LOONEY, DUFF, MAHER OUTRAGED AS FEDERAL AGRICULTURE FOOD PURCHASING PROGRAMS CANCELED

“Harming American students, food banks and farmers at the same time”

Senate President Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven), Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and State Senator Ceci Maher (D-Wilton) were outraged this week as the United States Department of Agriculture announced its cancellation of a program supporting schools, food banks and farmers in Connecticut and nationally.

The cancellation involves programs that provided schools and food banks with funds to purchase locally-grown food from local farms and ranchers, representing $1 billion in federal spending. According to the School Nutrition Association, roughly $660 million supporting the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program has been canceled nationwide after being previously allocated. The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program has also been cut.

According to the state Department of Education, that will represent the loss of about $5.6 million in future funding for fresh food in Connecticut schools and child care facilities, with about $1.8 million in existing funds still usable. In addition, the Department of Agriculture expects to lose $3.7 million in funding. The direct financial impact on food banks is not yet known.

“Cutting funds supporting hardworking Connecticut farmers is bad enough. Cutting funding for meals in schools and child care centers is even worse,” said Sen. Looney. “Like many decisions coming out of Washington since January 20, this is a short-sighted decision with real suffering inflicted on the American people. Farmers are already facing rapidly changing conditions, only to see another important source of funding now disappear. Students won’t be able to enjoy fresh, healthy foods in school. I’m puzzled at what sense this decision makes, if any, as I am appalled at the cruelty evident in such a policy.”

“It’s almost impressive, in a horrifying way, that the Trump Administration is harming American students, food banks and farmers, all at the same time,” said Sen. Duff. “These funds were already approved for use, making their cancellation simply cruel. People in our communities – young students and their teachers, local farmers, those in need – will struggle without this support. And all this for negligible savings at best; this program, which helped countless people, has a cost representing a rounding error in the federal budget. Is harming children and farmers making America great?”

“After years of discussing children’s nutrition, and extensive efforts to connect Connecticut children with healthy, fresh foods, it’s astonishing to discover the federal government actively working against those goals,” said Sen. Maher, Senate Chair of the Committee on Children. “Programs like Local Food for Schools are a lifeline for youth in communities across the state and provide financial opportunities for Connecticut farmers. To see them unceremoniously cut, with agriculture and children’s health and nutrition no longer a federal priority, is a travesty.”

USDA spokespersons said funding announced in October 2024 is no longer available, with previous agreements to be canceled after a 60-day notification period. They claimed the programs “no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.”

More than 40 states utilized the LFS program before its cancellation.

Senators Looney and Duff Applaud Efforts by Other States to Hire Fired Federal Workers

HARTFORD – Senate President Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff on Wednesday applauded governors in states like Hawaii, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia for their leadership in hiring federal workers recently fired by the Trump administration.

Governors in states across the country have moved quickly to recruit former federal employees as the Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of workers from the federal workforce, according to reporting by Stateline.

“It’s not every day that a chief executive foolishly guts his own workforce and leaves thousands of talented employees suddenly looking for new jobs. We applaud the good business sense of every governor who has seized the opportunity presented by this once-in-a-generation blunder to fill state vacancies with these qualified candidates,” Senators Looney and Duff said. “We hope our own Executive Branch will join all the forward-looking states benefiting from Donald Trump’s incompetence.”

SENATORS LOONEY & CABRERA WELCOME STATE GRANT TO RE-MAKE EMPTY ART SCHOOL INTO AN ARTS HUB 

HAMDEN – Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and state Senator Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamden) today welcomed a vote by the bipartisan Community Investment Fund (CIF) 2030 board that will bring $250,000 to Hamden to begin the process of renovating the former Paier College of Art campus into “HALO” – the Hamden Arts and Learning Oasis, an arts and culture hub.

It is envisioned that HALO will feature remodeled visual and performing arts studios equipped for painting, sculpture, dance, music, writing, performance, multimedia arts, and interdisciplinary fields such as wellness, culinary arts, and sustainability. A community gallery will showcase works by local artists and students, while workshops and classes will engage individuals of all ages in learning and artistic exploration. Additionally, a residency program will provide studio space and resources for emerging and established artists.

The CIF vote is a key step toward final approval of the projects by the State Bond Commission, which must come in the next 60 days.

“Like law and literature, art, music and dance are just as significant a part of the fabric of our society. The desire to re-make a shuttered art school into a hub of art and culture in Hamden is a wonderful re-use of the facility that will benefit the community and expand the local arts scene,” Sen. Looney said.

“We have to put Paier behind us and find a way to move forward for the benefit of the community and of local artists. I think the HALO project has merit and I look forward to the community discussions and design plan to make it a reality,” said Sen. Cabrera.

The $250,000 grant has been awarded to Transcend The Trend, whose mission is to achieve equity in the local education system in and through the arts. Since its founding in 2021, TTT has focused on providing youth programs, fostering educational partnerships, and supporting the development of resources for underserved artists in Hamden and Stamford.

The architectural and design plans for HALO will be created after a community engagement meeting and a feasibility study. The project also includes the development of fundraising materials to pay for the cost of renovating the space. The goal of the arts and culture hub is to increase the number of youth and adults engaged in arts education programs annually to about 300 participants, and to provide at least 50 local artists with professional development and exhibition opportunities.

The Community Investment Fund 2030 (CIF) was created by a bipartisan vote of the General Assembly in 2021 and is funded through state bonding. The CIF fosters economic development in historically underserved communities across the state. The CIF will provide hundreds of millions of dollars to eligible municipalities as well as not-for-profit organizations and community development corporations that operate within them.

CIF grants are available for:

Capital improvement programs, such as brownfield remediation, affordable housing, infrastructure, clean energy development, and home or public facility rehabilitation.

Small business capital programs, including revolving or micro loan programs, gap financing, and start-up funds to establish small businesses.

Planning for capital projects including activities such as community engagement processes, feasibility studies, development of project plan and construction budget.