Unable to run localhost on node.js project

Question

I keep running into this error when I try to run the server or seed my database:

Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:3306 at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1148:16) { errno: -61, code: 'ECONNREFUSED', syscall: 'connect', address: '127.0.0.1', port: 3306, fatal: true }

here is how I configured my connection:

const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

require('dotenv').config();

// create connection to our db
const sequelize = process.env.JAWSDB_URL
  ? new Sequelize(process.env.JAWSDB_URL)
  : new Sequelize(process.env.DB_NAME, process.env.DB_USER, process.env.DB_PW, {
      host: 'localhost',
      dialect: 'mysql',
      port: 3306
    });

module.exports = sequelize;

and here is how I set up my server file:

const path = require('path');
const express = require('express');
const session = require('express-session');
const exphbs = require('express-handlebars');

const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3001;

const sequelize = require('./config/connection');
const SequelizeStore = require('connect-session-sequelize')(session.Store);

const sess = {
  secret: 'Super secret secret',
  cookie: {}, 
  resave: false,
  saveUninitialized: true,
  store: new SequelizeStore({
    db: sequelize
  })
};

app.use(session(sess));

const hbs = exphbs.create({});

app.engine('handlebars', hbs.engine);
app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');

app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

app.use(require('./controllers/'));

sequelize.sync({ force: false }).then(() => {
  app.listen(PORT, () => console.log('Now listening'));
});

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, any help is greatly appreciated!