by | Nov 1, 2023 10:34 am | Comments (2)
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At the recent Q House youth-organized college fair.
Thomas Breen photo
Q House youth leaders Xavier Jones, Kate Kim, and Eliana Cortez.
Hundreds of city teens got a chance to apply to colleges in-person in Dixwell — thanks to a Q House youth-led push to center the voices and needs of young New Haveners.
Continue reading ‘Hundreds Turn Out For Q House College Fair’
by | Oct 24, 2023 9:15 am | Comments (1)
Continue reading ‘Halloween Spooktacular Coming To The Q House’
by | Oct 23, 2023 1:58 pm | Comments (11)
Maya McFadden Photo
Math teacher Charity Ann Chambers helps students "embrace mistakes."
As her ninth-grade students puzzled through box and dot plots, Achievement First Amistad High School math teacher Charity Ann Chambers urged them not to be discouraged. Sometimes, she said, “trying is more exemplary to me than accuracy.”
Continue reading ‘In Ms. Chambers' Class, "Math Is Everywhere"’
by | Oct 12, 2023 4:00 pm | Comments (2)
Regina Winters-Toussaint.
While a student at the Yale School of Architecture in 1992, Regina Winters-Toussaint created her own summer internship. As one of the first counselors for LEAP, then a new youth enrichment program in New Haven, she moved into Westville Manor public housing, where she mentored the young people living there.
That willingness to steep herself in the experience of those who would live and work in the structures she built is among the reasons for the induction of Winters-Toussaint, who died of cancer at 47 in April 2016, in the CT Women’s Hall of Fame, according to its executive director Sarah Lubarsky.
Continue reading ‘Regina Winters-Toussaint To Be Inducted Posthumously Into CT Women’s Hall of Fame’
by | Oct 9, 2023 10:08 am | Comments (4)
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Marcus Harvin: “As long as they’ll have me, I’ll be there.”
Re-entering society is a daunting task for many formerly-incarcerated individuals. For Marcus Harvin, that stress was partially alleviated thanks to Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS) — an affordable housing nonprofit where Harvin has found a sense of purpose through community building and beautification.
Continue reading ‘Affordable Housing Nonprofit Celebrates 44 Years’
by | Oct 2, 2023 8:45 am | Comments (13)
John T. Hill photo
On the Green, 1970.
Thousands of National Guardsmen gathered in the Goffe Street Armory, weapons of war in hand as they prepared to confront anti-war activists and Black Panther trial protesters on the Green.
But unlike at Kent State and Jackson State just a few days later, in New Haven, that violence didn’t come. A “conspiracy” of town and gown, Black and white, local and national players prevailed. The peace was kept, for the most part.
Fifty-three years later, the Armory — used as the National Guard’s staging ground for the May Day rally of 1970, a potential wellspring for bloodshed on that tumultuous day — was commemorated instead as a city landmark of the civil rights movement.
by | Sep 27, 2023 3:19 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
United Illuminating (UI), city officials, and small business owners kick off Small Business Energy Efficiency Campaign.
Flyer to be handed out during neighborhood canvassing.
Local small businesses looking to save money on their energy systems can also help address the climate crisis at the same time — by switching to LED lights, better sealing windows, improving insulation, adopting programmable thermostats, and other energy-efficient interventions.
So pitched city officials and representatives from United Illuminating (UI) and Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG) on Monday as they kicked off a week-long Small Business Energy Efficiency Campaign in the rain at 300 and 302 Dixwell Ave. that is designed to support some of those climate-friendly changes.
Continue reading ‘Small Biz Energy Efficiency Campaign Kicks Off In Dixwell’
by | Sep 26, 2023 8:34 am | Comments (0)
Birthing a New Sky (Mira and Sora).
The central figure in Birthing a New Sky (Mira and Sora) has immediate, obvious associations with the Buddha, and with meditation and enlightenment. But it’s not just a generic picture of a spiritual leader. The silhouette is specific; it’s an individual, a real person, alive today. Colors course through the shape of their body, the shadows of multitudes of people. The image buzzes with movement and growth, but also exudes balance and peace, connection with nature and with the self. It points toward the future with a sense of genuine, earned lightness and hope.
