Malloy's support sought for community college in Ansonia

Thursday night, Gov. (Dannel P.) Malloy addressed a town hall at Ansonia High School. While the discussion of the night was primarily about educational issues, the final discussion, presented by Ansonia's Economic Development Commission, was to garner support from the Governor's Office for the creation of a college or other educational facility in downtown Ansonia.

While our downtown has been challenged by vacant industrial buildings, a new vision for center city is trying to capitalize on this available space. 

One vision includes potentially converting some of these buildings into satellite campuses of our community colleges. 

We recently conducted a walk-through of some of these targeted buildings for the President of Housatonic Community College.

 HCC will draw about 11 percent of its new enrollment from the Valley next semester, almost 700 students. Considering the kind of draw that already exists plus additional enrollment by way of accessibility, this initiative shows exciting potential. If tied to our local tech schools, we can offer our next generation some great potential for success.  

The economic benefit of a student population downtown is huge. The influx of retail and restaurant businesses that will follow to support this new demographic will be striking. We are about to breathe new life back into our town. Together with the endorsement and support from the governor we will revive this phoenix we call Ansonia.

The above was written and contributed by Vinnie Scarlata, chairman of the Ansonia Economic Development Commission. The post was slightly edited.