Carmella Stankiewicz is homeless and needs, in addition to housing, a mammogram, flu shot, social security assistance, and help expunging from her record an old misdemeanor that’s getting in the way of her applying for work. Oh, and a haircut to be more presentable to find work would be helpful, too.
Remarkably, she accomplished nearly all that, and more, in two hours Saturday morning, and all under one roof.
In the city’s second edition of Project Homeless Connect, the United Way of Greater New Haven assembled dozens of health and counseling providers to address in a kind of one-stop shopping, the whole range of needs of the homeless population of the city, which, alas, is growing.
The lobby, gymnasium, and cafeteria of Wilbur Cross High School Saturday morning therefore seemed like a kind of festive job or rather assistance “fair,” complete with Big Eyes the Klown (aka Hy Katz, from the Shriners) to make people feel comfortable. Many of the participants came in as family units, with kids in tow.
As Stankiewicz and several hundred other people filed in, each was provided with a personal volunteer escort. Among the volunteer escorts, this reporter met a teacher from Elm City Prep as well as a Yale senior active in Christian organizations at the university and eager to serve, as Jesus did, those whom society ignores.
Stankiewicz’s escort was Dominique Dowdy. Dowdy, 22, does medical support work at the V.A. Hospital in West Haven and also is a mental health counselor at Boys and Girls Village in Milford. “The best way to make a change in the society,” she said as she directed Stankiewicz to the flu shot station, “is to help someone get their life back together.”
Ron Dunhill (pictured at the top of the story), a registered nurse with Hill Health Center, gave Stankiewicz her shot. It was about number 15 of 62 shots in total given after the first hour of the ten to one event.
Then they were off to visit Stephanie Bergeron, one of 12 volunteer hair stylists in-training from the Paul Mitchell Partner School in North Haven.
Stankiewicz wanted her hair cut not too short in the back, a certain way. Bergeron was only to happy to comply. “It feels so good to help people feel better about themselves,” she said. “A haircut can do that.”
Sustaining an appearance in order to keep out there and apply for jobs is, of course, one of the biggest challenges of homelessness. Stankiewicz knows this well. In August she badly injured her knee in a hit and run accident, she said, which resulted in her losing the job she had held most recently, at the Downtown Soup Kitchen. But she had been living on the Green more or less, by herself for two years previous. She described herself as having a bachelor’s degree in accounting and other skills. She’d organized projects with other homeless people, including haircuts, which she gave. “Then my cutters broke,” she said to Bergeron, “and I couldn’t do it any more. Thank you so much, dear. This makes me feel so good.”
During the haircut, Dominique ascertained that Stankiewicz, since losing her job, was living in Fair Haven in the house of her sister. The sister’s husband didn’t get along with her and didn’t want her there. “But three nights a week he’s out,” she said. “It’s only bad when he comes home; then I have to hide.”
The misdemeanor involved their getting into a fight and her striking the brother-in-law with a bottle. Now Dominique took Stankiewicz in tow to the table of The Connecticut Pardon Team.’ “They have two types of pardons, she explained. “A provisional pardon and a kind of expunging. I helped someone with this last year. They can give you a certificate,” she said to Stankiewicz, “when you get started with them. It’ll say to a prospective employer that they shouldn’t hold a record against you.”
Dowdy estimated that 50 percent of the people now filling up the light-filled lobby at Cross had misdemeanors or felonies and they were fighting for an increasingly limited number of jobs. “It’s a huge problem,” she said, “but this program definitely helps.”
“I’ve got it,” said Stankiewicz, who took the forms. Then she made sure to go off and pick up a coat and a sweater. Other groups were providing backpacks filled with toiletries. She took one of those. And a wool blanket.
Carmella said she has children, “but I don’t want them to know this. I took care of them for all those years. They have their own problems. It’s not right they have to take care of me. This has been great.”
Before she left, Carmella ran into Edward Mattison. The former alderman is a leader in advocacy for the city’s homeless and is executive director of the South Central Behavior Health Network, whose Treatment Access Program (TAP) helps homeless people who have substance abuse problems by moving them into sober houses.
He had some good news and bad news. The good is that a sufficient portion of the $300,000 necessary has been raised to open the city’s overflow shelter on Cedar Street and Columbus. The bad news: “I’m terrified the numbers are going to be going way up. The soup kitchens have lines 25 percent longer. And all the people being foreclosed, where are they going to go? There are absolutely no legal protections in Connecticut. You’re renting on the third floor of a house one day, you can be presented with an eviction notice, the next day you’re on the street. No fault of your own. I’m telling you I’m getting ready to go to the historical society to see how New Haven handled the waves of homeless during the Depression.’
Well, Carmella Stankiewicz at least was feeling positive about her experience. She thanked Mattison and hugged Dowdy, and said she was off to find her friends and think about looking for work. “It’ll be with children,” she said, “anything that I can be active doing, moving around.”
“Don’t forget to send in those forms for the pardon,” said Dowdy.
Mattison said people who want to help with shelter costs for the winter are still needed to contribute. Send the funds to the United Way of Greater New Haven and write “shelter fund” on the memo line.