Continue reading ‘Artist Takes Notes From A Compassionate Future’
by | Sep 22, 2023 2:14 pm | Comments (16)
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Landlord lawyer Herb Reckmeyer (right): Why not move? Tenant Tia Cuthbertson: "Everybody deserves to live in a safe environment."
Tia Cuthbertson Photo
The mice in Cuthbertson's apartment.
The last time Tia Cuthbertson used her oven was over a year ago. She was preheating the appliance when she noticed a cloud of smoke — and found a charred mouse inside, burning alive.
Cuthbertson has now received a dramatic reprieve from the Fair Rent Commission, which lowered her rent to $1 per month until her megalandlord, Ocean Management, clears out the mice that have invaded her apartment and fixes other problems.
by | Sep 20, 2023 12:09 pm | Comments (5)
Allan Appel photo
Pastor Harold Brooks (right) and Rosie Hoke.
To hear Rosie Hoke tell it, Beulah Heights First Pentecostal Church — a century old this year — was born with a miracle.
by | Sep 18, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (3)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Silent Book Club New Haven selections for September.
Are you one of those people who grabs a book with all intentions of plowing through a decent number of pages and ends up not reading any — distracted by the phone, the TV or household chores? The Silent Book Club might be perfect for you.
by and | Sep 15, 2023 12:03 pm | Comments (24)
Allan Appel photo
Surprised non-Democrat Anthony Carter, with Bella Vista moderator Patricia Solomon.
“I’ve been a Democrat all my life,” said May, an 81-year-old Newhallville resident who said she’s voted at Lincoln-Bassett School every election since she bought her home in 1985.
Except she wasn’t a Democrat on Tuesday. She found out from a moderator that she had been re-registered as an “unaffiliated” voter, ineligible to vote in the primary.
May was one of at least dozens of people across the city to find out on Tuesday that they couldn’t vote because they weren’t Democrats. To many, including May, that news came as an inexplicable surprise.
Continue reading ‘Unexpected Unaffiliateds Turned Away At Polls’
by | Sep 11, 2023 4:23 pm | Comments (34)
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Developer Yves Joseph and Mayor Justin Elicker at "Canal Place."
“We are building, building, building,” Mayor Justin Elicker declared before the rising metal skeleton of what will eventually become 168 mixed-income apartments, in a part of the city rendered nearly unrecognizable by a flood of new housing construction.
Continue reading ‘168 More Apartments On The Rise In Dixwell’
by | Aug 29, 2023 2:24 pm | Comments (18)
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Lance Thomas, on Winchester Ave: "There's too much gun violence."
414 Dixwell, one of many Ocean properties up for sale.
Ocean Management affiliates sold another nine local rental properties over the past month — while Mandy Management affiliates sold six buildings of their own and bought one anew — as “For Sale” signs continue to pop up on front lawns across Newhallville and Dixwell.
Continue reading ‘"For Sale" Signs Multiply As Ocean Keeps Selling’
by | Aug 29, 2023 8:23 am | Comments (2)
Brian Slattery photo
Making a sailboat from the squiggly plastic of a 3D gun. Making even more complex objects from 3D printers. Exploring the open worlds of videogames. All of these and more — much more — happen at the Teen Center and Makerspace Drop-In, Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, located in the Q House at 197 Dixwell Ave. The event and the space are intended to help library patrons learn to create, explore the library more deeply, and have fun doing it.
by | Aug 25, 2023 9:20 am | Comments (2)
Lisa Reisman photos
Order's up: Deari'e's Surf & Turf, at Dixwell's Dope N Delicious.
David James, Deari'e Allick, De'Ari Allick Jr., De'Ari Allick, and James Nelson on a recent afternoon at Dope N Delicious.
Talk about a dream summer internship.
Deari’e Allick, who’s 14 and a student in culinary arts at Eli Whitney Tech, spent the last two months whipping up dishes that range from lamb chops with smashed potatoes to the Pineapple Bowl to, on a recent afternoon, Surf & Turf.
Her boss is her father De’Ari Allick, owner of Dope N Delicious, a pocket-sized joint specializing in southern comfort food, seafood, and soul food at 300 Dixwell Ave. De’Ari learned to cook from his mother Audrey Maysonet. De’Ari passed it on to Deari’e.
by | Aug 24, 2023 5:17 pm | Comments (0)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
The new facade for the Edith Johnson apartments at 114 Bristol St.
