INNER-CITY NEWS

RISING BLACK ACHIEVERS

A new scholarship to support New Haven public school students to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities

The City of Bridgeport Pushes to Remove the Bottleneck Delay of FOI Requests

ByStephen Krauchick

In order to more efficiently and timely respond to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and to reduce middleman bottleneck delay, the administration has authorized and directed the City Attorney’s Office to initiate a new FOI program to become effective in the coming weeks. In the interim, the City will be conducting comprehensive training to all relevant staff and issuing each department necessary new software licenses to facilitate this change. Under this priority program, which was in development during 2022, all new FOI requests will be directly submitted to, and processed by, the City department which has custody of relevant records; and which will then process and directly respond to such request. The City Attorney’s Office will remain available to provide legal support to all City departments as these charges are implemented. To submit an FOI request under this new program, the public can simply submit their written requests by mail, e-mail, fax, or drop-off directly to the City department which they seek records from. Request-

Bridgeport, CT –

ers who wish to inspect copies of public records may verbally request records with each City department, subject to appropriate limitations pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

All open and pending FOI requests, including those submitted online through the FOI Portal, will also be re-directed to the relevant City department so that each department can process and respond to such requests as well. All inquiries regarding requests will be directed to the City department which maintains the records sought.

For further information regarding the Freedom of Information Act, please visit the City of Bridgeport Department Directory for information regarding individual City of Bridgeport departments at https:// www.bridgeportct.gov/directory. Finally, please visit the Freedom of Information Commission’s webpage for C.G.S. Sec. 1-212, which contains information regarding fees for public records, at https://portal.ct.gov/FOI/Regulations/The-FOI-Act/ Sec-1212–Formerly-Sec-115–Copies-andscanning-of-public-records–Fees.

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250 Calls Later, Crisis Team Continues

by NORA GRACE-FLOOD

When someone camping out on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard called 911 last month to report their makeshift shelter had caught fire, they weren’t just connected with the fire department but also to social workers stocked with blankets, pillows, clothes, comforters and a new tent. Those social workers are part of a piloted crisis response team called COMPASS (Compassionate Allies Serving Our Streets) that has responded 249 times to New Haveners dealing with homelessness, mental health issues and substance abuse challenges since the group’s launch three months back. As of earlier this week, that number has now risen to 275. On Friday morning, community leaders and COMPASS representatives gathered at City Hall to tout the success of that new program and discuss its future postpilot phase.

“The evidence, both in numbers and in many ways more importantly in the stories, shows that COMPASS is already a huge success and we’re excited to build on this program,” Mayor Justin Elicker stated.

Though only set in motion in November, the motivation behind COMPASS was grounded in the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which set off a series of protests and conversations within New Haven about how to reimagine policing. The mayor proposed COMPASS as a means of redirecting certain crisis calls away from cops and towards pro-

fessionals who may be better equipped to help.

In practice, the police and fire departments still respond directly to all emergencies. Once at the scene, they then decide whether or not to call in COMPASS to further address the matter. Elicker said that down the line, the city hopes to see 911 call center operators immediately dispatch COMPASS based on their own evaluation without necessarily sending police and fire first.

The COMPASS team is made up of six social work clinicians and four peer recovery support specialists in addition to a part-time medical director. A clinician and peer counselor typically work together on each case to provide crisis intervention and counseling, harm reduction support, information and referral, transportation, and social services assistance.

The mayor said on Friday that, between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, which were the first three months of the program, COMPASS responded to 249 calls. Thirty-seven percent of those calls were referrals from 911 dial-ins, 65 percent of which were requests from the police department and the remaining 35 percent of which came from the fire department.

“The police need help and this is help,”

Police Chief Karl Jacobson said of COMPASS. “I’ve called for COMPASS myself. It’s a breath of fresh air to have the backing if we can call someone else who has better skills than us for other things. In all my 25 years of policing I never had that.”

Elicker remembered some examples of times when COMPASS had intervened in 911 calls, aiding in situations that could have seen “escalated violence,” as he put it. When responding to instances of domestic dispute, Elicker said, COMPASS has succeeded in securing permanent housing for a mother and her child; found emergency shelter in a safehouse to provide protection in another instance of threatened violence; and moved at least one other individual into psychiatric hospitalization, ultimately collaborating on a discharge plan that saw the individual enrolled in transitional housing with nursing and mental health treatments.

Still, 63 percent of engagement by COMPASS is described as “self-deployed.”

In other words, the majority of COMPASS’ work thus far has actually been proactive outreach to residents and follow-ups with individuals rather than direct responses to 911 crisis call-ins.

“Self-deployment,” according to members of the COMPASS team, involves patrolling areas that see high levels of individuals without housing or struggling with substance abuse in order to connect those in need with social services or whatever assistance they may require in a given moment.

John Labieniec, one of the directors

of COMPASS and the vice president of acute and forensic services at the nonprofit Continuum of Care, said that COMPASS workers do everything from getting individuals onto waitlists for housing or shelter beds to helping them access grief counseling services or a warm meal to distributing needed resources like NARCAN kits. The workers can also just serve as “a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on,” he said.

“It’s no surprise that we have a shortage of beds and insufficient housing,” Labieniec said. The reality of “waitlist after waitlist after waitlist” to receive basic shelter is one reason why continued care and follow up with individuals is a key component of COMPASS’s work; it can take persistent advocacy and work to access basic resources as well as significant “time to build trust with individuals who’ve lost trust in the system,” he said. A response to a fire at tent city on the Boulevard, for example, resulted in actual distribution of donated goods (which are collected at Continuum of Care, 109 Legion Ave.) to meet immediate needs. It could also see relationships built overtime between individuals who are often deeply skeptical of shelter life, opposed to government intervention, and/or struggling with substance disorders and city representatives able to connect with support services and independent housing help. COMPASS Recovery Support Specialist Nanette Campbell said as much. “Some-

COMPASS outreach specialists Sarah Alkire, Nanette Campbell and Jennifer Vargas.

New Haven Independent

Dr. Sherene Mason Installed as Inaugural Robert R. Rosenheim

Endowed Chair for Nephrology

Hartford, CT- Family, friends and colleagues from the medical community celebrated Sherene Mason, MD, MBA, on Thursday, November 4, 2022, as the inaugural holder of the Robert R. Rosenheim Endowed Chair for Nephrology at Connecticut Children’s. Dr. Mason, who serves as the Division Head for Nephrology, is the first woman of the African diaspora and first woman of Jamaican heritage to hold an endowed chair at Connecticut Children’s.

Dr. Mason’s pride in her Jamaican heritage was evident as guests enjoyed music from De 4 Awhee, a local steel drum band, and sampled beef patties and jerk chicken. Bright bursts of green and yellow flowers and authentic Jamaican desserts brought a tropical feel to the November night.

Attendees at the Country Club of Farmington would never have known Dr. Mason was on-call that evening. Her team at the hospital hurried her out the door and out of the scrubs for the celebration. Even while being honored as the tenth endowed chair holder at Connecticut Children’s, Dr. Mason’s attention remained on her patients. Namely, a young boy who had received a kidney transplant earlier in the week. He is the second patient who moved from treatment in the Robert R. Rosenheim Foundation Dialysis Center (the Center) to transplant this year. The Center, which opened in March 2020, is the only pediatric outpatient dialysis facility in the state. Impressed with the impact of the Center, Robert R. Rosenheim Foundation trustees—Mike Samartino, Diane Libby and Mike Adams—agreed continuing to invest in the Division of Nephrology at Connecticut Children’s would further benefit children across the region and honor the legacy of Robert Rosenheim. Passionate about helping animals and children, Mr. Rosenheim passed away in 2015.

“Bob Rosenheim believed in teamwork and was an unbelievable leader,” Mike Samartino said to Dr. Mason during the celebration. “Our hope is your leadership and your teamwork will keep the Division providing quality care for your patients. We congratulate you and wish you great success.”

The endowed chair recognizes Dr. Mason’s leadership, excellence and innovation. It will provide a perpetual stream of funding to enhance the work of the Division of Nephrology.

In laying out her plans for future work, Dr. Mason said, “I envision continuing the legacy of being the first. We are already the first in the state with a pediatric dialysis center, and the only one to use an innovative, integrated system for adaptive dialysis. We plan to expand our services to include a home dialysis program for children. We plan to be the first in the state to offer a dialysis modality that provides precision treatment for the smallest patient, weighing as little as five pounds, instead of adapting adult machines that are fraught with complexities. This will enable us to care for patients in the upcoming Fetal Care Center and beyond.”

About Connecticut Children’s

Connecticut Children’s is the only health system in Connecticut dedicated to children, providing more than 30 pediatric specialties along with community-based programs. We’re known for exceptional care that kids and parents love, conveniently delivered at locations close to home and by Video Visit. Our experts lead breakthrough research and innovative partnerships, and have won awards for everything from nursing excellence to patientfriendly technology. U.S. News & World Report named us a best children’s hospital in the nation.

Connecticut Children’s is a not-forprofit organization with a mission to improve access to health care for all children.

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Before Dr. Mason delivered her remarks, one of her mentors, Dr. Marja Hurley, University of Connecticut Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Professor of Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery provided a tribute. Dr. Hurley was the first woman of color to graduate from the UConn School of Medicine in 1976.

“Dr. Mason is a mentee and friend, whom I have known since her undergraduate years at the University of Connecticut,” began Dr. Hurley. After recalling an impressive list of professional achievements, Dr. Hurley spoke directly to the honoree, saying, “I am so proud of you. You have accomplished so much. You are a role model. You are one of the smartest people I know, and one of the nicest.” Rousing applause followed Dr. Hurley’s tribute.

