Thomas MacMillan Photo
As she delivered the annual Black and Hispanic Caucus State of the City speech, Yale grad and Yale union member Alderwoman Dolores Colon closed with a message to New Haven developers and businesses: Be more like Yale.
Colon (pictured) delivered that message Monday night at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen. Colon was selected to deliver the annual minority State of the City address. She made a point of saluting Yale for its support of the city’s new “jobs pipeline” effort.
The Hill/City Point alderwoman cited some success in delivering on the aldermanic agenda set early last year: creating jobs, improving public safety, and doing more for young people.
Among the highlights she mentioned: the return of community policing, efforts to reopen the Q House and to create a new youth services center at the old Goffe Street Armory, a comprehensive youth services website set to debut this summer, and New Haven Works, the “jobs pipeline” agency the city recently set up with Yale support.
Colon said she graduated from Yale in 1991 and then joined Yale’s UNITE HERE Local 34 union.“I have never been more proud of my alma mater than now,” she said. Yale saw the potential in New Haven Works and donated office space and money to the cause, Colon said.
“I call upon all developers and employers to follow the example set by Yale and participate in programs like New Haven Works that connect our residents to good jobs,” she said.
Colon ended her address calling for people to join a May Day rally for jobs, peace, and unity on the Green.