Joseph Brennan, Remarks - 2022 Governor's Celebration

Thank you, Symphony. Thanks everybody. I just want to start out real quick with a special thank you to Governor Lamont. This is our first large in-person gathering since the outbreak of the pandemic, so I just wanted to publicly thank the governor for his unbelievable leadership over the last few years, particularly when it comes to the state's young people. When the governor would do those daily press conferences, as I'm sure many of you watched as I did every day, he often talked about if you want to do something to step up and help the state of Connecticut, one of the things he always included was mentoring. And that was really, really important. And I think back, one of the most troubling or difficult decisions to make was what to do about schools, and the governor had a very thoughtful approach that really put the safety of our children first. So we just want to take this opportunity, Governor, to thank you very much for your unbelievable leadership over the last few years, particularly when it comes to the state's youth. So thank you.

Thank you. And it'd also be remiss if I didn't thank you on your Earth. Thank you. I congratulate you on your recent re-election, and we at the partnership look forward to working with you for the next four years. So thank you, Governor.

You know, as Symphony mentioned, I spent over three decades representing the Connecticut business community at the Capitol. And when I retired two years ago, I stepped down from several boards that I served on, but I really wanted to stay on the Governor's Prevention Partnership Board because I've seen up close the impact it's had to better the lives of so many of our most deserving young people here in the state of Connecticut. And since 2005, as Symphony mentioned, I've been on the board. I'm really proud now to be the co-chair with my good friend Governor Lamont, because I really do believe that investment in the partnership is not only good for business, but it's really, really important for all our communities. Because at the end of the day, we may be business people, but we still are just individuals living, trying to get by with our family and our friends in the state of Connecticut. Obviously, there's a lot of difficulties in the world right now, so having strong communities is so important for so many reasons. And I think the partnership is one of the top organizations in the state that really works to strengthen our community.

And one of certainly the biggest challenges facing the business community over my career, and certainly probably a bigger problem challenge now than it's ever been, is that of finding qualified people to move into your available jobs. And just as an aside, I was talking to my good friend Don Droppo, who's a new supporter. He's the president of Curtis Packaging down in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and he's a new supporter of the partnership and here today. And we were talking this morning, and he said the one reason I wanted to support the partnership is because I'm desperate to try to find people, and to have an organization that really works so hard to keep kids off drugs and keep kids safe and keep kids, or at least try to arrange kids to have mentors that help them as much as Trinity's mentors helped her, that is an organization I want to be a part of and support. And I think that's just emblematic of what I hear from many people I know in the business community. And so investments in the partnership today, I think, really will pay huge dividends in the future as these young people that we're trying to support ultimately move into the workforce. And we also firmly believe that it really takes a public-private partnership to do this, that government can't do everything alone. And as you know, this organization was created over 30 years ago by Governor Bill O'Neill working with the state's business leaders, and we are very proud to continue that spirit of cooperation between the public sector and the private sector as we work toward the betterment of Connecticut youth.

So I want to thank the many corporate partners that are here today, not only for your commitment of financial support, but also your personal time, whether it's serving on the board, hosting events at your companies, whatever it may be. And I just encourage more of you to do that because it's so desperately needed in this age we live in right now. We simply couldn't do what we do without your support, but we're always looking to expand opportunities to serve the needs of not only children but their parents. So if you want to have a lunch and learn at your company where your employees can learn better ways to speak to your children, you know, I'm an older father, my kids are relatively young compared to my age, so talking about drugs or other things, I could use some help, and the partnership provides that help. If you want to have a lunch and learn at your companies, I encourage you to do that. Or very importantly, if you want to get involved with mentoring programs, please reach out to the partnership to do that. Or if you want to create something else that's really unique to your company, reach out to the team at the partnership and they'll help develop a program for you that I know will really work to the betterment of your people and your employees and your children.

I also want to thank, and I know I'm probably going overtime here, but that's my usual way when I start talking. I also want to thank our Board of Directors for your tireless support of the partnership, particularly over the last couple years as your own organizations were just undergoing tremendous change caused by the pandemic. And a special thanks to Cali Roland and the entire partnership team. You guys are just so committed to the mission of the organization and you're dedicated to achieving the partnership goals. And I can say that not only did you avoid any slippage in serving the needs of your stakeholders during the pandemic, you all as a team really rose up and found emerging needs out in the communities and addressed them. And we're all really proud of the work that you did, particularly over the last couple years. And to all the rest of you here this morning, whether your government partners, community partners, thank you for all the great support that you provide to the partnership. And we just got to keep the momentum going. I think the partnership under Roland and Kelly's leadership is really doing the best work it's ever done, and we just got to make sure we continue that. So thank you very much.