<h2><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Why Small Businesses&nbsp; Matter</strong></h2><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Meet Maja Sholler, owner of </strong><a href="https://www.thepatchboys.com/danbury-norwalk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><strong>The Patch Boys</strong></a><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> of Danbury and Norwalk.</strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What products or services do you offer?</strong></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Patch Boys do the small drywall and plaster repairs that a larger Contractor won't be interested in, and that a handyman may not be expert in.&nbsp;</span></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What do you want the community to know?&nbsp;</strong></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We treat every customer's home like it is our own. Our Instagram below shows before, and after pictures that detail the high quality of our work. Check it out @</span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thepatchboysdanburynorwalk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">thepatchboysdanburynorwalk</a></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We have patched countless ceiling cracks, repaired many water-damaged walls, and restored plenty of crumbling plaster. Time and time again, our customers choose us because of our honesty, quality workmanship, and respect for them and their homes. Whether you’re a new client or an old friend, we’ll always go above and beyond to deliver unbeatable service and beautiful results to keep you loving your home for years to come.</span></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Questions? Email </strong><a href="mailto:danbury@thepatchboys.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><strong>danbury@thepatchboys.com</strong></a><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> or call 203-800-9277.</strong></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Visit The Patch Boys website: </span><a href="http://www.thepatchboys.com/danbury-norwalk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">thepatchboys.com/danbury-norwalk</a></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">HamletHub thanks</strong><a href="http://www.jkinfordbeautygroup.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><strong> </strong></a><a href="https://www.fairfieldcountybank.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><strong>Fairfield County Bank </strong></a><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!</strong></p>

<p class="ql-align-center"><strong>WestConn partners with local school districts to offer Early College dual enrollment programs</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.wcsu.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Western Connecticut State University&nbsp;</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span>has joined with several local school districts to offer Early College dual enrollment programs for high school students. The expansion of an existing program was made possible through a $166,000 grant secured by Dr. Stephen Hegedus, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. </p><p>The program is administered by the Connecticut State Department of Education with money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and is designed to encourage more high school students to take college classes. By passing college-level courses before graduating from high school, students can decrease the amount of time needed to earn a bachelor’s degree.</p><p>Dr. Becky Hall, professor of <a href="https://www.wcsu.edu/math/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mathematics</a>, is working with the school districts to bring students into the program. WestConn is working with Brookfield, Bethel, Danbury, Immaculate, Newtown, New Fairfield, and has expanded to New Milford and Ridgefield with the recent signing of MOUs.</p><p>“The focus of this grant is to make college credit accessible to more students, including those who might otherwise not pursue higher education,” Hall said. “Early college courses are a step in the right direction for closing equity gaps.”</p><p>“The grant money will help WCSU offer more classes to high school students, which will benefit them and also showcase the university’s professors and courses to college-bound juniors and seniors,” Hegedus said. “This infusion of funds will allow us to enroll dozens or hundreds more students who can begin earning credit for college courses.”</p><p>About 200 high school students were enrolled in WestConn’s Early College and Dual Enrollment programs during the 2023-24 academic year. With the grant, the goal is to double that over the coming years.</p><p>For more information, contact Communications and Marketing at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:pr@wcsu.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pr@wcsu.edu</a>.</p>

<p>Gary Zheng of Danbury was named to the Fall 2024 Dean's Honor List at New York Institute of Technology. To qualify for this academic honor, Zheng earned an impressive&nbsp;<a href="https://email.meritpages.com/ss/c/u001.MMLh3FZEkGfdAasUoFNSm8gqGCVBF7sbHgQIEG9-QSyXG64O145KULoS9OEr4lbQN4P2dSnF5ATQmZgNoWRphlc1pvY1z0hW5dx23urvfvM/4e4/xydosUAyQv2bbvAJ6rIWqQ/h0/h001.o8Lx47S-XDw5xq_M3bv2h0gqdyJP4-m2-29XMvWm4Wg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GPA</a>&nbsp;during the fall 2024 semester.</p><p>New York Institute of Technology's six schools and colleges offer undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and other professional degree programs in in-demand disciplines including computer science, data science, and cybersecurity; biology, health professions, and medicine; architecture and design; engineering; IT and digital technologies; management; and energy and sustainability. </p>

