INNER-CITY NEWS

THE INNER-CITYNEWS NEWS April , 2017 02,02, 2017 INNER-CITY July26 27, 2016-- May August 2016

Financial Justice a Key Focus at 2016 NAACP Convention Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Goes One-On-One With Cancer New Haven, Bridgeport

INNER-CITYNEWS Volume 27 No. 2230 Volume 21. No. 2194

“DMC” scholarship

Malloy Malloy To To Dems: Dems:

Color Struck?

Snow in July?

Beyoncé creates Ignore On Crime” Ignore“Tough “Tough On New HavenCrime” Native

Candidate Calls For

Shares Her Most

Humiliating Experiences in Book

FOLLOW ON Changing In Newhallville CT Single-Payer SystemUS Guard 1

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Beyond Bigotry: A Conversation with Heather McGhee at New Haven Museum

In partnership with the New Haven Free Public Library and Connecticut Humanities, the New Haven Museum will host “Beyond Bigotry: A Conversation with Heather McGhee,” with noted media contributor and president of the Demos Foundation Heather McGhee, and Frank Mitchell, executive director of the Amistad Center for Art and Culture, on Friday, May 12, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at the New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Space is limited, and registration is required at: https://www. eventbrite.com/e/beyond-bigotry-aconversation-with-heather-mcgheetickets-33707169050.

McGhee and Mitchell will explore the theme, “Beyond Bigotry: Equity, Democracy and the New American Demos.” A dynamic question-andanswer segment with the audience will round out the discussion. The program is part of a six-part special series developed by Connecticut Humanities, “At Issue – The Legacy of Race and Ethnicity in Connecticut,” which explores the legacy of race and ethnicity in our state. The free program is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the hu-

man endeavor.

A recognized thought leader on the national stage, McGhee frequently appears on shows such as “Meet the Press,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Her opinions, writing and research have appeared in numerous outlets, including “The New York

Times,” “The Nation,” and “The Hill.” She has co-chaired a task force that helped shape key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and served as John Edwards’ Deputy Policy Director in charge of Domestic and Economic Policy. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Civic Participation and serves on the boards of the Center for Working Families and “Consumer Reports.”

She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. Mitchell is the executive director and curator for the Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Previously, he held collection and program management positions at the New Haven Free Public Library, the Peabody Museum of National History, New Haven and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. He teaches at the University of Connecticut, and has held positions at Trinity and Franklin and Marshall Colleges. He has curated exhibits at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut His-

torical Society and Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit, among others, and is an active speaker, writer and member of regional and national organizations. He joined the Connecticut Humanities Applications Review Committee in 2015 and became a board member in 2016. He received an A.B. in history/English from Bowdoin College, an M.A. in African American Studies from Yale University and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

About Demos Foundation Demos is a public policy organization working for an America where we all have an equal say in our democracy and an equal chance in our economy. Our name means “the people.” It is the root word of democracy, and it reminds us that in America, the true source of our greatness, is the diversity of our people. Our nation’s highest challenge is to create a democracy that truly empowers people of all backgrounds, so that we all have a say in our common future. To help America meet that challenge, Demos is working to reduce both political and economic inequality, deploying original research, advocacy, litiga-

tion, and strategic communications to create the America the people deserve.

About Connecticut Humanities Connecticut Humanities (CTH) is a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and administrator of the Connecticut Center for the Book, an affiliate program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Through competitive grantmaking, its website, and social media channels, CTH highlights cultural and educational events and is an advocate for the humanities. The organization also manages and develops content for ConnecticutHistory.org, promotes literature and reading through its Book Voyagers community workshops for families, and supports local museums and historical societies through StEPsCT, a capacity building program run in partnership with the Connecticut League of History Organizations and Connecticut Historical Society.

Visit http://www.cthumanities.org for more information.

About the New Haven Free Public Con’t on page 4

Guard Changing In Newhallville

by MARKESHIA RICKS

Two thirds of Newhallville’s Board of Alders representation is stepping aside to make room for new blood.

Both Brenda Foskey Cyrus and Alfreda Edwards confirmed at Wednesday night’s meeting that they are not seeking re-election this year.

