United Way Wrap Up

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:45):
here's your host for Pulse of the Region, Kate Balman.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello, Hello, and welcome to Pulse of the Region, the
show where every week we get to highlight all of
the incredible things happening here throughout the greater Hartford Region.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
I'm your host, Katey Bauman.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you so much for joining us here for the
conversation today. Today we are getting the pulse about the
United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, who is wrapping
up their centennial celebration year and planning ahead for twenty
twenty five with new work focused on ending poverty and
also advancing advocacy efforts to support our youth. So a

(01:21):
lot to talk about today, and I'm thrilled to have
our two guests here with us in person at the
iHeartMedia Studios, So welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
We would love to do some introductions.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
So first, he's been here with us before and he's
still managed to keep coming back, which is wonderful. It
is the President and CEO of the United Way of
Central and Northeastern Connecticut. We welcome Eric Harrison to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Eric, welcome, thanks for having us. Yeah, Court, I appreciate
it and it's great.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
And I feel like we're always kind of a seasonal
introduction because last time it was Halloween.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well that's her, and you were dressed to you know,
I don't recognize you today today. Yeah, I was hoping
maybe like Buddy the Elves something.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
So next time we'll have to plan what our themes
are for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, so fantastic.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Eric, thrilled to have you here today and joining you
is i would say by day he is the president
of Westland Public Relations, and by night or other times
I'm sure through throughout the days is he is the
chair of the Advocacy Committee at the United Way. So
we welcome Patrick mcgoin. Patrick, welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (02:28):
Kate, thanks so much. I'm very happy to be here
with you and Eric, and always great to be with
the Alliance in United Way.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
No, well, that's where we appreciate having both here today
and certainly Patrick. You know, we have great partnerships with
you both through the United Way, but then also through
we public Relations, So appreciate all you do to help
us at the MHA work behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
You get to work with us a lot.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
It's my pleasure.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Fantastic.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
So first things first, you know, Eric, not much introduction
needed for the United Way, but I always think it's
great kind of a recap and there's so much happening,
if you don't mind just highlighting a little bit, you know,
overview about the footprint here in the region.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah, so we're really focused on our onward eight six
so vision, So we've been through this process about eighteen
months now. We've really landed on four key issues that
we're really excited to really dive into. But one of
the things that was really highlighted by our planning process was,
you know, we've been focused on our ALICE data for
quite some time, the asset limited, income, constrained or employed,

(03:28):
which is probably more easily set as working poverty within
our region, but we're we also saw a lot of
issues around extreme poverty as well. So you'll see unide Way,
you know, diving more into the out the area of
housing and homelessness in the future, and obviously that's something
that's been on the rise in Connecticut year over year.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, no, we'll certainly touch a lot more on that
and kind of really those key key focuses. But first,
Patrick would love to get kind of an introduction for
you and if you could talk a little bit about
your role with the United Way and really what brought
you to the organization.

Speaker 5 (04:02):
Well, sure, it's ended up being kind of a natural
fit for me. The bulk of my career has been
in the communications and public affairs space, and including some
time working up the up at the state Capitol and
had the opportunity to get connected with the Advocacy committee
at United Way a few years ago, and it really

(04:24):
was just sort of a natural overlap with sort of,
as you pointed out, the work I do during the
day and the degree to which so much of what
United Way does around convening and advocacy. It was really
a natural fit and just a great opportunity for me
to you know, both in a way give back to

(04:45):
this awesome community and all sort of support you know,
an amazing organization that really is changing lives through some
efforts around advocacy and engaging stakeholders and making sure these
really important issues that Eric and his team are working
on get you know, better understood and better appreciated by
policymakers and others.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Definitely, I know, I would say, so much great work
being done there on the education side, especially, and you know,
and along the way, you guys have some fun with
it too, and that's where I would love I know,
you guys just threw a fantastic event. Is it was
your centennial Galla, So Eric, if you could tell us
a little bit how that went.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, it was just a really inspirational evening. I'm still
glowing from it. You know, our board chairs send an
email to the Board of Directors and staff thanking for
the evening, and you know how inspired he was. And
you know, my response to staff was, you know what,
I need some time to digest the brilliance of it all.
You know, I think our team just did it a

