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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

Amistad Students, Teachers Demand Change by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent

The directors of Achievement First Amistad High School Wednesday night launched an investigation into whether administrators mishandled the discipline of a student-shoving principal, as nearly 100 people crashed a meeting to make clear that issues in the charter network run far deeper than just one out-of-line employee. That all happened at what is usually an uncontroversial event: a meeting of a “joint committee” that oversees the Dixwell Avenue charter high school, which is operated by the New Haven-based organization Achievement First. Amistad has been immersed in soulsearching after the Independent last week published a video of its principal shoving a student and another video by a recent staff member complaining of endemic racism. Amid that news, the principal stepped down last week. Amistad’s joint high school committee, which includes board members from the three feeder schools of Amistad Academy, Elm City College Preparatory and Bridgeport Academy, originally planned to meet in the network’s Fair Haven offices on Wednesday evening. But they took the meeting next door to Elm City Prep’s gymnasium. By nightfall, ticked-off students, parents and educators filled the bleachers — a rare sight for a committee that hasn’t heard a single public comment since November 2014. Even though they were given only 120 seconds each, no one had a “two-minute problem,” as Zack Murphy, a senior at Amistad, put it. For nearly two hours, the speakers brought up familiar complaints: a demerit system that punishes the most trivial rulebreaking, top-down leadership that hems in teachers, and an admissions-obsessed drive that sidelines students who aren’t aiming for top-tier colleges. In the past, those concerns went unaddressed, even after a mass student walkout in 2016, the speakers said. This time, they said, must be different. “It hurts me deeply when I hear students talking about a prison culture that’s been cultivated in your schools, where you’re treating them like inmates but there’s no accountability for leaders,” said Addys Castillo, the mother of an Amistad freshman, the Citywide Youth Coalition’s executive director and a former correctional officer. “The people that need to be fired are the people that [Principal Morgan] Barth reported to. If that’s not getting done, then what’s the point of this meeting?” The recent outcry started last week after Steven Cotton, a behavioral specialist and one of the few black males at the overwhelming black-student-body school, quit in protest and posted a viral Facebook Live video about his complaints. The Independent then published an ar-

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO Zack Murphy, an Amistad High School senior, joins dozens demanding change at Achievement First.

Steven Cotton.

Amistad High School’s Joint Committee.

Addys Castillo.

ticle about how Morgan Barth, the leader at Amistad, had been allowed to stay on the job after shoving two students at two different schools, while encouraging a disciplinary system that led many to pull their kids out. Hours later, Barth publicly announced that he’d resigned. He’s being replaced on an interim basis by Emery Sykes, the high school’s dean of college services and school culture and an African-American woman. She has worked at Amistad for 12 years, and she has broad support from the staff. Now Achievement First is looking into whether higher-ups should be punished too, as many speakers on Wednesday night called for. Last week, “my son called me and said, ‘Mom, the best thing happened today!’ I said, ‘Well, what happened?’ He said, ‘My principal got fired.’ Now, that right there speaks volumes. It actually gave me chills,” said Jessica Nicholas, a mother of two. “I get calls for him slouching, he gets detention for apparently not focusing, he gets demerits for being late for class during the first two weeks of school. This whole system is a school-to-prison pipeline.” Amistad’s directors, who said they hadn’t been informed about the October shoving incident until just last week, voted unanimously at the end of Wednesday’s meeting to hire an outside law firm. Investigators will review the personnel decision to keep Barth for months on after the incident. The firm will put together findings about that decision and recommend policy changes for future personnel decisions, a resolution passed by the committee stated. Achievement First will contact law firms and present a selection to the chairs of the high school committee and the three boards by Feb. 8. The firm will be expected to complete its report by Apr. 8 Dacia Toll, Achievement First’s president and co-CEO, said she supported bringing in external investigators to hold the administration accountable, all the way up the ranks. “We’re hiring an independent firm to learn more about how we got to this place as an organization and to hold ourselves, meaning senior leaders, accountable for how this situation was handled, and for any additional consequences and recommended policy changes,” Toll said in a statement. Speaker after speaker said that Barth’s actions reflected bigger problems throughout Achievement First. Just within Amistad High School, more than 65 staff signed onto a statement saying that “this one incident is representative of the systematic racial inequalities that are observable throughout the network.” The school employees said they’ve been discussing the discipline system, thinking about how to create “a new and healthier framework for our

school culture.” “Our days have been long, thoughtful and productive,” the statement read, “and they are worth it because we care deeply about our scholars and the future of our school.” The staff said that it needs the charter network to do its part too. In particular, they expressed “disgust and disappointment at the lack of transparency” around the October shoving, which most of them hadn’t known about. They said they’d been left out of discussions about Barth’s departure and the search for a new principal. They said, within 30 days, they need to be included in the search. They said the network needs to use this moment “to examine the entirety of our model with an antiracist focus.” Students added on to this point, too, by saying that teachers need to consider their kids’ well-being, not just their test scores. “You don’t know what happened the night before or if they had breakfast in the morning,” said Iesha Walker, a recent Amistad graduate. “Know who you’re working for. These are kids of color. You can’t just yell and shout and scream. They get that at home and on the streets already. You have to come and you have to love.” The staff also said investigators should cast their focus “as wide as possible,” beyond “just the errors related to this one incident” to look at “the systems and organizational culture that made this incident possible.” They said the report should be made public. “I have so many different feelings about what has occurred, ranging from complete outrage that senior leaders knew this happened and did nothing about it to intense pride that I work with a staff who’s rallying and thinking deeply about what is best for kids at our school,” said Peter Butler, a social worker and dean for the last 15 years. “Please ask more questions. Demand transparency from our leaders. Too many in our organization have been abused and dehumanized by Achievement First’s senior leadership and principals. Please listen to us more.” The pressure on Achievement First isn’t likely to let up soon. Teachers said they’ll return in 30 days with “a more formal proposal” for what they feel the school needs. Parents said they aren’t done either. At one point in the meeting, Andrea Barnes, the mother of a second-grader who she said had “creativity stifled out of her,” turned around and faced the crowded bleachers. She apologized to those in the room, saying she blamed herself for letting these problems get out of hand. “I’m going to apologize to you, as a parent,” Barnes said. “After this day, I will be more involved.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

Regionalization and Consolidation of School Districts Has Towns on Edge by Jack Kramer

there are two elementary schools, an intermediate school, and a high school — and a population of slightly more than 14,000 and a total of approximately 1,900 students, the talk of regionalization came up at the most recent Town Council meeting. North Branford has been discussing possible renovations to its aging school buildings. “The Lamont administration has indicated

that less than 2,000 students is not a viable district,” Councilman Alfred Rose said, according to the minutes of the Jan. 22 Town Council meeting. “We may be forced to merge with another school district — so we should consider this before we put money into rebuilds.” Many towns in the state, including in nearby Madison, are dealing with the issue of declining student enrollment.

Madison is closing one of its elementary schools at the end of the current school year, which will leave the town operating with five instead of six schools. And right next door in Guilford, student enrollment declined about 70 students from 2017 to 2018, a trend that is continuing this school year. The town of Wilton has also been vocal in its opposition to Looney’s bill, which would force them to consolidate with Norwalk. Three newly elected lawmakers — Sen. Will Haskell, who represents the town, Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, and Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan — all issued a statement saying they would be unable to support Looney’s proposal. “We have deep respect for Senator Looney and are always open to discussing the difficult issues facing our state, including the issue of regionalization, because finding efficiencies in state spending is a priority for us. However, we cannot support SB 454 to regionalize our schools,” they said. From a bigger, statewide perspective, the largest lobbying group for small towns in the state, the Connecticut Council of Small Towns (COST), wasted no time stating its opposition to both bills. “Consolidation does not always produce cost savings,” said Betsy Gara, executive director of COST. “Several smaller school districts have explored consolidation options and concluded that consolidation would not result in significant cost savings. Instead, consolidation raised concerns regarding whether the quality of education would suffer.” Gara continued: “There are many reasons why consolidating small school districts

on similar STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math – learning opportunities across New Haven for three years. They started when Martorana arrived in New Haven, a year after Modeen began working at Stetson. (Martorana runs a local branch of a national “Girls Who Code” program.) They began events like “Take it Apart, Make Art,” in which students could take apart old and unused technology and turn the pieces into art. These efforts evolved into the introduction of technology like ozobots. Martorana, a former teacher, discovered ozobots from teacher friends, since “robotics is a trend in education.” Modeen called them “a simple way to begin to understand code.” Ozobots are designed to teach kids coding in a fun way. They “look a little like Pac-Man ghosts, with domes for heads” and “can identify lines, colors, and codes on both digital surfaces, such as an iPad, and physical surfaces, such as paper,” tech writer Dean Takahashi reported in an ar-

ticle for Venturebeat on the phenomenon. “You can calibrate the robots to follow lines by holding down a power button. Then you can draw lines for the robot to follow in an app. You can create race tracks for multiple Ozobots to roll over.” That’s what Willie and Prince were up to at Stetson. They drew black lines along a U-shaped path, which would steer the ozobot in its travels. They used red and green and blue lines to direct the device to move up and down, to speed up, to slow down. They were playing — and they were learning how to code. Prince and Willie hadn’t used the ozobots before Wednesday. They said they look forward to other STEM programs. Modeen and Martorana said they plan on continuing their STEM initiatives at Stetson Branch Library and throughout New Haven. They agree that ozobots are a great way to start. “It’s hands on,” Modeen said, “so there’s a tangible aspect.”

NATALIE SEMMEL PHOTO

Ct. News Junkie

HARTFORD, CT — The concept of regionalizing and consolidating school districts to save the cash-strapped state is not a new one, but two new bills pushing the initiative have moved the issue front and center this legislative session. Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, proposed a bill which would force school districts in towns with less than 40,000 residents to consolidate with a neighboring district. Senate bill 454 would force the regionalization of a large number of towns in the state, merging their school districts with larger municipalities or cities. Only 24 municipalities in Connecticut have a population over 40,000. The law, if enacted, would become effective starting in July 2021. Looney’s simple rationale for his bill is: “to create a more efficient educational system.” He is proposing the creation of a commission to develop a consolidation plan. And Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, have submitted a bill that would “require any school district with a student population of fewer than 2,000 students to join a new or an existing regional school district so that the total student population of such new or expanded regional school district is greater 2,000 students.” Both bills have been referred to the legislature’s Education Committee and are far from becoming law at this point, but the two bills have stirred up much debate already in the smaller towns that would be impacted if the proposals were ever enacted. For instance, in North Branford, where

Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven

may not be in the best interest of students, taxpayers, and the community. For example, many small school districts are located in rural areas where homes are spread out across a wide geographic area. For these students, forced consolidation may result in less time in the classroom and more time on the bus.” The other statewide lobbying organization for Connecticut’s municipalities wasn’t as critical of the bills. “It is too early in the session to draw a line in the sand on this important issue,” said Kevin Maloney, spokesman for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) that represents 168 of the state’s 169 municipalities. “While we don’t believe these proposed pieces of legislation will pass in their current form, they are trying to address a critical issue that needs to be discussed and assessed this session,” Maloney said. Gara said the legislators should spend their time working on mandate relief if they really want to help towns save money, instead of consolidation bills. “Under the Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR) mandate, school districts must budget at least the same amount for education as they did in the prior fiscal year, with certain limited exceptions,” Gara said. “The MBR mandate is holding town budgets hostage, imposing a tremendous burden on property taxpayers to fund unnecessary levels of education spending,” Gara added. “Towns need more flexibility to ensure that education budgets can be adjusted to reflect declining enrollment and other areas where savings can be achieved.”