Foskey-Cyrus said she is moving on form the Ward 21 seat, while Edwards said that it was time to allow someone younger to serve. That someone younger could be Edwards’ daughter Kimberly, who is seeking her mom’s Ward 19 seat.

“The board needs change,” Edwards said. “I want to do something else in the community. I’m not leaving.”

Ward 21 Democratic co-chair Rodney Williams is running to replace Foskey-Cyrus.

Alder Delphine Clyburn said she hasn’t made her formal announcement or filed her paperwork, but she plans to run again. She said she still has things she wanted to accomplish for Ward 20.

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

Alfreda Edwards, Delphine Clyburn and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus at Wednesday night’s alder meeting.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Con’t from page 3

Beyond Bigotry: Library The New Haven Free Public Library welcomes more than 550,000 library patrons through its doors each year. The library system includes the Ives Memorial Library on the historic New Haven Green, 24/7 online services, the Readmobile bringing books to early childhood learning centers, and four neighborhood libraries: Fair Haven, Mitchell, Wilson and Stetson. The New Haven Free Public Library’s mission is to ensure all New Haven’s citizens have full and unlimited access to information and knowledge so that they may meet the needs of daily living, have opportunities for selfeducation, and participate successfully in self-government.

About the New Haven Museum The New Haven Museum has been collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New Haven since its inception as the New Haven Colony Historical Society in 1862. Located in downtown New Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue, the Museum brings more than 375 years of New Haven history to life through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach. For more information visit www.newhavenmuseum.org or Facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.

New Haven Native Shares Her Most Humiliating Experiences in Book Author Stacy Graham-Hunt writes about having an abortion, being teased about body odor, and losing a tooth as an adult in her book, Processing Pain, released earlier this month.

NEW HAVEN, CONN. – Teenagers and young adults like to believe they are invincible, but often find themselves in trouble...big trouble. Author Stacy Graham-Hunt was one of those people. In her book, Processing Pain, Graham-Hunt reveals her darkest secrets, fears and painful experiences while attending Hopkins School on Forest Road and as a college student at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida.

“I first started sharing my stories on Facebook, and with each story I shared, I found that my friends and family also had similar experiences, but were too ashamed to share theirs,” Graham-Hunt said. They told me they were relieved once I started sharing mine. They realized they weren’t alone. They encouraged me to publish them in book form...so I did.”

Graham-Hunt is an award-winning journalist, and has worked as a contributor for the InnerCity News, as well as Black Enterprise Magazine. For several years, she worked as a reporter for several newspapers throughout the state, includ-

ing the Connecticut Post. She has received awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists.

Now, she facilitates a “Processing Pain” journaling workshop, where she helps young women write about, discuss, and process their past hurtful experiences to help them overcome feelings of shame and guilt. She also works as a consultant, helping businesses with their social media and public relations needs.

Processing Pain is a book of 19 personal essays written by Stacy Graham-Hunt and published by Graham-Hunt Communications.

To obtain a copy of Processing Pain, visit ProcessingPain. com/book. Contact Stacy Graham-Hunt at processingpain@ gmail.com, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @StacyReports. New Haven Native Shares Her Most Humiliating Experiences in Book

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO

Babz Rawls Ivy

Editor-in-Chief Liaison, Corporate Affairs Babz@penfieldcomm.com

Advertising/Sales Team Trenda Lucky Keith Jackson Delores Alleyne John Thomas, III

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Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner Smita Shrestha William Spivey Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

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Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass New Haven Independent www.newhavenindependent.org

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The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-3870354 phone; 203-387-2684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment.

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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.

Fire Commission Approves 24 Promotions

by MARKESHIA RICKS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

The Board of Fire Commissioners promoted 12 new fire captains and 12 lieutenants, but there could be more promotions to those ranks for two very different reasons: a lawsuit by one firefighter, and pending negotiations with the fire union for staffing changes.