Tenant Jackie Reilly puts her handprint on the wall to commemorate the renovations — and express her excitement for more fun to be had in the building's overhauled communal space.
Jackie Reilly is ready to play bingo, practice chair yoga, and hold Christmas parties in her apartment building’s new common room — now that a long-coming $5.2 million renovation of the nearly 50-year-old Edith Johnson senior public-housing development in Dixwell has wrapped.
Continue reading ‘Upgrades Unveiled At Edith Johnson Towers’
by | Aug 18, 2023 11:46 am | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
Prez Walker-Myers, with Mayor Elicker: "You probably never thought I'd be here doing this ... But today is your day."
Mayor Justin Elicker and Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers traded words of praise — and even a hug — as the two city leaders stood side by side, to their own surprise, and encouraged local labor advocates to help keep the same “team” in office for the next two years.
Continue reading ‘Elicker, Walker-Myers Embrace Unexpected Alliance’
by | Aug 4, 2023 11:58 am | Comments (1)
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Troup's summer meals backbone: Cafeteria worker Robin Jones.
Mother of three Falilat Enny stopped by Troup School to visit a friend who her kids call “grandma” — because she has loved to serve Enny’s three girls free meals for breakfast and lunch all summer.
Continue reading ‘Free Summer Meals Come To Quiet Close At Troup’
by | Aug 4, 2023 9:16 am | Comments (10)
Laura Glesby file photo
Desmone Gambrell-Claxton and Fabian Menges present their group's ideas for the Armory (pictured above).
The abandoned armory on Goffe Street is starting to house dreams of sports facilities, small businesses, social services, and citywide celebrations.
But before neighbors’ visions for the historic structure can become a reality, the building will need to be cleared of asbestos, sealed off from water, and bolstered to support more weight.
Continue reading ‘Armory Ailments Detailed, Futures Floated’
by | Aug 3, 2023 3:06 pm | Comments (38)
Thomas Breen photo
Anthony Geritano, Jr. and Hari Venu: "I wish you and I had met a few years ago."
Dixwell alder-hopeful Anthony Geritano, Jr. didn’t get Hari Venu to sign his petition to appear on the Democratic primary ballot this September.
But the recent Yale graduate with papers in hand did get a crash course from the recent Yale PhD who answered the door on just how persistent the town-gown divide remains — and got the chance to make his own pitch on what to do about it.
Continue reading ‘Challenger Finds Yale Quandary At Dixwell Doors’
by | Jul 27, 2023 4:34 pm | Comments (3)
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Free throw contest at previous Stop the Violence, Start The Love hoops tournament.
There’s a basketball tournament this Saturday at Goffe Street Park, and it’s no ordinary one.
Along with deejays spinning lively tunes, as well as dance and drill teams adding pomp, circumstance, and style, the event will feature a kids’ free throw, layup line, and three-point contest as well as an adult dunk contest, and a host of kids’ activities like moon bounces, face painting, and a prize giveaway.
All are designed to further a goal made clear in the tournament’s name: “Stop the violence, start the love.”
Continue reading ‘Basketball Tourney Seeks To Stop Violence, Start Love’
by | Jul 24, 2023 5:06 pm | Comments (1)
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Jackie Bracey (right): "Home comes from your heart."
“Hope is the seed of love, of Black folk, and of all people. And that’s what this building is,” ConnCAT CEO Erik Clemons said as he addressed a 100-person crowd gathered to celebrate Dixwell Plaza one more time before it’s knocked down and redeveloped.
by | Jul 24, 2023 7:35 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Thabisa Rich at arts collective kickoff.
Musician and arts organizer Thabisa Rich stood before a packed room inside the NXTHVN arts complex at 169 Henry St. on Friday evening, ready to announce a new initiative. “I don’t know if I should be nervous or excited,” she said, “because this is a dream come true.”
Continue reading ‘Rich Arts Collective Finds Wealth In Being Humble’
by | Jul 21, 2023 10:38 am | Comments (7)
Team Dixwell-Newhallville: Alder candidates Jeanette Morrison, Troy Streater, and Brittiany Mabery-Niblack.
Three New Haven natives are running as a team for alder seats in Wards 20, 21, and 22 in Dixwell and Newhallville.