by Karla Ciaglo CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT — City and state leaders gathered Friday at Our Piece of the Pie, a Hartford nonprofit that helps youth ages 14-24 overcome barriers to education and employment, to announce a new state-supported planning grant to redesign OPP’s Opportunity Academy.
Operated with Hartford Public Schools, the academy serves over-age, under-credited students through personalized learning, workforce training, and wraparound supports. The grant, which is part of Connecticut’s effort to expand alternative-education options but for which the amount has not yet been disclosed, will help OPP craft a blueprint that can be replicated statewide. OPP President and CEO Hector Rivera called it “a scalable model for helping young people who need different ways to succeed.”
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said Hartford is working with nearly 50 nonprofits, including OPP, on a five-year plan to cut youth disconnection in half by addressing chronic absenteeism, justice involvement, and other systemic barriers.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam speaks to reporters Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, at Our Piece of the Pie, Inc., on Sergeant Street in Hartford about a grant-funded plan to redesign OPP’s Opportunity Academy with a blueprint for helping young people that can be replicated statewide. Credit: Karla Ciaglo / CTNewsJunkie
About one in three Hartford students was chronically absent in the 2023-24 school year — more than 10 points above the state average, according to Arulampalam.
He said those numbers show why Opportunity Academy and the Youth Service Corps are vital to re-engaging students through hands-on learning and paid work experience.
“We’re not just talking about kids who missed a few classes,” he said. “We’re talking about young people who have been left out of systems that were never designed for them.”
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, who helped secure the funding, said the project reflects the government’s responsibility to expand opportunity and recognize that the path to success for today’s youth is changing and diverse.
“Some students thrive in large schools, others in smaller settings or with different mentors,” he said. “Our job is to make sure each one has access to a path that works for them.”
Ritter, who noted his own two children, aged 10 and 12, learn in very different ways, said the grant underscores the need for flexibility within public education.
State Rep. Bobby Gibson, D-Bloomfield, also an educator, reinforced the need for flexible programs that reach students when traditional schools don’t.
State Rep. Bobby Gibson, D-Bloomfield, who is also an educator, talks to reporters Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, at Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford about helping young people with different learning styles who don’t necessarily fit into traditional schools. Credit: Karla Ciaglo / CTNewsJunkie
“Everyone learns differently,” Gibson said. “Not every school or path works for every student, and not everyone goes to a four-year college — and that’s okay.”
Opportunity Academy Principal Tamika Grant-Mack said the redesign will focus on hands-on learning, workforce preparation, and individualized plans.
“Our goal is to equip students with the skills and confidence to succeed in a changing world,” she said.
Founded more than 50 years ago, OPP serves about 1,500 young people annually through education, job training, and mentoring. Rivera said the redesign aims to strengthen links between education and employment while creating a model that can be scaled statewide.
“This is about taking what we know works and building a model that can be replicated,” he said.
About 119,000 Connecticut residents ages 14 to 26 are disconnected from school or work, or they are at high risk of becoming disconnected, according to a 2023 report by the Boston Consulting Group and Connecticut Opportunity Project, commissioned by Dalio Education. Hartford has the state’s highest concentration of disconnected youth, and the new planning grant builds on a $1.2 million Opportunity Youth Collaborative launched earlier this year.
The effort also aligns with Public Act 24-45, which took effect in July 2024 and established Connecticut’s first statewide system to track and support disconnected youth through the P20 WIN data network. The law requires annual reporting on education and workforce outcomes for young people who are disconnected or at risk.
Opportunity Academy Principal Tamika Grant-Mack tells reporters on Friday, Oct. 31,
2025, in Hartford that the redesign of her school will focus on hands-on learning, workforce preparation, and individualized plans. Credit: Karla Ciaglo / CTNewsJunkie
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