by | Mar 27, 2023 4:07 pm | Comments (6)
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Celebrating Black History Month at the Shack.
United Illuminating (UI) has awarded The Shack another $10,000 to help the Valley Street community center keep up with its life-skill-based programming for local youth and seniors.
by | Mar 24, 2023 6:51 pm | Comments (4)
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COMPASS crew members Nanette Campbell and John Labieniec: Taking calls, building trust.
“Hello, yes, this is Nanette,” a crisis response team worker said as she answered her cell phone, all while rummaging around a blue minivan crammed full of Quaker Chewy granola bars, white undershirts and donated blankets in search of a pen and paper to jot down notes on an incoming emergency call.
Nanette Campbell’s colleague and the van’s driver, John Labieniec, pointed her to a stray blue Bic and passed over a crumpled flier on which to write.
Another day. Another call. Another test for a pilot city program seeking to find a new solution for certain housing, mental health, and substance-use cries for help.
by | Mar 20, 2023 3:03 pm | Comments (2)
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Haender Ventura with his new track spikes, which he'll try out at practice after completing his in-school job running the printing press.
The news about this summer’s city offerings for kids was hot off the presses Monday at the Wilbur Cross High School print shop.
Joining public officials at a press conference held there, Cross Senior Haender Ventura spoke of how he was able to buy a new pair of $200 Nike spikes since finding employment through the city’s “Youth@Work” program.
This summer he plans to double his hours on the job so he can pay college tuition and put his shoes to work themselves, by joining the University of New Haven’s track team while he pursues a career in sports therapy.
by | Mar 13, 2023 1:33 pm | Comments (23)
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Marcus Williams at the recently cleaned, soon to be cleared Tent City.
The Elicker Administration plans to clear out a three-year-old West River encampment this week — leaving outdoor residents like Sudi Godek committed to “standing our ground,” while also uncertain as to where they will soon be spending their nights.
by | Mar 6, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (2)
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Guests attending the Delicious Partnership conversation heard from food entrepreneurs working with CitySeed and LEAP before enjoying Caribbean food at the Q House.
The following writeup was submitted by Nicole Jefferson, the communications coordinator for the youth services nonprofit Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership, Inc.
by | Feb 17, 2023 3:34 pm | Comments (10)
COMPASS outreach specialists Sarah Alkire, Nanette Campbell and Jennifer Vargas.
When someone camping out on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard called 911 last month to report their makeshift shelter had caught fire, they weren’t just connected with the fire department — but also to social workers stocked with blankets, pillows, clothes, comforters and a new tent.
by | Feb 14, 2023 9:30 am | Comments (9)
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CAANH's Prez Amos Smith (center): “It’s still cold, it’s gonna be cold for a while.”
Symone Wilson was taking a walk along Whalley Avenue last fall when she found a way to stay warm come winter, in the form of one-time emergency utility assistance and an energy matching payment plan.
The 28-year-old New Havener connected with those programs to keep her heat pumping and lights shining thanks to the Community Action Agency of New Haven (CAANH).
That’s the 419 Whalley Ave. social services organization where Wilson now works — and where local leaders gathered to help get the word out about how a growing number of those in need can find a way to lower their energy costs and consumption as prices soar.
by | Feb 3, 2023 5:56 pm | Comments (15)
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Oscar Britt: Getting out of the cold at Columbus House Friday night.
Jim Pettinelli with Sen. Blumenthal, Gov. Lamont, and Sen. Murphy at Friday's funding presser.
Oscar Britt has a plan to survive subfreezing temperatures this weekend thanks to a connection he made with outreach workers who found him a hard-to-secure shelter bed at Columbus House.
The state is hoping to hire many more such workers who can connect with many more Oscars in New Haven and beyond — thanks to a newly announced federal infusion of $18 million to pay for a variety of homelessness services.
by | Jan 30, 2023 8:26 am | Comments (0)
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The following writeup was submitted by the local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP) about its upcoming 28th annual LEAP Year fundraiser event.
Continue reading ‘Youth Nonprofit Gets Ready For 28th Annual LEAP Year Dinner’
by | Jan 24, 2023 12:53 pm | Comments (1)
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New Haven Reads Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn practices word making with third grader Maliah at Bishop Woods at a recent tutoring session.
East Rock neighbors threw their support behind helping some of the most fragile people at the end of life to live in dignity, and rescuing some of the city’s youngest from a lifetime of illiteracy, in their latest management-team votes on how city government should allocate this year’s round of federal block-grant funds.
Continue reading ‘East Rockers Back Reading, Nursing $ Plans’
by | Jan 18, 2023 4:47 pm | Comments (3)
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Earmark Community Project Bucks: DeLauro, DESK board Chair Timothy Opstrup, board veep Alyse Sabina, and Steve Werlin at Wednesday's event.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro delivered a seven-figure homeless-helping check written from an account she created in Washington to a downtown New Haven homeless agency, confident that changing Capitol winds won’t stop more checks from heading this way in the future.
by | Jan 2, 2023 9:36 am | Comments (2)
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DeLauro touring DESK drop-in center last April.
High school students and the hungry were among the New Haveners to benefit from the $1.7 trillion fiscal-year federal government bill Congress passed before rushing home for the December holidays.
by | Dec 14, 2022 5:21 pm | Comments (6)
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Sarah Wall, Catherine Thigpen, Honda Smith, Rev. D’Hati T. Burgess, Richard Furlow, Carolyn Kinder, and Jalmar De Dios at The Shack.