During a special called meeting of the board Monday, the following 12 people were promoted to captain: Lt. Ryan Almedia, Lt. Miguel Rosado, Lt. Daniel Coughlin, Lt. Patrick Psarras, Lt. Thomas Fitzgerald, Lt. Wayne Ricks Jr., Lt. Rafael Zayas, Lt. Kendall Richardson, Lt. Timothy Papp, Lt. Justin Bialecki, Lt. Gregory Carroll and Lt. Christopher Brigham.

The board also approved the following 12 firefighters for promotion to lieutenant: Phillip Gauvin Jr., Scott Dillon, Silverio Rivera, Matthew Kennedy, Vincent Caruso Jr., Jeffrey Brabham, Michael DeMennato, James Fitzgerald, Troy Frost, Roberto Lugo, Raymond Dejesus, and Steven Ortiz.

One more firefighter could be promoted to captain based on the

outcome of pending litigation. Lt. Angel Aviles has sued over the promotional exam for captain.

He states in the complaint, filed by attorney Patricia Cofrancesco, that the city lost part of the audiotape of the oral portion of the exam. When asked to review the audiotape to review his score, he was offered a “hybrid” of the audiotape and a videotape, according to the complaint, which argues that that denied him the chance to fully “confirm the accuracy of the score.” The complaint states that the city also promised but failed to provide affidavits from three people who administered the oral portion of the exam.

The suit seeks to have the list from the captain’s test thrown out and the oral tests readministered.

Mayoral spokesman Laurence Grotheer said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation like this lawsuit. (Click here to read the complaint.)

“There was an issue of one of the captain/lieutenants who was not able to review his complete exam,” Alston said. “It’s a matter between him and the testing company, Morrison & McDaniel. It came up in the Civil Service Board hearing that we could move forward with the list. Pending the outcome of the litigation, should his score change he has been scored but if

his score changes he will be inserted into the list. Currently, where he is on the list does not affect us moving forward.”

After the board approved the lieutenant’s list, Alston reminded members that he is presenting his department’s budget before the Board of Alders Finance Committee Thursday night and that there will be staffing changes going forward in the next couple of weeks.

Alston’s budget currently includes all of the promotions that have been approved, but doesn’t reflect the ongoing negotiations. He did say that the negotiations are aimed at achieving more efficiencies.

“I didn’t want to make those changes because this will affect everything,” Alston said of the promotion lists. “I want to submit it as it is, but there may be the opportunity to even go further on the list with some of the staffing changes I’m negotiating with Local 825.”

A promotion ceremony for the new lieutenants, captains and other ranks that were recently announced is slated for April 21 at 5 p.m. Alston said the venue is still to be determined.

Former Obama Official To Head Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood

by Christine Stuart CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT — David Wilkinson, who most recently served as director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation under President Barack Obama, isn’t concerned about taking a job that might only last 21 months.

Wilkinson, 39, was nominated Thursday to head the Office of Early Childhood, which was created four years ago by Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Malloy announced just last week he wasn’t going to be seeking re-election.

But that didn’t bother Wilkinson who seemed more than excited at a Capitol press conference to move to Hartford and take the job.

CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSJUNKIE

David Wilkinson at his maiden Capitol press conference Thursday in the governor’s briefing room

The job seems like a perfect fit too given Wilkinson’s upbringing in Richmond, VA. During the press conference 5

Thursday, Wilkinson said his mother was a single teenage mom who worked long hours for low wages.

He said they relied on public support like food stamps and often went without heat in

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Privatization of Group Homes Is On Hold

by Jack Kramer CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT — A controversial plan to transition group homes from being run by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to private nonprofit providers has been shelved — for now.

At a press conference Friday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the plan, which was launched to save money, is “on hold for a period of time.”

Malloy made the remarks while introducing Jordan Scheff, the new DDS Commissioner, to the news media. Malloy said the plan was halted while the administration finishes its negotiations with the state’s labor unions.

The state has “decided not to move forward” with privatizing 40 group homes, though Malloy

stressed that could change depending on what kind of cost savings comes out of contract negotiations with all the state unions.

Scheff, who has been serving as acting commissioner of DDS since January, said the decision to delay the transition process was also done to work with families who are under the stress that this type of transition this might cause.

