NewHavenBIZ

6 n e w h a v e n B I Z | F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m A r o u n d t h e R e g i o n @UConnWBB When I was in middle and high school, I played basketball; I still love to play pick-up (before COVID-19) with a group of folks in New Hav- en. I fell in love with UConn women's basketball for their style of play — deep hustle (shown in their high number of offensive rebounds) and unselfish basketball (shown in their high number of assists). Follow for short, inspiring videos of their top plays! @KBDPHD Khalilah Brown-Dean is a professor of political science and senior director for inclusive excellence at Quinnipiac University. I follow Brown-Dean to read her thoughts on race and identity, academia and politics. @TNP_CT e Narrative Project is Connecticut's only anti-racist and social jus- tice communications firm. Among other things, they do a useful, daily #TNPTopStories covering the top stories of the day across multiple publications. @NewHavenArts e Arts Paper (Editor is Lucy Gellman) is a local publication that elevates community-centered arts, culture and activism stories in New Haven. I follow the Arts Paper to read pieces exploring the intersection of arts, economic development and policy — including stories about Collab graduates! @artistsofcolour I make a lot of graphic design, small books and art based on my relationships, identity and work. @Artistsofcolour is a page that collects and showcases artists of color's work across multiple mediums that I find beautiful, inspiring and healing. n TWITTER: FIVE TO FOLLOW In this feature, we ask area Twitter aficionados about their favorite accounts to follow. n Which handles make your top five? Let us know at news@newhavenbiz.com. B R I E F S Continued from page 5 Caroline Smith, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Collab New Haven accommodation and food service sectors experienced pandemic-related declines, according to DOL. Training program readies workers for manufacturing jobs An upcoming training program can help people score high-paying jobs in the manufacturing industry. Workforce Alliance, based in New Haven, recently announced registration is now open for the next series of its "Skill Up for Manufacturing" program. e free, five-week pre-apprentice training program was created to expand the state's manu- facturing workforce pipeline. It includes a mix of hybrid classroom and hands- on training, with the coursework developed in conjunction with area manufacturers. It connects unemployed or underemployed members of the workforce with manufacturers who are hiring. For more information, visit http:// www.workforcealliance.biz/skillup. Corporate donors wanted as restaurant fund flooded with applications Hurting restaurant owners flooded a new relief program with 435 applications on the first day it opened in January, Con- necticut Restaurant Association Executive Director Scott Dolch said. e CT Restaurant Relief Fund began accepting applications online for $5,000 grants as part of pandemic aid. Restaurants can apply at ctrestaurant- relief.org. Of the 435 who applied on the first day, 193 applications were fully completed. Delivery app DoorDash donated $500,000 to get the fund started, but Dolch said he hoped that other com- panies would step up to help the ailing restaurant industry, which has lost at least 600 businesses to closure since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With additional donations, Dolch said he hopes to open up the fund to caterers and private event venues. Real estate trio joins William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty e Susan Santoro Group, a shoreline real estate team, recently joined forces with William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty. e three-member group, which had ap- proximately $45 million in volume in 2020, will be based out of William Pitt Sotheby's Guilford brokerage. e Susan Santoro Group focuses primar- ily on New Haven and Middlesex counties and the Connecticut shoreline. e group includes team founder Susan Santoro, who joined the real estate industry in 1985, and members Kate Esposito and Alicia Mahon. "Our group certainly did its homework and talked to many different companies," Santoro said. "We felt that William Pitt Sotheby's had such an incredible plethora of technology available to us to benefit both buyers and sellers, as well as a widespread ability to reach potential buyers for our listings with a great referral network." e Santoro Group helped over 150 fam- ilies buy and sell in the past year, according to Santoro. Now that it is powered by Sotheby's, Santoro said she expects the group will be able to exceed the $45 million volume it had last year. Kathy Mitchell, brokerage manager with William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty Guilford, said the three women are known for their market knowledge and sales record. Founded in 1949, William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty manages a $4 billion portfolio with more than 1,000 sales associates in Connecticut, Massachu- setts and New York. Pequots to open new Foxwoods casino in historic Puerto Rican hotel e Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is partnering with a Miami hospitality in- vestment firm to renovate and reopen a new casino at the historic Fairmont El San Juan hotel in Puerto Rico. e venture is the first casino project outside of the continental United States for the Pequots. e tribe plans to put $12.5 million into revamping the 15,000-square-foot casino on the 15-acre resort property, which is set on a scenic beach near Old San Juan. e hotel first opened in 1958 and became a regional hotspot in the 1960s aer Cuban casinos were shut down by Fidel Castro. e Pequots' partner in the project, LionGrove LLC, has already invested $125 million in the resort, first to update the property and then to restore it aer Hurri- cane Maria in 2017. e hotel is part of the Accor Live Limitless chain. Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler said the tribe expects the new casino to generate $22 million in annual revenue for Puerto Rico and to create 150 new jobs on the gaming floor alone. e casino, to be named the Foxwoods El San Juan Casino, has the potential to help the island recover from the tourism slump caused by the devastating hurricane and the COVID-19 pandemic, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said. n PHOTO | FILE IMAGE The downtown New Haven skyline. PHOTO | COURTESY WORKFORCE ALLIANCE Malathi Rayakota went through the "Skill Up for Manufacturing" program and is now employed full-time.

• Cover