Ozobots Invade Stetson by NATALIE SEMMEL New Haven Independent

“You have to wait for it to light up,” Willie Wilson said to Prince Toney. The two New Haven 11-year-olds were at Dixwell’s Stetson Branch Library working on getting a tiny robot, called an “ozobot,” to move. They had hand-drawn a multi-colored diagram to serve as the code; now they were waiting for the mini-robot to respond, and travel the path. Willie and Prince, regulars at Stetson’s after-school programs, were participating in a session of an ongoing program there called “Pop-Up Maker Spaces.” This session was centered around centered around “ozobots.” Pronounced “OH-zoh-bots,” the tiny robots are a popular tool in the quest to lure kids, with fun, to learn coding. Rory Martorana, a Stetson library aide, and Phill Modeen, a city “young minds librarian,” organized the event. Modeen and Martorana have been collaborating

Phill Modeen with Willie Wilson at the ozobot hour.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

City “Bends” Health Care Curve by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven Independent

Mohit Agrawal saw something strange as he flipped through the latest city monthly financial report. “The numbers look pretty good,” the budget watchdog said. “Am I reading this right?” He was. And, according to city financial officials, that’s not just good luck. It’s also the result of structural changes to how the city handles health care. That surprisingly upbeat conversation about city health care costs took place on Wednesday night during the latest monthly meeting of the independent Financial Review and Audit Commission (FRAC) on the second floor of City Hall. What caught Agrawal’s eye in the report: Instead of going up, up, up, this fiscal year’s medical expenditures to date are basically flat in comparison to last year’s. Agrawal, who chairs FRAC and is a Yale PhD candidate specializing in health care economics, is more accustomed to calling out structural deficits and unrealistic assumptions baked into the city budget. But on Wednesday night, he, City Controller Daryl Jones, Acting Budget Director Michael Gormany, and the rest of the FRAC team found themselves discussing an encouraging, and potentially lasting, development in an area that haunts municipal budgets throughout the country: employee and dependent medical costs. Gormany said that the city’s relatively moderate health care expenditures so far this year are an early indicator of new union contracts, preventive requirements, and education initiatives designed to mitigate the inevitable growth of city health care expenditures in the years ahead. “I don’t think you’re really going to lower health care costs in any industry,” the acting budget director said, “but I think you can try to bend that curve and do cost avoidance savings with health care.” Health care costs represent one of the largest and fastest growing areas of the city budget. Over the past five fiscal years, the city’s total general fund has grown by 10 percent, while the city’s general fund contribution towards employee and dependent medical benefits has grown by 27 percent, from $64.1 million to $81.7 million. The biggest change that alders made to the mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget (FY19) was taking away a $5 million increase from the Board of Education budget and putting that money instead towards the health care line item. That’s because health care costs have consistently risen by 5 to 8 percent each year over the past several years, always leaving the city scrambling to cover for a health care fund in the red. But, according to the city’s November 2018 monthly financial report, FY19 is shaping up to be a pretty good year on the medical front. At least in comparison to last year, which, Agrawal said on Wednesday night, is pretty “extraordinary” for health care costs. From the start of the fiscal year in July 2018 through the end of November 2018, the city, which is self-insured and uses An-

THOMAS BREEN PHOTO Controller Jones (right) and budget chief Gormany deliver good news.

Wednesday night’s FRAC meeting. them to process its health care bills, paid out $48.7 million in medical claims for its roughly 12,000 covered employees and dependents. During that same five-month stretch last fiscal year, the city paid out $49.8 million in medical claims. That’s a year-over-year drop of roughly 2 percent. Furthermore, during FY19 so far, the city has only seen two “large” medical claims, or claims that cost more than $500,000 a piece, whereas the city had already seen five “large” claims at this point in FY18. Gormany said this slight decrease in medical expenses in part reflects just how exceptionally expensive medical costs were last year. After all, the November 2017 monthly financial report showed an increase of $5.4 million, or 12 percent, in medical claims when comparing the first five months of Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) to the first five months of Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18). FY18 also saw a total of 11 claims over $500,000 each by the end of the fiscal year, including five claims that totaled roughly $5.5 million by themselves. “So some of the numbers and some of the months weren’t really, like, true inflation numbers on the medical,” he said about last fiscal year’s health care costs, “because you had those particular cases that were ongoing that cost the city additional funding. But in regards to this year, we are trending in our normal percentage increase, if you look

year over year.” Agrawal asked if anything else besides last year’s small number of very expensive claims has contributed to the relatively flat year-over-year numbers this year. “Are we just lucky?” he asked. “Or have their been some structural changes” to how the city pays for health care? Gormany and Jones said the answer is both. “If you go around the country and see other cities,” Jones said, “their effort is trying to bend the curve,” to minimize an inevitable annual increase to health care expenditures by finding new ways to pay for and administer health care that reduces the taxpayer’s burden and provides improved quality care to employees and dependents. Some of the biggest recent changes that the city has made have come through new public employee union contracts. Because of those contracts, several of which were negotiated and signed last year, city employees and their dependents must now participate in a Health Incentive Program (HIP). That program requires members to take active, preventative measures, such visiting a physician at least once a year or getting regular prostate screenings or cervical cancer screenings depending on age and gender, as a means of catching potentially debilitating and costly diseases early on. Jones and Gormany said that the city will

likely start seeing the financial benefits of the HIP requirement next fiscal year, as current employees and dependents have a roughly one-year grace period between when the latest contracts were signed and when they have to be in compliance with the program. One contract change that they do see bearing financial fruit, however, is the addition of high-deductible, Health Savings Account (HSA) plans, which require higher employee contributions towards medical claims but which can be less expensive, and more appealing for younger, healthier employees. Jones said that the city has already seen quite a few city employees switch over to the HSAs, though he did not have an exact number on hand for how many have taken up the new health care option. Jones also said that the city is already seeing the benefit of the higher Other PostEmployment Benefit (OPEB) contributions it required of employees in the latest signed contracts. Jones said the city currently has an OPEB fund of around $3 million, but that that should grow to around $14 or $15 million within the next five years, thanks to mandated increased employee contributions. Those contributions should also help shore up the city’s medical benefits line item. Jones said that the city has also refreshed its communication to covered employees and dependents about underutilized, preventative health care services already offered by the city, including a wellness program run by Yale-New Haven Health and access to fitness coaches who provide advice on diet and exercise. “It’s not just a New Haven problem,” Gormany said about persistently rising health care costs. “It’s a problem everywhere, in public and private sectors.” But, at least for one monthly financial report, that problem seems to be holding steady. Jones also told FRAC that he had no updates on the Health Care Task Force, which the Board of Alders ordered to be created back in July with the adoption of the FY19 budget, but which has yet to be formed. Earlier this month, Westville Alder Adam Marchand, who is the alder in charge of the to-be task force, said he had been waiting for the teacher’s union election to shake out before he decided on which public employee union representative to invite to be a member of the committee. He said he hopes to have the task force formed before the aldermanic budget review process begins in full in March. $8.7M Projected Deficit For BOE City officials and FRAC members were decidedly less enthusiastic about the Board of Education (BOE) budget. Gormany said the BOE is still projecting an end-of-fiscalyear deficit of $8.7 million. “How do they get away with just taking more money?” budget watchdog Gary Doyens asked at Wednesday night’s meeting. “How is that possible?” Gormany said that a big part of the problem is that the state has flat-funded the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula over the past decade, even though New Haven’s Con’t on page 08

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

Why The Census Counts by MAYOR TONI HARP New Haven Independent

(Opinion) On Tuesday, January 29, city residents are invited to join me and many community partners to kick off New Haven’s comprehensive outreach efforts ahead of the 2020 Census. Though it’s still a year away, now is the time to begin preparations to ensure a complete count in New Haven. This decennial census will have lasting impacts for the city. Census data determines the allocation of federal funding worth more than $675 billion, for programs that impact schools, health care, roads, public works, and much more. Businesses use census data to guide decisions on where to invest in job creation and new facilities, and community organizations and municipal employees use census data to identify areas of need and inform distribution of services. An accurate count is critical to provide essential services to all residents and attract economic development opportunities. Much has changed since the 2010 census. New Haven’s population has become increasingly diverse, and the use of technology has dramatically transformed the city. The 2020 Census will be the first in which residents will be able to respond electronically – in any one of thirteen languages, with language guides available for 47 additional languages. Despite increased digital support, ensuring a complete count will be a challenge. Census data predicts more than half of New

THOMAS BREEN PHOTO

Mayor Toni Harp.

Haven’s census tracts will have a mail nonresponse rate of over 30 percent. According to Census Bureau research, the groups at greatest risk of being undercounted are low-income households, immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, young children, and those who do not live in traditional housing situations. An undercount can deprive these communities of fair representation and vital resources.

For this reason, it’s imperative we start working together – now – to ensure every New Haven resident is counted in this census. We will need to make all residents aware of the importance of the census, and we will need to provide resources to make the process of filling out the census form as convenient and accessible as possible. One strategy will be to ensure New Haven residents take advantage of available employment opportunities at the Census Bureau. These jobs will include management positions as well as full-time and part-time field positions. I believe New Haven residents will be top candidates to assume these valuable roles in local census operations. Just as importantly, leaders in all sectors and neighborhoods will need to transmit the importance of an accurate census count. My hope is that by the time census forms are mailed in the spring of 2020, every New Haven resident will have been reached: where they work, in their school, at worship services, at the barber shop, at the library, or any other place where they congregate and spend their time. The time to start this outreach effort is now. Please join me, members of the Board of Alders, city staff, and many others at Tuesday’s census kick-off meeting to learn more about the 2020 Census and begin brainstorming creative and collaborative outreach strategies. Let’s work together to ensure New Haven gets a complete count!

Yale School Of Drama Has Trouble In Mind by DONALD BROWN New Haven Independent

There are two versions of Alice Childress’ best-known play, Trouble in Mind, which debuted in 1955. For her thesis, Aneesha Kudtarkar, a third-year director in the Yale School of Drama, had to choose which one to stage. Trouble in Mind, the third and final thesis play in the Yale School of Drama’s 201819 season, runs at the University Theater on York Street from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8. The critical success of Trouble in Mind in its first run made Childress the first AfricanAmerican woman to win an Obie as a playwright. Originally produced off-Broadway in Greenwich Village, the play was Broadway bound. Then Childress became dissatisfied about changes she was asked to make in her play. Consequently, there’s a version with a happier ending, and there’s a version with a more neutral ending. Kudtarkar — who is going with the more neutral version — saw irony in the way the play’s history relates to its subject matter. The play is a satiric look at the tensions in the rehearsals of a fictional play, “Chaos in Belleville,” a Southern race play that ends with a lynching. Wiletta, the main AfricanAmerican actor in “Chaos,” sees the fictional work, described as “a hard-hitting play with something to say about race,” as “her chance for a breakout role,” Kudtarkar said.

But she then becomes dissatisfied with the way blacks are portrayed in the dated but “well-intentioned ‘progressive’ play.” Wiletta clashes with the director, and the comedy and drama of Trouble in Mind derives from a frank look at racist assumptions in the American theater. Kudtarkar remembered her earliest reading of the play, when she was 18. She “didn’t quite know the world [of the theater]” the play depicts, she said. But she was struck by the way the play “puts the rehearsal room dynamic under a microscope.” Last year, when choosing her thesis project, Kudtarkar said the play felt relevant to

being “on a precipice — going out into the professional industry after three years” in graduate school. The issues the play raises about who gets to tell stories about racial difference have resurfaced in recent years, in theater and elsewhere. Four years ago, Broadway star Tonya Pinkins left a production of Brecht’s Mother Courage, updated and set in the Congo, because Pinkins, like Wiletta, saw the role as a stereotype that undermined the truth of the character she wanted to portray. What Childress, herself a successful actor, saw as a failing of the predominantly white theater world of the 1950s remains an issue today. In the YSD production, Wiletta is played by second-year actor Ciara Monique McMillian. McMillian admits that “much has changed” since the 1950s, pointing out that “no one is asking me to play a Mammie role today,” she said. She also stressed the humor of Childress’ play. Wiletta’s three black colleagues in the play have “a spectrum of approaches” to “Chaos in Belleville,” its dialect “exaggerated” to the point of caricature. There’s a “comic element,” McMillian said, in how the actors “hear things in different ways.” The actors “play to type, but discuss” their problems with the stereotypes in the play. McMillian, the youngest actor in this production, welcomes the opportunity to play a powerful role a 45-yearCon’t on page 8

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

Hillhouse Boosts AP, Preps Students Early by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent

In middle school, Elijah Medley had been able to fool around because the classes felt too easy. When he arrived at Hillhouse High School, he expected he could continue breezing through. Then the school’s new pre-AP program, pushed him harder than he’d ever experienced before. Now in the second year of a push to get more students into high-level courses, Hillhouse is prepping freshmen like Elijah to eventually take an exam that could award them college credit. It’s part of a broader effort to rebrand Hillhouse itself as an academic powerhouse, not just an athletic one. In Advanced Placement courses, students learn college-level material. If they score high enough on a year-end test, universities sometimes count the classes toward graduation credits, potentially allowing them to finish early and save on a big tuition bill. The school’s assistant principal, John Tarka, has set a goal for every student at Hillhouse to eventually take at least one AP class. To get there, the administration has sent teachers to trainings on AP classes, expanded offerings to include 10 AP classes like computer science and Spanish literature, and created a pre-AP program for freshmen and sophomores. They’ve also brought top scholars to the mayor’s office and the school auditorium to celebrate their high scores, just like rallies for football and basketball stars. In 2017, 72 students took AP exams, out of about 900 students total. About one-fifth of the test-takers passed. Two years later, the AP program has

