Teangeley found this opportunity through East Hartford High School’s career pathways program, a partnership with the nonprofit ReadyCT. When Teangeley expressed an interest in health care during a science class, her teacher suggested she join the school’s Health Science career track.

East Hartford has offered career readiness courses for decades, but the recent partnership with ReadyCT transformed their programming. The school offers a variety of career tracks, including Finance, Public Service, Computer Science, and Automotive, which students can opt into or out of at any point.

ReadyCT integrates work-based learning experiences into the school’s course load. They bring in subject matter experts, plan site visits, and connect students with paid internships. ReadyCT partners with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, as well as some of the state’s largest employers. The Health Science track, for example, is a partnership with Hartford Hospital’s School of Allied Health. Students who complete a career pathway leave high school with industry-recognized credentials that allow them to get hired immediately.

The mission of ReadyCT is to advance academic excellence and career-connected learning for public school students in Connecticut. Most of the organization’s work takes place in districts that have been historically underfunded and with students who have faced barriers to opportunity, primarily Black and Latine public school students. ReadyCT staff is embedded in high schools, working directly with teachers and students. In addition to East Hartford, the organization operates in Hartford, and recently expanded to Manchester.

“It’s absolutely part economic development and talent acquisition strategy,” says Sheryl McNamee, Deputy Director of ReadyCT. “For years now, Connecticut businesses have faced chronic workforce shortages. If we build these talent pipelines, employers will have less of this persistent issue. We’ll have ways for students to enter these careers, diversifying and elevating the workforce.”

Evance Kantengeni is a senior at East Hartford High in the Health Science career track. With several family members working in health care, he has always been interested in nursing. In class, Evance learns practical skills such as feeding and ambulating patients. He’s already interned at an assisted living facility, where he gained hands-on patient experience. In the fall, Evance will study nursing in college, entering school with a head start on most of his peers.

ReadyCT’s approach emphasizes both exposure and access. Most students don’t know what options are available to them, and so learning about potential career tracks early in their high school journey is invaluable. Once a student identifies their passion and enters a track, they gain access to experts and work experience that can confirm their decision or send them in a different direction. This reduces the odds they’ll switch majors in college or bounce around different jobs.

ReadyCT staff take a personal approach, helping students navigate important milestones. Mya Bynoe is a senior at Pathways Academy of Technology and Design in Hartford, another school that partners with ReadyCT. After entering a career track for Business, Mya received help with resume writing, interviewing, and college essays. With this support, Mya earned nine scholarships, greatly reducing the financial burden when she enrolls at UConn next year.

Amy Peltier, Director of East Hartford Works!, the town’s economic development agency, was part of the team that launched the partnership with ReadyCT. Town leaders were looking to invest ARPA funds in a way that would strengthen education and economic development.

When asked what makes ReadyCT special, Peltier says, “Their partnerships with industry are crucial. That exposure is so important for young people to get in high school, rather than assuming those kids will go to college and get the skills there.”

In East Hartford, where the median income is lower than in surrounding towns, students often need to help their families financially. Exit survey data from the town’s Summer Youth Employment program found that 63% of East Hartford students need to work during the school year. Connecting students with jobs now, while preparing them for a financially secure future, is vital.

The town is also reaping the benefits of the program. East Hartford’s police and fire departments have employed several young people from the school’s Public Service track. This summer, dozens of ReadyCT participants will work for town departments.

Last year, the Hartford Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to ReadyCT to support the organization’s current operations and long-term sustainability. In addition, a $25,000 grant from the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Fund at the Hartford Foundation supported the expansion of ReadyCT’s programming to Great Path Academy in Manchester. The Manchester program includes an externship experience for teachers, taking them out of the classroom and into the workplace to learn first-hand about the jobs for which they are preparing their students. ReadyCT wants to expand further, but is taking a deliberate approach, making sure that schools can support the curriculum and town leaders are fully invested.

