New London - It's a new era in New London, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Wednesday after he visited with a group of young Latinos and took a State Street stroll to drop in on several businesses.

After a 40-minute discussion with the young people, Blumenthal walked with Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio to Little Sisters Bake Shop and Green Ink Marketing Communications in the Crocker House and Treehugger Organic Salon and Spa up the street before stopping for a cup of coffee at the Bean & Leaf on Washington Street.

"I'm very excited with the kind of energy and growth I see here in New London," Blumenthal said. "I'm so encouraged by what I've seen. I want to help in any way I can."

Treehugger owner Gina Pressler told Blumenthal that her space at 230 State St. is her second downtown location; she started Treehugger in 2007 on Washington Street before moving at the end of October.

"It's nice that he would come tour the city," Pressler said. "It's good for him to see what we're trying to do here."

Green Ink Marketing Communications edits video productions for corporate customers, including IBM and Pfizer, and has done video shoots in several European and Asian countries, Chip Green told the senator.

Green and his partner, Tom Murphy, the company's finance director, expanded the company from its roots in Voluntown, then went to North Stonington and are now in downtown New London. Green said the company has grown from five to 14 employees in the past two years, as well as taking on a business partner, Gary Schaefer.

Finizio told the senator that Green and Murphy also recently purchased a condominium in the city.

"The closing is in a half-hour," Green said as he scurried to show Blumenthal another area of the operation. "We're proud to be part of the historic Crocker House."

Blumenthal praised the Finizio administration. He said the fight for two submarines per year at Electric Boat and similar contracts for Pratt & Whitney is linked directly to Finizio's goal of seeing more small and medium business growth in New London.

"Those types of contracts help contractors large and small," Blumenthal said. "With the new leadership, I think this will be a new era of growth that can be spurred on by government investment and in other ways, including education."

At the State Street headquarters of the Hispanic Alliance, the senator met with a group of Latino college students along with board Chairman Alejandro Melendez-Cooper and Nadesha Mijoba of the Provenance Center, another State Street business.

"We asked the young people to come today so you could see the present and our future," Melendez-Cooper said.

The young people, graduates of local high schools, did most of the talking. They told Blumenthal - who sits on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee - of the need for both funding and programmatic changes in education.

"Our electives in school were the thing I learned the most from," said Javier Martina, who attends the University of Rhode Island. "A lot of the elective classes are where you learn job skills, but they're the first thing to get cut."

Martina said he has wanted to be an engineer almost all his life. If a student is focused on a career path, there should be a specialized course of study to respond to that, he added.

Several students said more internship programs and hands-on training in the high schools and colleges are necessary so that students can gain work experience and, equally important, exposure to people who can get to know them and appreciate their skills and work ethic.

Mijoba said too often students are not in a position to accept an internship.

"Some kids are fortunate. Some have to work," she said. "Paid internships are most important. We need support for programs to assist (corporate) partners in paying someone so they don't have to make that choice."

Ana Cruz, a UConn Avery Point student, has her eye on a career as a labor and delivery room nurse. She said an internship would be important.

"It would let me know if that's really what I want to do," she said. "Internships can help you decide that you don't like something, too."

Blumenthal agreed. "These programs would be supported with a bill I've sponsored," he said. "It includes more intern and apprenticeship programs. It also calls for colleges to add more courses to customize training for existing jobs. There are jobs that can't be filled only because of a lack of training available."

Blumenthal encouraged the young people to stay involved and to continue to offer him ideas.

"This kind of information is very valuable to me," he told them. "So when you have ideas I'd appreciate hearing from you, not just as a Latino youth, but as young people who want to come back to New London and raise your families. The more ideas you give me and the more you participate, the better job I can do for you."

Natalia Zea, a student at UConn who aspires to a career teaching Spanish and Latino studies, was pleased.

"I think it's good that he came here to listen to us," Zea said. "He's not just listening to the people who think they know what's best for us. He heard it from us. That's good."

c.potter@theday.com