Governor Ned Lamont announced today that Connecticut and several other states have joined national non-profit Opportunity@Work in implementing the STARs (Skilled Through Alternate Routes) initiative. STARs aims to remove barriers to public employment for non-college educated workers who have gained relevant working experience via other means, while the state is hoping to use it as a way to fill in staffing gaps.
“We’re proud to have been at the forefront of building a skills-based ecosystem in the public sector that can both expand access to job opportunities and help the state fill critical workforce needs,” said Lamont. “Through this initiative, we are excited to not just share our own challenges and success stories with our peers, but also learn how Connecticut can continue working to better support, develop, and retain STARs throughout state government.”
Per Lamont’s release, those STARs comprise almost 47% of Connecticut’s 1.7 million working people. The release cited those with pertinent experience via military service, community college, training programs, partial college completion and on-the-job experience as examples of STARs. Public sector jobs were identified last month by Connecticut Voices for Children in its State of Working Connecticut report to be one of the main sectors through which the state can look to better Connecticut’s job and GDP growth.
“Like the recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, Connecticut’s slower job recovery from the combination of the Great Recession and the pandemic-induced recession is partly due to a slower recovery in public sector jobs,” read the report. “In the U.S., public sector employment (federal, state, and local) is up 3.4 percent from December 2007 through January 2024, whereas in Connecticut public sector employment is down 9.3 percent during the same period.”
The initiative would target three state departments in particular, the Department of Children and Families (DCF), Department of Developmental Services (DDS) and Department of Social Services (DSS). Earlier this year, Sarah Eagan, then the State’s Child Advocate, recommended to state legislators that employment at DCF in particular should be incentivized to help alleviate its staff shortages, and hopefully to avoid the myriad of issues that have arisen as a result. Per the Hartford Courant, DCF reported staffing shortages of nearly 35-40% in 2023.
Eagan has also sounded the alarm bell on DDS in recent years. In a 2023 OCA report investigating the DDS’s lack of response to several incidents occurring in DDS facilities, it was noted that DDS “lacks resources to ensure independent investigation of allegations of abuse and neglect of individuals in licensed CLA’s, relying on providers to self-investigate the majority of incidents and report back to DDS.”
Lastly, DSS has also faced similar difficulties with staffing in recent years, impeding its ability to serve state residents. A 2022 state audit revealed that the average time it took for families referred to the DSS to receive services was 102 days.
Per Lamont’s release, the state intends to gather data on Connecticut’s workforce and compare it to that of other states, in an effort to find new ways to offer upward mobility to its workforce. The initiative will be placed under the purview of the Department of Administrative Services and Office of Workforce Strategy in tandem with DCF, DDS and DSS leadership. Connecticut officials will work for the next 12 months alongside peers from Arizona, California, Colorado and Louisiana, who have also opted into STARs.
“By embracing a skills-first approach, Connecticut is ensuring that talented individuals, regardless of their educational paths, have the opportunity to excel in the public sector,” said Lamont. “This initiative will help us unlock the potential of STARs, addressing critical workforce needs while advancing equity and inclusion across our state.”
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