Please Take My Survey, Apply For PPP Forgiveness, National Sticky Bun Day

February 21, 2024


 
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Dear Neighbor,

I’m running as fast as my feet will carry me this week as we are out of session, but very busy with committee meetings and public hearings. It’s wonderful to hear concepts new and old and to move forward on interesting new ideas and some old chestnuts revisited with compromises as a result of listening to experts and our constituents.
 
Up top, I am once again conducting my annual survey of constituents and hope you’ll take the time to complete it. I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Last week, I helped organize an informational hearing between the Housing, Human Services, and Planning and Development Committees so that we could learn more about the causes of homelessness, the challenges to tackling it, and the barriers to building enough housing, affordable or otherwise.

I included information this week on small business loans left over from the pandemic, as well as news on EV chargers at the Avon Free Public Library, and just for fun, a recipe in honor of National Sticky Bun Day today.
 
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with your thoughts on any of the legislation currently before us.

Have a great week,

Eleni
 
Please Take My Survey
It's that time again . . . you have the chance to tell me your hopes for legislation, what you think I should be working on, and what matters most to you in my legislative survey.

While our seniors will receive it in their mailboxes, we have made the survey available on my website and I hope you'll answer for a few minutes.

Though I try to respond to everyone, know that even if you don't get a response, I read all of them and use them to inform my positions and representation of our district. Thanks for helping make me a better legislator. Please click on the image below to take the survey.
 
Apply for PPP Forgiveness, Collections Start March 4th
Here's a heads-up from the Small Business Association's CT District Office...
 
  • PPP borrowers in default must comply by March 3rd
  • Failure to comply will result in referral to the U.S. Department of Treasury for collections with exuberant fees
  • PPP borrowers can avoid default and repercussions by completing the PPP forgiveness application

Resources Available for PPP forgiveness:
 
Reminder: Public Comment Open for Office of Dyslexia and Reading Disabilities 
You can review and provide feedback on the Connecticut Office of Dyslexia and Reading Disabilities proposed strategic priorities, related actions, and outcomes.

Comments must be submitted by Monday, February 26, 2024, at 5:00 PM


 
Link to Survey
 
In the News: Talking Homelessness, Housing, and Development
It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Planning and Development Committee as we seek to address homelessness, housing people can afford, workforce housing, and more. As you may recall from the last session, pieces of the bill Work, Live, Ride passed and this session there is another version of the bill with options for municipalities to make transit-oriented communities work for them. Please click on the headline below for more details.
With my colleagues on the Housing, Human Services, and Planning and Development Committees, we held an informational hearing last Friday to discuss everything in the homelessness-to-housing pipeline: how and why people become homeless, how we can move people from shelters to housing, why that isn't happening right now, why we have a growing unhoused population, what some of the barriers are to building affordable and many other types of housing, and more. I'm truly grateful to the panelists for their candid testimony and answers to the legislators on the respective committees.
As we ended the informational hearing, I did my best, to sum up not only what we heard but also why we cannot squander the critical momentum we have from the business community, housing advocates, and our constituents to move forward with all of the different types of housing that we need. I don't know about you, but it matters to me that our firefighters and police, our teachers, and the people who work in our towns can actually afford homes in our towns. Please click on the video below.
 
 
EV Charging Stations Available at Avon Public Library 
An Electric Vehicle Charging Station is now available in the Avon Free Public Library parking lot. Click on the image below for more details.
Town of Avon
 
Community Events
There is a Mental Health First Aid class tonight from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Farmington Valley Health District (FVHD) offices, 95 River Road in Canton.

If you are unable to make this one, there will be another class offered at the same time, same place, next Tuesday, February 27th.

Click on the image below for more information.
 
A Black History Month Moment
How can we celebrate Black history if we never learn it? In 2020, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to require high schools to provide courses on Black and Latino studies, becoming a national model for other states.
 
The development process was paced by a 150-member advisory group comprised of educators, administrators, higher education professors, and scholars, national researchers and historians, representatives from education and community organizations, and studies and families. The group was organized into nine committees with specific tasks.
 
Happy National Sticky Bun Day!
Yummy! Please click on the image below for a recipe to make your own.
Sincerely,

Eleni Kavros DeGraw
State Representative
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