Hillhouse sophomores in the Pre-AP program. classes. grown to 112 students, marking a 55 percent increase. (Data isn’t yet available on As the Connecticut Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe Thomas reported last year, many how many passed their tests.) More are coming down the pipeline, with principals pushed back, saying that they 108 underclassmen enrolled in the pre-AP didn’t have any more desks or that students couldn’t succeed. program’s eight classes, like geometry and modern-world history. Hillhouse has been one of the few high schools to prioritize that mission, helping Since 2014, the state’s education commissioner has been pushing for high schools New Haven’s AP enrollment grow faster than any other district’s in the state. to sign up more students for high-level courses, especially if they come from lowThere’s no prerequisite to enroll in the preAP program. It’s open to any student who’s income backgrounds. Schools are now judged by how many students take AP up for the challenge, said Dominique Argo,

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO

the independent study coordinator. Even if students don’t earn a qualifying score on the year-end exam, they’ll still develop time management and study skills and prepare for the discourse that’s expected in college classes, Argo explained. Students aren’t left entirely on their own: They’re able to stay for after-school tutoring with teachers and take mock tests. “We try to break down barriers, not block access,” Argo said. “That’s our biggest thing at Hillhouse: We’re working on closing the opportunity gap.” In the last two years, Argo said, she has already seen a shift in the school’s culture, as more students have enrolled in rigorous courses. Students enrolled in the pre-AP classes have spread the word about how challenging the work can be. “They probably hear us complaining about how much work we get or how hard it is,” said Angel Coe Miller, a sophomore. “In the back of your head, you know you’re going to do good in the future, but in the present, you just want to sleep.” Some might be turned off, assuming it’s too much for them to keep up with. But most hear that, as they’re pushing themselves, the pre-AP students feel like they’re getting ahead. “I feel tired and stressed out, but I feel like I’m going to accomplish something in life,” said Mia Izquierdo Muniz, another sophomore. “I feel very intelligent. I’m so getting a scholarship for college.” That has convinced some students to transfer in during their sophomore year. Kimberly Mayorga Moreno said she wasn’t feeling challenged in her ninth-grade classes. She’d finish her work “really fast” and turn to chat with her friends. She brought

home a report card with straight A’s. But Kimberly also started to lose motivation, asking herself if it was even worth doing such easy assignments. “I was bored. I was re-learning things [from middle school], and I didn’t like it. I was literally doing the same essays I was doing in eighth grade,” she said. “I didn’t want to be in classes that didn’t challenge me. What’s the point? You’re here to learn, not to re-learn things.” Two teachers told Kimberly that she should look into the pre-AP program. After looking over her transcript at the start of this school year, a counselor told her that she’d need to change her whole schedule to transfer into pre-AP program late. She decided to take the risk. Now, Kimberly said, the classes are much tougher. Chemistry has been like a “hit in the face,” she said. Teachers don’t spend nearly as much time explaining, forcing her to put the time time in to make sure she understands. “It was an adjustment getting used to this new environment, but I got over it,” she said. “I did it anyway to push myself.” The experience has changed her whole perception of the high school, Kimberly added. When she first found out that she didn’t win a spot in the magnet lottery and would be going to Hillhouse, she started to cry, she remembered. Now, she said, she “loves” the school. The freshmen are also spreading the word back at their middle schools. They’re telling their former classmates to look past the misconception that Hillhouse is a school where you might witness a fight or catch lice. “We’re the only school with a pre-AP program,” they said, proudly.

Social Services Commissioner Expected to Move On by Christine Stuart Ct. News Junkie

HARTFORD, CT — Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont has re-appointed nine state state agency commissioners, but doesn’t plan on reappointing Department of Social Services Commissioner Roderick Bremby. Appointed in March 2011 by former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Bremby came from Kansas where he was head of that state’s Department of Health and Environment. He was appointed to that position by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who then served as Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department under former President Barack Obama. Bremby was touted as a systems expert and was tasked in Connecticut with computerizing a mostly paper-based benefits eligibility system in order to accept benefit applications online. He was also involved in the creation of Connecticut’s health insurance exchange. As the DSS’s longest serving commissioner who never sought the spotlight, Bremby guided the agency through a monumental transition that wasn’t always smooth and wasn’t without its critics.

His tenure kicked off with the discovery of 125 boxes of unprocessed benefits applications in the regional Hartford office. The discovery highlighted the need to transition to a paperless system. In July 2013, the department transitioned from the old eligibility management method to ConnectCT, which included an interactive phone system and a document scanning service. In August 2016, they began replacing ConnectCT with ImpaCT, a new web-based eligibility management system. ImpaCT replaced the outdated mainframe computer whose software was written in Cobol, a code created in the 1960s. The agency Bremby inherited handled 5 million pieces of paper and 900,000 phone calls per month. The department still maintains 12 regional offices and launched the call center, which acts like a 13th office. While it’s not an application line, the phone option is designed to offer eligibility-related services. People call to change their address, cancel benefits, or make sure their paperwork is being processed or has been received. There are currently 800,000 residents who receive Medicaid benefits and 400,000

CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

with food stamps. The new system is still a work in progress. Wait times that clients were experiencing on DSS’s phone system this past summer were nearing two hours. According to advocates, the long tele-

DSS Commissioner Roderick Bremby

phone wait times have caused more people to show up at DSS offices — a trend the department was hoping to eliminate when it instituted the new system five years ago. DSS notes that local offices are always an option for the public and the new system

added alternatives to, not the replacement of, in-person visits. Another bright spot during Bremby’s tenure was his ability to turn around the processing times for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The federal government even awarded Connecticut funding bonuses as a result of its performance in handling SNAP applications. The Lamont administration is conducting a national search for Bremby’s successor and is consulting with people like Andy Slavitt, the former acting commissioner of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who was also instrumental in solving problems with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. “Governor Lamont thanks Rod Bremby for his leadership at DSS,” Maribel La Luz, Lamont’s communications director, said. “As its longest serving commissioner, Bremby was integral in the launch of the department’s self-insured Medicaid program, which leads the nation in cost stability and improved quality health outcomes. In addition, he led efforts to mod-

New Haven Takes A Quantum Leap THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

The quest to develop the supercomputers of the future is now taking place in part at the corner of Winchester and Munson, where a Yale-connected tech start-up formally has launched a new lab. The start-up is called Quantum Circuits Inc. On Thursday, Quantum co-founder and Chief Scientist Robert Schoelkopf was joined by Gov. Ned Lamont, venture capitalist Dan Ciporin, and Yale University Vice Provost for Research Peter Schiffer, to cut the ribbon on a new state-of-the-art lab that will serve as development, testing, and in-house manufacturing facility for the four-year-old start-up. The company is among the leading groups in the world developing quantum computers, the next generation of super-fast machines for, say, helping researchers discover new drugs, design new tools for fintech or security, or “all the things [supercomputers] are good at,” as Schoelkopf put it. “It’s a very exciting time for us as we’re celebrating a new phase for QCI here in New Haven,” Schoelkopf, who also is the Sterling professor of applied physics and physics at Yale, said during the ribboncutting ceremony for the lab on the second floor of 25 Science Park at Yale. He said the opening of the lab, which will support 20 scientists and engineers with 6,000 square feet of space, comes at an auspicious time in history for the field of quantum information science. “We’re kind of really at a tipping point,” Schoelkopf said. “It’s the birth of a brand new technology and the onset of commercialization and taking sort of fundamental scientific knowledge into practice.” The company expects to grow in the space and add more jobs. The technology used by QCI was pioneered by Yale scientists like Schoelkopf and his co-founders Luigi Frunzio and Mi-

Gov. Ned Lamont joins helps cut the ribbon at Science Park Thursday with QCI co-founder Robert Schoelkopf, and Canaan Partners Dan Ciporin and Yale Vice Provost Peter Schiffer.

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

chel Devoret. Schoelkopf said quantum computers will be able to help biologists avoid tedious trial and error to figure out things like whether a particular molecule could produce a new drug, for instance. “With a quantum computer, we can just design it and explore a whole host of possibilities beforehand and sort of cut the corner on all the actual chemistry,” he said. That means finding solutions, creating products and commercializing those products can happen faster. The field has become so promising that outside the U.S. countries are making big research and development investments to the tune of an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in China and $1.2 billion over the next 10 years in the European Union.

President Donald Trump has also authorized an investment of $1.2 billion over the next five years. QCI expects that public and private spending on R&D will increase by double-digit rates in the next few years. Companies around the world are building on work first done by QCI’s founders performing quantum algorithms and quantum error corrections in integrated circuits. “Here at QCI, we are ... focusing on system engineering the sort of discovery of the programming and how you use these machines for real application and also on making devices more reliable, more manufacturable and the like,” Schoelkopf said. “We have a lot of people betting on this basic technology. We’re really excited. We expect to be fielding our first systems this year so that we can start to address at the

early stage some of those problems that I listed before from biopharma to a whole host of other industries and sort of cracking open this new era of the information age.” Gov. Ned Lamont said quantum information science and quantum computing can help propel Connecticut back to the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship. “We were the most entrepreneurial, innovative state in the country going back a few generations,” he said at Thursday’s event. “In the last generation or two, we missed a beat when it comes to computer science and the next generation to propel our greater economy going forward. That’s changing. “This is not sci-fi, not The Jetsons. When Sequoia leaves Silicon Valley and comes to Yale, comes to New Haven and invests here, they know this is where the future is.” “This is not something that’s pie-in-thesky,” Lamont added. “It’s something that will be able to be commercialized in the relatively near term.” “The fact that the world’s first quantum computer is going to be made in Connecticut makes me incredibly proud,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy in a press release, “and it speaks volumes about the unmatched talent of our workforce and the groundbreaking research being done at our universities.” Just two years ago QCI secured $18 million in venture capital from Canaan Partners and Sequoia, to build and sell the first practical and useful quantum computers, a big deal in the field where bigger players with deeper pockets like IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Intel Corp. are hard at work doing the same. Canaan Partners’ Dan Ciporin was on hand for Thursday’s ceremony. He said that he and his partners were convinced that QCI was the right company and the right team “at the forefront of the most exciting paradigm shifts of the 21st century.”

yale institute of sacred music

He also said he believes that QCI has the team that is in the best position to commercialize what comes out of its new lab. “We’re thrilled to invest in QCI, Rob and his team and to continue to invest in technology and innovation,” he said. Canaan Partners was founded in Connecticut as a spin-off of GE Ventures. Ciporin said that he believes that Ned Lamont is the right leader to take the state where the technology sector wants to go and that he will spearhead policies that will bring jobs and innovation to the state. Peter Schiffer, Yale vice provost for research, said the university has placed a strong emphasis on science and engineering. President Peter Salovey sees building more in sciences as part of Yale’s responsibility as a major research university. “The research problems of today are going to affect humanity,” he said. “Quantum science is a particularly interesting and important topic for Yale and the world.” He said quantum mechanics has been known and understood at some level for the last century, but it’s only been in the last couple of decades “have the application and implications of quantum mechanics as a technology come to the forefront.” Schiffer said that means that there is a tremendous possibility for new types of computers that will solve different problems faster, more efficiently and lead to the development of new technologies. He called QCI a case study for how Yale faculty members have been able to go from ideation to a company that hires people and ultimately ends up producing products and “technology that is going to impact lives.” “The story of QCI illustrates the potential to leverage university research to create jobs and to drive a competitive, high tech economy,” Schiffer said. “We are excited to be here today about the great success story coming out of Yale. The future for quantum information science is bright.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

Do ribs and beer sound like a good combination to you?

Ricky D’s Pitch: Ribs & Beer by SIMON BAZELON New Haven Independent

Ricky Evans, owner of Ricky D’s Rib Shack on Winchester Avenue in Science Park, is betting that it does. So he applied for a special permit from the City Plan Commission to allow his restaurant to serve certain alcoholic beverages. At the Commission’s monthly meeting in City Hall on Wednesday, Evans came one step closer to realizing his goal, as the commissioners approved the special permit. Evans described this as “just the first step” towards actually being able to serve his customers beer and wine. He still needs to obtain a liquor license form the state. Ricky D’s, located at 302 Winchester, has been open for two and a half years. He began selling his barbecue from a food truck five years ago. Evans said that he “looks at getting a liquor license as a way to add to and grow the business” at the Winchester storefront, which has increased its sales

New #2

each year. “Beer complements barbecue well,” he said, and his customers have been asking for the combination. Evans said he plans to serve locally produced craft beer. Starting on Super Bowl Sunday, the restaurant will also be open seven days a week; previously it had only been open Monday through Saturday. Ricky D’s has also recently added sauteed okra and spinach to the menu. Evans said that at some point in the future he might add televisions to liven up the restaurant, which seats 32. Evans had to apply to the City Plan Commission to get permission to serve liquor because Ricky D’s is located in a Planned Development District, which is subject to additional zoning ordinances. The commission approved the application unanimously. “Your business has added a lot to the area,” Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe told Evans at the meeting. “You’ve found a way to bring the Yale community and the local community together” because everyone can “find common ground at Ricky D’s.” Evans has also joined other New Haven entrepreneurs in pushing the state legislature to legalize recreational use of marijuana. He has developed CBD-infused barbecue sauce with hopes of becoming the “Heinz ketchup of the cannabis industry.”

