by | Aug 1, 2013 2:05 pm | Comments (6)
Allan Appel Photo
Volunteer barber Sangster cut Bealton Dumas’s hair.
Mark McGilton could use a haircut — now that he’s ready to get on his feet after a heroin and crack habit left him homeless.
Continue reading ‘Homeless Line Up For Haircuts—On The Green’
by | Jun 25, 2013 8:08 am | Comments (2)
Allan Appel Photo
State child-welfare authorities took away Nadine Diaz’s twins Molli and Joel six weeks after they were born. She had been using drugs and had severe post-partem depression; it was hard to stay on a path to recovery with little support at home.
That’s when she turned to ‘r kids Family Center, a small adoption and reconnection agency that does huge things in the lives of struggling families. Diaz got her kids back in April.
Monday afternoon Diaz and other families celebrated the organization’s tenth year with a block party outside ‘r kids’ home at 45 Dixwell Ave. The party featured popcorn, ices, hugs, music, and stories about treating people even in the most dire straits with respect and dignity.
by | Jun 11, 2013 10:46 am | Comments (0)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
A fire destroyed Maria Solomon’s home while she was taking a 20-week community leadership course. Monday night she celebrated graduating the course — while creating a new life for her own family in a new home.
by | May 2, 2013 1:23 pm | Comments (1)
It took trying on more than six dresses and the support and encouragement of her best friend for Julia Loversi to find the perfect dress — all without costing a penny.
by | Apr 30, 2013 11:29 am | Comments (3)
Allan Appel Photo
A van heads onto Humphrey through a new curb cut.
The curb cut is in on Humphrey, and the signs are up.
by | Apr 26, 2013 4:17 pm | Comments (1)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Volunteers like Ariella Kristal and Amalia Skilton (pictured above) helped low-income working families win millions of dollars in tax refunds, and avoid getting gouged by thousands of dollars in fees, at free tax preparation sites across the city this year.
by | Dec 27, 2012 4:16 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Neighbor Ndubuisi Asoh: They “snuck” in.
A plan to build a gym has become a pressure point for neighbors trying to stop a private drug rehab center from opening on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard.
by | Dec 6, 2012 9:55 am | Comments (4)
Allan Appel Photo
Schiavone and kids with guv, Malloy, early childhood advisor Myra Jones-Taylor, and Heights Alderwoman Brenda Jones-Barnes.
Gov. Dannel Malloy deployed some inventive tools in New Haven’s Fair Haven Heights neighborhood Tuesday to help close Connecticut’s educational achievement gap: a squishy-toy hammer and a ceremonial golden shovel.
by | Nov 23, 2012 10:01 am | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Velveta Scott enjoyed a full, sit-down, white-table cloth Thanksgiving meal with her choice of pumpkin or apple pie for dessert. Then she went outside where Jack the Coat Man, occasionally known as Dr. Jack Eliass, the chairman of medicine at Yale University Medical School, helped her try on a winter jacket from the several dozen on the rack that he had collected.
As Elias helped Scott slip on the blue jacket with down fill, he inquired politely, “Will that fit you?”
by | Nov 19, 2012 3:10 pm | Comments (1)
The competition was on, and all for a good cause: In total, 2,360 pounds of nonperishable food was collected, with Tech — the winning “floor” — collecting 1,400 pounds of it.
by | Nov 13, 2012 5:09 pm | Comments (1)
The mayor has appointed Althea Marshall Brooks to serve as New Haven government’s community services administrator.
by | Oct 29, 2012 2:47 pm | Comments (0)
Adrienne Goodson evacuated her Front Street home and brought Shorty-Poo with her to the Career shelter.
Thomas MacMillan Photos
With homeless shelters full and Hurricane Sandy bearing down on New Haven, Kenny Driffin and Peter Cox prowled the streets, bringing people inside and out of the elements.
Continue reading ‘Duo Steers 19 Homeless Off Street, Into Cots’
by | Oct 26, 2012 2:00 pm | Comments (0)
Valerie Seldon Photos
The second floor balcony at Union Station, New Haven, dressed for the Columbus House “30 Years of Providing Solutions for Homelessness” event.
Columbus House’s Lisa Polizzo sent in this write-up about the homelessness service agency’s 30th anniversary party last Saturday:
by | Oct 19, 2012 8:13 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Chef Alan Thayer (left) and Lamont Green.
A professional kitchen where twice as many trainees can learn to bake chocolate scones. A light-filled gathering place that raises dignity and aspirations. A “quiet room” that is truly quiet. And a bathroom, finally, with multiple stalls.
by | Oct 15, 2012 3:22 pm | Comments (0)
From Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon, you can donate money to your favorite cause — and have it count extra.
by | Sep 25, 2012 1:01 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Luis Vargas stopped by Project M.O.R.E. to see his counselor and found a cheerful woman offering to register him to vote.
“I don’t think I can vote because I’m a felon,” Vargas said.
by | Sep 24, 2012 11:12 am | Comments (0)
Contributed Photo
… a crowd showed up at SAGE American Grill to celebrate the work of Liberty Community Services.
by | Sep 20, 2012 4:00 pm | Comments (2)
The Board of Aldermen put a couple of nails in the the youth services plank of their legislative agenda Wednesday night.
by | Sep 7, 2012 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Lee Parker added kosher salt to a recipe Thursday night — to represent one of the ingredients he needs to be self sufficient: decent public transportation back from his late night job at Walmart.
Continue reading
‘Activists Ready Recipes
For Bread, Not "Crumbs"’
by | Aug 24, 2012 11:02 am | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Reg (with brother Zyair) shows his “dream board.”
Asked to draw his future, 11-year-old Reginald Coleman showed pictures of the professional football player he wants to be, the model he wants to marry, the shoes he wants to wear — and the prison bars he aims to avoid.
by | Aug 23, 2012 4:40 pm | Comments (0)
Two longtime New Haven homelessness service agencies are combining together. Kellyann Day of New Haven Home Recovery sent in the following release about her organization taking on Life Haven:
by | Jun 26, 2012 6:28 pm | Comments (2)
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is shutting down its foster care agency headquartered in downtown New Haven, cutting loose dozens of local workers over the next year.
Continue reading
‘Casey Family Services
To Close After 36 Years’
by | Jun 20, 2012 11:20 am | Comments (1)
Note: Joshua Mamis works for United Way.
One day last month, Columbus House Executive Director Alison Cunningham was working quietly in her office when all of a sudden she heard something: The sound of water.
It was a small leak. It was discovered in time and didn’t cause any damage.
But the leak was evidence of a bigger problem at one of the city’s primary shelter and service providers for people without homes.
by | Jun 18, 2012 5:17 pm | Comments (0)
New Haveners will line up to make that pledge Tuesday — in the hopes of starting a community campaign.
by | May 11, 2012 10:57 am | Comments (0)
Ariela Martin Photo
Kylie Anderson models Mariely Pratts’s creation.
From rudimentary sketches to fitted dresses, models paraded unique designs to benefit one cause: New Haven’s homeless. The process to create one runway-ready dress is not as simple as it may appear, but through months of planning and preparation, fabric and pins were transformed into glamorous spectacles.