EastCoastin's Sal Fusco drops off Winter Wonderland toy donation.
Three community-boosting miracles — including an oversized check from a power company and a truck full of toys from a bike life group — showed up at The Shack to help the West Rock community center get in the holiday spirit.
Continue reading ‘Christmas Comes Early At The Shack With $, Toy, & Food Donations’
by | Dec 9, 2022 9:08 am | Comments (8)
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First graders erupt from mountain pose at Lincoln Bassett.
Lincoln Bassett School first graders took a break from their usual class instruction to witness a volcanic eruption.
Luckily, the eruption took place during a yoga lesson where the students locked their fingers together, pointed them to the sky in a mountain pose, and then made them burst apart into what resembled an explosive geological wonder.
Continue reading ‘Volcano Pose Helps Students Erupt, Cool Off’
by | Dec 1, 2022 1:14 pm | Comments (5)
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Tent City starts morning with hot coffee, eggs and potatoes.
A West River encampment woke up to hot food and coffee after another crew of individuals experiencing homelessness arrived with frittatas and potatoes — plus the promise of second helpings and opportunities to grow solidarity across Greater New Haven’s unhoused populations.
by | Nov 22, 2022 3:18 pm | Comments (14)
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180 Center in-recovery "disciple" James Simon prepares to welcome homeless to warming center.
Short-term cold-weather “warming centers” opened Tuesday while the city and a nonprofit separately prepared to figure out how to spend a combined $7 million on long-term solutions for the homeless.
Continue reading ‘Warming Centers Open, While City Looks To Long-Term Homeless Fixes’
by | Nov 18, 2022 2:28 pm | Comments (54)
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George Ashline: Preparing to winter-proof his tent on Rosette Street.
Fried onions, crispy potatoes and buttered bagels filled the kitchen of the Hill’s Amistad House — and spread a warm, starchy scent along Rosette Street and into the tents of neighbors camped out in the Catholic Workers community’s backyard.
That was the scene on a residential block of the Hill where a crew of “economic refugees” is currently camping out together on a tenth of an acre of land as a means of both fighting for housing justice and seeking sanctuary from shrinking shelter and increasingly harsh and unpredictable New England weather.
Continue reading ‘"Human Rights Zone" Grows In Hill Backyard’
by | Nov 18, 2022 2:11 pm | Comments (3)
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New Haveners pick up turkeys from John Martinez parking lot.
Hundreds of New Haveners are now a bit more prepared for next week’s holiday meal after picking up a free bird at the city Youth and Recreation Department’s annual turkey drive.
Continue reading ‘Youth & Rec Hands Out 1,250 Turkeys At Pre-Thanksgiving Giveaway’
by | Nov 14, 2022 11:46 am | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden file photo
Shelley Smith tutors second grader Maite at Bishop Woods Thursday.
Bishop Woods second grader Maite paused and took a deep breath as she looked at the word: “Dent.”
She knew what it meant. The spelling was the hard part. So she decided to sound it out — at the suggestion of a tutor from a successful New Haven nonprofit that has been called in to help the city’s public schools up their reading game.
by | Nov 8, 2022 2:25 pm | Comments (0)
Maya McFadden photos
Some of the many guests at Saturday's gala.
Maya McFadden Photos
Links members and supporters gather to celebrate organization's 50th anniversary in 2nd floor ballroom of the New Haven Omni Hotel.
A historic Black female advocacy organization celebrated half a century of sisterhood and service at its first in-person gala since the start of the pandemic.
by | Nov 1, 2022 11:11 am | Comments (2)
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At Monday's trunk-or-treat on Ashmun St.
Baby Savannah practices candy crawling her own way Monday night.
Little mermaids, Minions and monsters gathered outside of the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program’s headquarters Monday — to take turns “trunk or treating” within a web of safety-minded community members and their cars.
Continue reading ‘Safety, Candy Abound At Ashmun Trunk-Or-Treat’
by | Oct 27, 2022 2:33 pm | Comments (0)
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Artist Winfred Rembert: Future mural subject?
188 Bassett: Recently damaged by people camping inside the building.
New life may soon light up a long-dead former social services building on Bassett Street — in the form of a mural remembering the late Newhallville artist Winfred Rembert.
by | Oct 25, 2022 11:40 am | Comments (0)
Home Haven's Kerry Triffin and Lauri Lowell at WNHH FM.
It takes a village — or five virtual villages — to help seniors age in a free, fulfilling, and community-connected fashion.
by | Oct 13, 2022 1:00 pm | Comments (7)
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Junta staffers Rosaida Maldonado and Cheila Serrano Thursday.
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A river crossing in Marín Bajo, Puerto Rico that was rebuilt by neighbors after the storm washed away a bridge.
As one of Fair Haven’s longest standing social service agencies prepares to resettle Puerto Ricans fleeing the wreckage of yet another hurricane, New Haven’s congresswoman has secured additional federal aid to help the island and other natural disaster-wracked areas rebuild.
by | Oct 12, 2022 5:21 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass File Photo
Arvinas's John Houston adds oregano in the BAR kitchen.
A taste of next-generation New Haven corporate philanthropy emerged Wednesday — from a brick oven.