The governor’s statement came an hour after family members of the disabled made passionate pitches to spare state workers from layoffs at a press conference at the Newington Regional Center, which employs about 200 state workers.

Other centers where similar work is done have been shut down in recent years as part of the state’s effort to save money by transitioning group homes to private nonprofits

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Gilbert Morell and his mother Michelle Morell

providers.

“My son is autistic, non-verbal, and mentally challenged,” Michelle Morrell of Middletown said.

Her son, Gilbert, 32, lives at the Newington center. “He loves this place. Since he’s been here, he’s gotten involved in Special Olympics.

He works out,” Morell said.

“Before he came here it took two or three people to get him under control,” Morell said, adding that she credits the workers at the center for her son’s renewed positive attitude.

“I urge the governor to reconsider balancing the budget on the backs of these people who I don’t call workers but who I call our family,” Morell said.

Also praising the state workers at Newington was Alice Evans, of Stratford. Her daughter, Diane Brown, lives at the center.

“She lived at the Grasso Center until it was closed,” Evans said. “We don’t want people who come and go in Diane’s life.”

The Ella T. Grasso Regional Cen-

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ter in Stratford closed last June, at the same time the Meriden Regional Center closed.

“This place is fabulous,” Evans said.

“I don’t want to lose this. They aren’t workers, they are family.”

The union that represents the workers filed a lawsuit against the state last October.

The lawsuit filed by the Connecticut State Employees Association, SEIU Local 2001, and New England Health Care Employees Union District 1199 says that by moving forward with privatizing the services and laying off union members constitutes a “prohibited practice.” The union already filed a “prohibited practice” complaint with the state Board of Labor Relations and is seeking a court injunction to stop the privatization from moving forward until the board can resolve the matter.

“Laying off bargaining unit members and contracting out services threatens to irreversibly eliminate DDS’ capacity to deliver those services because the work will have

been wholly privatized and the individuals the employees care for will have settled into new homes and/or adapted to new caretakers,” the lawsuit states.

John Quattrocchi, of Rocky Hill, whose son receives services at Newington, said he is a business owner who understands that the state has a severe fiscal crisis and needs to save money.

“But these monies are a pittance compared to the overall budget,” Quattrocchi said, adding that a “society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable.”

In the meantime, state workers are bracing for what could be more layoffs.

The Malloy administration said it will reduce the state workforce by over 1,100 employees in May “as a first step toward resolving the budget shortfall.” In addition to those filled positions, the administration said it will keep vacant another 120 positions that were scheduled to be filled.

The layoffs are expected to save about $80 million.

When he released his budget in February, Malloy said 4,200 state employees would need to be eliminated in order to achieve the $700 million in labor savings in fiscal year 2018.

The Malloy administration and chief negotiators for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition have been informally talking since last November, but have been unable to reach a consensus, according to the governor.

“We have legal requirements in contracts with respect to giving notice,” Malloy said last week.

Last year, Malloy laid off about 825 executive branch employees, while the judicial branch laid off about 300. Some of those employees were able to win back their jobs, but it’s unclear exactly how many because of the various bargaining groups and grievances filed. Neither the administration nor the unions can say with any certainty how many won back their jobs.

At the same time, additional layoffs were expected to take place within the Department of Developmental Services at the beginning of the year, but have yet to happen.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

With No Republican Opponent, Murphy Focuses Campaign Fundraising Against Trump

by Jack Kramer CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT - U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy has launched his re-election campaign and while he has no announced Republican opponent in Connecticut, yet, he is setting his sights on a bigger one in Washington, D.C. “We’ve seen an unbelievable outpouring of action and activism since the election of Donald Trump,” Murphy said in his reelection announcement. “Thousands and thousands of people have signed up to take part in new grassroots groups that are working to push back on the most reckless aspects of the Trump agenda. It’s time to harness all this energy together into a unified effort.”

Murphy is calling his re-election effort “Fight Back Connecticut.”

He said he has started to hire organizers to “fan out across the state to work with activists and grassroots organizations to organize volunteer networks, turn people out for protests and events at a moment’s notice, make our voices heard in Hartford and Congress, and to conduct the largest voter ID, persuasion, and get out the vote operation Connecticut has ever seen.”

