Newhallville Marches For Youth Jobs, End to Violence

Standing alongside the mother of Tyriek B. Keyes, a 14-year-old dancer who was shot dead in Newhallville this summer, Ice the Beef Youth President Chaz Carmon demanded a safe recreational space and better employment opportunities for the neighborhood’s youth.

“In the Hill, they have the Boys and Girls Club,” the local dance group organizer said. ​“In the Kensington neighborhood, they have the YMCA. In the Foote Street-Dixwell neighborhood, they’re gearing up for the new Q House. In the Goffe Street-Orchard Street neighborhood, they’re gearing up for the new Escape teen center. But what about Newhallville?”

“Some say this is the worst neighborhood in New Haven,” he continued. ​“I don’t think so. The Ville just needs help. We need to give the Ville a safe space for our youth.”

Such was one of the prevailing messages of the Jobs for Youth / Jobs for All rally that wound its way through Newhallville on Saturday morning, culminating in a series of speeches outside of the former state Department of Social Services (DSS) building at 194 Basset St. That building has been vacant since June 2013, when DSS moved to a new office space at 50 Humphrey St.

The rally was organized by New Elm City Dream, the Young Communist League, New Haven Rising, and Ice the Beef Youth, of which Keyes was a member. A diverse coalition of around 150 Newhallville residents, labor organizers, student activists, and local politicians marched for over an hour through the streets of Newhallville, chanting and cheering in support of jobs and safety for the neighborhood’s youth.

The rally began at 10 a.m. just behind Lincoln-Bassett School at the intersection of Ivy Street and Shelton Avenue. Longtime Newhallville resident and peace activist Pat Highsmith passed around chant sheets and sign in forms as New Haveners young and old took their posts carrying banners that heralded equality, justice, hope, jobs, and peace.

“We’re here to stop the violence and support the little boy who was shot and killed this summer,” said Jennifer Graham, 20, a Newhallville resident who works at a flea market on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and is a member of the youth empowerment organization New Elm City Dream.

Hassan George, 19, a Dixwell resident and Gateway Community College student, agreed. ​“We’re here to support the cause for jobs and to end violence for youth,” he said. Graham and George held high a banner that read ​“Jobs 4 Youth / Jobs 4 All.”

After Ice the Beef Youth’s Javione Hinds and Aveion Downs sang a cover of Boyz II Men’s ​“It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” Newhallville resident and Communist Party organizer Jahmal Henderson took the microphone and explained to the crowd why they were marching today.

From May to July this summer, he and New Haven Peace Commissioner Joelle Fishman took to the streets of Newhallville, knocking doors and surveying the neighborhood’s young people on what they were most concerned about and what they most wanted to see change in their city.

“We got over 65 kids [who responded to the survey],” Henderson said. ​“And the top subjects were jobs for youth and youth violence.”

A few weeks into Henderson and Fishman’s canvassing, Keyes’ was shot and killed. Henderson said that Saturday’s rally was a direct response to that young man’s death, and to what he had been hearing all summer from youth in the neighborhood.

At around 10:30 a.m., the crowd started marching down Ivy Street. Highsmith, Henderson, and New Haven Rising’s Rev. Scott Marks led the group in cheers of ​“Whose streets? Our streets!” ​“S.T.O.P. the violence.” And ​“What do we want? Jobs for youth! When do want them? Now!”

The current members of Ice the Beef Youth marched at the front of the group, occasionally breaking off into synchronized step routines and improvisatory dancing. Scott Marks Jr. and Ron Hurt Jr. propelled the crowd along with a percussive rhythm beat on their marching band drums.

In the middle of the pack walked a hodgepodge of public officials who had come out to show their support for Newhallville youth, including Alders Delphine Clyburn, Alfreda Edwards, Lukas Moe, Aaron Greenberg, Al Paolillo, and Sal DeCola, and State Rep. Robyn Porter and State Sen. Gary Winfield.

Turning up Winchester Avenue and then back west on Bassett Street, the group paused for a few minutes at the corner of Newhall Street and Bassett Street. Keye’s mother, Demethra Telford, assured the group that she would fight not just for the memory of her son, but for the protection of all Newhallville children. ​“Even when I get justice for my child,” she said. ​“I’m going to continue to push for stopping the violence. All the violence needs to stop. My son’s legacy does live on.”

Families sitting on front stoops and leaning from second story windows raised their firsts in support as the march passed their homes. ​“If we had more jobs for youth, none of this [violence] would happen,” said Caezar Johnson as he and his wife and infant child watched along from their front porch on Bassett Street.

By the time the group had reached 194 Bassett St., Carmon took the microphone and, standing alongside Telford, a banner portrait of Keyes, and the members of Ice the Beef Youth, said that Newhallville desperately needed a functioning youth center to help keep the neighborhood’s young people safe, active, and employed.

He said that the community had been trying for years to purchase the former DSS building from its current owner so that they could turn the large, vacant space into something beneficial to the community. But the current owners, he said, are asking for too much money, and are not interested in bringing in a new tenant themselves.

“I say to the owner of this building to think of the children,” Carmon said. ​“Think of the community. Bring down the prices so we can acquire this building to help the community.”

“We definitely need [a youth center] in Newhallville,” Henderson agreed. ​“We get a bad stigma over here about gangs and guns, but that’s not the hype.”

“This is the first of many, many more actions with our youth, our community, and our clergy,” he said. ​“We just want to keep this village growing, connected, positive, and keep making change throughout Newhallville and throughout the entire city.”

The current owner of 194 Bassett St. could not be reached for this article. The owner’s name is not listed on the city’s online tax assessment database. Press|Cuozzo Realtors, who are listed on a FOR SALE sign on the side of the building, have not yet responded to two voicemail requests left by the Independent, asking for information on who owns the building.