The Hartford Foundation chose to invest in ReadyCT’s work because it aligns with our goal of increasing employment opportunities for Black and Latine residents in Greater Hartford. Students who complete ReadyCT training become more employable, whether they go to college or into a trade.

“We’re empowering young people to take control of their future,” says Gloria Ortiz-Rivera, ReadyCT’s Director of Career Pathways for East Hartford. “It’s not just internships, work site tours or guest speakers. It’s opportunities to present, communicate, advocate for themselves. We’re excited about the work we do. This is a gift.”

A couple years ago, like most high schoolers, Teangeley Centeno wasn’t sure what the future held. Now, she has a clear plan. In the fall, she’ll attend UConn and major in neurobiology; from there, she hopes to go to medical school. She wants to stay in Connecticut and give back to the community that raised her.

“I love my teachers,” says Teangeley. “They fueled my desire to be part of this class. ReadyCT has helped me a lot. They keep pushing me to my max, showing me things that I never thought were possible. It’s so nice to be a part of.”

The production is part of HartBeat Ensemble’s Youth Play Institute (YPI), which empowers young people, particularly those of color, to explore and address critical civic issues through theater. Far beyond a summer camp, YPI is a paid internship committed to cultivating the next generation of Citizen Artists and Civic Leaders. Participants are provided with the tools and training to interview residents, write scripts, and produce and stage their own plays. Through this process, youth not only develop their artistic skills, but they also gain valuable job training in stagecraft, marketing, and arts administration.

This approach is exemplified by Sarah Ghonaim, a former program participant, who now facilitates sessions and has landed roles in two HartBeat productions. Sarah shares, “My middle and high school got rid of its arts program. YPI was my only chance to experience the arts and see it as a legitimate pathway for women of color like me.”

In the past few years, HartBeat Ensemble has received multiple Hartford Foundation grants to support initiatives ranging from facilitating antiracism dialogue to board development through the Nonprofit Support Program. They also participated in the third cohort of the Social Enterprise Accelerator (SEA) to diversify their revenue stream by offering DEI training and coaching.

The 2023 Foundation grant is supporting YPI to provide youth with paid work experiences for more than one hundred hours over a 4-month period. YPI participants are getting exposure to a variety of careers as HartBeat has partnered with the Center of Latino Progress for their Immigration360 project. YPI youth are exploring the experiences of Latine entrepreneurs in our community. On stage, the audience will hear new stories and discuss the challenges faced by immigrants, opportunity youth and strategies for addressing disconnection, all while the diverse group of young artists gain valuable arts experience.

Artistic Director Godfrey Simmons emphasizes, “What the program does is teach youth to understand they have a voice, that they can work with each other. That they can develop a single voice that has force to impact their families, their communities, and our theater because we are learning from them too.”

Established more than half a century earlier, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (HSO) has launched a similar effort to increase inclusive accessibility to the arts. In 2019, the Foundation funded HSO’s strategic plan that aims to connect its storied history with past, current, and future audiences. Now, their musicians visit local schools on a regular basis, engaging with over five thousand students across the region.

Recent research by the League of American Orchestras revealed that nationwide, only 2.4% of orchestra musicians are Black and 4.6% identify as Latinx, highlighting a concerning lack of diversity in the industry. In response, the Foundation’s most recent grant is funding HSO’s national search for four musicians of color to fill two-year paid fellowships. Andrew Robbin, Director of Learning and Social Impact says, “The fellowship is a wonderful opportunity to promote diversity in the orchestra while providing new members structure and guidance to become better musicians and learn about professional orchestras.”

The fellows will perform in Masterworks Concerts and Pops Concerts and will receive mentorship from an HSO musician to enhance their career prospects. Through strategic partnerships, the fellows will interact with youth across Greater Hartford through public school music education programs and nonprofits including The Chrysalis Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Hartford. In doing so, they will provide the region with artistic mirrors that reflect Black and Brown youth. These efforts aim to address systemic racism in the arts by providing not only representation but opportunities for musicians of color to gain experience and secure permanent positions within professional orchestras.

