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)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
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)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
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)
Contributed photo
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)
Maya McFadden photo
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)
Paul Bass Photo
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)
Maya McFadden Photo
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)
Maya McFadden photos
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)
Maya McFadden Photo
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)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
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)
Paul Bass photo
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)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
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)
Maya McFadden Photo
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)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
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)
Melissa Bailey photo
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)
Thomas Breen photo
Junta staffers Rosaida Maldonado and Cheila Serrano Thursday.
Jose Candelario photo
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.
by | Oct 3, 2022 12:18 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photos
Marc Criscio: Application submitted for heating help.
Approps Chair DeLauro: "As long as I have the gavel and pen, we're going to increase funding in this area."
Low-income Connecticut residents like Marc Criscio who need help covering their heating bills this winter can now tap into a state energy assistance program newly infused with an extra $20 million.
by | Sep 22, 2022 2:24 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Love146 cuts off-site ribbon Wednesday: Roberta, Erin Williamson, Rob Morris, Nick Onnembo, Gary Ciarleglio, and Marlena King.
Under a banner reading “National Champions,” a celebratory ribbon was cut to commemorate 20 years of local and international anti-human trafficking advocacy and prevention work.
by | Aug 18, 2022 1:18 pm | Comments (11)
Paul Bass photo
City social services director Mehul Dalal in August 2021.
Two years to the day after the Elicker Administration first announced plans to launch a non-cop emergency response initiative — and one year after a pilot program was initially supposed to start — the social worker-centered team has still not begun responding to certain 911 calls.
City public safety departments haven’t even been trained yet on how this nascent program will work.
Continue reading ‘2 Years Later, Crisis Response Pilot Yet To Start’
by | Aug 15, 2022 2:49 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photos
The "Young Kings" take home the tournament championship.
Newhallville celebrated its past, present, and future at a closing event at an annual summer community reunion and basketball tournament hosted at Lincoln Bassett Park.
Organizers present Newhallville leaders with appreciation awards.
Continue reading ‘Newhallville Celebrates Its Champs, On The Court & In The Community’
by | Aug 4, 2022 1:42 pm | Comments (5)
Photos by Olivia Charis
Arts and crafts hosted by Hamden Youth Services at National Night Out.
Hamden residents spent a night out together, in the name of building a safer community.
Continue reading ‘Community Comes Together For "National Night Out"’