In the weeks leading up to the start of the General Assembly’s 2025 session on Wednesday, Jan. 8, many Connecticut lawmakers have been determining their legislative priorities and the bills they’ll introduce – and getting assistance from scholars and subject-matter experts as they do so.
To facilitate conversations between lawmakers, state agency representatives, and researchers about evidence-based policy solutions, Kerri Raissian, the Co-Chair of the Connecticut Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network (CT SSN) and associate professor in the School of Public Policy; state representatives Jaime Foster, D – 57th Dist.; and Dominique Johnson, D – 143rd Dist., hosted the 2nd annual Moving Beyond Implications: Research into Policy conference on December 12.
UConn’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) and CT SSN co-sponsored the event.
“This comes at a critical time, because all our legislators are meeting with their constituents and thinking about which bills they want to introduce, and what their policy priorities are for this session. This is a good time to get a bird’s eye view of some of the policy issues that our state and General Assembly are facing, and think about what your priorities are,” said Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz at the beginning of the conference.
Nearly 200 participants attended the event, at which 23 presentations selected through a competitive process were given to six standing committees of the General Assembly. Topics covered a wide spectrum of public policy issues, including universal free school meals, farm-to-school programs, gun violence prevention, mandatory minimums, experiences of poverty, behavioral health, energy drink regulation, using Medicaid to expand access to children’s behavioral health services, and more.
“InCHIP is doing a lot to support researchers to ensure they can do health-relevant and policy-relevant work. We’re thrilled to support this event that got us off campus and in dialogue with Connecticut policymakers,” said Caitlin Caspi, associate professor of allied health sciences and associate director of InCHIP.
The annual conference gives researchers a chance to present their policy-relevant scholarship to policymakers, and for policymakers to respond with their research needs and cultivate connections.
“Kerri [Raissian] and I thought that this conference would be a great opportunity to get academics and scholars together with policymakers so they can form relationships and talk about their research-engaged scholarship in a way that can actually inform policy and ensure that the State of Connecticut is adopting the best and brightest work that it possibly can,” said Foster, highlighting how the conference improves accessibility to research.
“As you listen to presentations, as you listen to your peers, I hope that you think not just about moving beyond the research implications of a particular study, but what is the next study that Connecticut needs, and how can Connecticut help you [as researchers] innovate,” Raissian said at the event.
InCHIP Principal Investigators were in attendance to discuss their policy-relevant research:
Using GIS to Empower Communities and Share Resources
Web Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are user-friendly tools that can be used to illustrate a community’s resources like transportation and infrastructure, showcase project impacts, and identify data trends.
Peter Chen, a UConn associate professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies, and his collaborator Rachel Smith Hale, assistant director of Research on Resilient Cities, Racism, and Equity (RRCRE) at UConn Hartford, demonstrated how web GIS can be used to communicate project outcomes and community services through two case studies that leveraged GIS.
Hale spoke about the Love Your Block Story Map, which documented a city-wide effort to provide mini grants to support urban beautification and renewal projects in Hartford. Chen discussed how the Windham Life project enhanced information sharing about food pantries, meal programs, transportation resources, and other food resources for Windham County residents.
“Not only are GIS maps a fantastic tool for evaluation and analysis for policymakers and planners, but they are also intuitive tools for communicating with the public,” said Hale. “We suggest collaborating with universities to leverage GIS in identifying patterns within socioeconomic, infrastructure, and environmental data, and providing funding to GIS-based community projects.”
Limiting Energy Drink Sales to Protect Children’s Health
Frances Fleming-Milici, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, shared data that backs a policy intervention to prohibit the sale of energy drinks to Connecticut children under 16.
Energy drink sales have grown rapidly in the U.S., and consumption of these products among young people ages 13 to 24 has increased. Nearly one-third of children ages 12 to 17 drink them regularly. Children have a greater risk of caffeine toxicity because of their small body size and lack of caffeine tolerance.
A single energy drink provides up to three times the maximum daily caffeine limit, and ingredients like taurine can act as stimulants and worsen negative effects, potentially leading to anxiety, low academic performance, suicidal ideation, heart attacks, seizures, and diabetes.
Additionally, energy drinks are marketed inconsistently according to Fleming-Milici. Despite warnings on product packaging explicitly stating they are not intended for children, these products target young people via social media, food and candy brand partnerships, and front-of-package design.
“When you compare the warning on the packaging to the youth-targeted marketing there’s an incongruity that is obvious. Setting an age restriction for energy drink purchases is a policy that is widely supported by parents and U.S public health organizations,” said Fleming-Milici. “This policy would reduce youth access to a product that is dangerous to their health.”
Supporting the Whole Child for Better Educational Outcomes
Connecticut has made strides in adopting education policies that support the whole child. However, stronger integration and coordination of these initiatives could maximize impact.
Sandra Chafouleas, Co-Director of UConn’s Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH) and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology in the Neag School of Education, and Kate Williamson, assistant research professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, highlighted how Connecticut can leverage the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model (WSCC) to support children’s academic, social, emotional, physical, and behavioral development.
“When we think about the whole child in Connecticut, in particular post-pandemic, we know that we have work to do. We know that we have continued increases in students reporting feeling both sadness or hopelessness. We know that we have shortages in educator areas, and of course we know that we are in an unprecedented fiscal environment,” said Williamson.