Murphy said, as of April 11, he had raised more than $3 million for his re-election campaign. He said he had received 66,039 donations, which averaged $42 per contribution, with 97 percent of contributions being $100 or less.

In total, Murphy has $3.5 million on hand for the campaign.

Murphy’s strong fundraising isn’t a unique phenomenon, according to ActBlue, an online fundraising conduit for Democratic candidates and caucuses.

ActBlue has processed more than $111 million in contributions during the first three months of 2017, more than four times the amount it handled during the comparable period in the 2016 election cycle, according to a USA Today report.

Murphy said he’s seeing the impact here in Connecticut.

“If there’s one lesson I’ve learned traveling across Connecticut during the first two months of the Trump administration, it’s that people are getting involved and

CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy on his first run for the Senate

taking action politically in ways they never have before,” Murphy said.

Murphy has also held packed town hall meetings where most of those who attended were inspired by Trump’s election to get involved.

“I’m amazed at the passion and enthusiasm of our grassroots supporters. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Murphy said.

Connecticut Republican Party Chairman JR Romano said that Murphy is “more interested in raising his political profile nationally than he is helping people in Connecticut.”

Murphy has been named as a potential candidate for president or vice president, which is not out of the realm of possibilities. Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate and former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd attempted to run for president in 2008.

Romano said Murphy and “other Democrats are not interested in solving problems. He can’t talk about things that Democrats have accomplished so he has a constant narrative of resistance, further dividing the nation.”

“How come Murphy didn’t fight with (Gov.) Dan Malloy when we lost GE,” Romano added, referring to General Electric’s decision last year to move its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston.

Romano said the GOP “has about four candidates considering” running against Murphy, though none have yet to state so publicly.

He said “as spring leads into summer” candidates will emerge.

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Con’t on page 14

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Goes One-On-One With Cancer

by Carter Higgins

by BlackDoctor.org

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of basketball’s all-time greatest players and one of the most loved, shook the sports world years ago when he announced that he has cancer. In an effort to help people understand his disease, the sports legend made the public disclosure nearly a year after being diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosomepositive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML).

Ph+ CML is a slow progressing type of blood cancer that’s characterized by an abnormality known as the Philadelphia chromosome, which produces a protein called BCR-ABL. BCR-ABL has been identified as the sole cause and driver of CML. “Having lost one of my closest friends to a different, highly aggressive form of leukemia, I knew how serious my diagnosis was,” said Abdul-Jabbar, now age 70.

“My own life expectancy became a

question mark.”

Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 1989. He was diagnosed with CML in December 2008 and is being treated with a medicine that targets the abnormal protein that causes his leukemia.

With treatment, Abdul-Jabbar, who currently is a coach with the Lakers, is expected to live a full, active life.

Abdul-Jabbar learned of his condition after consulting a doctor about hot flashes and night sweats.

“Fortunately, my cancer was detected in its early stages,” he says.

“I also am lucky to have a son who, at the time, was training to become a doctor, and was able to calm me down and be a solid sounding board until I could get all my questions answered by my specialist.”

The intensely private Abdul-Jabbar, a father of five, said he came forward after learning many patients don’t regularly take their medication and skip appointments

Kareem Abdul Jabbar doing Yogo (Photo credit: Instagram.com)

to the doctor.

“I’m telling my story to encourage fellow patients to take charge of their health,” he said. “Work closely with your doctor, monitor your

disease and, above all, take your medicine.”

Now, after a few years from announcing his cancer, Kareem is doing very well. “You’re never real-

ly cancer-free and I should have… …known that,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“My cancer right now is at an absolute minimum.”

The 70-year-old Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2008.

He spoke Thursday at Science Park High School, after the screening of his new full-length documentary about the Harlem Rens basketball team, “On the Shoulders of Giants.”

“It’s not life-threatening,” he said, “at this point in my life.”

Abdul-Jabbar said when he was first diagnosed with leukemia, he didn’t know what to think. He feared the worst.

