Governor Lamont Invites Municipalities To Participate in Webinar on Youth Engagement and Public Service

Webinar Will Be Held Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at 3:30PM

(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is inviting municipal leaders and employees from towns and cities throughout Connecticut to participate in a webinar his office is co-sponsoring to announce the launch of the Connecticut Service-to-Career Pathways Toolkit, a resource developed for municipalities that provides tools regarding the best practices for training, recruiting, and retaining opportunity youth and encouraging them to seek careers in public service.

Developed by the Office of Governor Lamont in collaboration with the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), DOMUS Kids, and Our Piece of the Pie, this toolkit supports town and community leaders in designing human-centered, strengths-based, and adaptable local programs for opportunity youth to move from service, work-based learning and early employment into long-term careers in public service. It is designed to offer clear, step-by-step guidance and a roadmap for scaling from pilots into sustainable annual programs. In general, opportunity youth are young people who are between the ages of 16 to 24 and disconnected from school and work.

The 90-minute webinar will include a panel discussion on how Connecticut towns and cities can create meaningful opportunities for opportunity youth, while addressing real community needs. The session will bring together municipal leaders, workforce development partners, nonprofit leaders, and state officials to share real-world examples of programs across Connecticut that engage youth, address workforce shortages, and provide additional capacity for community projects. The goal is for attendees to leave inspired by what is possible in their own communities and with a few practical ideas they can take back and implement, whether they are from a large city or a small town.

The webinar will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. To register, click here.

The toolkit is now available online and can be downloaded on CCM's website.

"Engaging disconnected youths by encouraging them to participate in public service is a great way that we-as public officials ourselves-can help young people get the support they need to gain the tools necessary to build successful, long-lasting careers," Governor Lamont said. "I strongly encourage every municipality in Connecticut to take a look at this toolkit and participate in this webinar so that we can work together on this important issue."

"The Service to Career Pathways initiative creates a supported bridge for young people to move from community service roles into meaningful, long-term careers in local government," Dr. Kelli-Marie Vallieres, Connecticut's chief workforce officer, said. "By expanding this model with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, we are opening new doors of opportunity for youth and strengthening the municipal talent pipeline that keeps our communities strong."

"This project represents a powerful collaboration between state, municipal, and community partners to build real, sustainable pathways from service into public service careers," CCM Executive Director and CEO Joe DeLong said. "By equipping towns with a clear, step-by-step toolkit, we are not only strengthening workforce pipelines, but also ensuring opportunity youth have meaningful, supported entry points into long-term careers that serve our communities."

"We are both proud to participate in the introduction of a collaborative, practical playbook designed to turn a shared statewide vision into local action," Hector Rivera, president and CEO of Our Piece of the Pie, and Mike Duggan, executive director of DOMUS Kids, said in a joint statement. "Connecticut municipalities face two urgent challenges: critical entry-level staffing shortages and the vital need to reconnect opportunity youth to meaningful work and community. This toolkit solves both simultaneously. By aligning functional town needs-across public works, public safety, and human services-with supported youth employment, we are filling operational gaps while building technical skills, confidence, and civic pride in our young people. The potential impact of this work is transformative. This playbook moves beyond short-term placements to establish visible, believable career ladders that transition disconnected youth from temporary service into permanent, stable civil service careers with benefits. Backed by an intentional network of mentorship, relationship-based coaching, and wraparound supports to navigate real-life barriers, this framework ensures that setbacks become teachable moments rather than dead ends. When young people contribute to their communities, they gain a sense of purpose, and our towns become safer, more resilient, and economically stronger. Together, Our Piece of the Pie and DOMUS Kids are fully committed to helping Connecticut municipalities adopt these flexible, human-centered practices to build a new generation of civic talent."

Connecticut's Service-to-Careers Pathways Toolkit was developed as part of an initiative administered by the National Governors Association in partnership with the Schultz Family Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Connecticut was one of six states selected to participate in the Service-to-Careers Pathways Policy Academy, which focuses on helping communities create stronger pathways from service, work-based learning, and early employment into long-term careers.