Yale School Of Drama Has Trouble In Mind

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

Brothers Ricky and Brandon Evans at their rib joint.

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

A fast-rising participant in New Haven political circles has ascended to the numbertwo spot of the Connecticut Democratic Party. His name is Erick Russell. On Wednesday night the Democratic State Central Committee chose him as the party’s new vicechair. The new chair is former Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, who succeeds Nick Balletto. Jacqueline Kozin, who use to live in New Haven (now in Hartford) is the party’s new executive director. Russell, a 2012 University of Connecticut law grad, grew up in New Haven. He has served as party co-chair of Ward 6 (City Point) and is a member of the New Haven Democratic Town Committee. His name surfaced as a possible State Senate candidate last year when it appeared that then-gubernatorial. candidate might choose New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield as a running mate, opening up a seat. By day Russell works as an attorney specializing in municipal and state government work for the Pullman & Comley firm. He hairs the LGBT section of the Connecticut Bar Association and co-chairs Connecticut Cares for Lambda Legal.

“Bends”

school system has grown significantly during that time. State aid, or lack thereof, isn’t the only hurdle that BOE budget makers are facing right now. With less than six months to go in the fiscal year and a nearly $9 million deficit projected, the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) central office is operating without a chief operating officer and without a chief financial officer. “I agree with you, Gary,” Gormany said. “I really do.” “We’re gonna keep putting pressure on them,” Jones said, to try to close that deficit Con’t from page 05

Daggett Factory Conversion Advances After a month-long delay, a developer looking to put 80 new apartments in a former factory on Daggett Street has an agreement with its neighbor for an easement and the approval of the City Plan Commission. Commissioners during their regular monthly meeting last week at City Hall approved a site plan for the conversion of the former Seamless Rubber Co. complex into new apartments and a special permit to allow 47 parking spaces. In December, commissioners sent developers operating as 69-76 Daggett Street LLC to work out an agreement over an easement over a small triangle of land that separates the factory from two abutting Yale-New Haven Hospital buildings. Project attorney Miguel Almodovar told commissioners Wednesday that the Daggett Developers and YNHH had struck and signed an agreement. YNNH attorney Elliot Kaiman confirmed to commissioners that Almodovar was accurate. The developers operating as 69-76 Daggett Street LLC had obtained site plan approval for the project back in February 2017, and special exception for parking in October 2017. But they never got started building because of “unknowable circumstances,” Almodovar told commissioners in January. The plan to upscale for the former Daggett Street Square artists’ haven, which city of-

Con’t from page

BRIAN SLATTERY PHOTO

69-75 Daggett, last used as underground artists’ haven.

ficials shut down in 2015 for dangerous code violations a year and a half before a similar operation in Oakland erupted in flames and killed 36 people still calls for a mix of 80 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The market rate housing is aimed at attracting medical residents and other nearby hospital personnel who want to be close to work. Almodovar told commissioners in January that the developers had refined their plans for how drivers would enter and exit a proposed parking garage. Under the previous plan that commissioners approved there would have been 55 parking spaces, some

of which would be in a basement level of the building and some in the backyard. To leave the site cars would have had to circulate through the garage level and leave from the back and side of the building. The plan that commissioners approved Wednesday would have cars entering and exiting the garage on Daggett Street instead. There will no longer be parking in the back of the building for tenants, mainly because there’s no longer any need for that much parking. That space would become a courtyard area instead. Construction is expected to begin January and be completed by March 2020.

old experienced actress that she couldn’t expect to play outside the School of Drama. The “conflict and tension” in the course of Trouble in Mind makes her character “grapple with the role and her integrity in the part,” McMillian said. For Kudtarkar and McMillian, both women of color, part of the problem with “Chaos in Belleville” is its white male director’s unwillingness, or inability, to really listen to his actors. By contrast, McMillian complemented Kudtarkar for letting her actors feel collaborative in their actual rehearsals. Kudtarkar, however, said she sees herself in the fictional play’s director as well as in various characters, as all struggle with the problem of truth onstage. For Kudtarkar, the play “takes to task” the notion of “universal truths,” showing how “we all embody” such truths differently. Theater “pursues the truth” but such truths are “performative,” the “embodied truth” of characters in specific situations. Because the play-within-a-play is “conceptually wrong,” Childress’ play can make fun of it — but, Kudtarkar said, a revival of Childress’ play is “doubly removed” from both the kind of Southern race play the cast is rehearsing as well as the era of the actors of Childress’ day, making a contemporary production of Trouble in Mind “more complicated and nuanced” than it was in its day. Yet, she said, “the sucker punch still lands.” The critical acclaim Trouble in Mind saw in the mid-1950s suggests that audiences appreciated its satire of racial stereotypes and its thoughtful approach to how theater is made. What might be more telling for audiences today, Kudtarkar said, is “the painful cost of theatrical artifice and the demands it makes,” so that, as individuals, performers are forced to break with something that fails to be true to experience. There are, she said, “multiple points of entry” into the play, and not only for those “navigating a career” in theater with its personal and professional demands. A play with a lot on its mind, Trouble in Mind makes us confront the way we avoid unpleasant truths by making them into acceptable fictions — at least until a more compelling sense of reality intrudes. Trouble in Mind runs at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8. Visit the Yale School of Drama’s website here for tickets and more information.

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Housing Activists On New Report: Don’t Forget Homeless by STAFF

New Haven Independent

Zoning reform is great. But don’t forget the homeless. That message is at the center of the Room for All coalition’s to the Affordable Housing Task Force’s final report and 44 recommendations on how to make New Haven a place where low-income residents can afford to live. The group of local affordable housing activists issued that response on Tuesday, less than a week after the task force voted on its final report and recommendations following half a year of public hearings and deliberations. That report now makes its way to the Board of Alders, which has to figure out which recommendations to turn into law. A STATEMENT TO ALL RELEVANT CITY, STATE AND FEDERAL PARTIES BY THE ROOM FOR ALL COALITION IN RESPONSE TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE REPORT APPROVED ON JANUARY 24, 2019 Addressing the affordable and accessible housing crisis cannot be done without creating homes for and in collaboration with our most vulnerable communities The City must center on those most vulnerable to housing instability. These groups include atrisk youth, people with criminal records, those with very low income, the disabled and the elderly. To resolve the affordable housing crisis, the City must center those most vulnerable to housing instability: people with disabilities, criminal records, very low income, youth, and the elderly. Generating a wide spectrum of housing options, as the Task Force intends, requires housing interventions and supportive programming built around the distinct needs and obstacles of these populations. Existing solutions, such as rapid rehousing, are insufficient for the large number of individuals who cannot work or are unable to find employment. Overview We write to you on behalf of the Room for All coalition, a group that includes Mothers and Others for Justice, CT Bail Fund’s

Housing Not Jails Collective, New Haven Rising, Youth Continuum, Y2Y, DixwellNewhallville Watchdog Advocacy Committee, New Haven Legal Assistance Association (“LAA”) and Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. We are drawing on a wide breadth of community knowledge, lived experience of housing instability, and advocacy and justice work in New Haven to respond to the Affordable Housing Task Force’s Report and Recommendations, issued January 24, 2019. Some recommendations are for consideration by the New Haven Board of Alders, but others must be carried out by other governmental entities in partnership with community groups. The Room for All Coalition is deeply appreciative of the care and expertise evident in the recommendations, and thanks the Affordable Housing Task Force for their commitment to seeking and incorporating public input. These recommendations are just the beginning of the critical process to make actual change. Housing is a human right and a key determinant of the health and success of a community. Early interventions are especially effective; by committing public resources to housing and stabilizing youth experiencing homelessness, we avert the necessity for more complex and expensive interventions down the line and minimize lifetime engagement with the welfare system and criminal justice system. Areas for Growth The Affordable Housing Task Force has issued clear guidance on how the City of New Haven can optimize zoning laws, activate regional and state resources, and promote accountability among developers and landlords in order to expand access to affordable housing. The Task Force has flagged rental assistance, eviction prevention, and tenants’ rights programs to help New Haven residents become housed and remain housed. But, there are several key issues that require more attention. In its recommendations, the Task Force has recognized that histories of incarceration heighten barriers to affordable housing and has pressed the city to collaborate with partner organizations to address youth

homelessness, work that is being undertaken by Room for All Coalition members Housing Not Jails, Y2Y and Youth Continuum. There are a few areas where we believe the Task Force’s recommendations can be improved. We believe that the Task Force’s recommendations would be more actionable if they named directly the community partners needed to bring about progress. We call on all entities responding to the Task Force recommendations to acknowledge the extensive expertise and experience that the Room For All Coalition and other community representatives has contributed to the recommendations. Individual members of the Task Force acknowledged the critical role that community voices played in the development of the recommendations generally. We , we urge the City to name the Room For All Coalition as a community partner in carrying out the recommendations that the Affordable Housing Task Force has made. • We believe the Task Force should highlight the importance of opening Y2Y in a safe and appropriate location. • We believe that the Task Force should highlight the importance of adopting the Homeless Bill of Rights and the Resolution to Decriminalize Homelessness. • We believe that the Task Force’s recommendations would be more impactful if they made firm measurable commitments about housing the city’s most vulnerable, such as those with criminal histories, In the implementation of the recommendations, we ask that actual goals be set for such things as development of specific numbers of units for these populations and setting specific policies that will reduce obstacles to housing these populations. • The Task Force’s recommendations about enforcement of the current housing code were encouraging and a step in the right direction. However, they failed to address improving the processes through which the city of New Haven issues a citation or order to a landlord and records that citation. A user friendly, publicly accessible source for landlord citations would

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

Community organizer Kerry Ellington, part of Room for All.

greatly improve tenants’ ability to hold their landlords accountable. • We believe the Task Force has missed an opportunity to leverage the knowledge, skills, and community infrastructure in the design of the Affordable Housing Commission as it currently stands. To ground the Commission in firsthand experience, we strongly encourage the Task Force and the Board of Alders to provide that at least five of the members of the Affordable Housing Commission have lived experience of housing instability, residence in subsidized housing, or history in the shelter system. Conclusion We urge all the relevant state and city agencies, and legislative bodies to act on the Affordable Housing Task Force’s rec-

ommendations with urgency to relieve the financial and social hardships imposed by New Haven’s deficit of affordable housing. We have generated a list of the recommendations that is organized by the entity that can act on the item that can be used as a guide for elected officials and other decision-makers. We also call for an open process with public hearings held after working hours and sustained engagement with the Room For All Coalition and other community partners in the implementation of the these priorities. The City and community have articulated ambitious, shared goals in the realm of affordable housing by working together, and we can only realize them by working together.

Cops Trained Not To Arrest Domestic Violence Victims by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven Independent

A city police officer responds to a domestic violence call. When he asks the victim what happened, she begins with, “It all started three months ago…” Thanks to a new state law and requisite police training, that officer is expected actually hear the victim out, and not to arrest both the victim and her abusive partner. That change in how city police handle domestic violence calls was at the center of a press conference and officer training session held Thursday afternoon on the fourth floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. Lt. Renee Dominguez, who heads the department’s Family Services unit, described the department’s mandatory training on the

THOMAS BREEN PHOTO Lt. Renee Dominguez at Thursday’s press conference.

Umbrella Center Program Manager Barbara Belluci.

matter thanks to the state’s new “Dominant Aggressor” law, or Public Act No. 18-5, which went into effect throughout Connecticut on Jan. 1, 2019. Before Jan. 1, police officers throughout the state were required to arrest both parties during domestic violence calls with just four exceptions, including self defense and verbal, non-violent abuse. Starting this month, police officers are mandated to exercise a greater level of discretion in identifying “dominant aggressor,” defined as the person “who poses the most serious ongoing threat in a situation involving the suspected commission of a family violence crime.” In the 30-plus classes that Dominguez, Sgt. Marry Helland, and Det. Cherelle Carr

have taught so far this month, the instructors have told city officers that they now don’t have to arrest both the victim and the aggressor on a domestic violence call. Instead, they can and should identify the one who poses a more serious threat, based on such factors as history of family violence and relative degree of injury, and leave the victim out of handcuffs. “We’re not revictimizing the victim,” Dominguez said at Thursday’s presser. Carr agreed. “Victims are now putting trust back in the police,” she said. And no longer have to fear being sent to jail for calling the police about a domestic violence dispute. Barbara Belluci, a program manager and Con’t on page 22

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

“Big Sister” Barbara Lee’s Advice for the New Women of Color in Congress “You have to break through all of that sexism and racism. You have to really confront that all of the time.”

