reproductive years, this generation has witnessed the highest court in our land — the court of Thurgood — take a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America.
  
  This generation now has fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers.  That is not a hypothetical. 
  
  That from kindergarten to 12th grade, this young generation has had to endure active-shooter drills.  Our children, who should be in a classroom, fulfilling their God-given potential to explore the beauty of the world, and instead have to worry that someone might bust through their classroom door with a gun.
  
  And when students go to vote, they often have to wait in line for hours because of laws that intentionally make it more difficult for them to cast a ballot.  It is not a hypothetical. 
  
  But even though our young leaders are clear-eyed about these challenges, I will share with you: They will not be discouraged.  They will not be deterred.  Standing on the shoulders of the generations who came before, our young leaders are prepared and ready for this fight — (applause) — as are we. 
  
  Six decades ago, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King spoke to our nation, to the thousands of Americans who had marched that day on Washington.  And he spoke of what he called a “promissory note” — a promissory note, a check that had been signed to the American people in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. 
  
  Dr. King’s voice rang out when he, quote, said, “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”  “So, we’ve come to cash this check,” he said, “a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” 
  
  And, of course, less than a year later, because of the movement that Dr. King and so many other great American leaders helped to build and sustain, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed.  And in the decades since, inspired by the power and the purpose of that movement, together, we have won many victories to make our nation more free, more equal, and more just, from the passage of the Voting Rights Act, to — yes, Senator, to the appointment of the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in our land.  (Applause.)
  
  So, if he were here, I think Dr. King would be the first to say that, yes, we have come far.  And though we have come far, in this moment, it is up to us to continue that fight to cash that promissory note. 
  
  And like Dr. King, even through the struggles and the setbacks, even during the pain and the heartbreak, even when our feet grow weary and our legs grow tired, we will march forward for freedom.  Because I do believe — I do believe the true power behind the promise of America is in the faith of her people.  The promise of America, I do believe, is in the faith of the people — our faith in the founding principles of our nation and our profound commitment to make those principles real.
  
  Generation after generation, on the fields of Gettysburg, in the schools of Little Rock, on the grounds of this state house, on the streets of Ferguson, and on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives, we the people have always fought to make the promise of freedom real. 
  
  And so, today, we must do so once again. 
  
  The great Coretta Scott King once said, “Freedom is never truly won.  You earn it and win it in every generation.”  And at this moment in history — (applause) — at this moment in history, in the relay race of history, I say, then, let us not throw up our hands, because it’s time to roll up our sleeves.  (Applause.)  And we were born for a time such as this. 
  
  And so, with faith, with hope, and optimism, we will fight.  And when we fight, we win.  (Applause.) 
  
  May God bless you.  And may God bless the United States of America.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
  
                                EN

Anyone in Need of Shelter Is Urged To Call 2-1-1

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that due a weather forecast indicating that Connecticut will experience a period of extremely cold weather resulting in very low wind chill values over the next several days, he is directing the state’s severe cold weather protocol to go into effect beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, and remaining in effect through noon on Monday, January 22, 2024.

This is the first time the protocol has been activated this season. Its purpose is to ensure that the most vulnerable populations receive protection from the severe cold conditions, which could be life threatening if exposed to the elements for extended periods of time. While enacted, a system is set up for state agencies and municipalities to coordinate with United Way 2-1-1 and Connecticut’s network of shelters to make sure that anyone in need can receive shelter from the outdoors, including transportation to shelters.

Anyone in need of shelter is urged to call 2-1-1 to get connected to these services. Transportation can be provided if necessary.

“While we’ve generally experienced a mild winter so far, the next several days and lasting through this weekend are going to be brutally cold and will reach lows that could be life threatening if someone is exposed to the elements for an extended period of time,” Governor Lamont said. “Being outdoors in these conditions is not only harmful, it can be fatal. Shelters and warming centers are available across Connecticut. Anyone in need of a safe place to stay warm is urged to call 2-1-1 to get connected to a nearby location. These cold conditions can also be dangerous for dogs, cats, and other pets, and it is strongly advised to bring your pets indoors.”

The following actions are implemented while the protocol is enacted:

• The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security activates its WebEOC communications network, which is an internet-based system that enables local, regional, and state emergency management officials and first responders to share up-to-date information about a variety of situations and conditions. The system is used to monitor capacity at shelters across the state, enabling 2-1-1 to act as a clearinghouse to assist in finding shelter space for those who need it. Local officials, working through WebEOC, can alert 2-1-1 and the state when they open temporary shelters or warming centers.
• The Connecticut Department of Social Services, Connecticut Department of Housing, and Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services coordinate with 2-1-1 and the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, along with community-based providers, to provide transportation for people seeking shelter.

For emergency management news and resources, visit the state’s CTPrepares website at ct.gov/ctprepares.

