{"id":76300,"date":"2025-03-27T14:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/?p=76300"},"modified":"2025-06-05T14:40:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T18:40:55","slug":"the-connecticut-democracy-center-hosts-leadership-summit-for-kid-governors-in-connecticut-new-hampshire-oregon-and-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/2025\/03\/27\/the-connecticut-democracy-center-hosts-leadership-summit-for-kid-governors-in-connecticut-new-hampshire-oregon-and-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"The Connecticut Democracy Center Hosts Leadership Summit for Kid Governors in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) held its sixth annual Kid Governor\u00ae<\/sup> Leadership Summit for the nation\u2019s recently-inaugurated Kid Governors and their Cabinet Members this month. Kid Governor\u00ae<\/sup> is the CTDC\u2019s national, award-winning civic education program in residence at Connecticut\u2019s Old State House. Launched in Connecticut back in 2015, the program teaches fifth grade students about state government, voting, and the importance of civic engagement through an authentic election for their state\u2019s Kid Governor. The program curriculum is offered to schools for free and has expanded beyond Connecticut to include  affiliate programs in New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Oregon. Teamwork was the official theme for this years\u2019 virtual summit. A total of 21 Kid Governors and Cabinet Members participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students running to be their state\u2019s Kid Governor are required to develop a campaign platform that addresses a community issue they feel is important. Brian Cofrancesco, CTDC\u2019s Director of Kid Governor\u00ae<\/sup> looks forward to planning the annual Leadership Summit. \u201cThe Summit provides students a unique opportunity to meet fifth graders from across the country who are also working to make a difference on important issues. They get to share ideas, hear different perspectives, and discover similarities and differences in their work. It inspires me to see these student leaders leave the Summit energized to work together to improve their own states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students attending the Summit connected with other participants in breakout rooms and then had the opportunity to meet with Alexis Howard and Abigail Smith Judstra, Legislative Associates at the National Governors Association; Larisa Kottke, President and CEO of Leadership Greater Hartford; and Tobias Read, Secretary of the State of Oregon. Howard and Judstra spoke with students about how governors work together and within their administrations, and shared lessons students can apply to their own one-year terms in office. \u201cI am so inspired by your work and how engaged you are so young, and really encourage you to stay involved,\u201d said Howard. \u201cYour voices are really important. I know you can\u2019t vote yet and I know it might feel like you are young. What can your voice do? So much, your voice can do so much!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kottke spoke about the characteristics of strong teams and how to effectively work together. \u201cIt\u2019s differences that make teams extraordinary,\u201d advised Kottke. \u201cIt matters that everyone has a different role and when working as a team, we think about the gifts every member can contribute to the work you\u2019re doing together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read shared teamwork lessons he has learned during his tenure as Secretary of State and reminded students that \u201cmaking change is not an individual accomplishment – it requires people to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation\u2019s Kid Governors and their Cabinet Members will now apply what they\u2019ve learned from the Summit to collaborate on their individual platforms for the remainder of their term. In addition to advancing their respective platforms, the student leaders will also deliver speeches, make public appearances, encourage their fifth-grade constituents to implement their platforms locally, and participate in regular Cabinet meetings. For more information about Kid Governor\u00ae<\/sup>, visit kidgovernor.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) provides people of all ages with a lifetime pathway to active citizenship and the tools to take civic action in their communities. With a broad range of initiatives including The Connecticut Network (CT-N), Connecticut’s Old State House, Connecticut History Day, Kid Governor<\/em>\u00ae<\/sup><\/em>, The Connecticut Democracy Center Debate Tournament, and We The People: The Citizen and The Constitution, CTDC envisions a society where everyone is empowered to participate in our democracy. Learn more by visiting<\/em> <\/em>ctdemocracycenter.org<\/em><\/a> <\/u><\/em>and engaging with CTDC on<\/em> <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> <\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> <\/em>YouTube<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a>.  <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) held its sixth annual Kid Governor\u00ae Leadership Summit for the nation\u2019s recently-inaugurated Kid Governors and their Cabinet Members this month. Kid Governor\u00ae is the CTDC\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kid-governor"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Connecticut's Old State House","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76301,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76300\/revisions\/76301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cga.ct.gov\/osh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}