(05:45):
lot for the event. But you know, as you know,
there are so many events that happened in the community,
but I just felt like this one was very special.
It had a lot of heart. We actually had four
presidents of the seven presidents in attendance, wow, which was
really cool. They're only seven presidents since nineteen twenty four,
and four of us were there, and one of them

(06:07):
is Dale Gray, who was the president in nineteen seventy
seven to nineteen ninety four, and so he flew in
from North Carolina for the event.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
So that was very very special. That's impactful, that's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
And you know, I know, kind of a lot I'm
sure touched on at the event, but really one thing
I want to kind of first touch on is really
kind of you're united to end poverty, and you know,
I think if you could talk a.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Little bit about just high level first about that.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Initiative and really kind of what it's doing here here
in our community.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah, the process started a little over two years ago
where we started a series of design sessions where community
partners from all different sectors could co create you know,
bold solutions to close gaps and create opportunities for the region.
You know, oftentimes we hear from donors that you know,
I know United Way does good. I know you can

(06:59):
community kate the number of people that you've served, you know,
in partnership with your community partners, but you know, people
really want to see you move the needle on issues.
Right are we actually reducing disparities? And so I think
that that that's really the essence of what our planning
and our designing has been within the community is to
really look at the outcomes in a very you know,

(07:22):
efficient way, but also a very innovative and bold way
that we're really rallying the community around change and issues.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Fantastic and you know, really kind of I know, the
New Path and poverty has been kind of deeply rooted
in that community input, and that's where you guys did
a ton of work leading up to this could you
talk a little bit about those efforts.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah, so we have data, right, I mean, so data
is a good thing, right, and and data is very
important because data informs you know, the decisions that you're
going to make and the types of investment that can change.
But I think what's unique about United Way and what
we've been able to do is really bring community voice

(08:06):
to the table. So we're able to take things like
the Alice Report and the Data Haven Report the United
Way co sponsors with the Hartford Foundation of Public Giving,
and dive into the community through our stakeholders. So we
had forty community conversations with over four hundred constituents throughout
our region. And that voice helps us really empathize with

(08:29):
the people that are being affected. You know, you can say,
you know, well, we'll give this much money to this
particular issue in child literacy, but you really have to
understand all the nuances that that family is dealing with
right within that It's not just a matter of that
child not reading at a fourth grade proficiency level. It's
understanding all of the challenges that that family goes through

(08:52):
in a daily basis. And there's intersection with everything else
that we do, So you know, child literacy is not
in a silo from someone having access to affordable housing
or having a sustainable wage. And so I think that's
one of the things that was really inspiring to some
of our community partners is that they were all at
the table, they all dealt within these these different sectors,

(09:15):
and they're like, oh wait, it was so cool for
me as a as a homeless provider or housing provider,
the community to really understand what you're doing in early
childhood because because because if they're dealing with all the
same people that are that are having these challenges, right.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I was going to say, it makes the world much smaller,
I guess kind of coming together and you know, and
certainly to support a lot of these efforts is you know,
we touched on a little bit on advocacy, and you know,
Patrick would love for you to kind of expand a
little bit more just on you know, kind of really
the importance of you know, for organizations like United Way
to really be advocacy leaders, because I think that's really

(09:52):
something you know, this organization is, you know, truly stands
out here in the region and the state.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
Yeah, you hit the nail on the I think it's
United Way positioning itself as as a leader because it
has that unique status that it has such a deep,
profound understanding of some of the challenges that you know,
members of our community face. But they also have such