Dr. Mason then approached the podium, looking radiant in a yellow sheath dress and tailored green blazer, a respectful nod to the colors of the Jamaican flag. “Today I stand before you as a woman of the African diaspora and an immigrant from the beautiful island of Jamaica, a descendant of farmers and working-class parents, now being bestowed the honor of the inaugural Robert R. Rosenheim Endowed Chair,” she said. “I want to acknowledge the Robert R. Rosenheim Foundation for their foresight and for entrusting me as a leader who takes a holistic approach to shaping the mind, body and spirit of children with kidney disease. I welcome the opportunity to be a change agent.”

Alder Maceo Troy Streater

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by Francette Carson, ICN Correspondent

On Friday, February 3, 2023, the Swearing-In Ceremony was, held at New Haven City Hall. Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Lubbie Harper directed a fantastic ceremonial service. The honorable Justice Harper delivered words of encouragement and support. The well-attended ceremony was filled with family, friends, colleagues and residents of New Haven. Alder Streater was sworn in as Ward 21 Alder of the Dixwell, Newhallville, and Prospect Hill areas of New Haven. Alder Streater is eager to serve the community as he strives to make the neighborhood a great place to live.

The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-387-0354 phone; 203-3872684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment. Postmaster, send address changes to 50 Fitch Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Display ad deadline Friday prior to insertion date at 5:00pm Advertisers are responsible for checking ads for error in publication. Penfield Communications, Inc d.b.a., “The Inner-City Newspaper” , shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication, except to the extent of the cost of the space in which actual error appeared in the first insertion. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication. The entire contents of The Inner-City Newspaper are copyright 2012, Penfield Communications, Inc. and no portion may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Dr. Sherene Mason

Part 4 of our 4-part series in celebration of Black History Month

IN CELEBRATION OF HISTORY MONTH

HONORS

VOICES IN THE ARTS

Whether it be Mary Wilson trailblazing Motown and the 1960s pop music charts as a founding member of The Supremes, John Lee Hooker setting the standard for great blues guitarists, Ella Fitzgerald reigning as The Queen of Jazz, Octavia E. Butler breaking barriers in the world of science fiction, August Wilson telling the African American story on the stage, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s enigmatic artwork, Dorothy Dandridge and Denzel Washington lighting up the silver screen, or the countless other African-American artists who have entertained and touched us, Boscov’s thanks them for their contributions to the arts, their influences on popular culture and their positive impacts on our country.

Ella Fitzgerald

August Wilson

Mary Wilson

John Lee Hooker

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Dorothy Dandridge

Denzel Washington

Octavia E. Butler

Albertus Charts Path To Black Catholic Sainthood

by LISA REISMAN

There are 11 white Americans and 0 African Americans among the 10,000 saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

“Zero Black American saints. Zero Americans-of-African-descent saints,” Shingai Chigwedere told a 20-person audience at Albertus Magnus College. “However you want to word it, there are zero.”

That number may soon change, as the local Catholic university shined a light on the six Black Catholics currently being considered for sainthood. Those six were the focus of conversation Wednesday night during the first installment in a series called “Saints Among Us.”

The community event was sponsored by the Eckhart Center and Black Excellence 365, and held at the Albertus Magnus College Campus Center at 831 Winchester Ave.

It featured a wide-ranging examination of sainthood and the byzantine process to get there, film clips on the steps to canonization and Servant of God Julia Greeley, and a lively discussion on what it means to be a saint.

While declaring herself “not an expert, but a person fascinated with this issue,” the Zimbabwe-born Chigwedere, a member of the Dominican Mission and Ministries team and a candidate with the Dominican Sisters of Peace at Albertus, described the process of canonization as “mysterious and laborious.”

It’s one that involves stages from Servant of God to Venerable to Blessed to Saint with proof of miracles, including at least one medical miracle, required at every turn.

It’s long, often lasting decades and even centuries and, with the exception of Mother Teresa, isn’t set in motion until five years after death. Not to mention, as Chigwedere put it, beyond the Pope as final arbiter, “the process is not as transparent as it could be.”

It’s also exorbitant, with costs “ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 to begin the process,” Chigwedere said, including research and documentation for a panel of historians and theologians, as well as reviews of medical events and procedures for the scrutiny of doctors and scientific experts.

“Those expenses alone can present challenges for those worthy people who happen to serve in areas with minimal access to financial resources to fund these types of causes,” she said.

There’s also this. Fundraising campaigns and publicity machines to advance the cause of a saint are seemingly antithetical to the spiritual mission of those involved, Chigwedere agreed.

The cost is steep in another way. “Learning about the exemplary lives of these six inspire us to be the best version of ourselves,” she said. “If we don’t tell their

250 Calls

times we go out for outreach and it’s amazing that they remember us, they remember our names, they come to us,” she said of New Haveners she’s encountered consistently on the streets. “I remember an incident where a woman was in crisis but she remembered my face and she allowed me to get the help she needed. She was dead set against it, she wouldn’t go to a hospital or get any help, but she did when she saw me.”

Ta’LanneMonique Lawson-Dickerson, a community organizer who serves on the community advisory board that in-part oversees COMPASS’ work, said that beyond the statistics, “this is real and we’re making real change.”

“We’ve seen other states and other cities try this before and they failed. Not here, not in New Haven. We’re not gonna let this fail. This is here to stay, and this is just the beginning.”

Jack Tebes, another director of COMPASS and a professor of psychiatry at Yale, reported that COMPASS takes on average 13 minutes to respond to publicsafety answering point calls and spends 45 minutes on scene. Read the latest report on what COMPASS accomplished over the month of December here. He said that each area of the city has received support from COMPASS, “from Fair Haven to Westville to East Rock to Newhallville, from the Hill to City Point.”

stories, that opportunity will be lost.”

In November 2021, Ralph Moore Jr., a Black journalist out of Baltimore, took another tack, coordinating a letter writing campaign that called on Pope Francis to expedite the canonization of the six American Black Catholics, with more than 3,000 letters dispatched to the Vatican.

“Mr. Moore proposed that instead of focusing on miracles, the church should recognize the hardships African American Catholics have endured over the years, being expected to sit in the back of the church or receiving communion only after white Catholics had done so,” Chigwedere said. “This persistence of faith is itself a sign of grace or a miracle.”

That might describe Sister Henriette Delille, among the six; she “was not permitted to wear a nun’s habit in public,” Chigwedere said, but founded a congregation that cared for the sick, helped the poor, and took in elderly women who needed more than visitation. Or Father Augustus Tolton who studied for the priesthood in Rome when no U.S. seminary would accept him.

There’s also Mother Mary Lange who, rejected by existing women’s orders, founded an African American religious congregation whose sisters taught the children of Baltimore slaves to read despite the fact that “it was illegal to teach Blacks to read in some parts of the U.S. at

that time,” Chigwedere said.

Then there is Julia Greeley, the focus of Wednesday’s discussion. (Future lectures will shift the spotlight to the lives of Sister Thea Bowman and Father Augustus Tolton.)

Freed during the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Greeley served white families across the Far West, including in Denver, Colorado. At night, she pulled a little red wagon loaded with firewood, clothes, and food, leaving them on the porches of the poor. She did it all with one eye. Her former slaveholder was beating Greeley’s mother when his fist caught her other one.

“The whole notion of holiness is not trying to achieve some elevated spirituality,” said Lisa Bilodeau, an administrative assistant at Albertus, during Wednesday’s discussion. “Look at Julia Greeley. It’s about who we are as people in the best sense of that. It’s about living out our faith as best we can.”

“I was very touched by her working at night,” said Robert Bourgeois, professor of religion at Albertus. “She wasn’t seeking to be recognized. That’s a great example of holiness.”

Bilodeau agreed. “She didn’t call attention to what she was doing, and she also considered the dignity of these people, not making them feel embarrassed that they were in need.”

“No matter what happened, no matter

how she was mistreated, she did not let that turn her against folks, or from thinking she didn’t have to be kind or concerned or forgiving,” said Sheila Jewell, another attendee at Wednesday’s event. “She rose above.”

“Everyone has their own way of being holy,” said Albertus alumnus Earl McCoy, Jr., the assistant director of career and professional development at the college.

Despite the towering barriers between the six and canonization, there may be cause for hope.

There has been discussion that, Chigwedere said, “Pope Francis knows more about American politics than we think he does.”

“After the murder of George Floyd, the first Black cardinal was appointed in the U.S. in November 2020,” she said. In Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor was killed by police, the pope appointed a Black archbishop. Likewise, in South Carolina.

“So those are indicators to me that Pope Francis knows what’s going on and is trying to help the church move with love and in ways that can support the entirety of the church,” she said.

For now, Chigwedere said, “it is my hope that learning about these men and women will be helpful examples to the world of how to be good and become the best version of ourselves.”

He said that the highest-volume of self-dispatched COMPASS calls, where COMPASS workers perform independent outreach work, is concentrated on the Green downtown, along Congress Avenue, and around Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, where dozens of individuals without housing camp out.

While COMPASS will remain in pilot phase until June, Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, the city’s director of community resilience, said that the city plans to expand the program come July. That will first of all mean extending the team’s hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week to 8 a.m. to midnight. As a longer-term goal, the city is considering making COMPASS a 24-hour service or creating multiple, overlapping teams to meet more demand during peak call hours.

Asked how the city is working to eliminate the intermediary issue of waitlists, city Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal said the city must prioritize building deeply affordable housing.

He pointed to nearly $5 million in federal funding that could go towards constructing affordable housing units. Read more about that yet to be expended grant here, which has sparked debate about whether such funding should go towards a small slate of apartments or more humane infrastructure to support a growing population of individuals navigating life on the streets.

The 6 Black Catholics under consideration for sainthood.

Featured speaker and guide Shingai Chigwedere Sheila Jewell

New Haven Independent

Stetson Faithfuls Bid Farewell To 200 Dixwell Ave.

