Connecticut Opportunity Project (CTOP)

Connecticut Opportunity Project (CTOP) is sponsored by Dalio Education. Dalio Education's Connecticut Opportunity Project (CTOP) is a social investment fund that provides long-term, general operating support, organizational coaching, and technical assistance to Connecticut nonprofits serving youth who are severely off-track or disconnected from school and employment.

The goal is to help these young people succeed in post-secondary pathways leading to meaningful employment. CTOP focuses on strengthening organizational capacity in various development areas.

Dalio Education To Boost New Haven Youth Job Training Program With $2. 5M Grant | CT News Junkie FILE PHOTO: Barbara Dalio, Founder and CEO of Dalio Education, offers an introduction to the panel on October 24, 2023, during a series of panel discussions on disconnected youth in Connecticut. Credit: File photo / CTNewsJunkie Dalio Education on Thursday announced plans to invest $2.

5 million in the New Haven nonprofit Manufacturing and Technical Community Hub (MATCH) in the city’s Fair Haven neighborhood. Dalio Education Founder and CEO Barbara Dalio said in a news release that the foundation is investing in MATCH over a five-year period to help train young people for careers in the state’s growing manufacturing sector.

According to its website, MATCH’s mission is to create “pathways to self-sustainable life and career paths in manufacturing for individuals with barriers to gainful employment in greater New Haven.

” The organization says it helps trainees navigate barriers, develop professional and technical skills, and build confidence through “transformational relationships, wraparound services, and training, resulting in successful entry into the manufacturing workforce. ” According to the release, the Connecticut Opportunity Project (CTOP) — Dalio Education’s social investment fund — will oversee the $2. 5 million.

“We are excited to make this important investment,” Dalio said. “MATCH is training young people for fulfilling careers in manufacturing, a sector that provides good jobs — jobs that pay well and provide good benefits — for thousands of Connecticut residents. ” MATCH Board Chair Marcia LaFemina also expressed her gratitude.

“The MATCH Board of Directors extends our sincere appreciation to Dalio Education for their generous and meaningful investment in our work and for embracing our shared vision,” LaFemina said. “Their leadership recognizes both the urgency and the promise of engaging disconnected youth, and they have seized the opportunity to use manufacturing as a powerful vehicle for dignity, belonging, skill-building, and economic mobility.

Together, we are creating real pathways to strong careers and stronger communities. ” In October 2023, Dalio Education released a report titled, “Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis: Getting Young People Back On Track,” which identified a population of about 119,000 young people, ages 18-26, who are either disconnected from education and employment or are likely to become disconnected.

The report was followed by a series of public forums, the establishment of a commission to study the issue and the release of a larger report identifying public policy strategies and solutions to help reconnect disconnected youth. Much of Dalio Education’s work over the past 10 years has been focused on disconnected, or moderately disconnected youth. “These young people have enormous potential,” Dalio said.

“Like everyone else, they have hopes, dreams, and aspirations. What they need is a chance. MATCH will give them that chance, and we’re excited to see them thrive during the time they’re at MATCH and then well beyond as they build their careers.

” This $2. 5 million investment follows a similar one provided to Nuvance Health, part of Northwell Health, that Dalio Education announced in June 2025 with a goal of designing and implementing a healthcare job-training program for moderately disconnected young people. “Increasingly, we are focusing our efforts on workforce development programs in growth industries like manufacturing and healthcare,” Dalio said.

“For a long time, the thought was that there was one main pathway to success: a 4-year degree from a college or a university. And while that’s certainly still the case for some young people, these days more and more young people are realizing there are multiple pathways to successful careers.

” DISCLOSURE: Dalio Education has provided two unrestricted grants to this website — for 2025 and 2026 — to help fund news coverage of education and other policy discussions at the state Capitol in Hartford related to helping disconnected youth engage in education and employment. No one has paid for this story, nor did anyone outside of CTNewsJunkie review or approve this story before it was published.

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