By Christina Cauteruci

There’s a crew of new women in Congress who’ve become fast friends since the election. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have become instant progressive icons and visible markers of a long-overdue shift in legislative demographics. They’ve posted loads of selfies together, called themselves a “squad,” tweeted support for each other’s policy ideas, and defended each other from right-wing detractors. Their fans have seen them as harbingers of hope in a dark time descending on a stalled-out Congress to help save America from itself. It’s important to remember, though, as Pressley told her Twitter followers over the weekend, that there have been vocal women of color pushing for progressive change in Congress for a long time. California Rep. Barbara Lee, who Pressley called a “big sister & mentor” in her tweet, is one of them. In a phone conversation earlier this month, I spoke to Lee about her role in the new, more progressive Congress, what it was like to be one of the few black women in national office in the 1990s, and what it might mean to have a “critical mass” in the legislature. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Christina Cauterucci: I was looking through all the pictures you and other Democratic women posed for on the first day of the new Congress, and there was a palpable feeling of celebration. What was that day like for you? Barbara Lee: It was exciting. The younger and new members of Congress are very smart, they’re authentic, they’re passionate, they’re committed to their constituencies and to the country, to the world. And it’s just been wonderful being with them. I hope

to be able to help them find their paths. But also, I have to say, just as a progressive African-American woman, they give me a lot of hope. They strengthen me. They really formed that bond that means a heck of a lot when you’re in a Congress where— for example, in 1998, I was only the 20th African-American woman ever elected to Congress since 1789. So this is really quite a happy moment and a really profound and positive development for the country. There seems to be an incredible camaraderie among this new class of congresswomen—they’re hugging each other in photos, calling each other sisters in their tweets. Is there always such a strong feeling of solidarity among new progressive members of Congress? There’s always solidarity. But I think this year is unique because you have so many women of color, and women from diverse backgrounds, and women who have broken

so many glass ceilings. For example, Pennsylvania did not have one single woman in their delegation. Now we have—I believe it’s four. This is amazing. This is groundbreaking. It really tells me there’s no way we can ever go back. I think the excitement and the joy and the hope that this election brought was really a special and unique moment in history. I’ve been thinking a lot about power in numbers when it comes to race and gender representation in Congress. Some studies of women in business leadership suggest that there needs to be a critical mass of people from underrepresented groups to make a tangible difference, because one person alone can be more easily ignored or tokenized. Does that resonate with your experience in Congress? Absolutely. You know, it’s really good to have allies. And coming to Congress then, as a progressive African-American wom-

an, it took a while to build the level of collegiality that others have, especially white men, because there were so few of us. In terms of speaking out in a meeting or at a hearing with new ideas—folks would shake their heads and say “Great,” or whatever. Then 10 minutes later they would reiterate the same thing I just said, as if it were new. [Laughs.] It’s just like being invisible. You know what that’s like, being invisible? But let me tell you: I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I was working for former Congressman Ron Dellums, who passed away in July. And when I started working as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill, there were maybe two African-American women as chiefs of staff, OK? Maybe three, but I think it was two. I had to represent Ron at meetings with Cabinet officials. And I’d walk into those meetings, and primarily white men were there, and I would engage in the meeting, and it was almost like I just wasn’t there. Or they didn’t recognize me as a chief of staff, or they would never call on me to ask my question or make my point. Or they sometimes didn’t know that I was a chief of staff, they thought I was another staffer just taking notes to take back to the congressman. You know, it was very ugly and demeaning, disrespectful. So I remember those days, and we’ve made a lot of progress, but let me tell you, we have a long way to go. You still have institutional biases, you have to break through all of that sexism and racism. You have to really confront that all of the time, whether it’s subconscious or conscious. [Congress is] still just a microcosm of America. It takes a while. But I think that we’re moving forward, we’re making progress. With this new Congress, you know, it’ll never go back to the days of long ago, when Shirley Chisholm, the first

African-American congresswoman, was elected in the late ’60s. You know what it’s like to stand alone on an issue—I’m thinking specifically of your vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. [Ed. note: Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the broad, still-active authorization of war.] What advice are you giving new members of Congress on speaking up, even if they’re alone? I think they all are very courageous and all have to know their bottom lines, what they bring to Congress, their values, who they are, and what they stand for. And it may not be the same thing, but you have to know how far to go for compromise, or how far you will allow yourself to go on any given issue. For me, as a daughter of veteran and someone whose dad was in World War II, Korea, and who was raised in a military family, I know that the use of force should only be the last option, recognizing that we have to make sure that our national security is secure. So for me, that’s a bottom line. For me, another bottom line is you do not cut public assistance and food stamps. I had a very difficult period in my life—I was a single mother with two young sons. And I was on welfare and food stamps and Medicaid. And I knew what it was like, and it was really hard. But in that moment because I had this bridge over troubled waters, like a lifeline, I’m not gonna allow, on my watch, my involvement in cutting any of this basic support for people and families and children who need it. And I’m gonna look out for others who may be in similar circumstances. So that’s a bottom line for me. [The new members of Congress] come Con’t on page 13

Is there a case to be made for culture over cost?

Data Shows Some PWIs Are Just as Bad For Black Students as They’ve Always Been. So What Will HBCUs Do About It? by JL Carter Sr. HBCUDigest.com

Last fall, New York University School of Medicine officials announced that all students accepted into the program beginning this fall would go tuition free. Just over six months since the announcement, applications to the school have increased by more than 50%. African Americans comprise the biggest ethnic group seeking admission into the globally competitive medical college, but over the last 25 years, they are among the lowest in matriculation rates for minority medical school attendees. NYU Med saw a 102 percent increase, to 2,020, in applications from those who are a member of a group that is underrepresented in medicine (including black, Latino and Native American students). The largest percentage increase was among those who identify as African American, black, or Afro-Caribbean. Applications from this group went up 142 percent, to 1,062. Medical schools have pushed for years to attract a more diverse student body, and

have in some respects succeeded. But the biggest gains in recent years have been among Asian Americans, and black enrollments have largely been stagnant, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. (Admissions Surge After NYU Med Goes Tuition-Free – Inside Higher Ed (Scott Jaschik) It is more than a notion at schools outside of New York City. In Tennessee, a recent study shows that in spite of the state’s free community college tuition assistance pro-

gram, graduation rates for African Americans students in the state’s public institutions remain lower than rates for white and Hispanic counterparts, along with lower rates for enrollment and retention. Last month, the Dallas News profiled the growing crisis of black male acheivement among its public colleges and universities – Prairie View A&M University was the only public university in the state to graduate more than 100 black males in 2016. The message is clear – predominantly white systems and institutions are doing

an increasingly effective job at making the case to eager black students, but their return on investment is likely to be just as bad as it has ever been – even when the cost is virtually free. Few things are more persuasive than the idea of ‘free,’ but there are several HBCUs breaking the stereotype threats of high costs, low job prospects and great marching bands and parties all in between. Benedict College cut tuition costs. Virginia State University creates narratives around its professional training opportunities. Paul Quinn College convinces students that enrollment means being a part of nation-building. PWIs are giving HBCUs every opportunity to take their students back with compelling data on PWI failings and HBCU enrichment. But to recruit today’s black students, the message has to be delivered in that order to counteract the smokescreen realities of free tuition, larger facilities, and phantom earning potential from PWI training; not the other way around.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

What You Should Know About Lebron James’ I Promise School

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Nationwide — One of the most celebrated basketball players of all time opened a school this past year. LeBron James’ I Promise School is a public elementary school for at-risk students in Akron, Ohio. The school is a partnership between the Lebron James Family Foundation and the school district. While many celebrities start charter and private schools, James decided a traditional public school is what his hometown needed. He reflected on his own experiences growing up to produce a state-of-the-art facility that has about a 20:1 student-toteacher ratio. When he was a 4th grader, James missed 83 days of school; it was always a surprise to him whether or not he’d be attending school on any given day. That’s why he took the initiative to open an institution that offers opportunity and focuses on building bright futures for children. The curriculum mainly prioritizes science, technology, engineering, and math. Students whose academic performance trails a year or two behind their peers are selected to attend. The school years and school days are designed to be longer than normal, so kids can fully engage in the school’s programming and focus on their education instead of their struggles outside of the classroom. In fact, one of the pillars

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at the school emphasizes dropping external “baggage” at the door. Additionally, the I Promise school offers after-school tutoring, attendance incentives, and free transportation for students within a two-mile radius. Upon a student’s arrival, they’ll receive a free school uniform and an incredibly warm welcome. In addition to placing a strong emphasis on instructional frameworks, student learning, and emotional and social support, the school also values nutrition and fitness. Each student receives free meals (breakfast and lunch), snacks, and drinks. They even get their own bicycle! Additionally, if a student completes their education at the I Promise school and graduates from their high school, they’re guaranteed a full-tuition, four-year scholarship to the University of Akron. It isn’t just the students that benefit, though—their parents do as well. The school offers GED classes, job placement assistance, and an on-site food bank, so families can learn and thrive together. Teachers also receive resources, such as personal training sessions. Currently, the school has an inaugural class of 240 third- and fourth-graders. Next year, it will also serve first- and secondgraders. LeBron James’ I Promise School hopes to host first- through eighth-graders by the 2022 to 2023 school year.

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Barbara Lee’s Advice for the New Women

with a lot of courage. Just to get here took a lot of courage—to break through, given the fundraising barriers and everything that you have to deal with. But now they’re here, and they’ve demonstrated how courageous they are. They just have to know how far they’re willing to compromise and what they stand for. And I think most of them know that. How do you see your role in this wave of new progressive women, especially women of color, taking seats in Congress? I hope I am a supportive peer who can really help them navigate the legislative process, and do exactly what they want to do in their congressional career—serving their constituents and how they want to go, what path they want to take. And now as a co-chair of the Steering and Policy Committee, I want to make sure they’re able to get to the committees that they want—to

carve out what issues they want to address. In terms of the seniority system and how you navigate that—I’ve had a lot of experience … [with] ways to think out of the box and be creative in what I want to do when there are systemic and institutional kinds of roadblocks. So I want to help [new members of Congress] figure those out. But also, I have to tell you: They encourage me, and they give me a lot of insight, and I learn a heck of a lot from them. It goes both ways. There’s a crew of new women in Congress who’ve become fast friends since the election. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have become instant progressive icons and visible markers of a long-overdue shift in legislative demographics. (Photo: Courtesy Office of Rep. Barbara Lee)

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

18-Year Old Black Teen Entrepreneur Signs Major Deal With Target Stores — Introduces Plant-Based Skincare Giftbox! Zandra Cunningham brings her award-winning artisan skincare product line to Target Stores nationwide. Her exclusive product with the chain is a “Treat Yo Self” gift box that celebrates Black History month.

Are you a parent of a 2 to 5 year old? Do you feel stressed? Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH) Study The Yale Stress Center is looking for parents with children ages 2 to 5 years old to participate in a stress reduction and health research study. You will receive nutrition and exercise counseling. Childcare is provided.

Nationwide — Zandra, a leading plantbased social good company that educates and empowers girls and women across the globe via STEAM & Entrepreneurial education, partners with Target. To mark the first time that Zandra products will be available in Target Stores, Zandra A. Cunningham the Teen-Founder, and CEO has curated a target exclusive Gift Box that will introduce Target shoppers to the brand. “I am so excited to offer my unique brand of American made yuck free products in an exclusive gift box designed specifically for Target. This is yet another dream come true for me. I am working hard to pave the way for other indie brands with teen CEO’s. My journey hasn’t been easy but it will forever be worth it. I am on a mission to shatter the status quo, and with partners like Target, I am making that happen,” said Zandra the 18-year old entrepreneur. To start, Target will stock an exclusive gift box which will include Zandra Hand & Body Lotion – a moisturizing, nourishing and repairing formula made with skinloving whipped butters and oils;an Exfoliating Sugar Scrub – designed to exfoliate the body for a natural glow; and the famous Lip & Body Balm – handcrafted in small batches from a blend of Zandra’s favorite oils and fair trade Shea butter to create the ultimate moisturizer for on the go. All are free of chemicals. From its Buffalo-based lab, Zandra combines the art of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) to create 50 nutrient-rich skin care products; each naturally proven to nourish, heal and improve sensitive skin. Natural ingredients are the bedrock of Zandra skin care and a lasting alternative to commercial products with yucky unhealthy ingredients. The award-winning brand continues to ex-

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pand with a full range of facial care. Zandra offers DIY STEAM beauty & entrepreneurial programming and has national distribution reaching over 900 locations across the country. As CEO and Founder, Zandra is an accomplished girl’s education advocate, business mentor, international speaker, and philanthropist. She leads a number of philanthropy initiatives that support the Zandra philosophy to educate and empower girls on the move through advocacy, communitybuilding, and inspired leadership. About ‘Zandra’ Beauty Zandra Azariah Cunningham is an 18-year old entrepreneur from Buffalo, NY. Her fascination with entrepreneurship began when she was 9-years old, as a result of her dad’s refusal to buy her beloved lip balm. His “NO” forced her to do the work and make her own. With the assistance of her

family, her newfound appreciation for entrepreneurship, and focus, she started her business, Azariah’s Innocence, a few days shy of her 10th birthday. Her first products, lip balms, and whipped shea body butter were sold at local farmer markets in the summer of 2010. She started with lip balms and body butter because those were products that she frequently used. However, she discovered that most of the products she purchased at the mall would leave her skin dry, itchy and unhappy. Zandra made it her mission to make products that smelled good and kept her skin soft without irritating it. She wanted to give girls a natural alternative to commercial products with yucky unhealthy ingredients. Today, Zandra offers natural bath and body for the educated and empowered girl on the move! For more information, visit www.ZandraBeauty.com

Amistad Principal: “We Will Be Better”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

28 Ways to Celebrate Black History By Megan Kaesshaefer www.scholastic.com/teachers

17. View artist Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, which depicts the migration of slaves from the South to the North in search of a better life.

