Editor’s Note: The candidates for State House and State Senate were given the opportunity to send HK-Now.com and Haddam Killingworth News a 450-word response to the question: “What do you bring to the table as a candidate, and what issues do you plan to focus on as a state legislator?” The statement below is from Democratic candidate Cinzia Lettieri, who is seeking election in the 35th Assembly District. The candidate’s reply is unchanged from the original as submitted. HK-Now.com and Haddam Killingworth News are not responsible for errors in grammar, usage, punctuation or spelling.
Dear Community, my name is Cinzia Lettieri. I’m running because I believe that our community deserves strong, effective, and compassionate leadership-someone who will work tirelessly to ensure that our voices are heard, and needs are met in Hartford.
As the daughter of an immigrant from a blue-collar family, I understand what it’s like to face everyday struggles. From a very young age, I learned how important it is to give back to the communities in which I live. As an adult, I’ve made my life’s work centered around education, policy, advocacy, and community service. For over 15 years, I have advocated and have been a voice for those around me. From being involved at my college, California State University – Northridge to assisting Washington State CEOs with research and analysis of policies and data I’ve been trying to better the communities I’ve lived in my whole life.
Later in my career, my non-profit work centered around conducting research on prospective local, state, national, and federal grant opportunities to expand the organization’s work of building educational leadership capacity at every level of the system. As a classroom teacher, I have had the honor to work with students in a variety of grade levels and understand the challenges that teachers face, especially around special education and hard to staff content areas. Today, I continue my work in Clinton as a member of the Water Pollution Control and Planning and Zoning Commissions.
As your next state representative, I bring to the table my experience, passion, and dedication to policy work and community advocacy and will focus on the following issues. First, as a woman and a mother, women’s healthcare and healthcare rights are at the forefront of my mind-especially in a post Roe world. Our legislature needs to ensure that we are not only protecting women and their healthcare rights, but that we are addressing inequities in our healthcare system that many women are facing. Second, supporting small businesses and fortifying our aging infrastructure. After joining Clinton’s Water Pollution Control Commission and speaking with residents across the district it is very clear that the district has infrastructural needs that have gone unaddressed. From aging and outdated septics to school buildings that are in desperate need of updating. My third focus is education, specifically creating multiple pathways to earn a living and policy for 21st century student needs.
As a teacher, I am very passionate about education and want to continue to uplift our students, so they feel confident after high school. We should help students understand that there are various respectable pathways to a living and financial success, and we do so by ensuring that we introduce them to trades, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship.
