KeyBank donates $1M to ConnCORP entrepreneurial efforts

Photo | Contributed KeyBank and ConnCORP officials at an event marking a $1 million grant award in Hamden on Jan. 31, 2023. From left: KeyBank Corporate Responsibility Officer Analisha Michanczyk; ConnCORP Chief Operating Officer Paul McCraven; KeyBank Market President Matthew Hummel; ConnCORP Board Chair Carlton Highsmith; ConnCORP Chief Executive Officer Erik Clemons; The Lab at ConnCORP Executive Director Aya Beckles Swanson, and ConnCORP Chief Investment Officer Anna Blanding.

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By Liese Klein

The KeyBank Foundation announced Tuesday it had awarded a $1 million grant to support startup efforts at ConnCORP, the for-profit community economic development arm of workforce development nonprofit ConnCAT.

The grant, to be allocated in $200,000 increments over the next five years, will support ongoing work of the ConnCORP Lab and its entrepreneurial support programs in the Newhallville/Dixwell neighborhood, which extends from New Haven to Hamden.

Aya Beckles Swanson, executive director of ConnCORP Lab, said, “This is just one piece of the larger picture to siphon much-needed support into our community of business owners who have a much steeper hill to climb to success. With this investment in our work, we hope to bridge the gap between the initial idea to business success.”

ConnCORP is spearheading the Dixwell Plaza revitalization project, replacing a mostly vacant shopping plaza with a mixed-use development including nearly 150 housing units.

With ConnCORP Lab, the organization seeks to help minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs and attract new enterprises to Hamden and New Haven.

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.