(10:19):
robust and strong relationships with folks in the donor base,
folks across you know, across the all the corporate entities
and major and even you know, middle sized employers across
the region. They have the ability to really muster resources
that can that can make a real difference and and

(10:39):
sort of putting voice behind some of these issues. From
an advocacy perspective, it both takes that the really strong
standing that United Way has and all those relationships and
puts them in a great spot. You combine with that
really current in compelling data like the ALYSS data, and
when you put that in front of policy make it

(11:00):
really helps to shine a light on both the issues
that United Way is working to tackle and you know,
at the end of the day, positioning and reinforcing United
Way as a resource for policy makers so they know
they can come to us, trust us and rely on
us for great insights, great data, you know, ideas about

(11:21):
you know, program design and deployment. We very frequently make
sure to connect policy makers with the members of the
community who have been served and benefited by these programs,
to really put a face to these great programs with
awesome data that really shows we're making a difference, but
to also put the human face on and show how,
you know, families and folks all around the region their

(11:44):
lives are really being changed. So it's just a great
opportunity for you know, United Way to put that additional
push and make sure that the folks who are making
our laws up at the Capitol and implementing how these
policies are going to be be put in place, you know,
have a really strong understanding.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Okay, Now I love how you put that as really
utilizing United Way as a resource because I think that's
you know, so true. And you know, Eric, can you
talk a little bit, you know, in addition kind of
almost to build off Patrick kind of that really what
you felt the need was to increase your advocacy efforts,
because that is something that has changed over the last
I don't know how to put a time frame on it.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
But yeah, you know, we we have been in the
space of we had really three pillars of engagement United
Way give, advocate and volunteer, but that can vary, you know,
from region to regions. So I would say our United
Way is definitely focused, more so than ever in our
advocacy efforts. And it was really interesting when I when
we were starting this process for strategic planning, I had

(12:45):
a CEO round table of the top funded agency partners okay,
and I asked them what would United Ways relationship be
to you if you did not receive any funding from US.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Interesting, I'm dying the answers.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
And the answer is advocacy. They all said advocacy. They
said the most important, you know, piece of our partnership
would be advocacy if it was not a funder relationship.
So that's you know, so we see, okay, well, now
now we have synergy within that. And I would also,
you know, I think I think Patrick really, you know,
hit on it. You just like to add in terms

(13:23):
of being a partner with legislators, I think of the
top two things that always come to mind, you know,
when talking about advocating for any type of funding for
an initiative, the legislator will ask you for data. Right,
That's one, and then the other one is, well I'm
hearing from my constituents and United Way can be a
partner to add that, well, so are we And here's

(13:45):
what they're saying, so we're able to provide it and
you know, kind of answer those top two questions that
I think are top of mind for them. And so
I think it's just a really exciting time for us
as we enter this session.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Definitely, And can you talk a little bit about some
of and you know, all kind of put this question
into both of you, but you know some of the
priorities you know for next year, and you know, if
you could highlight a few of those, I don't know
who wants to take that one first?

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Do you want to go?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
You?

Speaker 3 (14:12):
Okay, someone has to answer.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
You know, he's the volunteer with the advocacy chair, so
make sure I defer to him first. But I'm happy
to ask.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
He's the boss.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, yeah, sort of.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
But yeah. So some of our key areas were very
focused on young adult employment, which connects to to wages
focus area. We also have the early childhood literacy that
I spoke of earlier regarding youth young adult employment for
young people exiting high school in Hartford are becoming disconnected.