Chafouleas and Williamson are members of the team leading the Connecticut WSCC Partnership, a CDC-funded project that provides professional development and technical assistance to Connecticut school districts in using the WSCC model in their planning and implementation efforts.
The team offered two recommendations for consideration. First, the Connecticut legislature can increase its own capacity to advance whole child efforts, such as through strategic planning that identifies not only gaps in existing legislation but also overlapping legislation that could be integrated or de-implemented. Second, the team suggested expanding the capacity of existing school wellness teams focused on physical health and nutrition to include social, emotional, and behavioral domains.
Shaping Children’s Health Through School Meals
Rudd Center director and professor of human development and family sciences Marlene Schwartz discussed the benefits of universal free school meals.
Connecticut is a national leader in school nutrition standards and was the first state to adopt strong school meal criteria with legislation that eliminated sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages in K-12 schools.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal regulations were changed temporarily to allow school districts to provide free school meals to all students regardless of income. Since the program ended, eight states have enacted universal free school meal policies.
Connecticut currently offers free meals for students who qualify for reduced-price meals but making more than the income threshold struggle to afford basic necessities. A family of four must have an income less than $57,720 to qualify for Connecticut’s free meal program. However, the United Way of Connecticut estimates that a family of four must earn $126,018 to afford housing, food, and other necessities.
Oftentimes, students’ most nutritious meals are eaten at school, and free school meals have been shown to ease financial, improve participation in the school lunch program, reduce stigma related to participation, and address the challenge of school meal debt.
“Food is an essential educational tool. We collectively pay for public education, which is a major investment. We provide equipment that students need to succeed. I would argue that hungrier, poorly nourished students are at an academic disadvantage, and they can’t benefit from all the other investments that we’ve made if they can’t focus in school,” said Schwartz.
Empowering Children for a Healthy Future Through Farm to School Programs
Nearly one in five Connecticut families of school children have always been able to afford food or their children, but that food sometimes lack the nutrients to help children grow and thrive. About one in five children have obesity and more than one in three struggle in curiosity, finishing tasks, or resilience.
Kate (Walder) Zahner, a registered dietitian and master’s student in UConn’s Health Promotion Sciences program, part of the Department of Allied Health Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), discussed how Farm to School programs in Connecticut can connect communities, teach life skills, boost self-esteem, encourage healthy eating, and support local economies. Every dollar invested in local food can generate 86 cents in the local economy.
Farm to School programs, including school gardens, agriculture and nutrition education, and serving locally grown food, have expanded in Connecticut. However, these programs face barriers to continued growth, including the availability and cost of high-quality, fresh produce, inadequate cafeteria equipment, lack of classroom time and staff to facilitate these programs.
“Farm to School is not only providing access to locally grown food, it’s proving a safe and curious space for children to become familiar with foods and ultimately eat them,” said Zahner. “We’ve been talking about Farm to School, but we’re also talking about growing healthy kids. Our children are in this critical growth stage, and they are facing barriers that are making it difficult for them to grow and thrive. Our children need and deserve special care to grow into healthy, thriving adults, and you are that gardener who can make a difference.”
Increased access to and resources for Farm to School will enable more school districts to establish and deepen these programs so more students can thrive.
Gun Violence Prevention for Safer Communities
Jennifer Necci Dineen, Associate Director of the UConn Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention (ARMS) and associate professor in residence in the UConn School of Public Policy, outlined the Harms and Benefits Inventory (HBI) and how it can be used to shape firearm-related policy and implementation.
The HBI is a 21-question survey developed by UConn ARMS and Johns Hopkins University that analyzes Americans’ perceptions of firearm policy as being beneficial or harmful, rather than specific interventions.
“Implementing policy successfully often depends on human behavior change. Policies, especially those related to firearms, require gunowners to be willing to employ a particular behavior. While Connecticut is a leader in advancing strong gun safety policy, we also need to continue with implementation that moves citizens along to behavior change. In that case, it’s important to understand citizens’ views of policy as being helpful or harmful,” said Dineen.
Data for the HBI was collected in two waves over a two-year span. The first wave of data was collected in 2022 and surveyed 2,004 U.S. adults about gun ownership, firearm-related behaviors, demographics, and experiences of violence and victimization. The second wave was collected in 2024 and surveyed 3,086 U.S. adult to determine whether perceptions of firearm policy changed.
The survey found that U.S. adults reported increased firearm ownership, especially among 18- to 39-year-olds, women, and Hispanic and Black respondents. The survey also found that there were similar levels of support for policies requiring secure storage, allowing open carry, and enabling any resident to own a firearm.
UConn ARMS plans to make the HBI data available to policymakers in 2025.
Additionally, Raissian unveiled a preliminary ARMS Center project to develop a mapping portal that tracks data about violent deaths in Connecticut, which encompass homicides and suicides.
“The mortality map will show where and among whom violent mortality in the state of Connecticut is occurring and show where people are dying. These maps will show us something about the victims of these violent deaths and which towns and cities are disproportionately impacted by them,” said Raissian.
The portal will launch in January 2025 and will provide information about where violent deaths occurred, along with demographic information about the victims, including race and ethnicity, marital and veteran status, age, and education attainment.
