News

Op-Ed: A Case for Healthcare in Future ARPA Funding

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The American Rescue Plan Act has delivered a one-time COVID-era windfall of just over $6 million to the town of New Canaan. While some of these funds have already been spent or earmarked for specific projects, we are fortunate to be able to have a public debate as to how a portion of the remaining funds should be spent. 

The current spike in infections from the Omicron variant tells us two important things: first, this virus will continue to mutate and is not going to disappear overnight; and second, the economic and health related effects of the pandemic are likely to linger for some time. That makes our choices as to how to spend the one-time Federal ARPA funds so critically important. 

Thanks to exceptional local leadership during the pandemic, coupled with our town’s consistently prudent stewardship of municipal finances, it is my hope that we can wisely invest these funds in a way that has a positive impact on life, wellness, and healthcare services for our New Canaan residents. 

Before I make any suggestions, I need to cover some background. 

I write to you wearing many hats; I am a local resident, taxpayer, business owner, volunteer, former Board Chair of the New Canaan Community Foundation, and current Board Chair of the Waveny LifeCare Network. I believe my collective experiences provide a unique and insightful perspective on our community’s needs. 

In my work with NCCF during a Strategic Planning process in 2018, we identified Behavioral Health as a specific area requiring focus within our New Canaan Community. At that time, we identified a vast array of resources provided by many exceptional organizations; however, it was not necessarily easy for anyone in need to gain access quickly, efficiently, or effectively to the right services for their specific needs. 

Through a series of focus groups and other work, NCCF’s Behavioral Health Committee outlined a series of steps that could help bridge the gap between individuals and families to available services.

Back End

Who Knew? New Canaan, New You

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Our culture’s annual ritual of reinvention and deprivation is upon us, and it’s the absolute worst. The onset of a new calendar year is the obvious time to make drastic changes to your lifestyle because, last year, even if it was three weeks ago, you were a grievously flawed monster. Wellness and lifestyle brand ads proliferate in your Instagram feed, implying that whoever you are, you must immediately renounce that sad, besweatpantsed person because it is unthinkable to show up to a New Year without a New You. Propped up by billions of marketing dollars, New You sanctimoniously eschews caffeine, sugar, gluten, tequila, procrastination, toffee, cured meats, online shopping, croissants, spontaneously-purchased first-class airplane tickets, cupcakes of any size, movie popcorn, and smokehouse almonds.

Around Town

Podcast: Town Players of New Canaan

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Patricia Spugani, a board member and fundraising chair for the Town Players of New Canaan, a community theater organization that operates out of the Powerhouse Performance Arts Center in Waveny. We talk about the history of the Town Players, some of the locals who are most involved in it, how the pandemic affected the organization and what it is planning now, both in terms of programming and for its physical facility. 

Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Around Town

Editor: New Canaanite Monthly Coffee Canceled for January

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Because it’s the type of gathering that doesn’t work with masking, NewCanaanite.com is canceling its monthly community coffee at New Canaan Library. Scheduled for the first Thursday of each month, the coffee will resume in February. After taking 20 months off following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the coffee re-launched in November and was held again in December. We had fun. Free and open to all, the coffee is held in the art gallery at the library.