By Lucy Gellman

Stephanie Hunt will remember jazz performances that filled the whole space and flowed over the stacks. Beverly Richardson will always think of the building as a safe haven for her kids, and thousands of young Dixwell neighbors. For Ms. Ella Smith, it’s where her children, and then her grandchildren, and then her greatgrandchildren fell in love with literature for the first time.

It may be empty now, but 200 Dixwell Ave. is full of history.

Saturday night, a few dozen people filtered through the old Stetson Branch Library to say goodbye to the building with a dance party and evening of impromptu story sharing. Two weeks after Black Haven hosted its pop-up festival inside the space, bibliophiles and Dixwell neighbors alike returned to send the building off into its next chapter one last time.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Branch Manager Diane Brown, who has held her position since 2006, and now works out of the new, two-story Stetson Branch Library across the street. “I’m gonna miss this space. There’s a lot of memories here

For over half a century, the Stetson Branch stood at 200 Dixwell Ave., nestled in a midcentury shopping plaza between a beauty supply store, a pizza place, a smoke shop and a Caribbean restaurant that moved to West Haven last year. If it was an unlikely spot for a library, that never seemed to bother the kids who saw it as a second home, some there every day after school and in the summertime. Outside, a signature mural still beckons with the word R E A D in big block letters.

This spring, it is slated for demolition as the Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP) begins its work on its $220 million mixeduse development project ConnCAT Place. Patrons have migrated to the new branch just across the street, where Brown still runs near-daily programming and community partnerships with a small staff. Saturday, dozens came back into the old building, pointing out the phantom bookshelves, now-absent computer stations, bare walls and the weathered spots on the carpet where musicians once played. In the center of the room, a neat black-andwhite tile stage doubled as a dance floor. Friends reminisced about all-ages music shows and sun-soaked summertime festivals between those walls, decades of history unwinding between them.

For Lensley Gay, site coordinator for the Family Resource Center at Brennan Rogers School, Stetson has always been part of her New Haven story. When she first moved to New Haven in 2003, “I found the library a place of comfort,” she said. As an advocate for children and families, she knows firsthand that a library is never just a repository for books: it can save a child’s life and transform how they see the world.

She recalled a 2013 visit from Connie Napper, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, as one of her favorite memories in the space. As she watched him, she was amazed by the patience with which he answered every question, signed every poster, and stayed to shake every hand.

“This is the anchor for the community,” she said. “If it’s not here already, they make things happen. For me, it’s amazing to see people so in tune with the community. They are the heartbeat of the community.”

As she walked around the space, retired Library Assistant Rhonda Taylor savored her time back in the building. Growing up in New Haven, Taylor “lived in the library,” spending most of her time in a branch location on Portsea Street that no longer exists. It was there that she fell in love with books, even as then-stern librarians tried to shush her. It wasn’t the bubbly library she knew years later, as an assistant at Stetson—but it was still home.

“Back then you had to be quiet,” Taylor said with a laugh. As a kid, she got kicked out of space for making too much noise. “So I would go for a bit and then come back.”

When she started working as a library assistant in the late 1990s, it felt like part of a Taylor family tradition. Her mom, Darlene Taylor, worked at the library before she did, and Rhonda took to the work instinctively. While she initially worked at all of the library’s branches, Stetson was her favorite—and she found that she was beloved among its young patrons. She fell in love with not just the books, but the people, who cycled through for karate and chess classes, “Africa Is Me” dance and drum lessons, lectures, crafting and concerts. Stetson was her spot even when she wasn’t on the clock: she would

bring her kids and grandkids into the library for endless hours of entertainment.

“I loved it,” she said. “The kids were the best—” she laughed “—And the worst. The parties, the Halloween [nights], the concerts … just everything we’d do. We’d do so much for the community. That’s what I miss. I miss the community.”

Two years after retiring, she still refers to Young Minds and Family Learning Librarian Phillip Modeen as her “work husband,” and he to her as his “work wife.” Saturday, she said that she’ll miss the Stetson family—who she frequently visits across the street—when she moves to North Carolina this or next year.

In the center of the dance floor, Ella Smith cut a rug in the space last time, a felted black hat resting snugly atop her head. Over three of its four locations, Stetson has served five generations of her family, from her parents to her greatgrandchildren. She remembered “so many community meetings” held out of the building, where she always knew that she could bring her kids and grandkids, find the right book, and slip right into programming for all ages.

Now, she visits the new Stetson “a couple times a week,” after spending time at the Dixwell Senior Center in the new Dixwell Community Q House. She recalled bringing her 7-year-old grandson, Emarius, into the library to learn lego robotics with “Mr. Phil,” Modeen’s nickname among most patrons under 10.

When she was getting dressed Saturday, Smith said, she chose the hat specifically so she could tip it at the end of the night. Before leaving the building, she raised a hand to the brim, and lowered it just so. She wouldn’t be back to 220 Dixwell Ave., but she’d be back at Stetson soon.

For Modeen, who has become known and loved simply as “Mr. Phil,” it’s a fond farewell and an emotional one, too. Over a decade ago, the space was where he fell in love with New Haven and with librarianship. In 2008, Brown was Modeen’s undergraduate professor at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), and taught students about the role of a library as a community center and civic space.

Brown’s lessons were electrifying: no one had talked to him about a library like that, Modeen remembered. No one had told students that their most important charge as librarians was to serve the public. Part of the course, he remembered, was coming to Stetson and getting a library card.

He started volunteering in the space shortly afterwards.

In 2015, after his graduate studies in library science, he became a part-time librarian at the NHFPL. When he was assigned to Stetson, “it was a beautiful, full-circle moment,” he said.

Rhonda Taylor, who worked as a library assistant from 1997 to 2021, and Lensley Gay. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Branch Manager Diane Brown in her old office, where a poster for Nappier's 2013 visit had fallen behind a desk. Lucy Gellman Photos. Con’t on page 09

New Haven Independent

“Stetson was so alive then,” he said. “I think for a lot of students, it’s [library science] academic. Diane made it real.”

Almost every day, students from Wexler Grant Community School would come back through the library on their way home, a tradition that has continued with weekly young minds programming across the street. Around him, Stetson hummed with activity, from cooking demos to skate clinics. Brown, he said, never said “no” to a programming idea. “It was always ‘Let’s try it, and see what happens,’” Modeen said. It still is. “She never shut anyone out.”

Nearby, Brown made the rounds, catching up with attendees as music floated through the space. She popped into her old office, where a desk and swiveling chair still sit against the exposed brick, as if they are waiting for her to come back for good. As the night wound down, she tucked herself instinctively behind a table where the reference desk used to be.

Her love for the old building took a while to catch up to her, she said as she sorted bottled water and bags of popcorn. As a branch librarian and then branch manager, she turned 200 Dixwell Ave. into a de facto community center, with after-school programming, chess classes, free community concerts, theater talkbacks, and African dance and drum. After the closure of the old Dixwell Community Q House in 2003, she filled a void.

But when Brown moved across the street in March of last year, “I didn’t think about it right away,” she said. Between 2020 and 2022, she and a skeleton staff had navigated pandemic shutdowns, reopened 200 Dixwell Ave. for curbside pickup and printing services, planned summer festivals, weeded and then moved an entire collection of books, and kept serving a community even as the library’s physical doors remained closed. It was only after she had a moment to herself in the new building that she realized how much she was going to miss the old one.

“And then it hit me,” she recalled. After making sure she could slip away for a little while, she returned to her old office and sat there, remembering the thousands of pint-sized patrons who had given her the energy to come to work every day. Some are now parents themselves, who bring their kids back into the space to see her.

Almost a year after the new Stetson opened its doors, “we’re thriving,” she said. In 11 months, it has become the same safe haven for community members, who can now lose themselves in activities, an entire floor for young readers, and an all-ages collection dedicated to the African Diaspora. On Saturday alone, she had welcomed artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo for a puppet performance, then stayed for the dance party across the street.

“I feel blessed,” she said. “I feel blessed.”

Cultural event celebrates West Haven’s Black heritage

By Michael P. Walsh, Public Relations Information Coordinator, City of West Haven, CT

WEST HAVEN, Feb. 17, 2023 — The city recognized the “proud legacy, unique heritage and vibrant culture” of African Americans and the pioneering contributions they have made to writing the great American story at the 27th annual Black Heritage Celebration on Feb. 16.

During the City Hall cultural event in observance of Black History Month, the West Haven Black Heritage Committee cited “outstanding” West Haven High School juniors Malachi Calhoun and Dana Davis and seniors Ayannah Obas and Jo’Vante Witter for leadership and academics and honored Councilwoman Katherine Tucker, D-7, as the city’s African American Citizen of the Year.

Tucker, a lifelong resident who began her inaugural term on the City Council in March 2022, received a citation from Mayor Nancy R. Rossi for “your pioneering contributions to upholding the traditions and values of our African American community.”

Reading the citation, Rossi said: “Your devotion to lifting up the lives of your fellow Westies and the city you love through public service represents what is best about our community. As you reflect on all you have achieved and look toward all you will continue to do in the future, take pride in the stronger, more hopeful West Haven you are helping to shape.”

Tucker is a board-certified advanced practice registered nurse whose civic work is focused on the health of West Haven. She is the clinical program director of outpatient programs at Yale New Haven Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Center.

Tucker is a longtime community volunteer, has served on the West Haven Board of Health and is the vice chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Town Committee.

“My goal is to make West Haven a more beautiful, friendly, safe place to live and to raise a family,” said Tucker, who is the widow of Terrence Tucker and has five children and six grandchildren.

Tucker also received an embroidered “West Haven Black Heritage Citizen of the Year 2023” jacket from last year’s recipient, the Rev. E. Carl Howard of the First Congregational Church of West Haven, and a General Assembly citation from Rep. Treneé McGee, D-West Haven, on behalf of the city’s delegation.

