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New Partnership Launches Community Information Hub

By Hartford News

May 02, 2013

A partnership has been formed to enhance communication between members of the public and community leaders on important issues.

Working in collaboration, CT News Project, WNPR, and Hartford Public Library, with the support of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, have launched the Community Information Hub for the Capital Region to increase opportunities for people to have their voices heard on issues affecting them and their communities.

The Community Information Hub will offer web-based and community-based forums and dialogues where concerned citizens can report and discuss issues they care about and work together towards solutions. The online resource will provide residents with a broader platform to share their perspectives and ideas for community action. The Community Hub also will present and connect to data and other information on issues and sponsor public events.

In its first public event, the Community Information Hub will host a forum on the workforce skills gap in Connecticut on Tuesday, May 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Hartford Public Library. The Hub will also offer people the opportunity to participate in a community conversation on the workforce skills gap and training programs on Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Hartford Public Library.

The Community Information Hub builds on the ongoing partnership between The CT News Project’s online news site, CT Mirror, and WNPR to collaborate on web and radio stories, cross marketing, and to share reporters and other resources. The project also integrates and expands on the Hartford Public Library’s experience in providing facilitated community dialogues through its Hartford Listens series. Offered in collaboration with Everyday Democracy, these events will inform residents of the issues, and the dialogues will help residents develop action agendas. Recent community dialogues focused on adult learning and the special needs of children of incarcerated parents.

The project is supported by two civic engagement staff: Heather Brandon serves as the director of civic media at CT News Project and WNPR, a new position responsible for efforts to promote civic engagement throughout Connecticut. Brandon will lead the partnership's efforts to create a new civic media website, and will also develop and coordinate public issues forums and events. Brandon is a former freelance producer for Morning Edition, Where We Live, and The Colin McEnroe Show at WNPR.

"The CT News Project's mission to inform and engage, which has been the cornerstone of The CT Mirror, will be further advanced by our new civic media effort, working in concert with these wonderful partners – WNPR, Hartford Public Library and other contributors,” said Jim Cutie, CT News Project’s chief executive officer and publisher. “We are very grateful for the support of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, who has been with us from the very beginning."

"WNPR has been working with each of these partners for years - The CT News Project in an editorial collaboration to serve listeners and readers in the state, Hartford Public Library in public events and programs, and Hartford Foundation for Public Giving in a reporting project covering the Greater Hartford Region,” said WNPR News Director, John Dankosky. “This new effort strengthens those ties, and will create something important for Connecticut."

The Community Information Hub is supported by a three- year, $374,362 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.