CT Paid Leave Authority touts outreach gains, targets employers and under‑served communities
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Summary
Outreach lead Jessica reported 68 in‑person events in 2025, nearly 969,000 unique website visitors and expanded school and community partnerships; staff said new employer messaging and added community education coordinators aim to reach under‑served populations.
Jessica, the Authority’s outreach and engagement lead, told the board the outreach team met community partners across Connecticut and recorded strong digital reach as it pursues broader public awareness of the state paid‑leave program.
She summarized results from the past year: “We attended 68 in‑person events in 2025,” held 29 webinars, issued 21 press releases, and drew about 969,000 unique visitors to the Authority website, which the staff said was up about 10% year over year. The team reported 11.6 million page views, 24 podcast episodes over the year, 62 partner meetings, and roughly 179,000 email subscribers.
The presentation highlighted school outreach after legislative changes covering non‑certified school employees. Staff said they worked with the Department of Education, ran 17 webinars for different school operator groups, and followed up with districts that had not registered by an October 1 deadline; staff reported they were able to register all public school districts. Outreach staff also said they onboarded three new Community Education Coordinator contractors, bringing total CEC contractors to 10, and that those partners provided in‑person application assistance and help reaching communities where uptake has lagged.
Board members pressed staff on reaching populations with lower take‑up. Andrea Comer asked whether data supported a claim that men of color were not taking advantage of paid leave; Jess said staff are using targeted media buys, community events and CEC partners to reach underserved populations and proposed follow‑up meetings with legislators who raised the concern.
As part of a renewed employer focus, staff previewed an employer messaging campaign and said they are piloting a monthly onboarding email for newly registered businesses and one‑on‑one webinars for employers and sole proprietors. Jessica said the outreach strategy emphasizes how the paid‑leave program can help employers attract and retain staff, not only compliance.
The board responded positively to the update and suggested small, shareable newsletter copy for legislators to distribute in their districts. The outreach team said it will continue in‑person events and employer outreach while tracking registration and claims trends.