The 65-minute program, held in the Harriet C. North Community Room, included an awards presentation by Rossi, McGee, committee Chairman Steven R. Mullins, Superintendent of Schools Neil C. Cavallaro and West Haven High Principal Dana Paredes, as well as a reading of the poem “From the Out House to the White House” by Deborah Elmore, the founder of Sisters With a New Attitude, a support group for women.

The invocation was given by the Rev. Denya C. McGee, the pastor of Abba’s

House International Fellowship in North Branford, and a powerful rendition of the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was sung by Stephanie Townsend of Howard K. Hill Funeral Services in New Haven.

The ceremony also included spirited renditions of “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” a freedom song that became a national civil rights anthem in the 1960s, and “The Star-Spangled Banner” by West Haven High’s Bel Canto Choir, directed by Jason Thomas.

The student honorees received a Black Heritage Committee certificate of

achievement from Mullins and a $500 academic scholarship from McGee and the committee, including Councilwoman Robbin Watt Hamilton, D-5.

Calhoun is ranked in the top 11% of his junior class, has earned high honors each quarter and is a volunteer at the Surfside public housing complex on Oak Street.

Davis is ranked in the top 3% of her class, has earned high honors each quarter and is a volunteer at the Main Library on Elm Street.

Obas is an academic scholar, the vice president of the Senior Class Council and a member of student government. Witter

is a member of the Bel Canto Choir, a peer advocate and a member of the National Honor Society.

The program featured remarks by keynote speaker Candice Williams, Tucker’s daughter. It also included words of praise by Rossi, Mullins, Cavallaro, Paredes and committee member Christopher M. Suggs, the master of ceremonies.

Williams, a board-certified adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner at Yale New Haven who lives in West Haven, delivered remarks lauding her mother’s legacy of excellence in education, nursing, public health, social justice and equality.

“(I am) witnessing her continual involvement in the community,” Williams said. Williams told the standing room-only assembly of committee members, dignitaries, family, friends and residents that her grandfather always said, “No matter where you go in life, the one thing that can never be taken away is your education.”

Tucker, who has been a nurse for nearly three decades, is living proof of that mantra, having earned a doctorate in nursing practice from Sacred Heart University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Quinnipiac University.

“There is power in education,” emphasized Williams, who provides specialized cardiac care to the adult population at Yale New Haven.

In honor of the monthlong Black history celebration, organizers have decorated the walls of City Hall with banners and posters depicting important Black leaders and role models worldwide.

The committee has worked since 1996 to promote racial harmony across West Haven, transforming City Hall into an exhibition of African American art and literature throughout Black History Month to educate residents about Black culture.

West Haven High seniors Jo’Vante Witter and Ayannah Obas, holding certificates, receive a Black Heritage Committee award for leadership and academics from, from left, West Haven state Rep. Treneé McGee, Mayor Nancy R. Rossi, school Principal Dana Paredes, committee Chairman Steven R. Mullins and Superintendent of Schools Neil C. Cavallaro. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

West Haven Councilwoman Katherine Tucker, D-7, receives an embroidered “West Haven Black Heritage Citizen of the Year 2023” jacket from last year’s recipient, the Rev. E. Carl Howard of the First Congregational Church of West Haven. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

Traffic-Safety “Quick Builds” Get $400K Boost

by THOMAS BREEN

Royale Gibbs remembers well when a car speeding up Derby Avenue rammed into a tree and flipped over a triangular island and into the middle of the street.

That was before the city, in a quick-fix effort to slow down traffic, painted the pavement around the island cerulean blue and put up a bevy of short plastic delineators.

“I remember this spot. This is definitely safer” now, he said.

Gibbs offered that road-safety assessment Wednesday afternoon while walking past a laundromat at criss-crossed intersection of Norton Street, Derby Avenue, and George Street.

Just one car lane and several paintedpavement feet away from Gibbs stood Mayor Justin Elicker, Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and a handful of top city transit officials and traffic-calming advocates.

That group gathered by the triangular roadway island to celebrate the city’s coming receipt of $400,000 in federal aid to help cover the costs of what city Transportation, Traffic & Parking Director Sandeep Aysola described as a number of low-cost “quick-build” traffic-calming projects.

After some more community-input gathering, those projects will take place

in speeding hotspots across the city on Blatchley Avenue, Bassett Street, Kimberly Avenue, Winthrop/Sherman Avenue, and Wintergreen Avenue. And, when in place, they will likely look similar to what the city put up at Norton-DerbyGeorge last September and showcased on Wednesday: that is, painted intersections that narrow the roadway by reducing the

number of vehicle lanes and that create a larger and more visible space for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the street with the help of plastic delineators.

Those projects will be in line with the city’s pedestrian-, cyclist-, and bus-riderboosting Safe Routes for All Plan, which the alders adopted last September.

“As you can see, it brings a level of

placemaking to this area,” Aysola said about the West River safe-streets improvements. It “highlights the importance of this intersection. We reclaim the space by extending the curb.” There’s “more space for pedestrians to cross. It narrows the street, and helps with traffic calming. We put the delineators to create this diversionary movement.”

Is this exactly the same type of project that residents of, say, Blatchley Avenue or Bassett Street should expect to see on their blocks?

“There will be variations” based on the cost, he said. But “this is all low-cost. It’s not any major traffic improvements like replacing a traffic signal. It’s just going to be using low-cost materials” to make quick improvements that could lay the groundwork for larger changes to come.

Last year was a uniquely deadly year for pedestrians across Connecticut, Blumethal said. Seventy-five pedestrians across the state were killed by cars in 2022.

“Roads can be safer,” he said. “It isn’t a mystery. It’s not science fiction.” He said New Haven can provide a model for the rest of the state on how to make streets like the Derby Avenue safer for all users of the road.

Walker-Myers agreed. “We care about slowing down cars. We care about pedes-

Read More about this aricle by going to theinnercity.com

Hillhouse Coach Cheers Teens To School

by LILIYA GARIPOVA

I am in the Hillhouse high school auditorium. The cheerleaders practice here twice a week, and I am watching a group of girls on the stage rehearsing the moves. I will remember this as one of the most peaceful and calming sights since the pandemic.

The girls are relaxed, happy and fully immersed in the atmosphere of dance and performance. Then I hear the coach’s voice, quietly and kindly guiding them. Everything in front of me is unfolding in perfect harmony, and I am sitting there in the semi-dark hall amazed and puzzled for the 100th time by the diversity of life at New Haven public schools, where in some situations kids can challenge their teachers and drive them out of schools, and in some act as quite mature and diligent individuals capable of selfdiscipline.

“I love my job – it feeds my soul,” says Michelle Sepulveda, the cheerleader coach and truancy officer at Hillhouse High School.

Below is a transcript of my recent interview with Sepulveda about her work with and dedication to New Haven public school students.

Freedom & Happiness In Dancing

Liliya Garipova: Michelle, you have been a cheerleader coach at Hillhouse high school for seven years. How did you choose this path?

Michelle Sepulveda: I grew up in New Haven, on Rock Creek Road. My grandparents bought a house, later their kids bought houses there, and that’s how I had 23 first cousins who all lived on the same street. It was an amazing upbringing.

I was one of the older cousins and used to babysit a lot. So, I’ve worked with kids for a long time.

I was in Girl Scouts too, and I loved dancing a lot. When I turned 17, I started subbing at NHPS, and was teaching dance and gymnastics in the summer. I was a cheerleader myself at Hillhouse, then at Cheshire Academy that I attended for a year, then at Franklin Pierce College. I loved it. I also taught dancing at NHPS.

I started with liturgical dancing with my students in the beginning — we danced to gospel music. But the kids wanted to do hip hop so much. And I would use really cool, gospel songs by Kirk Franklin, for example, and the kids would do gospel hip hop without realizing it. Later I taught hip hop at Educational Center for Arts. How did I become a cheer coach? When I was a kid myself, my mom asked me what I was going to do after school. I said, nothing, I am just going to come home and do my homework. And she said, no, you are going do something. Because if you have idle time, that’s how you get into trouble. You need to find something to do. You will have to pick cheerleading or track or something.

I tried track. I didn’t really care for it too much. Then I tried cheerleading, and I liked it. I was already working as a truancy officer when my youngest son went to college. I was home alone, and I was sad. One day I was walking by his room and seeing that everything was gone, I just started crying. But about a month later, I was made a cheer coach of Hillhouse. I said to myself: God has a sense of humor – seeing that my son was gone, and I was sad, he gave me 22 kids.

Former Planning and Zoning Commissioner Steven R. Mullins has announced his candidacy for Mayor

of West Haven

The announcement was made in a video released Friday on social media

Mullins, a Republican calls West Haven “A beautiful costal community with untapped potential,” in the one minute video. “Having served as planning and zoning commissioner for sixteen years and as a volunteer firefighter, I know and understand first hand, the issues going on in West Haven.” he says.

Mullins brought up issues of litter, blight and potholes. He also mentioned the corruption of former Democratic State Representative and City Council administrative assistant Michael DiMassa, who is accused of embezzling over one million dollars of Federal Covid relief funds from the City. “One day of corruption is far too much corruption.” He said. “It is time to end the culture of corruption that has infested West Haven City Hall.”

Mullins served on the West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission for sixteen years until Mayor Nancy R. Rossi dismissed him last month.

In the video, Mullins criticized Rossi’s lack of leadership in cooperating with the State’s Municipal Accountability Review Board, which is threatening a complete state takeover of City finances due to the Rossi Administration’s non-compliance with the agency.

“We need a leader that will attend the meetings of the MARB.” Mullins said.

Republican Paige Weinstein is the only other candidate for Mayor to file candidacy paperwork. Former Mayor Edward O’BRIEN filed papers for an explanation committee. Rossi has yet to announce her intentions to run for a fourth term.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Hillhouse's cheer team, with coach Michelle Sepulveda (below).