Learn more about the exceptional contributions made by African Americans with these ideas for each day of Black History Month.

18. Read “A Pledge to Rescue Our Youth” by poet Maya Angelou. Then, watch a video about her inspiration for this profound piece on youth and education.

Grades PreK–K, 1–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12 Celebrate Black History Month with these twenty-eight ideas, one for each day of February, that recognize the heritage, accomplishments, and culture of African Americans in the United States.

19. Learn about the history of hip-hop music, a genre that emerged in the Bronx, New York City, in 1970. Ask students to bring in examples of their favorite songs or dances to discuss.

1. Share with students “I, Too, Sing America” by poet Langston Hughes and have a discussion about the poem’s vocabulary, rhythm, and meaning. CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO Emery Sykes, Amistad’s new interim principal.

by CHRISTOPHER PEAK Beleaguered Amistad High now has a black woman at the helm — and she is promising to tackle the charter school’s racial challenges with an honest communal reckoning. Emery Sykes made that promise in an interview with the Independent in the wake of controversies over the previous principal’s shoving a student and an African-American former staffer’s viral video about discipline policies at the Achievement First-run Dixwell Avenue school. Sykes, a counselor who joined the Dixwell Avenue school at its founding and now serves as the dean of college services, has taken over as interim principal (or school “leader”) since Morgan Barth announced his resignation after the Independent published a video of the white principal shoving a black student. “I believe we will be better,” Sykes said. “We are bruised right now, but we will be better better. We will be stronger because of this.” Achievement First initially planned to bring in a principal from another network school, but the co-CEOs changed their mind after hearing from staff in the building. Teachers said that they wanted someone who already knows their kids, said Fatimah Barker, the Achievement First network’s chief external officer. They landed on Sykes, who has broad support from the staff, because of her “love of kids and high moral standards,” she added. Sykes said she’s not interested in keeping the job permanently. The search for a principal who can take over next year is on hold, said Barker, who plans to work from Amistad during the transition. Last week, at a meeting where Amistad High School’s committee of directors heard from dozens of outraged speakers, more than 65 staffers signed a letter calling for a reexamination of the network’s entire Con’t on page 22

20. Teach students about Nelson Mandela, his imprisonment, and the battle to end apartheid in South Africa.

2. Bake sweet potato biscuits, a traditional soul food treat, with this delicious recipe. www.oprah.com/food/ Sweet-Potato-Biscuits_1

21. Show students Paul Robeson’s home, the Lincoln Memorial, and other historic places of the civil rights movement with this interactive road trip.

3. Listen to the blues and then invite students to compose their own 12-bar blues music.

22. In Africa, sesame seeds bring good luck. Make a delicious batch of sesame cookies with this recipe.

4. Conduct a read-aloud of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, then invite students to write their own speeches about what they are inspired to change in the world.

23. Explore CNN’s Black in America 2, which continues CNN’s investigation of the most challenging issues facing African-Americans. Soledad O’Brien reports on people who are using ground-breaking solutions to transform the black experience.

5. Play the African counting game Mancala. To make the game board, use a large egg carton (cut off the lid) and tape an extra cup (cut from another carton) to each end.

24. Watch Christopher Paul Curtis, a winner of the Newbery Medal, give advice to young authors.

6. View an interactive timeline chronicling “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” and other historical events, such as the ratification of the 14th Amendment.

25. Learn about the scientific work of African Americans with these Black History Month resources from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

7. See James Karales’s photographs of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches.

of white and black middle-class kids in America.

8. Examine these oral histories from elderly African Americans in Elbert County, Georgia, and Abbeville County., South Carolina on the National Park Service website.

11. Teach about the importance of journalism as well as its limitations by exploring scenes from the freedom rides of 1961 to the reporting on Malcolm X’s assassination.

9. For older students, share excerpts from Push, a novel by Sapphire, and clips from the film Precious. Host a discussion about the culture Precious grows up in, and how she overcomes adversity with education.

12. Watch student-made digital stories on important African Americans. Divide students into groups to make their own digital stories about a person of their choice.

10. Share excerpts of contemporary novelist Zadie Smith’s On Beauty with students and, using the reading guide, have a discussion about her portrayal

13. Teach students the songs of the civil rights movement, such as “This Little Light of Mine” and “Oh, Freedom.” Discuss how the lyrics reflect the defiant and hopeful spirit of the time.

14. Trace the history of the blues from its beginnings in the fields of the South to its global impact on today’s music. Visit the Kennedy Center to learn about B. B. King and other musicians.

26. Read excerpts from President Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope (or his Audacity of Hope speech) and discuss the importance of the election of our country’s first black president.

15. Teach students about director, producer, writer, and actor Spike Lee, a successful and prolific African American filmmaker.

27. Who was the first African American tennis player to win the U.S. Open? Who was the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress? Find out about many famous firsts in black history on Biography.

16. Take students through artists’ interpretations of freedom and equality with works by Norman Rockwell, Martin Puryear, and many others, in this gallery from the National Endowment for the Humanities. (Enter the gallery, chose “Themes” on the upper right, and then choose “Freedom and Equality.”)

28. Tour an online exhibit that marked the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that changed education and helped end segregation in schools.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019 COMMENTARY:

Shame And Shade In Birmingham

9TH ANNUAL

By Julianne Malveaux

Tuesday, February 26 at 12:00PM Omni New Haven Hotel

ROSANNE CASH Activist, Author, Grammy Award-Winning Singer/Songwriter

“I believe with all my heart that a single child’s life is greater, more precious, and more deserving of the protection of this nation and of the adults in this room than the right to own a personal arsenal of military-style weapons. The killing of children in schools should not be collateral damage for the 2nd amendment.” -Rosanne Cash For more information visit ARTIDEA.ORG/VLA Tickets available now!

If anyone deserves a civil rights award, Angela Davis certainly does. The activist and scholar has been on the front lines of the civil rights movement all of her life. She has been especially active in prison reform matters, but she has also been involved in other civil and human rights issues. When I learned back in October that she would get the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, I was absolutely delighted. I imagined the wide smile the daughter of Birmingham must have flashed when she learned that she would be honored. Everyone in Birmingham wasn’t thrilled, though. Some people in the conservative Southern town seemed disturbed that she had been a member of both the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party. Others were concerned about her support of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement) against the Israeli occupation. She has said that she stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and advocates for their fair treatment in Israel. Some ill informed people consider the BDS movement “anti-Semitic.” They suggest that any questions that one raises about Israel shows a bias against Jewish people. But Davis, a lifelong human rights activist, is concerned about the humanity of Palestinian people, as well as other people. And she is rightfully concerned, as many of us are, about the spate of laws recently passed that downright outlaw the BDS movement. According to the Middle East Monitor, a teacher in Texas, Bahia Amawl, refused to sign an oath that required her to pledge that she “does not currently boycott Israel,” that she will not boycott Israel and that she will “refrain from any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel.” Texas is among some 25 states that have passed laws forbidding the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel! It will also not invest pension funds in companies that support BDS. Thirteen more states including Washington DC, have similar laws to the Texas law pending, pitting people’s first amendment rights of free speech against support for Israel. And Florida Senator Marco Rubio, in the middle of a government shutdown, had the nerve to introduce national legislation that mirrors the Texas law (actually, Illinois was the first state to pass this discriminatory law). Lots of people in Birmingham aren’t having it. Though the “Civil Rights Institute” has rescinded its award to Dr. Angela Davis, there has been significant protest about the decision. Birmingham’s Mayor, Randall Woodfin, who is a non-voting member of the Museum Board and did not participate in the decision to rescind the award (the city provides the museum with about a million dollars a year in operating funds) has expressed his dismay about the decision. Three board members have resigned from the board. And Alabama columnist Roy S. Johnson has written a fiery column accusing the Civil Rights Institute of insulting Rev. Shuttlesworth and staining its own legacy. Johnson says the Birmingham Jewish community may have been the loudest, but not the only folks pushing for Davis’ award to be rescinded. Who rescinds an award after it has been granted for statements that were not recently made, but are a matter of record? Angela Davis has long been an outspoken activist, just

Angela Davis speaking at Myer Horowitz Theatre of the University of Alberta. (Photo by: Nick Wiebe | Wiki Commons) like Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was. Nothing had been changed from the time Davis was notified of the award and January 4, when it was rescinded. The BCRI did not have to honor Davis, but their canceling the award is a special kind of insult. Fortunately, Angela Davis has a thick skin, and she knows exactly who she is. She didn’t cringe when then-California governor Ronald Reagan had her fired from UCLA for her membership in the Communist Party. She didn’t flinch when she was incarcerated for a crime she did not commit. And she will not tremble because the BCRI rescinded the award. Indeed, demonstrating the indomitable spirit that she is known for, Angela Davis will travel to Birmingham in February for an alternative event. And the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum has egg on its face. That city showed a young Angela Davis who they were when the Four Little Girls, some of whom she knew, were killed at the 16 Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. And they are showing her who they are once again. Shame and shade! Unfortunately, I’m not surprised. One of the founders of the Women’s March has demanded the resignations of Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour because they attended one of Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Savior’s Days. Marc Lamont Hill lost his CNN commentary gig because he spoke up for Palestinian rights. Alice Walker has been criticized because she supports BDS. Now Angela Davis is being denied an award. When is enough going to be enough? For the record, I support Palestinian rights. And I support Israel’s right to exist. Are the two incompatible? I think not. The one-state solution, with a right to return, and full citizenship rights for Palestinians makes sense. But Israel is not about to budge, and BDS as an attempt to influence it. States passing laws to outlaw free speech erodes the first principle of our Constitution and undercut the actions at the very foundation of our nation. Remember the folks who dumped tea into the Boston Harbor because of an unfair tax? Today that action might be against the law! Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon.com. For booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

NFL Super Bowl, Gladys Knight, and Colin Kaepernick:

Nationwide — This isn’t about Gladys Knight’s right to perform at the Super Bowl; it surely isn’t about the singing of the National Anthem and you can bet your bottom dollar this isn’t about Colin Kaepernick playing QB in the NFL again. This is about the dueling souls of Black folks and the psychotic behavior of America. The famed scholar, Pan Africanist and sociologist, W.E.B. Du Bois in his classic work, The Souls of Black Folks characterized the black dichotomy as, “twoness”: as an American and as an African; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. As a result of this “double consciousness,” Du Bois adds, “African Americans suffer from a damaged selfimage shaped by the perceptions and treatment of white people.” Knight and Kaepernick evince these opposing identities and will superimpose these irreconcilable differences onto our TV screens on Super Bowl Sunday. THE AMERICAN AFRICAN: Many people shun the idea that Knight decided to perform the National Anthem. Nonetheless, there are just as many who believe Knight has “earned” the right to perform even though they too harbor some kind of resentment. However, it seems both camps

will be watching the Super Bowl. So much for standing on principles. Knight is a major contributor to the indigenous American Musical Art form known as R&B. Knight gave meaning and expression to the disillusionment many blacks feel daily about America. You could hear her songs crooned by Doo Whoopers beneath street corner lamps across America’s Universities of Street Corners. Knight sang America thru her songs: believing America would live up to her promise. THE AFRICAN AMERICAN: Kaepernick became the bane of the NFL brand.

It Ain’t What You Think It Is!