“I thought I might be dead in a few months,” he said. “I had a good friend [actor Bruno Kirby] who was diagnosed with leukemia and was dead within 30 days. I really had no understanding of what I was dealing with.”

Malloy Readies 1,100 Layoff Notices

by Christine Stuart

The layoffs are expected to save about $80 million.

When he released his budget in February, Malloy said 4,200 state employees would need to be eliminated in order to achieve the $700 million in labor savings in fiscal year 2018.

The Malloy administration and chief negotiators for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition have been informally talking since last November, but have been unable to reach a consensus. The two sides met as recently as last Tuesday.

A statement that was published on all bargaining group websites acknowledges the notice requirement, but doesn’t believe it’s a necessary step.

“Layoffs and service cuts threaten public health and safety, our children’s education, and our state’s future,” a statement on the American Federal, State, Municipal and County Employees Council 4 website says. “They will hurt our economy and lead to even more

CT. Junkie News

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he’s not using the threat of layoffs as “leverage” to get the state employee unions to agree to $1.56 billion in concessions over the next two years, but under the law he has to start giving employees notices.

“These are legal requirements in contracts with respect to giving notice,” Malloy said Thursday during a Capitol press conference.

The Malloy administration said it will reduce the state workforce by over 1,100 employees in May “as a first step toward resolving the budget shortfall.” In addition to those filled positions, the administration said it will allow another 120 vacant positions that were scheduled to be filled remain vacant.

The impacted employees will include non-union employees as well as members of various bargaining units, according to Malloy’s press release.

CTNEWSJUNKIE FILE PHOTO

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

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fiscal crises. Connecticut needs a balanced approach to resolve our budget deficit that isn’t entirely dependent on damaging state services to meet that goal.”

It goes onto say that over the past eight years, Connecticut state employees have given back over $1 billion annually through their 2009 and 2011 concession agreements and the state workforce is now “the smallest it’s been since 1960.”

Malloy said the decision to develop a contingency plan is not a statement on how negotiations are going with the unions.

“We have legal requirements with respect to the giving of notice,” Malloy said. “I remain hopeful that we’ll reach an agreement.”

He said they didn’t “jump the gun” on giving those notices because they didn’t want to be seen as trying to influence negotiations.

“We left it to the latest possible date we could,” Malloy said. “I’m hopeful those layoffs will ultimately not be required.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

The ACES Education Foundation Raises Over $100,000 to Support ACES Students and Programs On Thursday, March 23, 2017, over 250 friends and supporters gathered at WoodWinds in Branford for the ACES Education Foundation’s 14th Annual Gala. The Foundation was proud to honor three ACES Alumni: Michelle Johnson, Trevor Neal, and Lana Ivanova as well as two businesses: Brown and Brown Insurance and NAPSco (National Paper and Supply). NBC-CT Anchor / Reporter Heidi Voight, an alumna of ACES Educational Center for the Arts, served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.

“We’re humbled that the ACES Education Foundation has recognized Brown and Brown with this very special honor. ACES works tirelessly to impact thousands of lives on a daily basis. I have had the pleasure of working with ACES for more than ten years, and in that time, I have come to appreciate the tremendous work that ACES does for its employees, their students, and the community-at-large” shared Sonia Kaminsky, Vice President, Brown and Brown Insurance.

NAPSco (formerly National Paper and Supply Company) has worked with ACES vocational programs for thirty years. They are committed to building relationships with their

contractors, vendors, and customers. “We view these relationships as partnerships with one goal in mind, and that is to make every experience with NAPSco highly satisfying. Our thirty-year relationship with ACES accentuates that partnership by helping NAPSco to achieve its goal while giving an opportunity to individuals to reach theirs,” stated Michael Barnard of NAPSco. ACES Alumni honoree were: Michelle Johnson, Trevor Neal, and Lana Ivanova. Michelle Johnson, an alumna of ACES, is an accomplished, award-winning artist and advocate for people with disabilities.

She currently owns her own business, Right On Art (www.rightonart. com) where she sells her original paintings, prints, and photography.

Her art has won awards and has been exhibited in many locations.