(14:49):
So that means that they're unprepared to join our much
needed local workforce. And I know that this is something
a top of mind probably for the Alliance as well.
So we were able to use to here funding a
last legislative session for our Working Cities initiative. That initiative
was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and
that improves lives of lower income people in small and

(15:10):
mid sized cities through some of our cross sector collaboration.
So the cities are involved in that are Middletown, Waterbury,
dan Berry, East, Hartford, Hartford, and our United Way plays
a leadership role in that. And then just specifically for Hartford,
our goals to reduce unemployment among Hartford residents ages sixteen

(15:31):
to twenty nine, and we're developing a variety of strategies
within that as well.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Okay, yeah, and I just might tack on the you know,
Working Cities is just such an innovative and impactful program
in terms of trying to tackle the disconnected youth. And
there's there's so much data on the need for timely
effective intervention to you know, to get these young people

(16:00):
on a productive track. You know, we're fortunate that there
happens to be an alignment in terms of the number
of job openings that we have in the state, where
somewhere between eighty and one hundred thousand unfilled jobs. So
we know that the you know that employers are looking
for more and more trained, talented staff that they can

(16:20):
you know, count on for their organizations. But you know,
shifting gears just a little bit about what we're doing
with early literacy through it's a great partnership with Dolly
Parton's Imagination Library, and the numbers are staggering. It's you know,
ten thousand families have been served between Hartford and New Britain,

(16:42):
distributing some of the ballpark about one hundred and seventy
five thousand books, which is really great. But you know,
there's a there's a couple of things that I find
interesting is they're not you know, these are not sort
of the typical hardback cartoon books. I mean, they're not
War in Peace. But these are you know, actual, you know,

(17:03):
literal you know, books that families can read to their
kids and help them, uh advance their their reading comprehension,
even with these very small kids. We know how how
important early uh uh literacy and being exposed to books
and we know how important that is. And then the
feedback you get from the families about you know, what

(17:24):
this means to them and how much you know, joy
it brings to their lives to be able to read
to their kids. You just know, and I'm sure that
they are social scientists with reams of data about the
impact that early reading has on kids. But you can
just feel from the feedback that it's already having a
transformative effect, that that you're putting books in the hands

(17:45):
of families that that are exposing their kids to reading
and planning a lifelong seed for a love of reading.
It's it's you know, it's transformative. But it's really encouraging
to see that that program have such you know, such
profound success. So so soon.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, I was going to say that sounds incredible and
certainly such an impact today, you know, in the immediacy,
but then.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Also too, you know, for the future.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
And you know, Eric, you know a lot of these
investments being made in education and training services for youth.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
If you talk you know a little bit more too.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
I know there's a lot of data that went behind this,
and I don't you know, Patrick touched on it a
little bit. If you could highlight again kind of some
of just the importance of you know, really focusing on
on youth versus you know, kind of some other areas.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah, I think they're they're there are number of challenges.
So if you look at obviously the ALS data is
about you know, the working poverty within our region. And
one of the greatest expenses aside from your rent or
your mortgage is childcare. Yes, and so childcare is an
enormous expense, and so that that's something that we're definitely

(18:51):
looking at. And then also the the literacy aspects. So
we have a lot of great volunteer readers that assist
with our our literacy program. And that's important too because
you have working families that oftentimes don't have the time
you know, to read. I know, with my son, who's
you know, twenty one months old, it's a struggle right

(19:13):
to find that time. But you know, I think we
have some great volunteers who have really helped the community
to rally around this issue. So it's not just about
receiving that book. It's coupled with a volunteer program of
individuals who are reading to children as well, and then
also helping families ensure that they have quality childcare, and

(19:33):
we have partners that have done a great job with
in that space for a long time, and we're looking
to do more.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Fantastic and you touch on kind of partners. Would love
to take a moment just in looking at ways people
can get involved. You know, I think there's certainly from
an individual standpoint and then also from you know, a
corporate company standpoint.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
So you know, Patrick, from your vantage.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Point and kind of work with with United Ways, could
you talk a little bit about kind of just some
of the ways that busines business community can kind of
get involved with your organization.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
Well, sure, I think you know, we would obviously be
remiss if I didn't encourage uh, corporate giving and employers
of all sizes and shapes, if you don't have a
relationship with with United Way, could more forcefully encourage you,
you know to do so, just because we you know,