While the institutional stories of HartBeat Ensemble and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra are quite different, they share a common goal: to empower young artists of color and contribute to a more diverse and inclusive arts sector in the region. Engagement through theater and music weaves a rich tapestry where young residents can find a sense of belonging—breaking down barriers, opening doors, and creating opportunities for a new generation to thrive creatively and culturally.

Joe Young is a Greater Hartford native, an artist, and an educator who understands the importance of providing quality opportunities to all students, no matter where they live. A nationally recognized cartoonist and filmmaker, Joe is known for his comic strip Scruples and for engaging Hartford youth through the creative process.

“Comics are the Trojan horse to learning,” he said. “I wasn’t a good student, but reading comics helped me learn, especially English and History. Art became my outlet and my lifeline. I spent as much time in the art room as I did in my other classes combined. Now I want to be sure other kids have those same opportunities, to find themselves and to connect to others.”

While his firm, Joe Young Entertainment, works with the Patricelli Family Foundation to produce Hartford’s Got Talent!, his personal mission is to help kids learn through art, such as with programs at the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Hartford.

In 2023, Joe started the Young Edutainment Fund to help ensure financial support for Hartford’s young creative minds. “Being a successful artist requires talent and hard work. But it also takes someone who believes in you to invest the dollars in your dream, to ensure access to quality resources such as computers for digital animation and hiring local artists to teach you. With this fund, I hope to put other budding artists on the path to success.”

His dream is to see Hartford become a national arts hub. “I raised my children around Hartford and Springfield, and now I have the honor of watching them make their way in the world as artists. Hartford has become a much more hospitable place for artists even in the past few years. If we are united and produce the art, the world will come to Hartford. Hopefully, through this fund and others like it, we’ll be able to provide the resources today so that we have more amazing artists tomorrow.”

Head just a few miles to the west and you’ll find another vibrant art space of someone dedicated to improving our community.

Kate Emery is a native of Farmington, a businesswoman, artist, and advocate. She founded The Walker Group, a technology consulting firm that helped businesses manage the desktop computers that were just entering the business world. Even with a focus on technology, she found a way to include her heart in her work.

“Maybe it was being raised by a social worker mother and an engineer father,” she said. “I wanted our business to be recognized for both high tech and human touch.”

Once her business was up and running, she began to think about how it could give back. With access to outdated hardware and a passion for the environment, computer recycling seemed a natural fit. The person hired to manage the program eventually turned it into a stand-alone business, with Kate and her team providing business coaching.

“The idea of helping other people start businesses that give back became reSET, Hartford’s social enterprise incubator. From there, it was a natural next step to turn Connecticut into a national hub of social enterprise.”

In 2014, The Walker Group became one of the state’s first registered Benefit Corporations, after Kate led the state in passing legislation to establish this corporate structure. The company distributes at least one-third of its profits to staff and one-third to the community.

When Kate wanted to pull back from her duties at Walker five years ago, she began looking for a new way to structure the business. She and her team settled on a Perpetual Purpose Trust, the first in Connecticut. “It took a lot of research, a lot of conversations. COVID forced us to start over more than once. But this was the best way I found to protect the commitment I made to employees and the community. I see my goal now as helping to spread the word among business owners that there is a way to protect their legacy into the future through different ownership structures.” To this end Kate’s new project is working on a documentary aimed at highlighting practical solutions being implemented around the world to create a more fair and sustainable world.

Kate established other donor-advised funds at the Foundation with some of the distributions from her company and the sale of her paintings. “It was those experiences that convinced me a donor-advised fund was the best way for our business to donate to the community. Walker makes one contribution to the Walker Community Fund. Then our staff members vote on where to award grants. They vote ‘shares’ awarded based on seniority and performance, not title or salary. It is a more democratic, participatory approach than we had before. We get to keep our anonymity if desired, and we have the support of the staff of the Foundation. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Joe Young and Kate Emery both believe in driving change in our community.

“We are small city, but we have a lot of talent,” said Joe.

“Let your contribution to community be your measure of success!” closed Kate.