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.
The threat: Plans by the APT Foundation to locate a new methadone clinic at a vacant school building at 794 Dixwell Ave. at the northern edge of New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood, right before it crosses into Hamden’s Newhall neighborhood
The opportunity: Outrage over those plans brought neighbors together to fight back — and created a longer-lasting organizing team that can work together to improve life in what’s in truth one community (despite what maps may say).
State Rep. Robyn Porter and family therapist Katurah Bryant see it that way. They have played leading roles in the organizing against the planned APT clinic, through a coalition called Newhallville-Hamden Stronger Together. And they already see hope in the same group making more opportunities for kids and more support for families in challenging times.
“It’s been a spiritual awakening about how we need to come together,” Porter said during a joint appearance with Bryant on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven/Hamden” program.
“I can’t tell the difference between my ‘Hamden’ and ‘New Haven’ constituents,” said Porter, whose state legislative district includes both Newhallville and Newhall. “We are one. We are united.”
She and Bryant vowed to keep up the pressure on APT to locate its new clinic elsewhere — preferably in areas like the Shoreline towns where no such clinics exist, but the customers do.
They said they support the idea of having a family “resilience” center move into 794 Dixwell, as proposed by the Clifford Beers Clinic in conjunction with Newhallville Rev. Boise Kimber. (Read more about that here.) Bryant said she specifically supports that proposal, while Porter endorsed the concept while saying she wants to learn more.
Looking ahead, they spoke of pushing local and state government to fund a community center in Newhallville as well as investing more in the Keefe Center over the Hamden line.
“We are in a drought for resources,” Bryant said.
Click on the above video to watch the full conversation with State Rep. Robyn Porter and Katurah Bryant on WNHH FM, during which they discussed in detail the pros and cons of different models of community substance-abuse health and the future of community organizing in the Newhallville-Newhall area.