Social Services

Anti-Violence Rx: Food. Laundry. Community

by | Nov 1, 2024 1:20 pm | Comments (15)

Laura Glesby photo

CT VIP Director of Operations Linda Baylor: “I want to change the mood when you walk in here."

When an 11-year-old made headlines for stealing a car, a team of violence preventers knocked on his door to ask him what he needed. They found only a mattress and a milk crate in his bedroom.

That child was on Len Jahad’s mind when a group of politicians arrived at Connecticut Violence Intervention & Prevention (CT VIP)’s headquarters to celebrate $275,000 in federal funds allocated for capital improvements to the building.

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Neighborhood-Boosting Nonprofit Turns 30

by | Oct 7, 2024 10:57 am | Comments (7)

Maya McFadden Photo

Tracking the GDDC's progress over the years ...

... at 30th anniversary celebration.

Community leaders and city officials gathered at the Canal Dock Boathouse to celebrate the Greater Dwight Development Corporation’s (GDDC) three decades of supporting affordable housing, shopping, and early childhood education in and around Dwight — now that that neighborhood nonprofit has turned 30.

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Cash Transfer Pilot Readies 3rd Cohort

by | Sep 18, 2024 3:10 pm | Comments (10)

Contributed photos

Elm City Reentry Pilot participants Michael White (with son Micah) and Kevin Boyd: Cash transfer program was a "life saver."

An extra $500 a month didn’t cover every bill for Michael White as he reacclimated to life in New Haven outside of prison.

But it did allow him to stay home a bit longer with his newborn son; help him and his wife start their own last-mile delivery” small business; cover some of the costs of groceries and diapers. 

White is one of 40 New Haveners to have participated in the first two cohorts of the Elm City Reentry Pilot — a privately funded, publicly boosted cash transfer program for formerly incarcerated city residents.

You could rely on it. There was no hesitation. No withholding,” White said about those cash transfers. You could count on that” regardless of what else may be going on. It was everything.”

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Summer Cookout & Continued Care

by | Sep 3, 2024 2:08 pm | Comments (1)

PFTL Program Manager Yvonne Elung, Executive Director Tahnesha Bonner, and Director of Admissions and Outreach Kyleigh Marrero at Saturday's cookout.

As the sun beamed over a Broadway parking lot Saturday afternoon, Parents’ Foundation for Transitional Living (PFTL) Executive Director Tahnesha Bonner was in her zone on the grill. 

While she’s usually in charge of logistics for the downtown nonprofit that provides residential care for adults struggling with mental illness, this day was different. Instead, she served smiles and cooked burgers and hot dogs for residents and family members to enjoy.

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COMPASS Gets A New Home

by | Aug 28, 2024 3:38 pm | Comments (7)

Dereen Shirnekhi photo

Jim Farrales and Nancy Navarretta: This center is the "first of its kind" in the state.

The city’s non-cop crisis response team now has a central location on Winthrop Avenue where first responders can bring adults who need short-term help for substance use and mental health challenges — while keeping them out of hospitals.

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1 Year Later, Warehouse Hums As Trade Skills Hub

by | Aug 21, 2024 11:19 am | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden Photo

Former student, current instructor Paul Nunez hosts drilling practice.

In a Fair Haven warehouse, Paul Nunez watched closely as his student drilled a hole into a soon-to-be light fixture — reminding Nunez that less than a month ago, he was the one learning those same manufacturing skills on the same machine at the Manufacturing and Community Technical Hub (MATCH).

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Summer Campers Dive Into Sports & STEAM

by | Aug 5, 2024 8:23 am | Comments (2)

Maya McFadden Photo

Nathaniel Joyner and Damien, reading side by side at summer camp.

Nathaniel Joyner took a quick break from reading aloud to a group of middle schoolers to spin an imaginary basketball on his finger before passing it over to eight-year-old Damien — who dribbled the ball” between his legs, and then picked up the book to resume reading with the group.

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It's Cool In The Pool

by | Jul 26, 2024 1:27 pm | Comments (4)

Maya McFadden Photo

Yahya, Rayyan, and Amira stay cool in Hillhouse's pool for open swim.

