January 12 at 7 – 8:30 PM on Zoom
Join with hundreds of others across Fairfield and New Haven Counties from CONECT’s 37 member congregations and institutions to take action on Clean Slate, Healthcare, and more.
CONECT’s Fall Candidate Assembly has now been set for Monday evening, October 22nd at 7:00pm at Congregation B’nai Israel (2710 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT). Candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and Treasurer have all been invited. Ned Lamont (D for Gov), Sue Hatfield (R for AG), William Tong (D for AG) and Shawn Wooden (D for Treasurer) are all confirmed to attend. An updated flyer in English & Spanish is available here.
CONECT leaders and shareholders gathered in Bridgeport and Hamden at midday Tuesday to log-on and listen in to the American Outdoor Brands Corp (AOBC or Smith & Wesson) annual shareholder meeting. Pending on the agenda of the meeting was a shareholder resolution requiring the company to report to its shareholders in 2019 on the repetitional and liability risks to the company due to its products being used in gun violence and on its efforts to develop safer products. Similar gatherings took place in greater Chicago and in Cleveland. The resolution, developed by our allies at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, passed despite the vehement opposition of the company’s management and board. CONECT, Metro IAF, and the Do Not Stand Idly Bycampaign had supported an identical shareholder resolution for Sturm Ruger, Inc. which passed at its shareholder meeting in May. See press coverage below:
Based on CONECT leaders meeting in small teams and our June 26th Candidate Assembly, CONECT has published a non-partisan Candidate Report to add to the independent, non-partisan information voters have as the August 14th Primary Election approaches. You can find the report here.
On Tuesday, June 26th, 440 CONECT leaders squeezed into St. James School for our first 2018 Candidate Assembly. Governor hopefuls David Stemerman (R), Ned Lamont (D), Tim Herbst (R), and Joe Ganim (D) all attended, responded to leaders’ stories on a mix of issues — gun violence, immigration, mental health, criminal justice reform, and CT’s lagging economy. All four pledged to return on Oct 18th if they win their party’s August primary. CONECT’s members pledged to return with 812 people to the Oct 18th Assembly. Mark your calendars! You can watch CT-N’s full coverage of the June 26th Candidate Assembly at this link.
CONECT Co-Chair, Rev. Anthony L. Bennett of Mount Aery Baptist Church, was featured in the New York Times along with Rabbi Joel Mosbacher of New York for his work in leading CONECT and Metro IAF’s Do Not Stand Idly By campaign on gun violence. Check out the story here.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (lobby group for the gun industry) attacked CONECT and our Do Not Stand Idly By campaign on gun violence with our sister Metro IAF organizations in an op-ed piece in the Feb 20th CT Post — less than one week after the tragic shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Our rebuttal was published one week later on Feb 27th. Read their attack here and our rebuttal here.
In early 2018, CONECT welcomed three new member congregations:
The Unitarian Society of New Haven (Hamden)
Congregation Beth El (Norwalk)
Greenfield Hill Congregational Church (Fairfield)
We are excited to welcome these institutions to CONECT and look forward to doing good and important work together in the coming year.