With his bush flopping in the wind, Kaepernick took a knee to bring much needed attention to the police killings of unarmed blacks. For this humanitarian genuflection, Kaepernick was vilified and eventually ostracized by the NFL – and America. Taking a knee is no sign of disrespect. It is the same posture we employ when we pray. There is no higher form of worship. But there were many who chided Kaepernick for interrupting sports with issues outside of the football arena. Much to their chagrin, the NFL gave focus and presence to Women’s Domestic Violence and Breast T:9” Cancer. I don’t see these issues as part of

the team’s play calling on the football field – even though players are oftentimes wearing “pink” on their NFL uniforms. This brings us to the National Anthem and what it does and does not represent. According to news reports, before 2009 NFL players would stay in the locker room during the playing of the anthem. In 2015 Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake released a report revealing that the Department of Defense (DOD) had spent $6.8 million between 2012 and 2015 on what the Senators called “paid patriotism”. It was part of DOD’s recruiting strategy. There was nothing found in these contracts

that mandated that players stand during the playing of the National Anthem. Many Blacks who defended this country fighting for what the National Anthem promulgates always noted how America fell short when they returned home. Just recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posthumously pardoned the Black men known as the Groveton Four who were accused of raping a white woman in 1949. One of the men believed if he wore his military uniform, the marauding gangs of lawless whites would show leniency. According to Democracy Now!, the white vigilantes hung him from a tree in his military uniform. OH SAY CAN YOU SEE “THE STRANGE FRUIT” BY THE DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT! I won’t be taking a “MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA” – to the ATL – to attend the Super Bowl. I stopped watching NFL games when Kaepernick was dropped kicked out of the NFL for taking a knee so the rest of us could take a stand. Kaepernick is the Rosa Parks of the NFL. As for Gladys, “NEITHER ONE OF US” will be the first to say goodbye. There will be no “LOVE OVERBOARD”. We’ll just go “ON AND ON” reconciling our “double consciousness.” Tolson Banner is a writer and columnist. He can be reached at mobilifstyle1@gmail. com or (202) 413-6431.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

COMMENTARY:

Super Bowl or not, in Black community

By William T. Robinson, Jr.

While the Super Bowl has been a celebrated and welcomed event for football fans and the American public as a whole, it has become a contentious target for many in the African American community. The ostracizing of Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers for kneeling during the singing of the National Anthem to show his disdain for police brutality and social injustices imposed on African Americans and people of color has riled his supporters and those who can identify with his freedom to express himself peacefully. Unfortunately, there are those who have relegated his actions as being disrespectful to the flag and those who have served our country or may be serving our country. The main critic leading this charge is President Trump, possibly to incite his base in generating racial strife. How dare African American athletes or celebrities use their national platform to highlight the indignities facing some people in this country? This is the sentiment of some who feel athletes or entertainers should not deviate from entertaining the public. Although many know that entertainment is often used as a smokescreen to shield the public from the harsh realities inundating our lives. Now make no mistake, you have devoted diehard African Americans who are not entertaining any boycott to keep them from watching or participating in their chosen addiction to football and you must respect

their right to make their individual choice. But it is hard for many conscientious brothers and sisters from judging the sincerity of those unwilling to sacrifice for the good of the whole, seeing this boycott as an opportunity to show a sign of our solidarity and unity in bringing attention and promoting positive changes that will uplift and bring about equality for all people, especially people of color. It is only when we make it known to the NFL and their sponsors that we are going to boycott their games and products will noticeably change take place because there are those betting that African Americans are incapable of uniting as one and showing solidarity. The solidarity that would promote needed change for everyone suffering from social injustices. You find many African Americans, especially men, who selfishly rationalize and find excuses, challenging the effectiveness of boycotting the Super Bowl as well as other NFL (National Football League) games. That is reminiscent of the many Africans Americans who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t support Martin Luther King, Jr. by claiming he was a radical, maverick, and troublemaker who was flaming or initiating the wrath of White people, feeling that would wreak harm and death upon African Americans, especially our youth. Ironically, these were some of the same African Americans first to stand in line for the many opportunities and rights gained by the Civil Rights Movement. It is unfortunate that we have some African Americans who may have been blessed

(Photo by: Juan Salamanca | Pexels.com) not to feel the full sting of discrimination, abuse, and inequality, making them indifferent or apathetic to the pain and suffering of their less fortunate brothers and sisters. Serious supporters of the NFL or Super Bowl boycott are upset with one of our most revered icons and civil rights advocates, singer Gladys Knight, for choosing to sing the national anthem during the Super Bowl. This is made more surprising when you have superstars like Cardi B, Beyonce, Rihanna, and Amy Schumer who are refusing to have anything to do with

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the Super Bowl until Colin Kaepernick is exonerated and picked up as a quarterback. Many see Gladys Knightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participation in the Super Bowl as insensitive and comparable to treason to African Americans seeking solidarity. But Gladys has stated that she feels it is unfortunate that the national anthem has been dragged into a debate against fighting for justice. She sees each as separate issues. She has expressed that she feels by singing the national anthem, she hopes she can bring people closer together

and give the anthem back its voice. If nothing more, this dilemma has sparked conversation and discussion about selfishness versus unity among the Black community. When all is said and done, we cannot let the biggest weapon (divide and conquer) keep us from moving forward as a people. If we do, we have let those seeking to oppress us continue to win. This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.

Superbowl: The Pats Vs. Rams THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

by Anthony Scott, ICN Correspondent

Another NFL season is coming to an end, so I’m bracing for a somber upcoming eight months. I had not been contemplating what to write about next since the NBA is borderline unwatchable, but I’ll figure something out. Anyway, controversy aside, the Super Bowl matchup is set between the Patriots and Rams. I had a feeling the Pats would be back despite looking human much of the year. The Rams were one of the two best teams in the NFC, so they have been pretty consistent all season. This game will be the classic matchup between old and new. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have been together since 2000, while Jared Goff and Sean McVay are in their third and second seasons respectively. Goff and McVay are a combined age of 57, nine years younger than Belichick. McVay has set the NFL on fire since being hired in 2017. He came up through the Mike Shanahan tree in Washington, and coached alongside Kyle Shanahan and newly hired Packers coach Matt LaFleur. Although he is mature beyond his years, this will be the most pressure he’s ever faced. New England is a slight betting favorite, due to the fact they are playing

their best ball in the playoffs. When a team with this much experience gets hot, they can be scary. Their commitment to the run has been crucial, as it has allowed them to dominate time of possession and be very effective in the play action game. Rob Gronkowski has continued to be an asset due to his outstanding blocking, and last week he showed he can still catch the ball. They have enough talent to effectively run a game plan, even if no one is a star on their own. Belichick recruits guys who want to be coached meticulously, allowing for this level of discipline. Although I believe New England’s defense will play well, I haven’t gotten their performance in the last Super Bowl out of my mind. They were shredded by Nick Foles and the Eagles, allowing 538 yards (the Pats had 613 themselves). This is why my gut says it will be a high scoring game, but the Rams are the team more likely to be slowed down. Goff doesn’t exactly pass the eye test, but his two year improvement from his rookie campaign is undeniable. He showed mental toughness by surviving the Jeff Fisher era and fans calling him a bust. With that said, the Rams offense is hard to figure out. Many say it’s extremely innova-

tive, others say it’s all based on pre-play confusion. Todd Gurley was a superstar all year, but he has essentially been benched for C.J. Anderson the last few games. Goff may be the most non-descript #1 overall picked QB ever. All of these factors make a one game outcome hard to predict, but that does not mean they cannot put it all together. The Rams receivers will have to step up to make everyone else’s job easier.

This will be a tall task, since the injured Cooper Kupp was their only true slot guy. The x-factor for this game is the Rams defense. Brady will get the ball out quickly as always, so Aaron Donald and company will not get a bunch of sacks most likely. But if the secondary can keep Brady’s receivers from getting open, that could play right into their hands. I would say this was impossible if Aqib Talib was still injured.

His presence will be huge, considering he’s still an elite man coverage corner at the advanced age of 32. The Rams need to make sure they stop the run, which has been a struggle for them. They allowed 5.1 rushing yards per attempt, last in the NFL. If Sony Michel gets going, the Pats will have their wish of being able to control the clock. Let’s keep it real, both teams will score plenty of points. The outcome is usually decided by who makes the critical stops late. If experience is a factor, advantage Pats. The underdog narrative being pushed by Brady and the team seems ridiculous, but it may actually help. Despite the fact they always run roughshod over the AFC, it has not been a given they will win the big game as of late. Maybe a slight amount of extra motivation breeds a more precise focus. I may be reading the tea leaves too deeply, but this Patriots team has a different vibe going in to the Super Bowl than they did last year. Unless Jared Goff channels his idol Joe Montana, the Rams will fall just short. Todd Gurley will at the bare minimum be rusty, whether his lack of use is due to injury or otherwise. I doubt C.J. Anderson can carry them to victory against a superior defensive mind. Patriots win 42-37.

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INNER-CITY THE INNER-CITY NEWS NEWS - January 30, 2019 February , 2019 July 27, 2016- - August 02,052016

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MINORITY CONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY – SPENCER VILLAGE, MANCHESTER, CT SOLICITATION OF SBE/MBE CONTRACTORS: Construction Resources, Inc., an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, seeks certified SBE/ MBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applicable sections of work/equipment/supplies for the following construction project: Spencer Village: Renovations to existing multi-unit residential housing project, 64 apartments in 13 buildings, 1 and 2 story units, 41,823 sf, phased construction, 274 day schedule in Manchester, CT. Bid Date and Time: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 by 12:00 noon. Electronic Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting Mark Rubins at Construction Resources Plainville office at (860) 678-0663 or by email to mark@corebuilds.com. Project is Tax Exempt and Federal Prevailing Wage (Davis Bacon) applies. This project is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. CORE encourages the participation of certified SBE/MBE contractors. CORE is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

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Salary: $56,321 -highways, $ 72,061 annually (4 Buildings, 17 Units) 4 years of supervisory experience, or an equivalent combination of education benefit package. Apply Human Resources Department, Pet under 40lb to: allowed. Interested parties contact Town Mariaof@ 860-985-8258 Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Rate Project Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: and Wage experience substituting on a year-for year basis. Salary: $91,742 - $117,382 (203) 294-2084. Closing date will be February 1, 2019 or the date Executive Director Position plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Human Resources DeparttheCT. 75th application is received, whichever first. EOE. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offeroccurs a Deacon’s New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Site-work, Cast- Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax ment, TownDemolition, of Wallingford, 45 South Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates Common Ground High School, Urban Farm & Environmental (203) 294-2084. Closing date will be February 26, 2019 or the date the 50th in-place Concrete, Asphalt#:Shingles, Vinyl Siding, in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30Education Center is looking for its next Executive Director: A application is received, whichever occurs first. EOE. 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. Flooring, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64proven Brewsterorganizational dynamic, leader Painting, who shares our roots-deep Mechanical, Electrical, St. New Haven, CT commitment to environmental and food justice, active, authenticPlumbing and Fire Protection. Director of Public Works: Plans and directs the works of the Public learning, and inclusive, equitable community. For to a detailed job This contract is subject state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. MINORITY CONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY – Works Department. Requires a bachelor’s degree in civil engineerdescription and how to apply, please visit http://commongroundct. ing from a recognized college or university plus eight (8) years PROMISE HOUSE, MANCHESTER, CT org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Common-Ground-Executiveof progressively responsible public works administration experiBid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Director-job-posting ence including at least four (4) years in a supervisory capacity, or Anticipated Start: SOLICITATION August 15, 2016 OF SBE/MBE CONTRACTORS: Construction Resources, anSealed equivalent education and qualifying experience bidscombination are invitedof by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour Inc., via an ftp Affirmative Project documents available link below:Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, seeks certified SBE/ substituting on a year-for-year basis. Must possess and maintain a until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Firefighter MBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applivalid driver’s license. $ 111,514 - $ 142,683 Apply: Department http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage CT 06483 forofConcrete Sidewalk and Replacement at theTown of Greenwich cable sections of work/equipment/supplies for the following construction projof Seymour, Human Resources, Town Wallingford, 45 SouthRepairs Main Street, Wallingford, 06492. Assisted The closing date will be that 26 dateSmith the 50th SmithfieldCTGardens Living Facility, Street Seymour. ect: Promise House: 2 story, slab on grade, wood-frame new construction of 12 Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com application form/resume is received, or February 13, 2019, whichefficiency and 131-bedroom apartments and common areas in Manchester, CT. HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section Certified Businesses Do You Want A Job That Makes A Difference? ever occurs first. EOE Bid Date and Time: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 by 3:00 P.M. Electronic Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office Become 28 SmithA Town of Greenwich Firefighter. Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting Nick MataAA/EEO EMPLOYER Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

NEW HAVEN

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Public Works

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

To view detailed information and apply online visit www.governmentjobs.com/careers/greenwichct Bidding documents Seymour Housing Authority Of- Salary: $60,910. The Town of GreenAdministrative Assistant are for available data entry, from filing,the reception, phones, Current Starting andfice, corporate staffStreet, support. WorkingCT knowledge of Haz. Waste wich is dedicated to Diversity & Equal Opportunity 28 Smith Seymour, 06483 (203) 888-4579. Regs., Manifests, AP & billing. OSHA certification a +. Forward Employment; Town of Greenwich, HR Dept., 101 resumes to RED Technologies, LLC Fax 860-218-2433; or Email to Field Rd, The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or Point all bids, to Greenwich, CT, (203)861-3188. HR@redtechllc.com RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - Portland

reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the Housing Authority.

razzo at Construction Resources Plainville office at (860) 678-0663 or by email to nick@corebuilds.com. Project iS new construction, 11,717 sf, Tax Exempt, Federal Prevailing Wage (Davis Bacon). This project is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. CORE encourages the participation of certified SBE/MBE contractors. CORE is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

INNER-CITY July 2016- - August THE INNER-CITY NEWS NEWS - January 3027, , 2019 February 2019 02,05, 2016

NOTICE

PRE-BID MEETING RE:RENTAL WESTBROOK VILLAGE PHASE 1 VALENTINA MACRI HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Date: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 Location: University of Hartford’s Handel Center Community Room HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus HouseParkway, and theHartford, New Haven Address: 25 Westbourne CT Housing Authority,

is accepting pre-applications for studio and Time: 10:00 to one-bedroom 11:00 AM apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from TO 9AMBID TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y INVITATION 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient Village pre-applications Westbrook Phase 1(approximately 100) have been received at Twain the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon reMark and Ogilby Drive, & Plainfield St Hartford, CT quest by calling HOME INC at hours. Completed preNew Construction of:203-562-4663 6 Buildings, 75during Units, those Approx 86,825 sf applications mustBid be Due returned to HOME INC’s5,offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Date: February 2019 @ 5 pm. Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=westbrookvillage

NOTICIA

This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements as well as, City ofVIVIENDAS Hartford set-aside and contract requirements. DISPONIBLES VALENTINA MACRI DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dlang@haynesct.com

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses aceptando pre-solicitudes para Company, estudios y apartamentos de unSeymour, dormitorio este desarrollo Haynes Construction 32 Progress Ave, CTen06483 ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos AA/EEO EMPLOYER máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .

