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"’
by | Aug 2, 2022 2:48 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
New Haven youth join New Haven, Wallingford, and North Haven Boys and Girls Clubs leaders.
The Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of New Haven and the Ulbrich BGC of Wallingford and North Haven announced Tuesday that they will merge in order to expand services to youth recovering from the impacts of the Covid pandemic while also bridging the three towns’ “cultural boundaries.”
by | Jul 17, 2022 10:53 am | Comments (1)
Ahndiya Glasper (far left) at the table honoring her late great-grandmother and mother.
Latoya Glasper was planning a community wellness day as part of her new job with the city Health Department. It would be a resource fair, named “Momma’s Love Community Day,” in honor of her late grandmother.
Before Glasper was able to see the event to completion, she underwent a sudden health crisis and died in June. At 42 years old, Glasper left her five children and own mother.
This Saturday, the Health Department put on the event anyway — dedicated to Glasper’s memory.
Continue reading ‘"Momma’s Love" Sparks Community Health Day at Goffe Street Park’
by | Jul 11, 2022 8:56 am | Comments (4)
Laura Glesby File Photo
Darrisha McIver outside the Barbell, where she competed in double dutch, acted in plays, and got her first job.
Visions for a revived community center glimmered in Trowbridge Square alongside the fireflies, as alders, city officials, and Hill neighbors discussed the future of the building that once housed the Barbell Club.
by | Jul 10, 2022 11:59 am | Comments (8)
New Hope team cuts ribbon.
Bobbie Cheri McDonald at opening event.
When Bobbie Cheri McDonald was a struggling single mother of two facing homelessness, a local housing program helped save her family — on two separate occasions, seven years apart.
Continue reading ‘Housing HOPE Emerges For Homeless Families’
by | Jul 1, 2022 10:07 am | Comments (9)
Maya McFadden Photos
At Newhallville anti-violence parley. Top row: State Rep. Robyn Porter, city resilience chief Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, youth worker Ron Huggins. Bottom: District Manager Lt. Dana Smith, State Sen. Gary Winfield, and Ice The Beef's Chaz Carmon.
As summer set in, grassroots gun-violence prevention leaders compared notes about ongoing efforts to keep people safe in Newhallville, and heard a plea to step up their game in conjunction with a broader anti-poverty strategy.
by | Jun 29, 2022 4:51 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Darrisha McIver outside Trowbrdge Square's former -- and future? -- Barbell Club.
When Darrisha McIver walks by the abandoned city building that once housed Hill Youth Cooperative Services (HCYS), she remembers jumping double dutch as a kid, staffing “The Store” full of after-school snacks, and growing up to become a camp counselor kids looked up to.
She also sees a hope for the future: a rebuilt community center where neighborhood kids can build confidence and learn life skills, the way she once did.
by | Jun 27, 2022 9:27 am | Comments (1)
Yash Roy Photo
Friday's ribbon-cutting.
More than 300 people descended on 45 Dixwell Ave. to celebrate a ribbon-cutting on a $5 million, 11,000 square-foot expansion of the ‘r kids child placement agency.
by | Jun 6, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Monica and Andy Schlessinger: thankful for Chapel Haven.
Chapel Haven crew sings National Anthem on Saturday.
Earth science and basketball classes. Volunteering in the community. And independent living for residents with developmental disabilities.
Mother-son duo Monica and Andy Schlessinger singled out those as just a few of the many highlights of the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center (CHSC) — which celebrated its 50th anniversary in Westville.
by | Jun 6, 2022 12:40 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photo
State Rep. Robyn Porter and Katurah Bryant at WNHH FM.
Neighbors on both sides of the Newhallville-Newhall border turned a threat into an opportunity.
by | Jun 3, 2022 9:06 am | Comments (1)
Jordan Ashby Photo
180 Center leaders join in prayer at dedication of new building.
Over 50 people gathered to celebrate the opening and dedication of a new building for The 180 Center, a Christian nonprofit that provides services for addiction and homelessness in New Haven.
Continue reading ‘"180 Center" Opens New Home On East Street To Address Homelessness, Addiction’
by | May 20, 2022 9:41 am | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photos
Participants in Thursday's launch party.
New playground rendering.
A party brought Newhallville together at a playground slated to be revamped to honor a Yale clinical scientist who loved to give back and made significant strides to improve substance abuse treatment.
Continue reading ‘Angels Gather To Give Kids Safe Place To Play’
by | May 19, 2022 11:56 am | Comments (2)
Council members' anxiety begins to show as midnight approaches.
It was 60 seconds until midnight. A half-mill tax cut hung in the balance.
by | May 18, 2022 4:43 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
DeLauro touring DESK drop-in center in April.
Wilbur Cross High School and three leading nonprofits are “earmarked” to receive federal help with planned renovations and expansions.
Continue reading ‘Cross, DESK, LEAP, Fair Haven Health "Earmarked" For Expansion Help’
by | May 17, 2022 4:04 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
Uniforms, logos and vehicles for the city's planned COMPASS crisis response team.
The following op-ed was submitted by Yale School of Medicine psychiatry residents Nichole Roxas and Alice Shen.
(Opinion) We were shocked to read that the Board of Alders approved a $3.5 million contract with Yale University to set up a community response team — Compassionate Allies Serving our Streets, or COMPASS — to respond to 911 calls related to mental health, substance use, and homelessness.
by | May 10, 2022 5:58 pm | Comments (1)
Five hundred and one nonprofits collected a collective $3.4 million from over 13,700 donors in the 2022 edition of the “Great Give” community fundraising event.
by | May 5, 2022 9:46 am | Comments (0)
Babz Rawls-Ivy and Jackie Downing kick off the Great Give Radiothon on WNHH FM.
Giving topped $2 million as the New Haven’s annual 36-hour “Great Give” entered the final laps Thursday, with 510 nonprofits in a friendly competition to raise money and win $268,500 in prizes.
by | May 4, 2022 9:35 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
Point person Carlos Sosa-Lombardo: Next up, finalize and "execute" Yale contract.
The Board of Alders green-lighted the Elicker Administration’s long-delayed plans to set up a non-cop crisis response team — as they approved a $3.5 million contract with Yale, and voted to accept a related $2 million federal grant amid criticism that crucial financial details are missing.
by and | Apr 27, 2022 2:53 pm | Comments (1)
Edward Ray Van Epps leaves Sunrise Cafe well-fed.
For the first time since the pandemic broke, “Eddie Wigs” Wednesday ate his usual breakfast of eggs, smoothie and milk inside with other homeless New Haveners rather than out on the street.
Continue reading ‘Indoor "Sunrise" Breakfasts Resume For The Hungry & The Homeless’
by | Apr 26, 2022 8:37 am | Comments (4)
Hamden Deputy Chief of Staff Alexa Panayotakis, ARC Board President Elinore Mulligan, State Rep. Josh Elliott, Mayor Lauren Garrett, 28-year veteran employee Sherry Warren, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, ARC Executive Director Ashley Dennis, and ARC Board Member Nelson Alino.
A Hamden nonprofit serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as those with autism spectrum disorders, has found a way to keep their program participants happy even in the midst of growing hardships facing the caretaking industry — but is asking for more support from the state as the level of need among their target populations expands.
Continue reading ‘Support Sought Beyond Autism Awareness Month’
by | Apr 21, 2022 9:05 am | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Veronica Alston.
Singer Veronica Alston is retiring her musician dream to drum up support for teen parents and eventually other vulnerable youth.
Continue reading ‘Singer Pursues New Dream: Helping Families’