Youth Programs in the Digital Arts
Philanthropists are collaborating with The Community Foundation to make investments in education and training. Carlton Highsmith is leading the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (CONNCAT), modeled after the MacArthur genius winner Bill Strickland’s successful Manchester Bidwell Center in Pittsburgh. CONNCAT will train unemployed and under-employed adults in medical coding and phlebotomy and develop youth programs in the digital arts.
In 2008, The Community Foundation joined The United Illuminating Company, Empower New Haven, The William Casper Graustein Memorial Foundation and Yale-New Haven Hospital in funding a $150,000 study to determine the feasibility of creating a Center for Arts & Technology in New Haven to train and provide vocational skills to inner city students and adults.
The result? The study was completed in 2009 and New Haven is now on its way to becoming the home of The Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (CONNCAT), a 501(c)(3) non-profit affiliate of the National Center for Arts & Technology. It will be located in Building 4 of the Science Park complex; a Fall 2011 opening is anticipated.
The most current statistics show a school dropout rate in New Haven between 15.7% and 27.4%, depending on the system used to track students. In either system, New Haven ranks above the national dropout rate average of 8.0%.
The unemployment rate in New Haven continues to remain high at 9.6% (August 2010), which is on par with the national average and slightly higher than Connecticut’s 9.1%. Since December 2009, employment in industries such as manufacturing, information technology, and financial services has declined, whereas the employment in the health services industry increased by 2.2%.5
By providing job training to unemployed and underemployed adults and youth programs that can help increase New Haven’s graduation rate, CONNCAT will afford individuals the opportunity to help change these statistics and guide our community into a brighter future.
CONNCAT will provide affordable, accessible and industry-specific job training programs for the underemployed and the unemployed of the region, initially having the capacity to serve 60 adults in two carefully selected training programs: medical coding and phlebotomy. Additional training programs are currently under review for inclusion at a later date.
CONNCAT will also provide after-school arts programming for a targeted urban youth student population identified as being at risk of dropping out of school. Modeled after the nationally recognized after-school arts program at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, youth/arts programs at CONNCAT will be designed to educate and inspire any young person who has an interest in the arts and creative self-expression. The Design and Digital Studios will initially accommodate approximately 100 students per school year. Additional capacity and programming will be added in year three.