LEAP‑Q House Contract Advances

Committee alders enthusiastically endorsed a three-year, $300,000 contract between the city and LEAP that would have the local youth tutoring and recreation agency manage — and fundraise for — the reborn ​“Q House” Dixwell Avenue community center.

Finance Committee alders took that unanimous vote of support Monday night during their latest monthly meeting, held online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

The committee lawmakers backed an amended version of a proposed three-year deal between the city and LEAP, short for Leadership, Education And Athletics In Partnership Inc.

That contract would have the city pay the long-time tutoring and swimming instruction nonprofit up to $100,000 each year to run the soon-to-reopen Dixwell ​“Q” House.

An amendment unanimously supported by committee alders on Monday night would also allow the city to funnel public money already earmarked by the city Youth and Recreation Department for Q House programming directly to LEAP each year. Another provision of the amendment would allow the city and LEAP to accept financial contributions outside of city funding to support programming and operations of the Q House.

The proposed contract resolution, which can be read in full here, now advances to the full Board of Alders for a final vote.

LEAP Executive Director Henry Fernandez told the committee alders that his organization will have a range of management and programming responsibilities at the Dixwell Avenue community center, which will include a dance studio, a music studio, a gym, an arts studio, a kitchen, and various community meeting rooms when it opens later this year.

For one, LEAP will oversee after-school programming during the school year and summer camp activities during the summer. They’ll employ local high school and college students, as well as a Q House-specific executive director and deputy director, to run those programs.

“We’re also responsible for and looking forward to developing policies to make spaces available for community members to host meetings, run programming, and build out activities for children and families,” he said.

That means coordinating with the various city agencies and local nonprofits already signed up to occupy the city-owned community center, including the Stetson Library, Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center, as well as with nearby entities like Dixwell UCC Church and Wexler Grant School.

“Our goal is to make sure that the Q House is much greater than just the sum of its parts,” Fernandez said. ​“If all of our partners work together, we don’t think there’s going to be any facility like the Q House in all of New England . … This is truly a model public-private partnership.”

Lastly, Fernandez said, LEAP will have to do quite a bit of fundraising each year to keep the Q House running.

On top of the city’s own investment, he said, ​“we ultimately expect that the first year budget will require LEAP to raise up to $300,000. This number that LEAP is raising will go up each year as programming expands and as wage rates go up.”

Fernandez said that the provision that allows for the initial contract to span three years — rather than three one-year terms — will make it easier for his nonprofit to raise money from donors who are interested in making multi-year contributions and who want to ​“know that their support can impact families over many years.”

And what about the part of the amendment that would allow LEAP to use city dollars to contract directly for Q House programming? asked Finance Committee Vice-Chair and Westville Alder Adam Marchand.

“I think what you’re saying is that the city would like to funnel programming dollars through Youth and Recreation to LEAP directly, and then have LEAP administer those funds and pay the expenses of those programs.” Is that the gist of it?

That’s right, said city Youth and Recreation Department Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams. She said the city will have money allocated in the city budget each year for Q House programming. ​“We thought this might be the easiest way to streamline that process for them” to bring in services that the city already planned to pay for at the Q House.

Let’s say there’s a local artist who provides art classes, Fernandez said. Or a community group that provides chess instruction or basketball programming. LEAP would contract directly with those individuals or groups. It would provide insurance and bookkeeping for those programs. And then it would report back to the city, and draw down from a set-aside pot of public money reserved for Q House programming.

And so the $100,000 from the city each year will go towards paying the salary costs for the site director, deputy director, and interns? asked East Rock Alder Anna Festa.

“It will cover a portion of salaries for folks that work at the Q House or are supporting, but it will only be a portion of it,” Fernandez replied.

“Where will the other portion come from?” Festa asked.

“We will raise it separately,” Fernandez said.

Before taking their votes in support of the amended contract proposal, every alder who spoke up praised LEAP for their current youth programming in the city, for their fundraising chops, and for their interest in working with the city to bring the Q House back to life.

One day, Dixwell Alder and Q House Advisory Board Chair Jeannette Morrison said, the Q House will hopefully have enough of a sustainable source of revenue to become a separate nonprofit, and no longer a recurring line in the city budget.

“Until that’s done, LEAP would be an awesome entity to take care of the Q House as we develop and grow.”

Finance Committee Chair and Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton agreed. She recalled attending the original Q House back in the 1970s when she first came to New Haven.

“We spent a lot of time there as youth, my siblings and I,” she said. ​“I’m personally looking forward to it for the next generation of grandkids, to help fulfill some dreams. Not only for my grands, but for a lot of kids in this city.”