Steven R. Mullins Photograph by: Alex Vishno

Steven R. Mullins

Mayor Elicker and alder President Walker-Myers

New Haven Independent

New Haven Independent

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Black Stars Shine Bright In Preschool’s Orbit

by LAURA GLESBY

Tysin, a 4-year-old budding outer space enthusiast, had a question for the special guest from NASA who had come to visit his Newhallville preschool: “How can I touch a star?”

Tysin and his classmates at Harris and Tucker Preschool at 412 Newhall St. have spent Black History Month honoring stars of all kinds the celestial plasma spheres light-years away and the “hidden figures” who shine right in their neighborhood.

Kelly Ramos, a social media specialist at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), responded to Tysin’s question with a laugh. “I don’t think you want to touch a star,” she explained. “Stars are very hot.”

“We just learned something!” observed preschool teacher Simone Sheats.

“Stars are very hot.”

Ramos, whose mother lives in New Haven, had come all the way from Maryland to meet the Harris and Tucker students for a Thursday afternoon starcelebrating event.

Ramos’ visit was part of a concerted effort on the part of the preschool’s principal, Kim Harris, to expose the young students to science, math, and technology as an influx of biotech companies make their way to the Science Park section just to the south of the school’s Newhallville neighborhood.

Over the course of a month, in anticipation of Ramos’ visit, the classroom on the corner of Newhall and Goodrich Streets has come closer and closer to resembling outer space itself. The students created solar system drawings, paperplate planets, and hand-drawn rocket ships to adorn the walls and hang from the ceiling.

The preschoolers learned about the planets: their colors and temperatures, how each is affected by its distance from the sun. They learned that the sun is just one of many stars in the universe; it’s the brightest from Earth because it happens to be closest.

As a social media manager, Ramos explained to the class, “I help take concepts like astrophysics and make them easier to understand.”

Ramos kicked off a celebration of the Black astronomers and scientists who have contributed to NASA’s space exploration efforts, including those featured in the popular book and film Hidden Figures.

She presented to the students about pivotal Black scientists at NASA and some of the phenomena they studied including her favorite space subject, black holes.

The children, who ranged in age from three to five years old, already knew

the leaders Ramos mentioned: mathematician Katherine Johnson, engineer Mary Jackson, inventor George Edward Alcorn, and astronauts Leland Melvin, Mae Jemison, and Jessica Watkins.

Mae Jemison “was the first what?” asked Sheats.

“Black woman!” a student called out.

“To …” Sheats prompted.

“Go into space!”

The event was devoted not only to the “hidden figures” of NASA, but to the “hidden figures” in each child’s life the role models and caretakers who don’t always get recognition.

“A hidden figure is someone who does so much in your life, but Ms. Simone doesn’t always get to see that,” Sheats told her students.

Each child had invited at least one personal hidden figure to preschool that day. One by one, they awarded their guests a certificate.

Tysin proudly marched a pair of certificates to his grandparents, Danny and Willa Kelley. He received two enthusiastic hugs in return.

Downstairs, a computer lab doubled as an art gallery, forming a multipurpose space that Harris and Tucker students called “the museum.”

Along the walls, students in the Harris and Tucker after-school program had drawn diagrams of the solar system on black construction paper.

Below their drawings, each student named a “family hidden figure”

“someone who goes above and beyond the call to help you, your family, and/or

your community,” as the worksheet explained.

A student named Tamya named her mom as her hidden figure because “she helps me take stuff off the cabinet.”

Another student, Erin, wrote that her mom and grandma were her hidden figures because “if I get in trouble or need help, they will always help me all the time.”

Multiple kids named their principal, Kim Harris, as their hidden figure.

“She is funny, takes care of me, and is good at math,” wrote Kauren.

“If Ms. Kim did not help out my family, I do not know where we would be right now,” wrote Layla.

Upstairs, Harris was directing the moving parts of the afternoon’s event like an orchestra conductor: showing the stream of guests to the classroom, greeting the Yale Community Health Care Van which had parked outdoors to offer vaccines and other health services, teaching older kids how to set out dixie cups of food, guiding younger kids’ attention to the presentation before them. She thought of a hidden figure in her own life: her late aunt, Doris Blackmon, who taught Harris how to cook and who once helped bring the Harris and Tucker classroom to life.

One of her underlying goals was to prepare kids to feel more comfortable around science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts.

“Look at all the development happening around us,” Harris said, referring to both existing and soon-to-rise buildings in Science Park designed for biotech companies like Artificial Cell Technologies.

“My kids deserve these things, too.”

Her students in the majority-Black neighborhood of Newhallville are severely underrepresented in the life sciences and engineering. Harris is working hard to ensure that they meet Black role models in STEM careers and gain comfort with math and science at an early age.

As a tide of scientific industries comes to Newhallville, Harris wants them to feel confident in every corner of their community to know, “This is your neighborhood. It’s for you.”

After Ramos finished presenting on Thursday, Sheats played a music video explaining how the solar system works from the perspective of each planet.

Surrounded by family members and neighbors who have quietly and not-soquietly left their mark, the preschoolers sang the song by heart. “We all orbit the sun,” they chanted, echoing the characters on the screen.

They danced and twirled like planets forming a solar system of their own.

LAURA GLESBY PHOTO

Doing the solar system dance at Harris and Tucker preschool.

Kali, Tysin, and Nayla watch Kelly Ramos' presentation.

Adrienne and Simone Sheats, two generations of Harris and Tucker teachers, with Simone's own hidden figure — her daughter, Laurynn Love.

New Haven Independent

curiosity Set your free

Edward A. Bouchet, was the valedictorian of the Hopkins class of 1870, the first African-American to graduate from Yale College, and the first

to receive a Ph.D. in physics. His intellectual drive and dedication to his studies remain hallmarks of a Hopkins student today.

Hopkins is where high-achieving, motivated students inspire one another in a collective pursuit of excellence.

To learn more, please visit us at hopkins.edu

“biased: uncovering

prejudice

shapes

Hip-Hop, The RAP Act and the Demonization of Rap Culture

by Cory Utsey is a reporter for HUNewsService.com

Hip-Hop Fans and Experts Comment on the Efficacy of The RAP Act and Rap Culture

Those who believe that art should be separate from the artist are most often referring to the exploits of their “problematic faves,” but this concept remains especially relevant when considering how certain art forms and their proprietors face demonization.

The case against rapper Young Thug and the Young Slime Life (YSL) label, which began the week of Jan. 9 in Atlanta’s Fulton County, has garnered much attention and renewed arguments about lyrics being used against rappers in criminal court cases, therein begging the question of whether lyrics should be seen as separate from an artist’s lifestyle.

Thug and other affiliates of YSL are accused of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The grand-jury indictment of over 80 pages alleges 182 instances of involvement in gang activity, including murder. Evidence includes “SLIME” labeled clothing and accessories, social media posts and song lyrics. The phenomena of using lyrics as evidence in court is nothing new, as the likes of Snoop Dogg, Mac Phipps, 2 Live Crew and Tay-K have

all had lyrics referencing violent acts used against them, according to XXL.

The recently introduced Restoring Artistic Protection Act, or “RAP Act,” aims to address this issue. Presented to the House of Representatives by Congressmen Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., the RAP Act seeks to protect artists from having their song lyrics used

as legal evidence in criminal cases.

David F. Green Jr., Ph.D., who is an expert in African-American rhetoric, critical pedagogy and hip-hop, believes that the RAP Act could certainly put structures in place to ensure that rappers can continue their modes of creative expression without threat of facing jail time. Yet, when considering the larger cultural perception

of hip-hop and rap culture, he believes that the RAP Act is not enough.

“It doesn’t address the larger kind of social issues that contribute to these feelings, to these experiences, to the targeting that is occurring,” said Green, an associate professor of English and the director of First-Year Writing at Howard University. “What needs to happen is, as with

everything, a kind of multi-pronged approach, one that raises public awareness and public consciousness of the ways that these things are discriminatory,” he explained. “There also needs to be a stronger understanding of how certain cultural practices have come about historically.”

Green says that hip-hop, as an art form born out of response to the marginalization of Black and brown communities, has always faced scrutiny. While the tone and themes of hip-hop and rap music have changed over time, the view of the culture remains monolithic – especially in the United States, he added.

“People are listening to various forms of hip-hop across the world for various means,” he said. “It is only in America where it still kind of holds this demonized kind of position, where we can honor a hip-hop artist at various award shows but in the same breath come to view them or believe them to be capable of certain acts or certain behaviors just because of their music.”

With regard to separating the art from the artist, one edge of the sword ensures the art remains authentic, giving the artist an outlet to express themselves and their understanding of the world. On the other edge, though, there exists the idea that art

White House hosts Black press for debrief of State of the Union

Courtesy of The Afro, By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer

The Biden-Harris Administration invited members of the Black press to the White House on Feb. 10 for a debriefing of President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address.

To kick off the day, officials reflected on the legacy of Harry McAlpin, who became the first Black reporter to gain admittance to a White House press briefing in 1944 with the help of a petition from the National Negro Publishers Association (NNPA).

The White House expressed its appreciation to the Black Press for their ongoing efforts to hold lawmakers accountable and to keep African-Americans communities informed.

