“We”™re making progress,” said Malloy at the Hilton Stamford Hotel. “But we”™re not nearly far along enough yet.”
Mentioning a laundry list of accomplishments, Malloy focused on programs aimed at growing businesses in the state.
The Small Business Express Program, which gives loans and grants up to $100,000 to companies with fewer than 100 employees, has given about 200 companies access to capital. Nearly 1,400 companies have applied.
Spurring job creation and growth, the program has had a “buoyant effect” in the state”™s cities and towns, Malloy said.
The First Five program, which provides large businesses with incentives and tax credits in exchange for pledges to stay in the state and create at least 200 additional jobs, has also been a success, he said. About 15,000 jobs have come out of the program and approximately $1.4 billion in capital has been invested in the state, Malloy said. The program has now been extended from five to 15 companies.
Malloy also emphasized a third program, the state”™s Bioscience Connecticut initiative, which aims to position the state as a leader in the growing bioscience field.
Earlier in the day, Malloy announced Durata Therapeutics Inc. will be relocating from New Jersey to Branford, as reported Sept. 10 by the Fairfield County Business Journal. The move will bring 80 new full-time jobs to the state in exchange for $2.25 million in grants. Over the next 10 years, the total capital investment in Connecticut is expected to be $13 million.
“Bioscience is a great strength of the state,” Malloy said.
The University of Connecticut is playing a significant role in the initiative. Bioscience Connecticut is expected to provide 3,000 construction jobs annually through 2018 and by 2037 generate $4.6 billion in personal salaries and 16,400 permanent jobs, according to the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, a nonprofit organization based at UConn.
The only area of improvement needed that Malloy stressed was the state”™s educational system. Schools are no longer producing the skilled workforce businesses need and are falling behind other states”™ schools in terms of test scores and graduation rates, he said. In urban areas, half of all students aren”™t graduating and the other half is not getting the education they should have, he said.
“We”™ve worked very hard to offer opportunities for Stamford business to grow,” said Jack Condlin, Stamford Chamber of Commerce president. “This recession has really been a challenge ”¦ but we”™ve still done very well.”
Stamford has emerged from the recession as a key player in the state”™s economy and has been chosen as the home for many large relocating businesses in the last year, with the Stamford Chamber of Commerce the fastest growing chamber in New England according to its website.
Looking at the growing number of residential buildings being built, Condlin said he expects the city to replace Bridgeport as the largest city in the state five to 10 years from now.
“It”™s happening more slowly with the recession,” Condlin said. “(But) it will happen.”