Today we're welcoming back the founder of Guardian Ad Litem Services, a liaison agency that exists between its clients and their "unique, interrelated networks" - courts, mental health service providers, physicians, state agencies, guardians, nonprofit organizations, hospitals and conservators as they launch a brand new program called Family Empowerment NOW.

The we'll bring in the CEO and Board Chair of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, also talking about an incredible new initiative addressing the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial inequity called Stepping Forward, along with a commitment of $26 million to address these issues.

And we'll close with the founder of Second Thoughts CT, a group of Connecticut residents with disabilities, who along with seniors, and advocates strive to be Connecticut's disability-rights voice standing in opposition to state legislation that would legalize assisted suicide.

We're replaying a segment reminding residents about the lingering dangers of lead with an environmental sanitarian from Meriden - who plays a role in a larger statewide effort to remind residents about the dangers posed by lead. We'll learn all the places where lead could still be lurking in places where kids and others could still be exposed - and how that lead exposure can be remediated forever.

Then we'll catch a buzz with the Back Yard Beekeepers Association and learn why becoming even a simple backyard beekeeper could be one of the best holiday gifts you can give yourself, your family, your community and the environment - and why its the best time of year to get into beekeeping.

Finally, Have you ever had a bad experience with an uncaring medical professional? Then meet The Patient Is U Foundation - Helping medical practitioners enhance humanistic, compassionate patient care with unsurpassed "customer service" and sharing its philosophies with patients as well as institutional and non-institutional healthcare providers - anyone who comes into contact with patients or their families. 

We're kicking off 2021 with State Comptroller Kevin Lembo talking about a new “Network of Distinction” program designed to achieve the dual goals of lowering overall health costs and achieving better outcomes. Are you one of the roughly quarter million state residents benefiting - stay tuned and find out.

Then we'll circle back to chat with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) to find out how the agency did with its annual Be Homeful for the Holidays activities, what a difference it will make countering the state's homeless stats, and we'll hear about the agency's most recent collaborations with the CT Council of Municipalities and Sustainable CT.