<p>2023 Audit Complete; Rating Agencies Reaffirm AA+; GO Bonds &amp; Notes Sell at Favorable Rates</p><p>Today, Mayor Roberto L. Alves announced that the City of Danbury completed its 2023 Audit, was reaffirmed by S&amp;P and Fitch with AA+ ratings, and had a successful sale of its $36,475,000 General Obligation Bonds and $155,250,000 Bond Anticipation Notes.</p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">“These achievements are a direct result of the responsible investments we’ve put into our Finance Department over the past 14 months,” said Mayor Alves. “When I took Office, the 2023 audit was due, but the City hadn’t begun 2022 yet. We were under State watch and since my first MFAC (Municipal Finance Advisory Commission) meeting, I made a commitment to the State and to our taxpayers, that I’d do everything in my power to get us out of this.”</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">“Our Finance Team had open positions that they weren’t hiring for, and they had not used any of an allocation of $100,000 made by the City Council for audit-related work. And the financial issues didn’t stop at the audit. Early in my term, I discovered that the City taxpayers had been investing in an internal financial software for four years without a definitive plan to bring it online. Through leadership and additional support, we were able to launch last week and deliver internal efficiencies for our staff.”</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">In early 2024, Mayor Alves hired an additional Assistant Finance Director, filled positions in grants and accounting, and brought on the internal auditing firm CLA to project manage the 2022, 2023, and 2024 audits and the internal software conversion. The City of Danbury filed the 2022 audit last year, and closed on 2023 last week. While a City cannot begin an audit before the previous one is completed, Danbury has started prep work on the 2024 audit, which was due to the State in December of 2024.</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">“We got in, invested in growing the team and providing the support necessary, and today we can celebrate our successes, but recognize that the train is still moving full speed ahead,” continued Mayor Alves.</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">Yesterday,&nbsp;the City of Danbury sold $36.5m GO bonds and $155.25m in notes. The notes were sold to JP Morgan with a Net Interest Cost (NIC) of 2.809 and the bonds were sold to Janney Montgomery Scott with a True Interest Cost (TIC) of 3.457 These interest rates were under the City’s goal, and the NIC on our notes is very favorable when compared to other municipal notes sold in CT in the past 12 months.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">The City’s notes come due annually, and as such, this sale had been planned for February since last year. Major drivers of the notes include the Danbury Career Academy, the Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade, Water Upgrades approved by voters in 2023, and Public Safety and Infrastructure improvement projects approved by voters in 2024. The $36.5m in bonds are primarily driven by completed work at the Danbury Career Academy and the Wastewater Treatment Plant.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">Matt Spoerndle, Senior Managing Director at Phoenix Advisors, has been a financial consultant for the City of Danbury since 2000. Here’s what he had to say about the sale:</span></p><p><span style="color: windowtext;">“The results from today’s sale were not only strong historically for the City, but also from a statewide perspective. It’s clear that both the rating agencies and even more importantly Wall Street investment banks have the utmost confidence in the City, its leadership, and the trajectory the City is on. Congratulations to the City on a truly exceptional result!”</span></p>

<p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">Metropolitan Opera soprano Kathryn Lewek and tenor Zach Borichevsky, who have triumphed in major productions at festivals and opera houses worldwide, will make their Danbury debut&nbsp;on Sunday, March 16&nbsp;in a program featuring arias and duets from opera’s most beloved works. Curtain time is&nbsp;3 p.m.&nbsp;at the 350 seat Veronica Hagman Concert Hall located within the Visual &amp; Performing Arts Center (VPAC) of Western Connecticut State University. </span></p><p>With a voice of crystalline purity and rich emotional power, American soprano Kathryn Lewek has appeared on leading stages, from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to Austria’s Salzburg Festival. She is especially known for her signature role in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” “Kathryn Lewek has sung the Queen of the Night more than 300 times around the world, and there is a reason that opera houses keep calling her in: she executes this stratospherically difficult role better than anyone else alive,” wrote&nbsp;<em>The New Yorker</em>. She also wins accolades for her orchestral collaborations and sensitive interpretations of contemporary art song. As a&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>reviewer noted, “singing like Lewek’s is what the magic of opera is all about.”</p><p>Tenor Zach Borichevsky is “one of the most sought-after singers of his generation” (Seen and Heard International), known for “precise, nuanced high-register singing and agile acting,” and a “magical sense of complete spontaneity that comes from being in total command of the instrument.” He has made significant débuts on international stages including the Finnish National Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, and the Glyndebourne Festival. He made his Metropolitan Opera début as Edmondo in&nbsp;“Manon Lescaut,” and was recently heard there as the Duke of Mantua in “Rigoletto.”&nbsp;</p><p>Single tickets for the&nbsp;March 16&nbsp;concert are $25 and may be purchased on&nbsp;<a href="http://wcsuvpac.eventbrite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);">wcsuvpac.eventbrite.com</a>&nbsp;(scroll to “DCA presents”), or at the VPAC box office up till curtain time. For questions contact the box office at&nbsp;203-837-8732.&nbsp;</p><p>Admission is free for ages 18 and under, courtesy of the Danbury Cultural Commission.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">The Danbury Concert Association’s 2024-25 series will conclude&nbsp;on Saturday, June 7 at 3 p.m.&nbsp;with The Essex Septet, who enthralled the&nbsp;Danbury audience last March. To learn more about the DCA, go to&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.danburyconcert.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);">www.danburyconcert.org</a><span style="color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">WCSU’s Visual and Performing Center is located on the university’s west side campus, at&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">43 Lake Ave&nbsp;Extension</span><span style="color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">, Danbury. There is plentiful open seating, and all are invited to a meet-the-artists reception after the performance.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">&nbsp;Artists and dates are subject to change.</span></p>

<p>The American Red Cross is helping nine people after two&nbsp;separate fires yesterday in Danbury and New Milford.</p><p>The Red Cross is helping:</p><ul><li>two families – three adults - one child after a fire yesterday&nbsp;on Coalpit Hill Rd., Danbury</li><li>one family – two adults – three children&nbsp;after a fire yesterday on Cambridge Circle, New Milford</li></ul><p>In each instance, the Red Cross provided assistance to meet the families’ immediate needs. Responders included: Art Hopkins, Sharon Cuartero, Mike Gabriel,&nbsp;Steven Chen, John Lennon, Amy Thomas, Pilar DeCola, Sheri MacKenzie and Jim Murdy.</p><p>The Red Cross also provided a recovery envelope containing information helpful to families recovering from a fire, including tips on cleanup; notification of important contacts; dealing with damaged items and more. The Red Cross is also providing comfort kits containing personal care items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving supplies and other items a resident might need when suddenly displaced from their home by a fire.</p><p>Red Cross caseworkers will connect with those affected in the coming days to work on a longer-term recovery plan. The Red Cross is able to provide assistance through the generosity of our donors and the commitment of our volunteers.</p>