ConnCAT founder Clemons steps down to focus on sister organization ConnCORP

When Erik Clemons looked around New Haven more than 14 years ago, it sparked an idea: an organization dedicated to workforce development and job training in the city’s historically Black communities. 

The idea led to the creation of the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, or ConnCAT. Modeled after the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh and founded in the early 2010s, ConnCAT uses job training to spur economic empowerment, launching a variety of programs and projects to further build self-reliance and skills in New Haven’s Dixwell-Newhallville communities.

Now, after more than a decade at the helm, Clemons is stepping down.  

Last week, Clemons announced that he would be leaving the organization he started. The founder and longtime CEO will direct his attention to ConnCORP, a sister organization. (ConnCORP started out as a for-profit focused on economic development and was reorganized into a nonprofit in 2021.) 

Clemons, who started both organizations, had been serving as CEO of both ConnCAT and ConnCORP.

ConnCAT will be led in the interim by Malcolm Ellis, a current member of the ConnCORP board of directors. A search for a permanent CEO is expected to begin in the near future. 

“ConnCAT is in the strongest position it’s ever been in, and that’s a credit to our staff, our students, and this community,” Clemons said in a statement. “The work ahead is bigger: continuing to build economic opportunity across New Haven and making sure the doors we’ve opened stay open for the next generation.”

The exit comes as ConnCAT and ConnCORP are both growing. In June, ConnCAT opened a new 65,000 square foot $65M headquarters in the heart of Dixwell. The center includes space for ConnCAT’s various job training and youth development programs, including a recording studio, computer lab, and work spaces for its culinary, phlebotomy and bioscience programs. 

ConnCORP, meanwhile, is spearheading First HAVEN, a broader $200 million redevelopment project in Dixwell. When completed, the roughly 8-acre project will encompass a mixed-use development including retail and grocery space, apartments, a performing arts center and the recently completed workforce development hub. 

The shared goal of both ConnCAT and ConnCORP, Clemons said, will continue to revolve around promoting economic empowerment and community development, supporting New Haven’s Black communities and the infrastructure of the neighborhoods they live in. 

“We want to ensure that economic development and economic infrastructure comes to Dixwell Avenue, and to ensure that ConnCORP, which is now a national model, continues to fly high,” Clemons said in an interview.

A heightened focus on economic and community development

Clemons previously stepped away from ConnCAT in 2021, but later returned to his role as CEO following an unsuccessful leadership transition. 

His second turn as ConnCAT CEO was never meant to be permanent, and the organization has been preparing for the recently announced transition.

This time, he said, the organization is in a much stronger position. According to ConnCAT’s 2024-25 annual report, hundreds of students have graduated from the organization’s job training programs. It also supports young people in the city through afterschool programming. And last year, ConnCAT and ConnCORP, with the support of other partners formally launched the Wealth Accelerator, which aims to test the state’s baby bonds program through a pilot that includes direct financial assistance and education programming for a group of local residents. 

At ConnCORP, Clemons will be continuing the organization’s economic development work with an eye to tackling some of the biggest challenges facing Black communities in Connecticut. That includes entrepreneurship support for small business owners, assessing the state of Connecticut’s Black businesses and creating new programs for financial literacy. 

ConnCORP is also involved in the state’s recently announced NSF quantum engine, with Clemons working as a co-principal investigator on the proposal for federal funding. 

The ongoing First HAVEN development is looking to bring jobs, housing and community recreational programming to Dixwell. The ConnCAT center construction was the first phase of the project, with attention now shifting to apartments and housing construction that centers the community.

Clemons also said ConnCORP intends to do more real estate work in the future.

As ConnCAT searches for a new leader, Clemons said he hopes the board will focus on finding a strong fundraiser who is deeply invested in building hope and opportunity in the community.

Ellis, the interim CEO and board member, said in the coming months he will prioritize building on the foundation the organization already has, while “keeping our programming and community partnerships moving forward without interruption.” 

“My immediate priority is continuity, making sure ConnCAT’s programs and the people we serve don’t feel any disruption,” he said in an emailed statement. Ellis will return to his position on the ConnCORP board after a permanent CEO is found, and he’ll become chair of the board after its current leader, Carlton Highsmith, retires at the end of the year.

ConnCAT and ConnCORP leaders say they hope their shared work will continue to expand the range of opportunities accessible to the people who have often been left out of New Haven’s growth. 

“Our job is to fight with folks who are continuing to fight for themselves,” Clemons said.