As has been the case for all of us, it has been an unusual year-plus for Jon Winkel.
The founder of Stamford Innovation Week promised upon being named executive director of the Stamford Partnership in October 2019 “a queue of cutting-edge projects.”
Ultimately that came to be true; just not in the way that he”™d originally thought.
“If there was a small silver lining” to weathering the Covid crisis, Winkel told the Business Journal, “it was that we”™ve been very focused on training and workforce development ”” which were always issues anyway.”
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit describes itself as “dedicated to enhancing Stamford”™s business environment and the quality of life for all those who live, work, shop, dine and learn in the city.”
And, through the efforts of Winkel, Partnership Chairperson Jodi Gutierrez, Vice Chair April Condon and the organization”™s board, it has done just that. The group was able to form relationships with an array of other organizations and individuals that, Winkel said, further raised the Stamford Partnership”™s profile and underscored how important it is to the city and the region.
One such initiative involved Stamford”™s restaurants, which ”” as was true throughout the country ”” was among one of the business sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. The group introduced a dining bond initiative that sold gift certificates at 85% of face value.
“We had been receiving a lot of feedback from the community” about the restaurants”™ plight, Winkel said. “They were devastated very early on, so I started racking my brain about what we could do to have the most immediate impact.
“We saw that bonding programs were going on in other cities,” he said, “so that seemed like the best thing to do.” The group”™s website currently has about 700 requests for redemptions of those bonds, he noted.
The partnership team was also able to reclaim from the Fairfield County Business Council ”” another early victim of the crisis ”” its Leadership Program.
“A couple of the Business Council”™s alumni got in touch with us,” Winkel said. “We all agreed that it had been a shame and even a tragedy to lose that program. It was a bit of a ”˜Kumbaya”™ moment.”
Rebranded as Leadership Fairfield County, the program ”” limited to 30 participants ”” involves mid- to senior-level professionals and politicians exploring a wide variety of issues facing the city and Fairfield County. The first class quickly filled up and Winkel said that companies have been more supportive of it during the Covid era than ever before.
At the start of 2020, the Stamford Partnership introduced SWIFI, a high-speed public Wi-Fi system in key areas throughout the downtown and central business areas, including the UConn Stamford campus and Columbus, Veterans and Mill River parks.
Winkel said that, as most banking, education, telemedicine and appointment scheduling efforts moved online as the pandemic raged, SWIFI became an increasingly critical service.
“It also makes for a better visitor experience in and around downtown,” he said, with usage growing on average by 20% from month to month; over 65,000 people have used SWIFI over the last 12 months.
Winkel said he”™d like to see the service expand to the city”™s east and west sides ”” “We”™re applying for grants to do that” ”” while acknowledging that the ongoing advent of 5G will also have an effect on SWIFI”™s future plans.
The group has also introduced the Stamford Promise, a scholarship fund for high school seniors who meet academic and community service requirements, and The Data & Analytics Leaders Network, its working group on data science to pursue large-scale investment in Stamford in the computer and data science industries.
The latter group comprises the Stamford Partnership, AdvanceCT, the state of Connecticut and several additional stakeholders to assist executives in finding the types of information and connections they may not otherwise be aware of, Winkel said.
The partnership has also launched a new workforce development and digital skill-building program, TechFWD, designed to help individuals learn the digital skills needed to create or grow small businesses. Programs will focus on marketing automation, web development, digital analytics, social media marketing, content marketing and much more.
As for Stamford Innovation Week ”” which Winkel and his associates there considered canceling in 2020 ”” it ended up thriving.
“The question was, ”˜What kind of message would we be sending if, in the face of adversity, we just folded up?”™” he said. “We decided unanimously that we needed to do the event in any way, shape or form that we could.”
Leaning on virtual technology turned out to be just the sort of innovation the initiative was formed to spotlight, he said, adding that the group expects to be back fully in person in 2021 ”” though the event will be pushed back from its traditional September to October to “give us a little bit of a cushion” should Covid regain its strength.
With the influx of New York residents into Connecticut in general, and Stamford in particular, Winkel said he believes Stamford Partnership is well positioned to gain even more ground in the community.
“They”™re the same reasons you always hear,” he said. “Quality of life, being close to both Boston and New York, good transportation ”” well, there”™s room for improvement there,” he laughed. “But it”™s all fitting together like a puzzle. And we”™re going to be right there to help fit it together.”
