Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities with Joe Schmidt

Brian joined The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) team in 2014 as Head of Education at Connecticut’s Old State House. In this role, he manages the museum’s K-12 school programs and works with a team of educators to create authentic, educational, and participatory experiences that awaken civic engagement and awareness

In 2015, Cofrancesco created Kid Governor®, a statewide civics program for 5th graders which unites CTDC’s mission of teaching civics and history with his personal values of civic participation and engagement. His vision, design and strategic development of the program have resulted in Kid Governor®’s recognition nationally by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the American Association for State and Local History, and the launch of affiliate programs in Oregon and New Hampshire. He currently leads the Connecticut and national Kid Governor® programs.

Prior to CTDC, Cofrancesco worked at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art. He is active in the museum and heritage communities and has served on the Planning Committee for the Connecticut Museum Educator Roundtable, the board of the Meriden Historical Society, and coordinates a Hartford-based museum networking group.  He has served on boards and committees for the Connecticut League of History Organizations, Connecticut Humanities, the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, the Center of Connecticut Regional Tourism District, and Kiwanis International. He is a frequent workshop facilitator and keynote speaker in the museum and community service communities, and delivered a keynote address at the New England Museum Association’s 100^th Anniversary Conference.

Cofrancesco holds a Bachelors of Architectural History from the University of Virginia. He is co-editor of Falmouth, Jamaica: Architecture as History (2014, University of the West Indies Press).

A New Jersey native, Paul began his journey into professional media production at Seton Hall University’s radio station (WSOU) where he ushered in an era of unprecedented live concert broadcasts from New Jersey and New York nightclubs. His passion for audio production led him to fine tune his craft at a local recording studio where he mastered the art of audio engineering and lent his musical talents to local artists demos.

Paul found new inspiration for bringing audio and video together at a local cable television company in 1989. With an innovators spirit, he leveraged his production sensibilities and created a talent show for local musical artists at Suburban Cablevision. “I quickly learned everything about anything to do with video. I made friends with all the video engineers and found myself rocketing through the technical aspects of television production.” With a new skill set, Paul took over operation of the John H. Stamler Police academy video production studio in 1992 and demonstrated the power of media to law enforcement professionals. Paul wrote and directed policy and tactical training videos, crime scene re-enactments, documentaries, and used the emerging digital video technology to develop his own forensic video enhancement protocols that surpassed those of the FBI academy in Quantico.

After seven years of creating an extensive media library for the law and order community, Paul moved to Connecticut with his wife Kate and found new opportunities with the Connecticut Public Affairs Network where he has served for the last 19 years as a project manager. During his tenure, Paul found ways to bring unprecedented award-winning technical achievements to C-SPAN like coverage of the Connecticut state legislature (Emmy nominated Producer-2015 and Emmy nominated Technical Producer-2012). On November 1, 2018, Paul took the reins of overseeing the management and operations of the Connecticut Television Network where he proudly stewards television coverage of the “people’s house”.

Almost since the organization’s inception, Bill has been part of the visionary leadership team for the Connecticut Public Affairs Network and now guides its evolution and transition to the Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC).  Joining the organization as Director of Communications & Marketing in 2001, he became the driving force behind marketing strategy, promotions, brand management and corporate communications for the organization.   In 2008 he would help engineer the organization’s expansion from its roots in the government and public affairs programming of the Connecticut Network (CT-N) to include management of Connecticut’s Old State House as a platform for the historical and civic context behind public policy and current events.  Stepping into the role of Vice-President of Administration & Communications in 2012, Bill turned his attention to developing the administrative and managerial structures the organization would need to operate on a broader scale as it continued to expand and the then-embryonic Kid Governor® program began to take shape.

In late 2017, Bill assumed the role of CPAN’s President amidst a major organizational crisis following the unexpected loss of two major state contracts.  Since then, Bill and his leadership team worked to reinvent and rebuild the organization, recovering its lost state contracts and expanding Connecticut Democracy Center programming that inspires people of all ages to engage in civic life and strengthen their communities.

Bill holds both a B.A. in English and an M.B.A. in marketing from Fairfield University and resides in Niantic, Connecticut with his wife, Jennifer, and sons, Matthew and Robert.