The Impact

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 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.