Growing up in Syria and Jordan, 18-year-old Ibrahim Alhraaki didn’t learn to or take an interest in swimming. Then he began attending Common Ground High School — and was offered a chance to become a city lifeguard. 

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Hundreds Fill The Green ... To Read!

by | Jul 19, 2024 5:02 pm | Comments (5)

Maya McFadden Photos

Kica Matos (right) flips the script and has LEAP students read aloud to her ...

... as books and kids and volunteers come out to the Green.

Nose deep in books on the Green, roughly 800 young New Haveners were transported to watching a Bronx street performer bust a move, to visiting a second-floor apartment in a Russian mining town, to spending some time with the Cat in the Hat — all as part of an annual read-in” downtown.

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Family Fun Day Comes To Edgewood Park

by | Jul 12, 2024 9:36 am | Comments (2)

Maya McFadden Photos

Quanisha Morrison helps her cousin with arts and crafts ...

... at city's first Family Fun Day of the summer.

Brothers Logan and Mason Bacote enjoyed free ice cream that dribbled down their faces. Rasheem Jr. took a bite of a freshly made slice of pizza alongside his dad Rasheem Miller. And four-year-old Winter was gifted his first ever bicycle. 

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LEAP's Pool To Open This Summer, Too

by | Jun 28, 2024 9:14 am | Comments (3)

Maya McFadden Photo

LEAP Aquatics Director Oscar Rodriguez at the soon-to-be-filled-with-water Jefferson Street pool.

A privately owned pool will be open for free public access on Friday evenings — and for low-cost swim lessons throughout the summer — thanks to a youth athletics and tutoring nonprofit’s commitment to keeping the community in the water.

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Homeless Care Visionary Hailed On Retirement

by | May 23, 2024 3:20 pm | Comments (0)

Allan Appel Photo

Continuum Prez Patti Walker (right) and successor Jim Farrales.

More than 300 people filled Anthony’s Ocean View in Morris Cove to hug and celebrate Patti Walker, a local social-services leader with a big picture vision of human dignity and a big heart to go with it — who will be retiring from her leadership role at Continuum of Care after more than four decades at the helm.

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Great Give Brings In Over $3.8M

by | May 3, 2024 10:26 am | Comments (0)

The annual 36-hour Great Give” exceeded its goal and raised over $3.8 million for over 500 nonprofits.

The Foundationettes” took a momentary break Wednesday from running New Haven’s annual Great Give” fundraising marathon to lift their voices in harmony — to try to lift the event to its goal in the home stretch. The Foundationettes are hard-working employees of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, which sponsors the annual Great Give. They came on air to sing a plea for donations, on WNHH FM’s Great Give” radiothon.

Click on the video at the top of this story to watch their performance, and to hear about the event’s planning.

The song worked: The Great Give exceeded its $3.5 million goal. Click here to view all the Great Give results. 

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Wanted: 100 More Volunteer Tutors

by | Apr 24, 2024 10:31 am | Comments (16)

Maya McFadden Photo

New Haven Counts ED Ronald Coleman (center) and New Haven Reads ED Kirsten Levinsohn on Tuesday.

A citywide math and literacy tutoring effort has reached 1,700 New Haven elementary school students since launching nearly a year ago — and is now on the lookout for 100 more volunteer tutors this summer, on top of the 240 who are currently signed up, to keep the program growing. 

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Parents Read Beyond The Headlines

by | Apr 24, 2024 8:43 am | Comments (1)

Maya McFadden Photo

Parent Raquel Sanchez checks out the headlines during PLTI media literacy lesson.

Raquel Sanchez paged through recent issues of the New Haven Register and La Voz Hispana, on the lookout for opinion essays and articles about families — as part of a class teaching parents about the importance of media literacy for themselves, their kids, and others.

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New "119K Commission" Gets Advice On Helping At-Risk Youth

by | Mar 27, 2024 12:15 pm | Comments (2)

Yash Roy Photo

Sean Allen: Kids "expected to be like adults at 14.”

When the state made public buses free during the pandemic, it was a lifeline for Sean Tomany’s high school students. They could get to school earlier, stay later, participate in extracurriculars, and meet one-on-one with teachers. 

The free buses went away, as did the opportunities that so many of his students could access for a short while, helping make sure they did not join the one in five kids in Connecticut who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out. 

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