by | Jun 16, 2023 12:45 pm | Comments (9)
Kian Ahmadi photo
Team Yale triumphant after Thursday's tournament.
Hip-hop music blasted and dozens of police officers and community members watched as Team Yale glided across the Goffe Street Park basketball courts, swiftly defeating Team True Blue 17 – 1 to win the latest annual “Cops & Ballers” tournament.
Continue reading ‘Team Yale Takes Title At "Cops & Ballers"’
by | Jun 14, 2023 4:19 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photo
Pepe Vega (center): "I've been affected by gun violence my whole life."
When is “snitching” about violent crime worth the social and physical risks to the individual speaking up?
And when is it necessary to protect the community from future gunfire attacks?
by | Jun 13, 2023 12:43 pm | Comments (2)
Abiba Biao photos
On the newly renovated and painted Goffe Street Park courts.
"Super" John Williamson's daughters Shareebah, Kali, and Raushana Williamson: Keeping dad's legacy alive.
Michael Evans-Benton watched as a trio of teenagers shot hoops on the newly renovated basketball courts at Goffe Street Park — and found himself captivated not just by the game before him, but also by the bright red and green colors and swirling eye design beneath the players’ feet.
by | Jun 13, 2023 12:07 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed photo
At last year's Q House farmers market.
The following writeup was submitted by Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership, Inc. (LEAP) Communications Coordinator Nicole Jefferson.
Continue reading ‘Q House Farmers Market Returns On Wednesday’
by | Jun 12, 2023 9:10 am | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photos
Abdussabur (right) passing Dope N Delicious lunch ...
... as campaign supporters pass Black-business-boosting business cards.
As takeout containers filled with fried rice, mac and cheese, chicken wings, and salad changed hands — along with business cards promoting the work of New Haven-raised Black entrepreneurs — Shafiq Abdussabur detailed his vision for bringing back the small-business glory days of the Dixwell Avenue of his youth.
Key ingredients to the revival he pitched include collaboration, public safety, local hiring, and making sure City Hall supports locally sourced ventures as soon as they get off the ground.
by | Jun 5, 2023 10:54 am | Comments (7)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Hamden Academy of Dance and Music dancers ...
... and quads and motorcycles ...
.. help fill the streets for the Freddy's festive return to Dixwell Ave.
Thousands of people filled Dixwell Avenue to march and mingle in a revived Freddy Fixer parade, marking a moment of community celebration following an extended pandemic-prompted pause.
by | Jun 5, 2023 9:11 am | Comments (1)
Eleanor Polak photo
Manny James performs at Dixwell Neighborhood Festival.
The area outside the Q House on Dixwell was full of colorful clothing, gleaming jewelry, and the rumbling of drums Saturday afternoon. Children laughed as they adorned canvases with painted flowers. Adults donned their sunglasses, thankful for a day that was comfortable but not too hot. Over at one end of the space, people were setting up a stage and running sound checks. Dixwell was ready for its neighborhood festival, now also part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
Continue reading ‘Dixwell Makes Good Company At Neighborhood Festival’
by | Jun 2, 2023 12:15 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
The Elks' new home to-be at 329 Dixwell.
Lisa Reisman photo
Gary Hogan: "We opted to remain in the Dixwell area on Dixwell Avenue.”
Noise and parking.
Those were the two main issues in a lively, sometimes heated, community meeting at the Q House about the Elks Club’s planned new Dixwell Avenue home.
by | Jun 1, 2023 10:08 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
Welcome to the Monterey? The current condition of the historic former jazz club, five years after Ocean Management bought it.
More than $260,000 in unpaid liens and blight fines appear to be holding up the city’s planned purchase of the long-derelict former Monterey Jazz Club and surrounding Dixwell properties.
by | May 15, 2023 8:48 am | Comments (3)
Allan Appel photo
Kali Akuno (right) with Beaver Hills Alder Tom Ficklin.
The best computer models are still seriously underestimating the climate crisis; political leaders are at sea, panicking — and don’t want you to know it — to find new ways to handle the unprecedented waves of refugees worldwide fleeing drought, famine, and violence; and leading business moguls like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos want to solve Earth’s problems through space travel, and the working class and poor are not being offered steerage on the rocket.
by | May 11, 2023 4:45 pm | Comments (2)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Katurah Bryant (left) helping imagine an Armory revival.
As the city embarks on roof repairs to keep the abandoned Goffe Street Armory from falling into further disrepair, Dixwell and Beaver Hills neighbors have begun dreaming about what could lie in the vacant historic building’s future.
Continue reading ‘Armory Now. Housing, Food Co-Op Tomorrow?’
by | May 11, 2023 2:03 pm | Comments (18)
Thomas Breen file photo
"Mass timber" apartments underway at Dixwell-Munson-Orchard.
Beulah's Darrel Brooks (right) celebrating the ongoing development with his father, and faith-based developer visionary, Theodore.
As a crane lowered wood panels made from Central European trees, officials celebrated 69 new “mass timber” apartments taking root in a long vacant lot — and envisioned a construction-industry revolution where carbon-capturing materials can be grown and processed closer to home.
by | May 9, 2023 7:38 pm | Comments (15)
Paul Bass file photo
The Goffe Street Armory, back in 2016.