NEW HAVEN 242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Electric Utility System Operator/Dispatcher Operates electric distribution substation and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for an electric utility serving 25,000 customers. Coordinates electric system switching and places equipment in and out of service during routine and emergency operations. Requires HS diploma/GED with 2 years experience in the operation of Distribution SCADA equipment and/or switchboards used in the distribution of electricity. Experience and training may be substituted on a year for year basis. Must maintain valid system operation certification from Connecticut Valley Exchange (CONVEX) or other approved agency or be able to obtain the same within 90 days of hire. Must posses and maintain a valid State of CT driver’s license. $ 32.48 - $ 38.59 per hour plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Human Resources Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: (203) 294-2084. Closing date will be February 11, 2019. EOE.

St. New Haven, CT

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

ElmbyCity Communities Sealed bids are invited the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Request for Proposals Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Youth Development Program Services- Eastview and Fairhaven Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking Proposals YouthAuthority Development A pre-bid conference will be held at thefor Housing Office Program 28 Smith Services at Eastview Fairhaven. A complete copy of the requireStreet Seymour, CT at and 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. ment may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginBidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Ofning on Monday, January 14, 2019 at 3:00 PM fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any

– Telecommunications company looking for low voltage cable installer with a C or T license, specializing in fusion/splicing, testing and termination. Also must be familiar with all aspects of indoor & outdoor cable installation, aerial bucket work, pole work, messenger, lashing, manhole & underground installation. Good salary with full benefits. Fax resume to 860-282-0424 or mail to Fibre Optic Plus, LLC 585 Nutmeg Road North, South Windsor, CT 06074 Attn: Don Ballsieper Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Project Manager Environmental Remediation Division 3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002;

Fax 860.218.2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT is seeking BIDS FOR MAINTENANCE UNIFORMS. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed at www. norwalkha.org under the Business section, RFP/RFQ Norwalk Housing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Adam Bovilsky, Executive Director.

Administrative Assistant Must have DOT Construction Exp. Involves traveling to Job Site for record keeping. Reliable transportation a must. NO PHONE CALLS EMAIL RESUME TO michelle@occllc.com EOE/AA Females and Minorities are encouraged to apply

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc

seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Contact: Dan Peterson Phone: 860- 243-2300 email: dpeterson@garrityasphalt.com

Project Manager

InvitationDivision to Bid: Environmental Remediation nd 2 Notice

3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CTOld 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; or Saybrook, CT Email to HR@redtechllc.com RED(4Technologies, LLC is an EOE. Buildings, 17 Units)

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project Listing: Transportation Assistant - Immediate Opening

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

ELECTRICIAN

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc

seeks: Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

High petroleum company is seeking a full time NewVolume Construction, WoodoilFramed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastTransportation Assistant. Work time begins at 6:00AM. Previin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, ous petroleum oil, retail or commercial dispatching experience Flooring, Division 10attention Specialties, Appliances, Casework, a plus. MUST Painting, possess excellent to detail, abilityResidential to Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway ConMechanical, Electrical, Plumbing andcomputer Fire Protection.struction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, manage multiple projects, excel proficiency and good skills required. resume to: Human Dept., PO This contractSend is subject to state set-asideResource and contract compliance requirements. clean driving record, capable of operating heavy Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

Union Company seeks:

equipment; be willing to travel throughout the

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Northeast & NY. Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Project documents available via ftp link below: Contact Dana at 860-243-2300. Common Ground http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

is seeking a Green Jobbs Corps Program Manager. For a full job Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply description and how to apply, please visit http://www.commonAffirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com groundct.org/2019/01/common-ground-is-seeking-our-next-greenHCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses jobs-corps-manager Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER Scale House Operator, Data Entry, Print, Copy & Scan Documents. Working knowledge of Haz. Waste Regs., & Manifests. Large CT Fence & Guardrail Contractor is looking for experiDOT & OSHA certification a +. Forward resumes to RED Tech- enced, responsible commercial and residential fence erectors and nologies, LLC Fax 860-218-2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com installers on a subcontractor basis. Earn from $750 to $2,000 per RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE. day. Email resume to pking@atlasoutdoor.com AA/EOE

FENCE ERECTING SUBCONTRACTORS

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019 Con’t from page

Con’t from page 15

Black Student Beaten

Cops Trained Not To Arrest Domestic Violence Victims Amistad Principal: And Accused of Stealing family violence victim advocate with the “We Will Be Better” His Own Car by Police Wins on-campus housing, but are not in a dating Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services who has sat in on the department’s new training courses, praised Dominguez and her fellow instructors for the clarity and seriousness with which they have communicated the new laws “There are a lot of victims out there reluctant to call the police,” she said, because they incorrectly believe that if they call the police, they will be arrested, too. Carr said that the Geographic Area 23 state court system, which serves New Haven, East Haven, Branford, and a number of other surrounding towns, sees roughly 3,500 domestic violence arrests every year. Before the passage of this law, she said, a full 20 percent of those domestic violence cases were “dual arrests,” meaning both the victim and the aggressor were arrested, charged, and had to go to court. Helland said that nationally an average 7 percent of domestic violence arrests are dual arrests. With this new law, she said, New Haven and police departments throughout the state expect to see Connecticut’s dual arrest numbers drop accordingly. In her opening presentation to the roughly 20 officers waiting to be trained, Helland explained that, prior to 1987, Connecticut had no protocols on the books about how police officers should respond to domestic violence calls. The first law passed after that mandated dual arrests on domestic violence calls with no exceptions, and, Helland said, leading to many unnecessary arrests of victims. Not until 2004 did Connecticut add its first exception to the law, which ultimately grew to having four exceptions where officers did not have to arrest both parties in domestic violence disputes. “Does anybody know the four exceptions?” she asked. Silence. “Anyone?”

Sgt. Mary Helland.

The four exceptions before the passage of the new “Dominant Aggressors” law were self defense, verbal abuse, delinquent acts, and parental discipline not constituting abuse. Three more exceptions have been added to the new law that went into effect in 2019. Those include: • A “dominant aggressor” clause, whereby officers can determine who poses the more serious threat based on, to quote the law, “the need to protect victims of domestic violence, whether one person acted in defense of self or a third person, the relative degree of any injury, any threats creating fear of physical injury, and any history of family violence between such person, if such history can reasonably be obtained by the peace officer”; • An “on-campus housing” clause, whereby college students who reside in the same

relationship, shall not be subject to mandatory dual arrest; • A “rooming house” clause whereby tenants who reside in the same “dwelling unit” as defined in section 47a-1 of state law, and who not in a dating relationship, shall not be subject to mandatory dual arrest. “I’ve noticed quite a change in the arrests and in the analysis that the officers have been doing,” Helland said about officer domestic violence responses since Jan. 1. “We’ve noticed less dual arrests. We’ve noticed better investigations, a little more analysis going into it. Because once you go into it and you know you’re not mandated to make these dual arrests, you automatically change your investigation to be a little more specific so you can actually do the analysis properly.” No New Training On Officer Involved Domestic Violence In response to a question about the five city police officers recently arrested on their own domestic violence charges, Dominguez said that officer conduct while off the clock has not been a focus of this new domestic violence response training. “In this training,” she said, “we haven’t trained anything specific to officer-involved domestics.” The department has focused on training officers on the new law, and that’s it. But, she said, there are nevertheless benefits to officers discussing domestic violence more frequently, and thinking more critically about what constitutes domestic violence and what the consequences are. “I think putting all the officers through this brings domestic violence to the forefront,” she said. “It just makes it a topic that is an issue to be discussed in an open forum with all the police officers.”

model with “an antiracist focus.” “This one incident is representative of the systematic racial inequalities that are observable throughout the network,” the school employees wrote. They said they’ve been thinking about how to create “a new and healthier framework for our school culture.” The high school’s leaders said that they think the conversation needs to start at figuring out what advances students’ learning. “Because that’s really what we’re here to do,” Sykes said. “What’s good for kids? There’s some point where race doesn’t matter. At the very beginning, it’s: What do all kids need to learn? They need to feel cared for and they need to love learning,” Sykes said. “We have to create those kind of conditions, then we have to think about whether we’re creating them only because our kids are black and brown.” From there, as they drill down into specific policies, the leaders said they need to ask whether they’d apply the same rules to a white student. “We need to be asking ourselves, ‘Would we have this same rule, policy or procedure in place for a scholar who is white?’” Barker said. “There can’t be a different bar.” Hasn’t Achievement First’s model always been that its impoverished racial minorities — who form most of the student body — do need to be treated differently? Starting behind, how else can their kids compete? If they’re not pushed harder now, how can they eventually hope to keep up with welloff whites and their prep-school pedigrees? Hasn’t the network always insisted it must do something different to overcome the existing disadvantages? “That’s the question we’re asking,” Barker said. “I don’t have the answer.”

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$1.25 Million Settlement

Evanston, IL — Lawrence Crosby, an engineering graduate student who was violently arrested and beaten by police and falsely accused of stealing a car he actually owns, recently won a $1.25 million settlement from his lawsuit against the Evanston Police Department. On October 2015, Crosby, who was then 25-years old and pursuing his Ph.D. studies at Northwestern University, was pulled over by police. When he exited his car with his hands up, police took him to the ground and allegedly struck him 11 times. After brutally beating Crosby, police officers discovered that the car in question was actually owned by Crosby. Apparently, someone mistakenly thought Crosby was breaking into the car and called 911. Most recently, now-28-year old Crosby has spoken out for the first time since the incident about its lasting effects. “It’s not easy for me to have to be put back into that situation and have to relieve it again. At that moment in time, I did not know if I would make it to the end of the night,” Crosby told Fox 13. “I’ve had to deal with post-traumatic stress and having fear of the police, honestly” Crosby was accused of charges including resisting arrest. Following the incident, Evanston Police Department reportedly even posted a video defending the officer conduct, which is now deleted. Since being found not guilty, Crosby filed a civil suit against the city and officers. “The settlement was for $1.25 million, and I consider that a fair and just compensation for the experience that I went through,” Crosby said. Despite the settlement, no officers were disciplined and offered an apology to Crosby. He just now hopes to work with law enforcement, academics, and other organizations to discuss the impact of implicit bias and stereotypes in our lives and how to end it. “We’re not looking for apologies (now). We’re looking for change,” Crosby’s lawyer, Steven Yonover, said. Meanwhile, there has been no admission of liability in the settlement yet, according to an attorney for the City of Evanston. It is pending approval by the city council and is scheduled for January 28th.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05, 2019

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 30, 2019 - February 05 , 2019

N E W

H AV E N

P U B L I C

SC H O O L S

SCHOOL CHOICE EXPOS You are invited to discover all that New Haven Public Schools can offer families and students. Please join us at a School Expo.

Sat. Feb. 9 | 11AM-2PM

Wed. Feb. 13 | 6-8PM

Wilbur Cross High Sch.

Floyd Little Athletic Ctr.

181 Mitchell Dr., New Haven

480 Sherman Pkwy., New Haven

1- 2pm Kindergarten Info Session

6 - 7pm High School Info Session

SCHOOL CHOICE 2019 Apply online at Choice.NHPS.net from February 11 to March 17

New Haven Public Schools Office of Choice & Enrollment 54 Meadow Street | New Haven, CT 06519 | 475-220-1430

Choice.NHPS.net 24