With his lifetime of experience that includes roles in multi-jurisdictional government service, nonprofit management, and decades of volunteer work on various boards of education, Democratic 28th District Senate candidate Phil Dwyer believes he is more than capable to help lead Connecticut through the multitude of challenges the state is currently facing.phildwyer2016.com.

The Newtown Bee to discuss some of his concerns and ideas about how he would serve the state and his Newtown constituents if elected to replace incumbent Republican Tony Hwang in the Senate.

Mr Dwyer sat down this week with

Much like his opponent, the Democratic senate hopeful was inspired to lead a life and develop a career serving others because of circumstances that developed early-on in his life. According to his official biography, Mr Dwyer was inspired by the support that he and his mother received following the passing of his father.

As a result, Mr Dwyer has worked to ensure that young men and women are afforded the same resources and opportunities that he had growing up.

Mr Dwyer spent two decades working in and around YMCA organizations, retiring as president and CEO of the Central Connecticut Coast branch in 2010. During his time serving as an executive at the YMCA, he led multiple global task forces that were responsible for identifying and serving communities in need.

This work brought him around the world, where he gained an in-depth and nuanced understanding of the myriad difficulties that face young people in need, his biography asserts.

After joining the Central Connecticut Coast Branch, Mr Dwyer managed multi-million dollar budgets, and oversaw major financial investments, including projects in Fairfield and New Haven Counties.

Soon after retiring, he joined the Fairfield Board of Education, eventually becoming the chair in 2012. And before moving to Connecticut, Mr Dwyer's public service included serving on the Northampton County Council in Pennsylvania, which had oversight of more than 100 different small communities. When he worked as an executive with YMCAs in Manhattan, he concurrently served on his hometown Board of Education in Rye, N.Y.

He and his wife, Debby, moved to Fairfield 24 years ago, where they raised two children who both graduated from public schools.

The Newtown Bee, Mr Dwyer focused heavily on his myriad responsibilities advising and administering both public and nonprofit initiatives, which he said gave him all the practical background and familiarity he needs to hit the ground running if elected on November 8.

During his chat with

As one of nine members of the Northampton County Council, and chair of its intergovernmental affairs commission, he spent time learning about the internal workings of "big government."

"When I came out here, I was managing about a dozen branches of the YMCA here in Connecticut, I spent more than a few hours up in Hartford advocating on behalf of our YMCAs and the families we served," he said, adding that he navigated statehouse business on behalf of the YMCA under Governors Lowell Weicker, John Rowland, Jodi Rell, and Dannel Malloy.

"I've spent a life engaged in government processes," he said. "It was all about service."

One of Mr Dwyer's most complex achievements in Connecticut was affecting the merger of Bridgeport, New Haven, and other neighboring YMCAs into what is now known as the Central Connecticut Coast network.

"I've learned through my work that you don't force collaboration," he said. "You really have to work with people to convince them when change and working together is in their best interest."

Because of his work on the Rye and Fairfield school boards, Mr Dwyer sees a natural progression, if elected, to an appointment to the state legislature's Education Committee. He is critical of the standardized or template-based way the state seems to be moving in regard to educational administration and related practices.

"School children are not standard," he said. "There are so many external factors that affect a classroom, that if you have 24 kids, all you need is two or three whose lives have become upset, and that can affect your [evaluation] as a teacher. The biggest concern I have is this governor has bought into standardization of activities, from Common Core to teacher evaluations - and while you have to have some standards to hold people accountable, they've gone overboard."

The candidate said he prefers to return to a system that favors local control over district practices. "Give them some broad guidelines on what they need to accomplish and let the local school districts figure out how to do it," he said.

When it comes to funding education, Mr Dwyer was very unhappy about much of the recent Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Educational Funding (CCJEF) decision.

"You know, when you issue an opinion and both sides in a court case appeal, as a judge you missed the mark," Mr Dwyer said. "I think this case was all about the achievement gap. And the judge didn't keep his eye on the prize. And then he wandered into all kinds of ways and methods of delivering education."

The Democratic candidate was most concerned about the CCJEF decision focus on the minimum amount needed to fund education.

"To suggest Connecticut should only have the minimal funding is missing the mark on who we think we are as a state," he said. "But at least the decision may have forced the legislature to start working now on a fair and equitable formula for state aid for all our cities and towns. Up to now, elected officials have not had the political will to stick to funding formulas already in place."

On other matters, Mr Dwyer believes that the best social service Connecticut can provide for its most financially challenged residents is facilitating programs to help put them to work.

"For me, after quality and equitably-funded education, the second most important thing is economic development - being creative about encouraging companies to come into the state to create jobs," he said. "Connecticut will always be struggling financially if we don't have good jobs. That means supporting small businesses, which employ the largest number of our families."

Having spent most of the past three decades between New York and Connecticut, Mr Dwyer sees transportation as another significant priority for the state.

"We have to stay focused on transportation," he said.

Learn more about Mr Dwyer's positions and his senate campaign agenda at