(20:24):
we know how impactful the dollars are, how efficiently and
effectively they're spent. So it's just it's a tremendous way.
It's always a smooth and convenient way for employers and
corporations and others in our community to contribute. You know,
from an advocacy perspective. You know, we would encourage folks

(20:47):
to sort of stay stay abreast of the work that
we're doing. We have a great website at United Way Inc.
Dot org. That's United Way i NC dot org where
you can learn more about our work. We have a
legislative breakfast coming up on January seventh. It's well timed
for the beginning of the twenty twenty five legislative session,

(21:09):
and it's I think it's emblematic of kind of the
work that we're trying to do that we're convening representatives
of the private sector, businesses and organizations from across the
region to sit and have a dialogue with leading policy
makers again from Greater Hartford, who really are going to
be working through these very substantially challenging issues that Eric

(21:30):
and his team have been focused on. And I will
just sort of editorialize a little bit when we've had
the opportunity to be in front of not only employers,
but also legislators and other policy makers and get the
chance to expose them to Alice data and other findings
that just show how widespread working poverty is across our

(21:51):
state and across our region. It's almost universally surprising. People
are very often surprised, if not shocked, to learn across
even relatively wealthy towns in Greater Harford, these legislators are
representing families that are struggling in a lot of different
ways to make ends meet. So these opportunities to convene
and get in front of state senators and state representatives,

(22:13):
share the data, bring bring people in who can speak
to their stories is really is really important and informative.
So we hope you would think about joining us at
our legislative breakfast on the seventh, but also just visit
our visit our website at Unetunitedwayinc Dot org and make
sure you're staying up to speed on the on the
work that we're doing and the issues we're focused on.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Fantastic and Eric, I know, anything else you want to
add in there, kind of from a business community involvement
side of things.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
No, I mean, certainly stay involved in you know, and
think of us both in terms of volunteer engagement employee engagement.
I know that you know we're past COVID quite a
bit now, but I think that it's something where we
always you know, look at in terms of a vibrant downtown,
right and in terms of what that looks like. And
I know a lot of employers have partnered with us,

(23:04):
you know, strategically around that engagement piece, you know, to
kind of encourage employees to get back come into the office.
And then also you know, pair that office experience with
an experience with United Way and we're able to offer
that and you know kind of tailored you know, different projects.
But I did just want to mention in terms of

(23:25):
our state wide effort as well with with on the
policy side, that the Connecticut United Ways represent fourteen United
Ways in the state and I currently serve as the
chair of that council, and so we have a shared
policy agenda statewide that it's focused on creating a permanent,
fully refundable Connecticut Child Tax Credit. So the child tax

(23:47):
credit is going to be a big policy issue of
ours coming up in this legislative session. And we saw
the impact of how those resources really moved children out
of poverty during COVID, So we want to make sure
that this is a permanent benefit in Connecticut, I believe
is one of the only states in the nation that
does not have this, and so it's very important that
we look at this as a policy issue. And then additionally,

(24:11):
I know you've heard of this program many times, but
also more you know, prioritizing the two on one help
line that we make sure that we have sustainable funding
for that. It's a critical resource that many families rely
on when times are tough. And so the child tax,
the Connecticut child tax credit, and two and one will
be the top priorities of the collective Connecticut United Ways

(24:34):
this legislative session.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Okay, and now the child tax looking at that, can
you talk a little bit how would that just individually
impact families?