Over the course of the debriefing, senior officials and cabinet members from the current administration discussed the economy and funding opportunities from the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Here’s a rundown of the key takeaways from the day:

The Economy

• Overall, the economy is currently in a strong position, particularly as its still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic

• At 3.4 percent, the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in four years and more than 500,000 jobs were created in January;

Black unemployment is at 5.4 percent, a record low

• While there may be some slight bumps over the course of 2023, the Federal Reserve expects that interest rates will continue to come down, and significant progress will be made to get the rates back down to the standard 2 percent

• The Small Business Administration (SBA) has reaffirmed its commitment to support Black businesses, and President Biden has a goal of increasing federal contracts with small disadvantaged businesses by 10 percent

• Republicans in Congress have opposed hiking the U.S. debt ceiling without spending cuts, but if the limit is not increased it will cause an economic catastrophe nationally and globally

Infrastructure Bill

• Passed in 2021, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is in the middle of deploying $1 trillion across the American economy to rebuild roads, bridges and railways; increase civilians’ access clean drinking water; and mitigate the effects of the climate crisis

• The bill is expected to add an average of 1.5 million jobs per year over the next decade

• $65 billion will be used to secure access to reliable high-speed internet for every American

• $17 billion will be used to modernize the country’s airports and seaports

• There is a focus on providing African Americans and other marginalized communities who have been historically underrepresented in the construction trade with well-paying jobs on projects funded by the bill

• Funding from the bill is being used

for the replacement of the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which was designed in 1873; The new tunnel will be named after Maryland abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and it’s capacity is expected to triple once the project is completed

CHIPS and Science Act

• The U.S. is primarily focused on increas-

ing its investments in infrastructure, science and technology

• Currently the U.S. imports the bulk of its semiconductors from Taiwan; The bipartisan Chips and Science Act, ratified in 2022, will provide $52.7 billion for domestic manufacturing of semiconductors, or chips that are essential to computers and all electronic devices

• Funds will be deployed as cooperative agreements, loan guarantees, subsidies and grants; To be chosen, recipients must exhibit considerable investment in workers and communities, particularly with small businesses and underprivileged communities

• The bill also increases federal funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to conduct research; Government agencies must submit a report on how they plan to increase HBCUs’ capacity to compete for grants, contracts and cooperative agreements

• Increasing domestic production of semiconductor is critical to strengthening the supply chain and national security

• A notice of funding for the Chips and Science Act is expected to be put out before the end of the February

During the debrief, senior administrators also discussed the war in Ukraine, education and police reform.

Megan Sayles is a Report for America Corps member.

Read More about this aricle by going to theinnercity.com

Howard Swim & Dive Team Becomes the First All-Black Swim Team Featured in Sports Illustrated

By Nyah Peebles, HBCUBUZZ.com

The Howard Bison, The only allBlack team in college swimming recently made history as the first allBlack swim team to be featured in the famed sports magazine, Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated began coverage of the Howard University swim and dive team this past October at the start of the fall season.

The historic feature article sheds light on the barriers the team is breaking.

Howard University is the only HBCU with a swim team, and they have made quite the name for themselves as they continue to break school records and make history.

The men’s team is currently 6-2, and the women’s team is 5-3 overall. Both teams are on track to become Northeast Conference champions.

The women’s team captain, senior Raychel Fauntroy, shared her excitement about the team being highlighted. “When Coach Nic asked me to be in the photo shoot for it, I was really shocked that they wanted to do an article and feature us. A lot of people don’t know Howard has a swim team let alone the only HBCU with one,” Fauntroy told The Hilltop.

The article details the team’s season-opening meet, “The Battle at the Burr,” which made collegiate swimming history with one of the largest

attended events with 2,000 tickets sold and over 1,200 attendees. The release also dives into the growth of Howard’s success, statistics, the history of swimming among Black people, and much

more.

“This is about our mission as a university and the message we want to send as an HBCU…This isn’t a bunch of Black people in a pool; it’s young

Black men and women succeeding in a sport that, for years, has shut them out of this experience,” the swim program’s coach, Nicholas Askew told Sports Illustrated.

The Sports Illustrated article can be found on their official website, as well as printed copies on stand.

Addison Jones, the famous African-American cowboy who could top off horses other cowboys feared

by Stephen Nartey, Face2FaceAfrica.com

Gonzales County in Texas was one of the places where riding horses and tending to cattle was the first love of many boys in the 1800s. This tradition was not lost on one of the famous AfricanAmerican cowboys, Addison Jones, who began his career on the Littlefield family ranch.

The Littlefield ranch was a family business that started on the outskirts of West Texas before the Civil War, according to America Comes Alive. Jones worked under George Littlefield, a war veteran who retired from active service in 1863 after getting wounded during the Battle of Mossy Creek. The business was entrusted into his hands after his predicament. The Littlefields had invested heavily in the ranching business and were expecting substantial returns.

Littlefield’s dexterity in investment and efficient running of the family business paid off and he became an influential cattleman, banker and philanthropist. One of the secrets in the running of the cattle business to a large extent depended on the best hands to handle the animals and Jones was one of those trusted hands.

Jones had superior skills in handling

of the cattle on the trail, roping or bronc riding. He was regarded as a legend throughout west Texas and eastern New Mexico. Even the toughest horses could not stand the skill and trick Jones used in subduing them. When he showed up, no matter how many men have failed to top

off horses, the crowd was certain Jones would break it.

At age 30, many cowboys had given up the job, but, Jones still worked for the Littlefields. Despite the hits he took from the horses and cattle, he retired at 70. Historian J. Evetts Haley said Jones

was an embodiment of confidence, skill, and above all had a splendid appreciation of timing and animals.

A song was composed about Jones’ legendary feat by N. Howard Thorp. The song was titled “Whose Old Cow?” Thorp was reported to have indicated

that he did a song about Jones because he was one of the best when it came to taming cows and horses.

Though African-American cowboys enjoyed some privileges like their white counterparts, they were not free from racial discrimination. On the ranches, they were treated equally but once they stepped out they endured scorn and mistreatment from the white majority.

One day, Jones was visiting a neighboring ranch when he was thirsty and needed to drink water. The culture was that, after you are done drinking from a water bucket you find, you must refill the bucket to leave for others. To refill the bucket, Jones had to draw water from the hose with his mouth.

When Jones attempted to do that, a white cowboy smashed his head causing him to lose consciousness. When he woke up, he just rose and returned to the Littlefield ranch.

There are scanty details about his formative years. But, on his death certificate, his wife said he was born in 1845 in Gonzales County, Texas. Jones married Rosa Haskins, a cook at a rooming house in Roswell, New Mexico in 1899.

Jones was 54 when he married Rosa who was 36 years. He died in 1926.

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VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

Todo solicitante será colocado en la lista de espera y recibirá notificación de la posición en la lista. Nombres serán seleccionados de la lista en el orden en que fueron recibidas las pre-solicitudes según dispuesto en el Plan de Acción del Programa de Auto Suficiencia Familiar de ECC/HANH.

Las pre-solicitudes pueden ser obtenidas en la oficina localizada en el 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT. Todas las pre-solicitudes deben ser devueltas a nuestra oficina en persona o por correo solamente. Las pre-solicitudes solo podrán ser llevadas a la oficina entre las horas de 9:00 a.m. y 5:00 p.m.

NOTICIA

El solicitante debe de ser participante actual del programa de Vales de Elección de Vivienda (Sección 8) o residentes de Vivienda Publica (LIPH).

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Aplicaciones incompletas serán rechazadas.

Solo una solicitud por familia será aceptada.

Otro miembro adulto de la familia puede aplicar siempre y cuando el Jefe de Familia este de acuerdo.

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos 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

Todo individuo que requiera una acomodación razonable para someter la aplicación puede llamar a Teena Bordeaux, Coordinadora de Acomodaciones Razonables de HANH al (203) 498-8800 ext. 1507 o al Número de TDD (203) 497-8434.

“El Departamento de Vivienda de la Ciudad de New Haven no discrimina en las base de raza, color, origen nacional, religión, sexo, edad, incapacidad o estado familiar”.

2BR

NEW HAVEN

Igualdad de Oportunidades de Vivienda

242-258

Fairmont Ave

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

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Request for Proposals Communications Media Consultant

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 1:30-

3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S.

(203) 996-4517

Host,General

Elm City Communities is currently seeking proposals for a communications media consultant. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ gateway beginning on

Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 3:00PM.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Listing: Facility Maintenance Technician

Immediate opening for a part time Facility Maintenance Technician for a busy office/ transportation facility. Position requires flexible work schedule. Some heavy lifting required. Send resume to HR Department, hrdept@eastriverenergy.com, 401 Soundview Road, Guilford, CT 06437.

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

**An Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer**

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 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

Deputy Finance Director/Controller

Salary Range - $87,727 - $136,071 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range)

Fully Benefited –35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org

Town of Bloomfield Finance Director

Salary Range - $101,455 to $156,599 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range)

Fully Benefited – 35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org

Portland

Police Officer full-time

Go to www.portlandct.org for details

Town of Bloomfield QSR

Notice

Effective immediately, the Elm City Communities - Housing Authority of New Haven (ECC/HANH) will open the Family Self Sufficiency Program waiting list for Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) participants and Low Income Public Housing residents. The waiting list will remain open until further notice.

Each applicant will be placed on the waiting list and will receive a notice with the position on the list. Names will be taken from the FSS waiting list in the order in which your pre-enrollment is received set forth in ECC/HANH’s FSS Action Plan for the Family Self-Sufficiency Program.

Pre-enrollment forms can be obtained from our office at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT. All pre-enrollment forms must be returned to the office in person or by mail only. Pre-enrollment forms can be dropped-off at the office between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm.

Applicant must be a current Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) participant or Low Income Public Housing (LIPH) resident.

Incomplete applications will be rejected.

Only one application per household will be accepted.

Another adult member of the Household may apply so long as it is agreed and approved by the Head of Household

Any individual requiring a reasonable accommodation to submit an application may call Teena Bordeaux, Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator for HANH at (203) 498-8800 ext. 1507 or at the TDD Number (203) 497-8434

“The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability or familial status."

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

Equal Opportunity Housing Provider

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Bid Package #3 Chamberlain and Essex Townhouses –CO and Smoke Detectors

Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for bid package #3 Chamberlain and Essex Townhouses – CO and Smoke Detectors. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

State of Connecticut

Office of Policy and Management

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Municipal Finance Policy Development Coordinator

Monday, February 6, 2023 at 3:00PM.

