by | Jul 14, 2023 4:42 pm | Comments (3)
Courtesy of Rachel Kline Brown
State Rep. Pat Dillon reads to LEAP summer campers on Friday.
An assistant schools superintendent, a state senator, and a Dixwell alder, among many others, dropped in to the Q House’s gymnasium on Friday to help read to young New Haveners and inspire an early love for books.
Continue reading ‘Students Hit The Gym, With Books, For LEAP Read-In’
by | Jul 5, 2023 8:42 am | Comments (0)
SHAN Wallace
New Haven Block Party.
SHAN Wallace’s New Haven Block Party captures the essence of its title and then some. It conveys something of the way the past and present can collide on some of Dixwell’s streets, how the shadows of what used to be there can feel as present as what’s there now. But it honors what’s there now, too: the people, the places, the energy that make up the neighborhood as we experience it today. True to the season, it feels like a hot summer day, when windows are open and radios are loud, and people are ready to talk to each other on stoops and street corners in ways the colder months won’t allow.
by | Jun 30, 2023 12:20 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden photo
Book Award recipients with New Haven Links President Toni Harp.
Howard University, Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), University of Hartford, and Morgan State University are the next stops for seven New Haven high school graduates who each got a helping hand from a historic Black female advocacy organization to chase their higher-education dreams.
by | Jun 29, 2023 12:43 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen file photo
Riding the bus up Dixwell ...
Thomas Breen photo
... to be made faster, cleaner, more efficient, thanks to Bus Rapid Transit program, as described by state transit chief Garrett Eucalitto Thursday.
City, state and federal officials took a victory lap Thursday at a politician-packed press conference celebrating a new $25 million grant that will speed up and electrify bus travel on Dixwell, Grand, Whalley, Congress and Columbus Avenues.
by | Jun 26, 2023 4:06 pm | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photos
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison cheers on Q House healthcare.
At the newly opened Cornell Scott Hill Health Center at 197 Dixwell.
Gayle Hall, a self-described “lifetime member of the Q House,” celebrated a newfound chance to see her doctor at the newly-revived community center in the neighborhood she calls home.
by | Jun 26, 2023 12:04 pm | Comments (2)
Asher Joseph photo
Doreen Abubakar (center) helping a senior attendee pot her plant.
“Everyone, be quiet! I want to know which one I got.”
A hush fell over the roughly 30 seniors gathered on the second floor of the Q House community center as the gardeners-in-training attempted to find the flower that corresponded to the leafy sprouts in front of them.
by | Jun 22, 2023 4:32 pm | Comments (11)
Dixwell Plaza's planned new ConnCAT Place redevelopment.
A demolition notice outside the Elks' former home at 87 Webster St.
Dixwell Plaza’s redevelopers plan to start knocking down vacant buildings in the mid-century shopping plaza as soon as September — as they move forward with a years-in-the-making effort to build up the heart of New Haven’s historic Black neighborhood.
Continue reading ‘Demolition Draws Near For Dixwell Plaza Redev’
by and | Jun 19, 2023 4:22 pm | Comments (1)
Kian Ahmadi photo
Jermaine Galberth at Scantlebury Park's splash pad on Monday.
As two-year-old Jermaine Galberth, Jr. pushed his little sister Jasmine’s stroller through the Scantlebury Park splash pad, proud dad Jermaine, Sr. watched his children at play — and remembered when he was a kid and there was little more than sewer water in a place now teeming with much healthier opportunities for cooling off.
by | Jun 19, 2023 12:29 pm | Comments (1)
Kian Ahmadi photo
Drummers Michael Mills and bandmates Brian Jarawa Gray and Paul McGuire on Saturday.
One hundred and fifty eight years ago today, Joseph Sills of the 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment watched as Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed all enslaved African Americans free in Galveston, Tex.
On Saturday, Sills’s direct descendent, Kelly Mero, helped honor her ancestor and the historic episode of Black freedom he participated in through a Juneteenth celebration she organized in the Dixwell neighborhood.
Continue reading ‘From Galveston In 1865 To Wexler-Grant In 2023’
by | Jun 19, 2023 7:21 am | Comments (1)
Eleanor Polak Photos
Juneteenth parade marchers gather at the Green.
A parade and a panoply of music, speeches, vendors, and community on the Green connected Dixwell and downtown for a celebration of a new national holiday honoring the history of Black freedom.
Continue reading ‘Juneteenth Marchers Mark Black Liberation’
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.