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Dear Friend,
We’ve had an active week in eastern Connecticut, I’m here with an update on a new port infrastructure project in New London, visiting a magnet school in Waterford, and more from the week. Thanks for starting your weekend here with me.
Federal Funding to Build Out a New Port in East New London
Big news for New London and our local economy this week! I got together with Mayor Passero, representatives from Mohawk Northeast Inc., and others to announce a major new $7 million federal Port Infrastructure Development grant award that’s going to develop a brand-new, modernized maritime terminal along the Thames River in East New London.
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| On Monday, Rep. Courtney was joined by (left to right) Allan Heinke (President, Mohawk Northeast), Carlos Ruiz (Project Manager, Mohawk Northeast), New London Mayor Mike Passero, and David Schill (VP of Special Projects, Mohawk Northeast), to help announce the new Port Infrastructure grant. |
Ports around the world are growing and upping their competitiveness. We need to be matching that growth here at home – not just at major ports like Los Angeles and New York, but also in cities like New London. That’s what the federal Port Infrastructure Development grant is intended to help do. The grant program originated in the House Armed Services Committee – which I’m a member of – and it’s intensely competitive. My office worked closely with Mohawk on three applications for this grant in 2020, 2021, and again this year in 2022. After hard work and expanding our pool of local support, the third time was the charm, and we secured the $7 million in funding.
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| Click here to watch remarks from Rep. Courtney and others at the press conference announcing the $7 million Port Infrastructure Grant for Mohawk Northeast and New London |
This combined federal and private investment project will construct a new state-of-the-art port, combining Mohawk’s deep-water wharf and all its adjacent manufacturing activity with direct access to freight rail, making it a lot easier to move heavy machinery on and off the Thames River. The increased activity along the river is clear to see, with cranes in the air up and down New London and Groton. With this critical shipping-to-rail connection in East New London, Mohawk will have the capacity to support growth in shipbuilding, clean energy production, and lots more. The permitting process is moving along swiftly, and thanks to this federal grant, construction is now around the corner.
Visiting a Federally Funded Magnet School in Waterford
We have great magnet schools in eastern CT that provide valuable educations focused on real-world and interesting subject matter like marine sciences, manufacturing, fine arts, STEM, and more. Some of them are operated by LEARN Regional Education Center – they teach students from pre-K all the way through high school and have been a total success. This fall, LEARN was awarded a $9.8 million federal grant from the Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) that will support their efforts over the next five years to close education gaps and expand the reach of magnet schools in our region to more kids and families of all backgrounds. I was proud to lead my colleagues in the CT delegation in writing a letter of support for their grant proposal, and now that they’ve been awarded the funding, I stopped by the Friendship School in Waterford – one of LEARN’s 6 magnet schools in our region – for a tour and an update on their work.
The Friendship school teaches students from Pre-K to Kindergarten. LEARN Executive Director Kate Ericson, Friendship School Principal Jessica Silvestro, and others updated me on how they’ll use the federal grant. While on the tour, I was grateful to receive an invitation to join, Mrs. Emily Harvey’s Kindergarten’s class for story time.
The excitement and engagement of students at the Friendship school was clear to see in all of the classrooms I visited. These magnet schools are really setting the bar for education excellence in our region – just recently, Thames River Magnet School in Groton was recognized as a 2021 National Blue Ribbon School. All of our local magnet schools were made possible by the federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program, which I’ve always supported. This year, I joined my colleagues in introducing the MAGNET Act, which would build on this grant funding in expanding our school’s reach to even more young students. Glad to have helped LEARN secure this federal funding, and to keep up my work in Congress to support their work.
A Federal Grant to Combat Youth Opioid Use
Securing new resources to help our region fight back against addiction and opioid abuse has long been one of my team’s top focuses. This week, I hosted a meeting with members of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership to announce over $681,000 that my office helped secure to strengthen youth-focused opioid prevention and mentorship programs in our region, and to discuss how the new federal resources will be deployed.
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| On Thursday, Courtney was joined by members of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership including Kelly Juleson-Scopino (Co-President) (right) and Deborah Lake (Program Director) (center) for an update on how the new federal funding will benefit addiction prevention efforts in CT-02 |
The Governor’s Prevention Partnership works statewide to prevent underage substance and opioid abuse. They applied for this grant through the U.S. DOJ’s Mentoring for Youth Affected by Opioid Misuse program to expand their work in New London County, and I was glad to help them – I led a letter of support for their application back in June. Now they’re going to put it to use by establishing a new school- and community-based program to help prevent opioid misuse among high-school aged kids with mentoring partnerships and new awareness and information campaigns. The Governor’s Partnership will team up with existing youth and family programs in the region and with the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services on the effort, and in addition to universal awareness campaigns, their targeted work is expected to reach approximately 200 at-risk youth, along with 200 parents and guardians. Click here to read more from the The Day.
Thank you to the Governor’s Prevention Partnership and to all our outstanding local organizations like Reliance Health, UCF, and others who are engaged in this sort of important work for our communities. Big thanks also to Kelly Juleson-Scopino, Roland Harmon, Deborah Lake, and others from the Partnership who joined us at our meeting on Thursday – it's great to see these efforts benefitting our towns and our neighbors.
Honoring a Local Veteran in Enfield
One of the services my office and our Veterans Casework Representative Manny Meneses (USN, Ret.) provide to eastern CT veterans is helping to recover the medals they earned through distinguished service to our nation. Earlier this week in Enfield, I was honored to present Specialist Thomas Tobey (U.S. Army, Ret.) with several of the medals he earned through his service during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1967. First and foremost, Mr. Tobey is a Purple Heart recipient – he was awarded with that most distinguished medal while still in a hospital bed recovering from injuries he sustained in service to our nation, but he also earned six other medals that he never received. He got in touch with my office for help tracking them down.
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| On Tuesday, Rep. Courtney presented six recovered service medals to Specialist Thomas Tobey (U.S. Army, Ret.) in Enfield. They were joined at the ceremony by Mr. Tobey’s family members. |
Our team went to work, and on Tuesday I was grateful for a chance to present Mr. Tobey with the six other medals he earned: the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, the Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle Bar, and the Marksman Badge with Auto Rifle Bar.
A New Round of Energy Assistance Funding is Officially Coming to Connecticut
With colder weather just around the corner, I led the push in the House this fall to re-stock the LIHEAP home heating and energy assistance program so that it would be there for people when they needed it. We were successful, and this week I was glad to announce a new round of $86 million in federal LIHEAP funding for Connecticut. 20% of that funding ($19.5 million) comes straight from our work to add additional funding to LIHEAP this winter, and it’s now available to help more people than ever lower their energy bills.
I’ve heard from lots of families and seniors concerned about the cost of home heating oil. The most direct way to support people facing high energy bills is by re-fueling LIHEAP—the funding is going directly to eastern CT households, and my office is ready to help anyone interested in learning more. In Connecticut, federal LIHEAP funds are dispersed through the CT Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) – it’s open for applications right now, and thanks to new rule changes the funding is now available to thousands more households. Click here to learn more.
Moving forward, I’ll continue to provide updates on home energy assistance, and any future re-stocking of LIHEAP.
Sincerely,
Joe Courtney
Member of Congress
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