Voices from the Capitol

LGBTQ community members and activists commended Hartford Public Schools officials during Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting for the district’s handling of a personnel matter involving a school nurse placed on administrative leave for online comments about LGBTQ students. “I’m here ...

Nationally more than 70% of youth in foster care would like to get a college education, according to Connecticut Voices for Children. But 20% of foster youth go to college and only 5% graduate, the organization said. The advocacy group testified Tuesday before the Higher Education and Employment Adv...

Connecticut Senate Republicans have released a draft bill aiming to provide more work opportunities while also addressing a rise in crime among young people. Advocates say reforms should not be reversed, and strategies addressing crime should support community needs. Car thefts in the state increa...

Connecticut Voicers For Children A Zoom screenshot from the panel of young adults who are experiencing or transitioned out of Connecticut’s foster system. More current and former children in Connecticut’s foster system should be hired to work in departments relevant to young adult stability, hea...

Chris Scott, the founder and executive director of SUN Scholars Credit: Courtesy of CT Voices for Children Youth who are exiting foster care managed by the state Department of Children and Families need experience in financial literacy, grocery shopping, reading a lease and dozens of other skills ...

A new report shows the presence of police officers in school settings contributed to more referrals to law enforcement, particularly for students of color. The report from Connecticut Voices for Children analyzed data from the 2017-2018 school year and found the risk of arrest was five times highe...

The Community First Coalition launched its “Care Not Cops” campaign last month, continuing longstanding efforts to remove SROs from public schools. A coalition of Connecticut youth-led organizations has recently launched a campaign to remove police from public schools and to change the nature of...

There was always something about Sixto Cancel, the way the Bridgeport teenager carried himself, his direct gaze, the fact that he spoke in full paragraphs. He seemed older than his years. I met him in 2011, when he was writing a college essay in which he called himself “America’s Angriest Colore...

A Connecticut politician is proposing federal legislation to prioritize resources for counselors — before police — in schools. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., with colleagues in the Senate and House, is reintroducing The Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act, which directs billions in federa...

A candid debate over assigning police officers to schools is overdue in Connecticut. Like the best debate topics, this is not an easy one. The impulse in some quarters to expel police as a backlash against law enforcement would be inappropriate. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, a flurry of maj...