Opportunities Hartford

A city-wide effort to identify, enhance and expand

existing educational, job & income opportunities in Hartford

Agenda

Desired Outcomes

A shared understanding of this initiative A list of next steps A plan for post-meeting evaluation______________________________________________

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.Welcome 8:30 a.m.Introductions 8:45

a.m.Group Norms 9:15

a.m.Purpose - Process - Payoff 9:20

a.m.Group Discussion 10:00

a.m.Next Steps 10:45 a.m.Adjourn 11:00

a.m.

Executive Summary

Opportunities Hartford is a comprehensive city-wide effort toidentify, enhance and expand Hartford’s most promising education, jobs andincome opportunities for City residents.

Hartford provides many opportunities for the people who live, learn, work,play, and worship in Connecticut’s Capitol City. However, many of theseopportunities with the greatest chance for yielding a measurable returnon investment are limited in scope and scale and not coordinated. On their own, many promising opportunities are not backed by sufficient resources or capacity to make a community-wide impact.

The long-term goal is to bring these opportunities to a scale large enough to significantly, measurably and sustainably improve the quality of life in

Hartford and increase the ability of low-income Hartford families to improve theireconomic status.

While successful models from many other cities were examined in theplanning process, Opportunities Hartford is most closely based on theProvidence, Rhode Island “Pathways to Opportunity” initiative. WhileProvidence took on a broader range of community issues, Hartford chose tonarrow the issues down to those where the most promising opportunitiescurrently exist, where expansion and replication of those opportunities wasmost realistic, and where change would have the most impact.

Working Definitions

Opportunity: A current initiative, program, service, or practice in Hartford which has demonstrated success in helping move individuals or families from poverty to self-sufficiency, in the areas of education, jobs, and/or income.

Work Group: An Opportunities Work Group was created by Mayor Segarra in December 2010 to manage the development of Opportunities Hartford, and to build on the work started in 2009 by the previous administration’s Poverty Task Force.

Community Steering Committee: City leaders from the Non-profit, Philanthropy, Business, and Education sectors selected to identify opportunities, help plan a Community Forum, and contribute their expertise to the Work Group in creating a Roadmap.

Community Forum: Public event to engage those who live, work, play and/or worship in Hartford to help identify opportunities for which expansion or replication would benefit the community as a whole in the areas of education, jobs, and/or income.

Roadmap: A detailed document on existing opportunities that could be expanded or replicated. The Roadmap will include a timeline, potential funding sources, and accountability plan.