HOUSE DEMOCRATS • MARIE KIRKLEY-BEY • NEWSROOM - 2010
Newsroom - 2010
March 16, 2010
Kirkley-Bey Helps Secure State Grant For Hartford Stage
January 21, 2009
Kirkley-Bey Obtains $5 Million For Summer Jobs Program
January 19, 2009
Kirkley-Bey Urges Hartford’s Uninsured To Take Advantage Of Free Clinic
January 19, 2010
Hartford State Representatives Named To Commission To Identify Opportunities
For Regionalism, Municipal Cost Savings And Efficiencies
March 16, 2010
Deputy Speaker Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey (D-Hartford) announced that the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (CCT) awarded Hartford Stage an Endowment Grant of $64,901.
“Hartford Stage contributes greatly to this city by providing the highest caliber of live theatre, while giving young people the opportunity to discover and improve their talents. I’m proud that I was able to play a part in securing this grant,” Deputy Speaker Kirkley-Bey said.
Hartford Stage is an award-winning non-profit professional theatre. Now in its 45th year, it produces six major theatrical productions and one to two summer productions annually. This grant will allow the theatre to cultivate new audiences through innovative productions and programming over an entire season.
Mike Stotts, Managing Director of Hartford Stage, said, "We are grateful for this support made possible from the State of Connecticut's Arts Endowment fund. There was great wisdom demonstrated by the state legislature in creating this Endowment that must continue in perpetuity. Arts organizations throughout the state will continue to benefit from this for years to come, which is especially important to recognize when the annual appropriation for arts funding for the Commission on Culture and Tourism faces drastic reductions because of the state deficit. In this difficult year, Hartford Stage will be able to utilize the Endowment grant to support the salaries of many artists and theatre technicians employed in our current world premiere commissioned production of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
Deputy Speaker Kirkley-Bey added, “For every dollar the state gives out through the Commission on Culture & Tourism, we see $9.30 in net revenue returns to the state and local economy. With a rate of return like that, we should be giving much more to Hartford’s arts community.”
Hartford Stage has a strong commitment to community partnerships, educational programs and humanities initiatives. The theatre developed the Oral History Project, which resulted in the piece My Hartford, developed and performed by teens from the Hartford area. It also runs two education programs, Interact and Connections, reaching Connecticut students from elementary through high school.
Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey is Deputy Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives representing Hartford’s 5th Assembly district.
January 21, 2009
Deputy Speaker Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey (D-Hartford) announced that her fight to secure funding for summer jobs was included in the final version of the budget passed by the state legislature.
The 2010-11 state budgets provides $5 million in funding for summer youth jobs with $1.5 million allocated for 2010 and $3.5 million allocated for 2011.
“This recession is being felt hardest in communities like mine in Hartford,” said Deputy Speaker Kirkley-Bey. “We have more folks then ever looking for jobs and this funding is a step in the right direction to help.”
Kirkley-Bey made these comments during today’s meeting of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Task Force on Children in the Recession at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
The task force, which is made up of state legislators, congressional staff, economic experts, and advocates representing businesses and non-profits, is charged with making recommendations on what steps the legislature can take to ensure the well-being of children in terms of health, safety, nutrition, housing, employment, child care and meeting their basic needs during the economic recession and recovery. Connecticut is the first state in the country to form a legislative task force to plan for children in the recession and during the recovery.
Deputy Speaker Kirkley-Bey added, “By providing experience and skills to some of our most-at risk youth we can avoid some of the known consequences of teenage unemployment such as increased violence and crime.”
The federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program has allocated $130 million to Connecticut and some of that funding can be used for youth employment programs as well.
Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey is Deputy Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives representing Hartford’s 5th Assembly district.
January 19, 2010
Hartford residents who lack health insurance are being urged by Deputy Speaker Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey (D-Hartford) to attend a free one-day health clinic in Hartford on February 3, 2010.
“There are too many folks living in Hartford who lack health insurance,” said Deputy Speaker Kirkley-Bey. “Almost everyone without insurance puts off seeing doctors until it’s too late. This clinic is an opportunity to receive quality care at no cost. I urge everyone to take advantage.”
The Connecticut C.A.R.E. (Communities Are Responding Everyday) Clinic will provide medical care for anyone who is uninsured in the state on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 from 12:00-7:00 p.m. at the Convention Center in Hartford. Free care will be provided for all types of medical issues including screenings for cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, HIV, pregnancy, and vision.
Prospective patients should call 1-877-233-5159 for more information or to schedule an appointment.
This clinic will also connect the uninsured with safety-net providers such as free clinics, sliding scale clinics and federally qualified health centers located near where the uninsured live so that the patients may receive regular treatment on an ongoing basis.
Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey is Deputy Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives representing Hartford’s 5th Assembly district.
January 19, 2010
State Representatives Kelvin Roldan (D-District 4), Marie Kirkley-Bey (D-District 5), Hector Robles (D-District 6) and Doug McCrory (D-District 7) have been named by House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan (D-Meriden) and House Majority Leader Denise Merrill (D-Mansfield) to a new a commission that will seek to identify opportunities for more regional collaborations designed to create efficiencies and save money for municipalities. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) will begin its work next Tuesday, January 19th with the goal of recommending legislation during the 2010 session.
“We can be doing more with less,” Speaker Donovan said. “This group of dedicated members of the Hartford delegation and MORE will help us find these new ways to help our cities and towns. I am confident we can bring about real property tax reform by regionalizing certain activities that can both save money and improve the economic competitiveness of our state.”
“We’ve talked for a long time about restructuring government at all levels across the state,” said Rep. Merrill. “Now we’re going to take action. I’m excited about the chance to bring some relief to our cities and towns and to bring about the kind of structural change that can deliver benefits for years to come.”
The MORE Commission will be comprised of 45 Democratic members of the House of Representatives and representatives of municipalities, regional organizations, education, business, unions and non-profits.
The Commission will look at a wide spectrum of issues and opportunities facing municipalities: multi-town collaboratives, Board of Education functions, regionally-based organizations, collective bargaining, mandates, revenue sources, health care, and state grants. In each of these areas, commission subcommittees will investigate costs, benefits, resources, legal obstacles and opportunities, potential savings, consolidation, and results-based accountability (RBA) methods for tracking performance. |