Speaker 3 (24:42):
Kind of what are kind of the details of that.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
So there's there is a federal child tax credit, but
additionally the state child tax credit additional funds where you
basically I believe it's six hundred dollars, and you know,
six hundred dollars may not sound like a lot, but
it is when you look at in terms of, you know,
what that could mean to a family. It could divert

(25:05):
them from falling into homelessness, which we've seen with our
rapid response one which typically are amounts of two hundred
and fifty dollars to five hundred dollars. So we want
to make sure that you know, any funds that you've earned,
you know, same as our earned income tax credit that
uniway works on with our VITA program, that you receive
it back. And so I think it's to me, it's

(25:28):
a no brainer. It's a bipartisan issue, you know, I
believe it's seventy percent of those pulls you know support this.
And you know, working families need that tax credit in
order to you know, ensure that they have a sustainable
you know, a little bit extra right to get them

(25:49):
out of tough times. And I think we definitely have
data behind that backs that from from COVID nineteen.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Fantastic and no appreciate all of that.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Look and so I mean a lot coming up in
twenty twenty five certainly, you know, so hopefully we take
a breather over the holidays, but would love to if
you can kind of touch on, you know.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
What from an event standpoint.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
I know, you know, in getting the community together, you
guys do so much. If there's any kind of key
highlights that you kind of can tease for the year ahead, I.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
Mean, like you said that there's not much of a breather,
right because we know we just had that gout at all.
And you know I started sweating when Patrick said it
was January seventh. So our legislative breakfast is January seventh. Second,
that's been a couple of weeks. We have our Building
Foundation's Breakfast, so that's with the commercial real estate industry

(26:39):
that's coming up in April. We also have our annual
Power of the Person event coming up in June, and
then to be we'll have a Say the Day coming
out probably soon about the Impact Awards again that we
partner on in the fall. So yes, there's no short
of events with United Way. But I will say that

(27:00):
our eight sixty Cares program, which is our year round
volunteer program, is something that you can always get involved in.
It does not cost you anything, and so visit our
website and engage with us in volunteer activities throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Okay, fantastic, And you know, Patrick from the advocacy side
certainly have touched on a lot of focuses for twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Is there anything we missed?

Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know today it's so far cut that it's really
kind of top of mind for you and the team.

Speaker 5 (27:28):
No, I think between what the work that's underway on
working cities and early child literacy is really important. Eric was,
you know, hit the nail on the head in terms
of the broader United Way agenda with things that are
incredibly impactful, like a permanent trial tax credit. So it's
an ambitious agenda, but I really do think it's it's

(27:51):
worth pursuing. Really is positioned to make an impact in many,
many lives here in Connecticut. And I would just encourage folks,
Alliance investors and others to recognize the opportunity that you have,
either as as a donor or a volunteer supporting the
United Ways efforts in some other respect, that even a

(28:12):
little bit of help is going to go a long way.
And we know, based on Alic's data and otherwise, that
there are people really from one side of our state
to the other, in basically every community of our one
hundred and sixty nine towns that are working every day
having you know, it's a real struggle to make ends meet.
So just a little bit of help from people, whether

(28:35):
it's volunteering your time or contributing some funds, can make
a real difference in a lot of these people's lives.
So we just wouldn't encourage you to get involved.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Fantastic And Eric, can you a reminder of where people
can go to kind of stay connected with the United Way.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
Our LinkedIn page is a great place to go. We're
always posting events and kind of in real time once
they've happened. You'll probably see our photo from this show
there as well, yes, in a few days or so.
But then I also go to our website United Weight
ink dot org. You can sign up for a newsletter.
The newsletter is a great way to stay engaged. And yeah,

(29:13):
and you can follow me on my LinkedIn as well,
Eric Harrison.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Perfect and one last reminder on the website and we're.

Speaker 4 (29:19):
People night ink dot org.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Fantastic.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Well, thank you both so much for being here today,
and certainly thank you for all the work each of
you are doing and your teams too. You know, Eric,
you have a dynamite team here that we're so happy
to work with on a day to day basis, So
a big kudos and shout out to all of them
to our I know, doing so much on efforts day
to day. Thank you of course, of course, so well,
thank you all for listening today, and again, Eric and Patrick,

(29:45):
thank you so much for joining the show. For all
the details about today's show, you can visit pulseoftheregion dot com.
We give a big thank you to our show partner Okill,
and of course thanks to you for listening.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
I'm Kate Auman.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Go out and make today a good day here in Connecticut.