Twitter: @GovNedLamont

Facebook: Office of Governor Ned Lamont

From Day One of my Administration, I vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class – not a barrier to opportunity. Already, my Administration has cancelled student debt for 3.6 million Americans through various actions – delivering lifechanging relief to students and families, and we created the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever: the SAVE plan.

I am proud that my Administration is implementing one of the most impactful provisions of the SAVE plan nearly six months ahead of schedule. Starting next month, borrowers enrolled in SAVE who took out less than $12,000 in loans and have been in repayment for 10 years will get their remaining student debt cancelled immediately. This action will particularly help community college borrowers, low-income borrowers, and those struggling to repay their loans. And, it’s part of our ongoing efforts to act as quickly as possible to give more borrowers breathing room so they can get out from under the burden of student loan debt, move on with their lives and pursue their dreams.

I encourage all borrowers who may be eligible for early debt cancellation to sign up for the SAVE plan at studentaid.gov. Already, 6.9 million borrowers are enrolled in the plan, and 3.9 million have a $0 monthly payment.

Today’s announcement builds on all we’ve been able to achieve for students and student loan borrowers in the past few years.  This includes: fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program so that borrowers who go into public service get the debt relief they’re entitled to under the law; achieving the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to help families who earn less than roughly $60,000 a year; and holding colleges accountable for leaving students with unaffordable debts. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible. I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.

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President Biden and Black voters are discussed by Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of “The Breakfast Club,” and Angela Rye, co-host of “Native Land Pod,” as Biden tries to shore up support among African-Americans. "I may talk about Joe Biden and his shortcomings, but I also say Donald Trump is the end of democracy as we know it,” Charlamagne Tha God tells Joy Reid.

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A Secret Meeting Led Gayle King & Charles Barkley To Agree To Host “King Charles” On CNN

Collab Spring 2024 Accelerator

Collab is taking applications for its Spring 2024 Business Accelerator Program. This free, 12-week course will provide education, mentoring, and technical assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build unique businesses to create positive change. For questions, please email Collab, or to apply by the March 10 deadline, please visit Collab New Haven. 

(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is establishing a panel of agency heads within his administration that will be known as the Connecticut Interagency Council on Homelessness and will be responsible for collaborating on a multi-agency approach that strengthen the state’s homelessness prevention and response efforts.

The council will consist of leaders of state agencies that are responsible for housing and intervention support services. It will build upon existing efforts already undertaken by several state agencies, including the Department of Housing, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

“Everyone should have access to a safe, warm place to call home,” Governor Lamont said. “State and local governments, along with our nonprofit partners, need the resources available to them to ensure that fewer people face the possibility of becoming homeless. Between building new housing units, addressing mental health issues, improving access to education and health care, and increasing job support, this issue must be addressed in a holistic manner.”

The governor is tasking the group with focusing its work on three main goals:

1. Strengthening current programs: The council will apply specific knowledge of individual programming to unite policies across state agencies in a way that considers the whole individual – from refining recommendations on improving health and human services for people experiencing homelessness to strengthening housing stability and creating more affordable housing across the state.
2. Improving the effectiveness of the homelessness response system: Perspectives of all state agencies will be considered in sharing and planning new approaches to help connect people experiencing homelessness to services more effectively. This includes immediate assistance for people experiencing homelessness, such as support for emergency shelters and investments in housing stability.
3. Meeting the demands of housing: The council will collaborate on maximizing the use of funding for housing assistance, increasing the supply of permanent supportive housing, improving the effectiveness of rapid rehousing, and evaluating and finding solutions for expanded access to safe and affordable housing for all with an interagency approach of tailoring support to each individual’s specific needs.

Governor Lamont is appointing Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno to serve as the council’s chairperson. Leaders from the following offices will serve as members:

• The Department of Housing
• The Department of Aging and Disability Services
• The Department of Children and Families
• The Department of Correction
• The Department of Labor
• The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
• The Department of Social Services
• The Department of Veterans Affairs
• The Office of Policy and Management
• The Court Support Services Division of the Judicial Branch
• The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority

Additionally, leaders from the following offices will serve as ad hoc members:

• The Department of Developmental Services
• The Department of Economic and Community Development
• The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
• The Department of Public Health
• The Office of Early Childhood
• The State Department of Education
• The Department of Transportation
• The Department of Higher Education

Governor Lamont is specifically asking the council’s members to uplift the voices of those closest to the issue of homelessness and consider the personal experiences and recommendations of those facing barriers to housing across the state. Additionally, he is asking the council to establish an advisory committee for practitioners and advocates to provide ongoing feedback to state agencies.

Staff from the Office of the Governor will work with legislators in the Connecticut General Assembly on behalf of the council to ensure that the state’s latest challenges and opportunities are understood and addressed in a coordinated and collaborative manner.

Twitter: @GovNedLamont

Facebook: Office of Governor Ned Lamont