Paul Bass Photo
Jayuan Carter learned how to trim bushes while limiting greenhouse emissions. He learned how to beat the figurative bushes to find voters.
Now he’s looking to share some of those lessons.
Carter, 31, grew up in Fair Haven and Dixwell. He caught the entrepreneurial landscaping bug early on. As well as the civic activism bug.
His experience running Executive Ecoscaping Inc. has given him ideas about how New Haven can help more black and brown small contractors succeed. Carter’s hoping the new administration of Mayor Justin Elicker, whom he endorsed and actively supported early on in last year’s election, will incorporate those ideas.
“This administration has to think creatively” to include more local people in the benefits and opportunities associated with the current construction boom, Carter argued during an appearance this week on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
Green On Green
Carter started cutting lawns at 14 when his mother moved the family to Ashmun Street — beginning with his own lawn. His stepfather taught him how to take care of it. Carter found he was good at it.
Soon he branched out, picking up paying customers in the neighborhood.
In 2014, he decided to form a company to do it for a living. He had a steady job as a lab assistant in Yale’s dermatology department. He saved up money, then gave notice and took the plunge. Along the way he picked up some tips from a “passion to profit” course at the city’s Small Business Service Center.
He decided to pursue a couple of niches. One was environmental: He opted to run his hedge trimmers and leaf blowers and weed whackers and chainsaws on lithium batteries or propane to limit greenhouse emissions. New Haven has among the region’s top asthma rates, after all. His company also uses “eco-friendly and pet-friendly organics in place of harsh chemicals.”
Another niche: Targeting the city’s prison re-entry challenge. He hires ex-offenders he knows and trusts.
His first break came from New Haven landlord Juan Salas-Romer, who hired Carter’s company to maintain a number of residential properties around the city. Other property managers have followed suit, as well as individual homeowners with larger properties in the suburbs, so that Carter can now maintain a workforce of four people.
Salas-Romer told the Independent Carter distinguishes himself as “a professional. He was very in tune with the community. He was really on top of things.”
As he has built his business, Carter has gotten to know other small contractors along the way. He argued that the city needs to focus more on not just finding jobs for local individuals, but on nurturing the growth of local small contractors through government “set-asides.” He has noticed specific ways the city can help such contractors succeed:
• Pushing general contractors on city properties more to hire local subcontractors, especially those who have received state or local loans and need to generate revenue to avoid falling behind on repayments.
• Paying contractors and subcontractors more promptly. Carter said that by waiting more than 90 days to pay invoices, the city often jams up small contractors seeking to repay loans and stay in and build their business.
• Creating support systems for small contractors and their employees for child care, transportation, food, clothing, and housing so people can get to work.
• Helping to boost mentorship.
Getting Heard
Thomas Breen Photo
Jayuan Carter, third from right, with Justin Elicker and Chris Murphy at an October 2019 campaign event at Ricky D’s Rib Shack.
Gradually, Carter has been learning how to inject his ideas through the political process.
He first thought about the importance of getting involved way back in 1997, when an East Haven cop shot dead a man named Malik Jones near Carter’s home in Fair Haven. “A lot of the men in my family had been in and out of jail,” he remembered noticing, and wondering: “Why does this stuff happen in some communities, and not others.”
He formally got involved in politics in 2011, helping Dixwell’s Jeanette Morrison win a first term on the Board of Alders as part of a team of new organizing-oriented, pro-labor Democrats.
Then Carter served a term as co-chair of the Ward 22 Democratic committee. In that role he tried to help out neighbors with problems. One day a single mom on Munson Street spoke of feeling unsafe because overgrown trees blocked streetlights. One night a man had waved and said hello to her in the dark — and even though he didn’t turn out to have nefarious intentions, she felt unsafe.
Carter brought her concern to Morrison, who contacted people at the city public works department. A public works crew came out and trimmed the trees on Munson. Then Carter watched Morrison and fellow Alder Delphine Clyburn convince United Illuminating to put money toward cutting back other overgrown trees blocking lights in Dixwell and Newhallville.
Overall, the experience convinced Carter that “people in my community felt there was a huge disconnect with city government.” But also that people can learn how to access government to solve problems.
He got more political experience as a New Haven field director for Chris Murphy’s 2012 Senate campaign, as well as for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. He was sent to Nevada for that three-month gig, concentrating on turnout.
The lesson? “You’ve got to work with people. It’s not about if I like you. It’s about getting the work done.”
After years of building his business, he returned to the political trenches last year for Justin Elicker’s campaign. After Elicker’s victory, Carter was appointed to the mayoral transition team. He worked on two committees: economic development/ transportation; and public safety. This past year he also joined neighbors in blocking a plan to rezone the Dixwell Avenue commercial corridor. (“We want change, but we want to make sure we’re part of this process,” he said at one City Hall hearing.) He put in his name and was confirmed to serve on the city’s newly reconstituted Civilian Review Board to monitor alleged police misconduct. H’s currently running for a Ward 16 Democratic Ward Committee co-chair seat in Fair Haven.
“He’s very passionate about his community. He’s very passionate about everyone being on one even playing field,” Jeanette Morrison observed. “As he has grown in this political process, I see him as being a strong advocate and a strong voice.”
Carter was asked on “Dateline” whether he sees his future more in government/civic activism, or in small business.
The answer: Yes.
“I’m still growing,” he said.
Click on the video to watch the full interview with Jayuan Carter on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”