2026 Research Partnerships
For 2025 - 2026, WIP partnered with the City of Middletown, New Britain ROOTS, the Community Foundation of Middlesex County (CFMC), and ACES Early Head Start Middletown (ACES Middletown). These projects ranged from policy areas including housing, urban design and food security, to early education and tax credit legislation research.
The City of Middletown’s Economic and Community Development and Health Departments identified the need to expand their permanent supportive housing (PSH) practices. The PSH model is a holistic approach to combating homelessness through addressing the most immediate need of shelter first while also ensuring a long term goal of housing stability and societal integration. The city intends to build a 20-bed PSH complex and enlisted the Wesleyan Institute for Policy to provide research on the best practices to consider when implementing this development.
This report consists of case studies of successful permanent supportive housing examples, a discussion of key design and funding considerations, a summary of interviews conducted with key housing service providers in Middletown, a cost estimate for a ‘tiny home’ village model based on examples of similar villages located in Texas and Oregon, and a discussion of potential sites for building new PSH in Middletown. The goal of the report is to identify key characteristics of successful models that can be applied to a PSH development in Middletown.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES FOR THE CITY OF MIDDLETOWN
New Britain ROOTS operates a variety of programs and services to foster equitable access to quality food across the city of New Britain, Connecticut. These include a market program that consists of a stall at New Britain's Downtown Farmers Market every Wednesday from 11 am to 2 pm from June to October. The market program also has a Mobile Market from July through November, which stops at different community centers around New Britain. The Mobile Market also does express delivery. ROOTS operates multiple community and school gardens around New Britain. ROOTS has 3 distinct youth programs that involve students from elementary to high school: garden clubs, youth apprenticeships, and after-school classes. ROOTS also operates a community seed library and 3 community fridges located around New Britain.
This report has two main components: geospatial analysis and survey design. The geospatial analysis uses Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS) maps to visualize food access in New Britain. It also analyzes four sites that were identified as viable for future development of community gardens. The survey design portion of this report provides a bank of methods that New Britain ROOTS may use to both survey people who use their programs and solicit feedback from customers. The survey design portion suggests methods for the market program, the community fridge program, and the after-school education program.
GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS AND SURVEY PRACTICES FOR NEW BRITAIN ROOTS
RETENTION AND REFERRAL STRATEGIES FOR ACES MIDDLESEX
ACES Early Head Start of Middlesex County (ACES Middlesex) is a federally funded, community-based program that provides comprehensive support to families below the eligible federal poverty line with infants and toddlers up to three years old, as well as expectant families. ACES Middlesex’s services are delivered through a home-based model, ensuring personalized support in a family's natural environment. In partnership with Middlesex Health, ACES has five home visitors who each work twelve cases. Home visits take place weekly and last around 90 minutes.
ACES Middlesex requested the Wesleyan Institute for Policy (WIP) to explore issues on program retention, seek recommendations to improve in their service referral system, examine transportation options outside of the program, and provide a list of grants that ACES can apply for to fund organizational projects or goals. The research aims to guide programmatic improvements in the organization’s ability to deliver on their mission and provide quality services to the families they serve.
This report begins by outlining the methods used by WIP to accomplish these research tasks. The second section of this report is an overview of nine interviews conducted with both ACES home visitors and participating families. Third, WIP provides a system that ACES may adopt to better track referrals. The fourth and fifth sections are a review of relevant studies addressing retention strategies and a comparative analysis of similar organizations to ACES Early Head Start. The sixth section of this report is a survey of transportation resources. The final section of this report is a list of grants that ACES can apply to.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION TAX CREDIT LEGISLATION FOR CFMC
The Community Foundation of Middlesex County (CFMC) is a charitable organization based in Middlesex County, Connecticut. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for residents in the county by awarding grants to local philanthropic missions, developing endowments to support long-term giving objectives, and advising donors on their philanthropic goals. The Community Foundation of Middlesex County is considering proposing a piece of legislation that would support community foundations across Connecticut via a new tax credit incentive. This proposal requires substantial background research exploring the need for a giving incentive, the effectiveness of tax benefits on giving, how a new program would look in Connecticut, and how it can be best implemented.
WIP advised the Community Foundation of Middlesex County on their legislative proposal by providing information that would bolster the understanding of their proposed program: Endow CT. CFMC requested WIP to explore similar programs in other states as well as evaluate their effectiveness in aiding community foundations and nonprofits delivering their mission.
2025 Research Partnerships
In WIP collaborated with River Valley Transit (RVT), a public transit agency that serves 16 municipalities throughout Middlesex County and parts of New London County in Connecticut, including Middletown. WIP partnered with RVT to develop an actionable plan for the transition of RVT’s bus route network from a flag-based stop system to a fixed stop system.
WIP’s infrastructural transition analysis can be accessed here.
INFRASTRUCTURAL TRANSITION ANALYSIS FOR RIVER VALLEY TRANSIT
REDEVELOPMENT IN THE MILLER-BRIDGE STREET AREA: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS FOR THE KATAL CENTER
WIP collaborated with the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, an advocacy organization based in Middletown, CT and Brooklyn, NY. WIP partnered with the Katal Center to aid their historical, qualitative, and demographic research efforts around housing in Middletown, with a specific focus on the Miller and Bridge Street area of the town.
WIP’s historical analysis can be accessed here.
For organizations interested in partnering with WIP in 2026-27, click here to contact us!