Press Releases
03/04/2023
Secretary Thomas Speaks at CCM's Representation Matters Virtual Training Event
(Norwalk, CT) – Today, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas was a featured speaker at a virtual event that was the second installment of a two part series co-sponsored by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, CT Interlocal Risk Management Agency, the CT Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity, the Parent Leadership Training Institute, the CT Association of Boards of Education, and CT Public.
Representation Matters was developed to encourage more people of color to become leaders in government. Secretary Thomas, Connecticut’s first Black Secretary of the State, highlighted that voting on Election Day is a good start to civic engagement, but must continue beyond that.
“As a society, as a country, we have done ourselves a disservice by teaching people that voting is the most important thing we can do in our civic life and stop there,” Thomas said. “Voting is the first step, and our civic life has to span 365 days a year. If we all do a little bit, that is how we start to move the needle to have more people who are representative of our society in elected office and more policies that truly reflect the people.”
She also shared her experience on running for office as well as advice on what to do after one gets elected.
“Speak for yourself, speak for the people you’re representing. Do the work to bring information to the body of government you’re serving in,” Thomas advised. “The more you can bring to the table, the more likely you can make something happen.”
Secretary Thomas also shared resources to help the audience learn about government, including cga.ct.gov and CT-N.com.
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