On Wednesday at 6 p.m., New Haveners will gather in the cafeteria of Hillhouse High School at 480 Sherman Pkwy. to develop a community vision for the Goffe Street Armory.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: The Armory Can & Should Be Saved’
by | May 9, 2023 3:08 pm | Comments (1)
Allan Appel photo
Digging up "worms" at Reggie Mayo school's new garden.
The romaine, zucchini, and radishes were going in, along with bright orange marigolds.
So were plastic “squooshies” of worms, lime-green butterflies, black-dotted ladybugs, and other creatures that pre-schoolers can now bury in the dirt and then dig up, not months hence at harvest time, but within seconds, and then call out a loud “surprise” at the remarkable re-finding of the object.
Continue reading ‘Look What's Growing In A Classroom On Goffe’
by | May 9, 2023 11:12 am | Comments (2)
Allan Appel file photo
Armory Community Garden founder Nadine Horton on Saturday.
Seven years ago and displaced from their long-time site on Carmel Street, Whalley/Beaver Hills community activist Nadine Horton and her gardening friends went looking for a new dirt-and-greens home.
When she came upon a narrow rectangular plot of overgrown grass, half a block long, tucked between the New Haven Correctional Center and the Armory, she fell in love — with a place, a symbol, and a possibility.
by | May 2, 2023 1:58 pm | Comments (5)
Lisa Reisman photo
Princesses abounded at a LEAP-hosted Halloween festival last fall at the Q House.
A local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit won final approval to run the Dixwell Q House community center for at least the next five years.
Continue reading ‘Alders Approve Renewed Q House-LEAP Contract’
by | May 2, 2023 8:54 am | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photos
The "ladies in pink and green" kick off Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter at Saturday's kick off.
A local chapter of a historic Black sorority has teamed up with the city’s public school district to make sure kids who come to class on Saturdays don’t go home hungry.
Continue reading ‘Sorority Steps Up With Saturday School Meals’
by | Apr 21, 2023 8:43 am | Comments (7)
Contributed by LEAP
A LEAP production of the Nutcracker this past winter.
A local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit took another step closer to remaining in charge of the recently-resurrected Q House community center as alders endorsed a contract that could last 10 more years.
by | Apr 18, 2023 9:13 am | Comments (27)
Paul Bass Photo
Construction workers on one of the roofs of fast-rising 398-unit 201 Munson project.
Hair salon owner Kay Smith-Holness: Feeling "squeezed."
Construction crews have begun building a new neighborhood on separate lots within one block of Karaine “Kay” Holness’s hair salon.
by | Apr 17, 2023 3:05 pm | Comments (20)
Laura Glesby file photo
Affordable housing groundbreaking on Dixwell last August
Should Connecticut prioritize constructing affordable housing in economic hubs like New Haven, or exclusive towns like New Haven’s surrounding suburbs?
by | Apr 14, 2023 8:26 am | Comments (5)
Brian Slattery Photo
Ben Wrobel: "How do we shift decision-making power to people with lived experience, people who are proximate to the problem?"
Ben Wrobel had just finished the beginning of his pitch, about the need for solutions to public policy programs that come from people’s lived experiences. The audience at NXTHVN on Henry Street in Dixwell was listening. “So why am I here today?” he said. “Well, last month I quit my job.”
Before he could continue, there was a hearty round of applause. It was support for his willingness to take a risk, on an idea that might lead to some good.
Continue reading ‘Dixwell Pitch Night Gives Biz Dreams A Kick "Start"’
by | Apr 12, 2023 4:22 pm | Comments (15)
Laura Glesby photo
Florence Virtue renter Gail Stokes: “Something’s not right.”
Half-dollar debt paid, by mystery benefactor.
When Gail Stokes opened her Dixwell apartment’s front door, she didn’t expect a court marshal who had come to deliver an eviction notice. “I stood at the door and just started shaking,” she said.
The 73-year-old tenant held the notice. Sat down. Turned on the oxygen tank that helps her breathe. And called the property manager — who explained to her that she owed 50 cents.
by | Apr 3, 2023 9:05 am | Comments (16)
Allan Appel photos
Rev. Barber: “God’s good news must be good news for the poor or it ain’t good news."
At Sunday's Dixwell UCC service.
There’s a real danger that Ancient Rome — with its celebration of opulence and derision of the poor — still lives, and another name for it is America.
That was one of the sobering observations offered at a Palm Sunday service in Dixwell by nationally renowned preacher and poor people’s advocate Dr. William Barber.
Continue reading ‘Poor People's Champ Delivers Social Gospel’
by | Mar 30, 2023 8:01 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Hillhouse's marching band at the 2019 Freddy Fixer.
The Freddy Fixer Parade is coming back, with a newly announced “step off” time of 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 4.
by | Mar 28, 2023 8:24 am | Comments (1)
Emmanuel Massillon
Drill Music.
Emmanuel Massillon’s trumpet doesn’t have a mouthpiece. It can’t play. That’s the first hint that there’s a problem. Linger and look a little more, and you see that the misshapen bell of the horn is actually made from bullet casings. The title of the piece, Drill Music, suggests the indictment the artist is handing to that particular form of music. But something bigger and deeper is afoot as well.