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

Full Time Administrative assistant position for a steel & misc metals fabrication shop who will oversee the daily operations of clerical duties such as answering phones, accounts payable purchase orders/invoicing and certified payroll. Email resumes to jillherbert@gwfabrication.com

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com

https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= 221215&R2=1581MP&R3=001

HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER

Construction

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V

Drug Free Workforce

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Construction

South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG)

“Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2023-2050” Review

NOTICE

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

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Contact: Tom Dunay

Phone: 860- 243-2300

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 6211720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

The public is invited to offer comments on the Region’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2023-2050. This plan guides major transportation and transit investment in the Region and also updates air quality conformity. A copy of the plan is available at www.scrcog.org.

Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com

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

HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Drug Free Workforce

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

:

Public comments may be emailed to jrode@scrcog.org or mailed to James Rode, Principal Planner, South Central Regional Council of Governments, 127 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor West, North Haven, CT 06473 with receipt, in both cases, by no later than April 8, 2023.

Key Dates

February 22 - April 8, 2023: Public Comment Period

March 8, 2023 @ 1:00 PM - Informal Public Meeting*

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300

NOTICIA

Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

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

Large CT Fence Company looking for an individual for our PVC Fence Production Shop. Experience preferred but will train the right person. Must be familiar with carpentry hand & power tools and be able to read a CAD drawing and tape measure. Use of CNC Router machine a plus but not required, will train the right person. This is an in-shop production position. Duties include building fence panels, posts, gates and more. Must have a valid CT driver’s license & be able to obtain a Drivers Medical Card. Must be able to pass a physical and drug test. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com.

April 8, 2023 @ 12:00 PM – Transportation Committee Meeting – Review*

April 26, 2023 @ 10:00 AM – SCRCOG Policy Board – Approve*

*All meetings at SCRCOG, 127 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor West, North Haven, CT

Union Company seeks:

Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos 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

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

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

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

AA/EOE-MF

Full Time Administrative assistant position for a steel & misc metals fabrication shop who will oversee the daily operations of clerical duties such as answering phones, accounts payable purchase orders/invoicing and certified payroll. Email resumes to jillherbert@gwfabrication.com

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR Exterior Insulation and Finish (EIFS) Repairs at D’Amato Building in New Britain, CT

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY of the CITY OF NEW BRITAIN (Authority) will receive sealed bids, in TRIPLICATE, The work generally consists of the repair of EIFS at one building. Bids will be received until March 7, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. at the office of the Authority, 16 Armistice Street, New Britain, CT 06053, at which time they will be publicly opened and read aloud.

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Municipal Finance Policy Development Coordinator Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

To obtain a copy of the "Request for Proposal and drawings" visit www.nbhact.org under procurement

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= 221215&R2=1581MP&R3=001

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

CDL CLASS A Full Time – All Shifts Top Pay-Full Benefits

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER

EOE Please apply in person: 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Stratford, CT 06615

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

BALDWIN HOLDINGS, INC.

NOTICE

SECRETARY

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

An instrumentality of The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) Solicitation Number: 26-BH-23-S

HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

Re-Construction of Three – Three Family Homes 344-346 Hanover St., 350-352 Hanover St., 354-356 Hanover St.

Senior Clerk: Performs a wide variety of responsible clerical duties in a municipal government office. The position requires 4 years of office work experience of a responsible nature and a H.S. diploma. $23.72 to $28.28 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Applications may be obtained at the office of the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. The closing date will be that date the 50th application form/ resume is received, or February 22, 2023, whichever occurs first. EOE.

NOTICIA

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport under its instrumentality Baldwin Holdings, Inc. is requesting sealed bids for Re-Construction of Three – Three Family Homes located at 344-346, 350-352, 354-356 Hanover St. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on January 17, 2023. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A MANDATORY pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06604 on February 1, 2023 @ 11:00 a.m., submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than February 8, 2023 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. All bids must be received by mailed or hand delivered by February 22, 2023 @ 2:00 p.m., to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Director of Procurement, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No bids will be accepted after the designated time.

LEGAL NOTICE Request for Proposals (RFP) for Services

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management, is seeking proposals to provide certain services related to financial management of the City of West Haven, Connecticut. The intent of the request is to identify individuals or firms with the necessary expertise to provide these services within a stated timeframe.

State of Connecticut

Office of Policy and Management

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Municipal Finance – Policy Development Coordinator and a GIS Analyst (Research Analyst)

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

Listing: Maintenance

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos 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

Immediate opening for a part time maintenance person for ground and building maintenance. Position requires flexible work schedule. Some heavy lifting required. Computer knowledge a plus. Send resume to HR Department, hrdept@eastriverenergy.com, 401 Soundview Road, Guilford, CT 06437.

NEW HAVEN

The RFP is available online at: https:// portal.ct.gov/DAS/CTSource/BidBoard and https://portal.ct.gov/OPM/Root/RFP/ Request-For-Proposals or from Kevin Meakem, Office of Policy and Management, Finance Division, 450 Capitol Ave., MS# 54FIN, Hartford, Connecticut 06106-1379. E-mail: Kevin.Meakem@ct.gov. Telephone (860) 418- 6313. Deadline for response submission is 3:00 PM EST February, 3, 2023.

https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/ bulpreview.asp?R1=230203&R2=1581MP&R3=001 and

https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/ bulpreview.asp?R1=230206&R2=6855AR&R3=001

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Bid Package #1 Scattered Sites East – CO and Smoke Detectors

242-258 Fairmont Ave

**An Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer**

2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for bid package #1 scattered sites east – CO and Smoke Detectors. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Request for Proposals Communications Media Consultant

Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Monday, February 6, 2023 at 3:00PM.

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 ofPitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. New Haven, CT

Elm City Communities is currently seeking proposals for a communications media consultant. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ gateway beginning on

Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 3:00PM.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Plant Maintenance Mechanic

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Construction

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Drug Free Workforce

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

Invitation for Bids

Temporary Help

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Highly skilled mechanic needed in the repair and maintenance of all plant equipment to include pumping station equipment and motor vehicles for the Town of Wallingford Sewer Division. Requires graduation from a high school/trade school and 4 years experience in the repair and maintenance of mechanical equipment. Must obtain a CDL Class B motor vehicle operator license within 6 months of employment. $30.85 to $36.18 per hour plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Application forms may be obtained at the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from Town of Wallingford Department of Human Resources Web Page. Phone: (203)-294-2080. Fax (203)-294-2084. The closing date will be February 28, 2023 or the date the 50th application is received, whichever occurs first. EOE

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 informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids from firms to provide an as needed basis, temporary administrative-type employees. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, February 27, 2023 at 3:00PM.

NOTICE

Town of Bloomfield

Deputy Finance Director/Controller

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

LAROSA GROUPS IS GROWING

Salary Range - $87,727 - $136,071 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range)

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT (HACB) 2023 ADMINISTRATIVE PLAN FOR THE HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER AND AMENDMENT TO THE 2022 ANNUAL PLAN

LaRosa Building Group LLC, a General Contractor is currently looking to add the following full-time positions to our Team: Project Manager

Assistant Project Manager/Project Engineer Superintendent

HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

LaRosa Earth Group LLC, a Site/Excavation Company is currently looking to add the following full-time positions to our Team:

Heavy Equipment Operators

NOTICIA

Skilled Laborers

Fully Benefited –35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org

Town of Bloomfield Finance Director

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport will be adopting the 2023 Administrative Plan for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and proposing to amend the 2022 Annual Plan.

Copies of the 2023 Administrative Plan for Housing Choice Voucher Program and the amendment to the 2022 Annual Plan, will be made available on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, on the agency website www.parkcitycommunities.org

VALENTINA

MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Please submit resumes to HR@LAROSABG.COM or stop by our main office to fill out an application: 163 Research Parkway Meriden, CT.

Salary Range - $101,455 to $156,599 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range)

You are invited to provide written comments addressed to: HACB/PCC, 2023 Administrative Plan for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and/or Amendment to the 2022 Annual Plan; Attn: Phoebe Greenfield, 150 Highland Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604 or via email to: agencyplans@parkcitycommunities.org. The forty-five (45) days comment period begins on February 1, 2023, and ends on March 17, 2023. All comments must be received by March 17, 2023.

Salary will be commensurate with experience and best fit for the positions. Health plan; 401K; company-paid holidays in addition to paid time off. LaRosa Groups is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer who values diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply.

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos 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

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Scattered Site Homes Exterior and Interior Renovations – Group D

Fully Benefited – 35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org

Portland

Police Officer full-time

Please be advised the Public Hearing will be held on March 21, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom. The Zoom Connection Link will be placed on the website and please note that Zoom participants are limited to the first one hundred, (100) participants. The public hearing is scheduled for ninety (90) minutes and address concerns by residents and general public.

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Bid Package #1 Scattered Sites East – CO and Smoke Detectors

NEW HAVEN

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for Scattered Site Homes Exterior and Interior Renovations – Group D. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing. cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

242-258 Fairmont Ave

2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA

Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 3:00PM.

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center

Go to www.portlandct.org for details

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for bid package #1 scattered sites east – CO and Smoke Detectors. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

APPLY NOW!

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Monday, February 6, 2023 at 3:00PM.

The Guilford Housing Authority is currently accepting applications for one bedroom apartments at Sachem Hollow in Guilford, CT. Applicants must be age 62 and over or on 100% social security or federal disability and over the age of 18. Applications may be obtained by calling the application line at 203-453-6262 EXT: 107. Applications will be accepted until end of business day or postmark of March 20, 2023 4PM. Credit, police, landlord checks are procured by the Authority. Smoking is prohibited in the units and building.

Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Bid Package #3 Chamberlain and Essex Townhouses – CO and Smoke Detectors

State of Connecticut

Office of Policy and Management

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for bid package #3 Chamberlain and Essex Townhouses – CO and Smoke Detectors. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Water Quality Inspector

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Performs responsible specialized work in protecting the quality of the water supply and distribution system for the Town of Wallingford, CT. Requires an Associate’s degree in environmental science or sanitary engineering, plus 3 years of experience in a water utility. Successful candidates must have a valid Connecticut driver’s license and be in possession or be eligible for a Class I Water Treatment Plant or Distribution System Operator Certification and Certification as a General Backflow Preventers, Tester and Cross-Connection Survey Inspector issued by the State of Connecticut. The Town offers a competitive pay rate of $27.79-$33.76 per hour plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main St., Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or maybe downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. The closing date will be that date the 50th application form/ resume is received, or March 7, 2023 whichever occurs first. (203) 294-2080. Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

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 informalities

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

Monday, February 6, 2023 at 3:00PM.

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Lead Planning Analyst-Juvenile Justice. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions for this position are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= 230127&R2=0007AR&R3=001

HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483

Scattered Site Homes Exterior and Interior Renovations – Group A – Re-Bid

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for Scattered Site Homes Exterior and Interior Renovations – Group A – Re-Bid. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, February 13, 2023 at 3:00PM.

Irregular Heartbeat: What Is It

by Jessica Daniels, BlackDoctor.org

Many things can make your heart skip a beat — the words to a song, a case of the nerves, or a near car accident — but these temporary palpitations aren’t usually cause for concern.

But much more serious, and sometimes deadly, things can throw off the heart’s rhythm, including dehydration, a history of heart disease, wild type ATTR-CM, or a heart defect. Medications, intense exertion or anxiety can also trigger heart rhythm changes or arrhythmias.

According to Dr. Mark Anderson of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, “the heart’s system is not unlike the electrical system in a car,” which helps the car run properly. The electrical pulses keep the heart’s rhythm smooth and even, he explained in a recent article. But when the electric signals that control the pace of your heartbeat malfunction, that is a heart arrhythmia, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

What is heart arrhythmia?

Arrhythmias can feel like flutters or butterflies in your chest or that your heart is racing or pounding. Heart arrhythmias can also cause the heart rhythm to slow down or skip. Most of the time, they are harmless, but they can signify something more serious.

RELATED: Unexpected Physical Signs

Your Heart Needs a Check-up

What are the types of heart arrhythmia?

The Mayo Clinic groups heart arrhythmias into two main types, tachycardia (faster heartbeats) and bradycardia (slower heartbeats).

Types of tachycardia

Commentary

and How Do You Treat It?

people with healthy hearts, but it can be life-threatening for a heart already weakened by heart disease.

Types of bradycardia

• Sick sinus syndrome is due to defective sinus nodes. The sinus nodes are the natural pacemakers in the heart. Heart rhythms will beat too quickly or, more commonly, too slowly when malfunctioning.

• Conduction block is a heart rhythm condition caused by a breakdown in the flow of the electrical pulses that make the heart pump. The blockage slows the heart rate because the messages of when to pump and contract are not coming on time.

What causes heart arrhythmia?

The AHA lists many causes that can lead to heart arrhythmias. They can include disease or illness, a stressful lifestyle, too much drinking and smoking, certain medications, trauma, surgery, and genetic or birth defects.

Heart arrhythmia treatments

Heart arrhythmias are often harmless and don’t need to be treated, according to the AHA. Before that can be decided, a doctor must be aware of the issue and determine an underlying cause. If it is determined that treatment needs to happen, they may suggest several different options:

• Increased physical activity, reduced caffeine or alcohol intake, and stress management

• Heart arrhythmia medications or changes in medications that may be causing the symptoms

• Surgery to remove blockages or correct defects may be recommended. Surgery may also be needed to implant devices such as a pacemaker, which keeps the heart beating at a proper pace

How to prevent heart arrhythmia

The AHA also suggests heart arrhythmias can be prevented with heart-healthy habits:

• Atrial fibrillation (a-fib) is one of the most common types of arrhythmia. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 12 million people will experience a-fib by 2030. It is described as a rapid, chaotic heartbeat and is associated with an increased risk of blood clots and stroke.

• Atrial flutter is like a-fib. It starts with an electrical short-circuit in the upper heart chamber. The heartbeats are rapid, but not chaotic like with a-fib. It is also associated with an increased risk of stroke.

• Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is categorized as a sudden pounding of the heart. It is an umbrella term for ar-

rhythmias that start above the lower heart chambers. SVT can also lead to serious complications such as stroke and other heart diseases.

• Ventricular fibrillation is a heart rhythm issue in the heart’s lower ventricles. It is a misfire in the electrical signals of the heart that cause the ventricles to flutter randomly. If normal heart rhythm is not restored, it can lead to death. Ventricular fibrillation is mostly found in those with underlying heart disease or those who have experienced trauma.

• Ventricular tachycardia is also due to defective electrical pulses in the heart’s lower ventricles. It is usually harmless for

Heart arrhythmia symptoms

According to the Mayo Clinic, heart arrhythmias often don’t have any signs or symptoms, but a doctor may catch them during a routine visit.

Sometimes, mild symptoms can include flutters or butterflies in your chest, a racing or slowing heart rate or a heart pounding. More severe symptoms may include chest pain, sweating, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, fatigue, and dizziness or fainting. If these more severe symptoms occur, they should be addressed immediately.

• A heart-healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins, fiber and plenty of water

• Regular exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise

• Weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight

• Quit smoking and other drugs

• Limiting or avoiding caffeine and alcohol

• Practicing stress management and reducing anxiety

• Using medications as directed and tell your doctor about all the medicines or supplements you take, including those bought without a prescription

TBE# 6 – President Biden responds to National Urban League priorities in State of the Union Address

By Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League

“Imagine what it’s like to lose a child at the hands of the law. Imagine having to worry whether your son or daughter will come home from walking down the street or playing in the park or just driving their car … Imagine having to worry like that every day in America. Here’s what Tyre’s mom shared with me when I asked her how she finds the courage to carry on and speak out. With faith in God, she said her son ‘was a beautiful soul and something good will come from this.’ Imagine how much courage and character that takes. It’s up to us. It’s up to all of us.” — President Joe Biden

Just before Tuesday’s State of the Union address, my fellow civil rights leaders and I asked President Biden to use his platform to call for a robust and impactful fed-

eral response to the killing of Tyre Nichols and the continuing disproportionate police killings of Black and Brown people.

Tyre’s parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, were given a place of honor alongside the First Lady and Second Gentleman, so the nation could not look away from their grief.

Their presence, and the words of RowVaughn Wells as shared by President Biden, made a powerful case for transforming the relationship between police and the communities they serve, reminding the nation that their anguish of is an ever-present specter for Black families.

We asked the President to call on Congress to implement a transformative police accountability framework to address systemic police violence, whatever the legislative vehicle. As he noted in the address, we must “give law enforcement the training they need, hold them to higher stan-

Marc H. Morial

dards, and help them succeed in keeping everyone safe … And when police officers or departments violate the public’s trust, we must hold them accountable.”

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act represents a vision of what President Biden called “the covenant we have with each other in America” and the National Urban League stands with him in demanding its passage into law.

While President Biden assailed the January 6 insurrection and the Big Lie that fueled its violence, his call to honor the results of our elections did not specifically call on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act or other comprehensive voting rights measures.

The National Urban League remains committed to this legislation and will continue to advocate for its passage.

We were pleased to hear the President’s praise of the Child Tax Credit, which has

given “tens of millions of parents some breathing room and cut child poverty in half, to the lowest level in history.” The National Urban League is a staunch advocate of expanding the CTC, which would reduce poverty among children of all racial and ethnic groups and specifically cut Black child poverty in half.

With regard to consumer data privacy, the President endorsed “stricter limits on the personal data these companies collect on all of us.” The National Urban League continues to prioritize the need for comprehensive federal privacy legislation with strong civil rights protections to protect our communities online.

The National Urban League appreciates our collaborative relationship with the Biden-Harris Administration and looks forward to advancing our priorities of racial justice and economic opportunity in the months ahead.

Gateway Community College joins students, alumni,

faculty, and community in celebration of Black

History Month

Ellington Jazz Series

Jane Bunnett and Maqueque

Mar. 3 | 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

A performance by saxophonist and flutist Jane Bunnett and the all-female Afro-Cuban group Maqueque, which DownBeat has said “sounds like no other today in jazz.”

Tickets from $23, students $10 | music-tickets.yale.edu

Introducing the next generation 10G network. Only from Xfinity. A network that can effortlessly handle a house full of devices. All at the same time. Which means that you and everyone else can seamlessly watch, work, stream and play whatever you want on all your devices with ultra-low lag. Get ready for a network that can handle the entire house, no matter how full it is. The future starts now.

Restrictions apply. Ends 3/21/23. Not available in all areas. New Xfinity Internet residential customers only. Offer requires enrollment in both paperless billing and automatic payments with stored bank account. Without enrollment, the monthly service charge automatically increases by $10 (or $5 if enrolling with credit or debit card information). The discount will appear on your bill within 45 days of enrolling in automatic payments and paperless billing. If either automatic payments or paperless billing are subsequently canceled, the $10 monthly discount will be removed automatically. Limited to Connect More 200 Mbps internet. All other installation, taxes & fees extra, and subj. to change during and after promo. After 24 months, or if any service is canceled or downgraded, regular charges apply to internet service and devices. Service limited to a single outlet. May not be combined with other offers. Actual speeds vary and not guaranteed. Ultra-low lag based on median latency of 13 milliseconds or below for Xfinity gigabit Internet customers with xFi Gateway as measured by Xfinity Speed Test. For factors affecting speed visit www.xfinity.com/networkmanagement. Call for restrictions and complete details, or visit xfinity.com. NPA244949-0001 NED-10G Platform-V12