Lamont fields concerns West Hartford young professionals have about education, child care

Even Gov. Ned Lamont likes West Hartford’s GastroPark.

In a campaign stop Thursday at the popular food and craft beer gathering place, Lamont praised small businesses such as the GastroPark, saying it was good to see groups gathering at such events , after dealing with the pandemic for so long. He also said there were changes brought by the pandemic.

“A lot of people re-discovered why the like this state,” Lamont said. “I think a lot of people re-discovered that it’s a place where you can be outside, where you can eat outdoors, where you have parks and beaches within a 15-minute drive. It’s a place where you can go to GastroPark and have a ball.”

Lamont was speaking at an event for young professionals, fielding their thoughts and concerns. Over microbrews and sliders, the governor spoke with members of several area young professionals groups, including the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, Farmington Valley Young Professionals, HYPE Hartford, Greater Hartford Young Democrats, Professional Young Visionaries of Tomorrow and Suburban Professionals Achieving Real Change, or SPARC).

Kate Kobs, who oversees the Future Leaders of West Hartford, or FLOW, which is part of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, asked the governor about the state’s early childhood education and after-school care.

“We have the best schools in the world. That’s one of Connecticut’s great calling cards,” Lamont said, adding that Connecticut is also a family-friendly state.

“We had the biggest expansion of child care and day care we’ve ever had, adding onto the number of care-givers, paying them more, and providing more subsidies,” he said. “Right now, I need everybody who is able to get back to work to get back to work. We’ve got a lot of single moms and dads out there. If I can help them get back to work with a little better daycare and child care, that’s what we’ve got - the most expansive in the country, and we’re just getting started.”

Dan Callahan of the Farmington Valley Young Professionals asked how Lamont would suggest young business people in rural areas network with each other and other businesses in the state.

“How can younger people connect in the non-urban areas?” Callahan asked.

Lamont said broadband infrastructure is key.

“The most important thing I can do in the rural areas is make sure we have broadband IT in every single dwelling unit there is there,” he said. “I found out during the last couple of years that we had more people move to Litchfield County than ever before, and they’re working out of their homes. I can’t do that without high-speed internet, so that’s the big commitment we’re making.”

Carolyn Verikas of PYVOT asked what could be done to attract more young professionals to Connecticut from other states. The governor pointed to a recent influx of young families, but added that catching college students from elsewhere while they are here is important.

“They come for our colleges. They come for our education,” Lamont said. “As I tell every business leader in the state, ‘Go and introduce yourself to the young people while they’re still in college, or even while they’re seniors in high school.’ Once you get them to Boston or the lower East Side, it’s harder to get them to come back. But, 60,000 young families did come back.”

After the event, Kobs said she was pleased to see the governor visit West Hartford.

“We have such a vibrant town, it’s amazing that he chose us,” she said. “But, it makes sense. We have so many cool things going on around here and this is such a cool venue for something like this.”

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