Trevor Neal is a talented origami artist who works with ACES Designs by ACCESS. In addition to visual arts, Trevor also excels in the culinary arts. In 2016, he received his ServSafe Training Certificate of Completion. Lana Ivanova graduated from ACES CAMS and ACES Educational Center for the Arts in 2000. She currently owns and operates a popular and award-winning

bakery, Eat Your Art Out in North Haven, CT. The ACES Education Foundation is grateful to the many event sponsors who contributed to the event’s success. These include Aetna, Brown and Brown, VALIC, Anthem, Performance Environmental Services, USI, Canon, Town Fair Tire, Worker’s Compensation Trust, All Waste, and Newfield Construction, among others.

Founded in 2003, the ACES Education Foundation educates the public about how ACES (Area Cooperative Educational Services) benefits students, clients, member school districts and the south central Connecticut community. The Foundation raises funds that are used to enrich and enhance educational experiences in ACES schools and programs. It grants awards for innovative projects developed by ACES teachers and staff. Since its inception, the Foundation has raised over $600,000 and has helped over 30,000 ACES students and families. In 2016, the ACES Education Foundation raised $88,000 and awarded $62,656 in grants and fund-a-need initiatives and $3,000 in scholarships. For more information, go to www.aces.org/ foundation.

Elm City Internationals Score Biggest Goal Ever

by ALLAN APPEL

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Nine years after she started an innovative soccer-cum-academic mentoring program for immigrant and refugee students, Lauren Mednick threw a party to celebrate that first group of wings and strikers’ biggest goal yet: their graduation from college.

Mu’ammar Camara, Abraham Bartoah, and Marco Olmedo were at the center of Elm City Internationals’ ninth annual fundraiser Thursday night, which attracted more than 100 friends, family members, and supporters, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to the home of one of ECI’s founding board members, Karin Render, on Edghehill Road in Hamden.

Having graduated from Sage College in Albany, Manhattan College, and Southern, respectively, the young men were on hand to share what they have learned of college life, and to pass on the tips about writing college essays and the secrets of being suc-

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO Mednick with members of her “family” of graduates.

cessful student athletes to the nearly 30 kids now in ECI’s program.

They were also there to help raise about $50,000, which Mednick said ECI needs by the end of the summer to support the ongoing tutoring and soccer programs, as well as the intensive college prep work that features two-dozen kid-tailored trips annually that enable young student-athletes

to explore their college choices.

Miguel Madrid, who is entering Wesleyan University in the fall to study engineering, said he and his immigrant Honduran family could not have managed visits to potential colleges, including a dream school in California, without the guidance and support of ECI. “It’s been a blessing to my life,” he

9

said. Madrid referred to Mednick and the ECI team of tutors and coaches as a second family, the metaphor that characterizes the roundthe-clock and throughout-the-year relationship among the young players and their mentors that the various kids described.

Mednick’s initial insight immigrant kids struggling with English and other subjects hit the books for an hour and a half four times a week and that earns them the playing time afterwards and a slot on a winning, competitive league team on the weekends — still is at the heart of the program.

What’s new this year is that ECI has added a young cohort, working for the first time with a group of fourth and fifth graders. That’s because “the achievement gap grows more each year,” said Mednick.

“Whether it’s soccer or cooking or sewing,” said IRIS‘s Chris George, whose Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services kids were Mednick’s first players, “providing something they did well in their home country and can do it here, it’s golden for

their self esteem.”

I asked Camara what a crossover lesson might be between soccer and successful academics, and work life afterwards. He didn’t hesitate to answer: “If you put in the work, you receive results.”

Mednick said one of her great pleasures is to see how in her growing “family” of kids, the older ones continually cheer on and help the younger ones, as she does too.

Mu’ammar said he is looking for a job, and Mednick is helping him with his applications. Still, Mu’ammar insisted recently on taking Mednick out to lunch because “he is a big college graduate,” she said, proudly, in her remarks.

After college Abraham Bartoah has become a semi-pro center back in the United Soccer League, and came up from Florida for the fundraiser.

Marco Olmedo is student teaching while he is also the chief soccer coach for ECI; he is also waiting to hear whether he’s been accepted in the training program of Achievement First.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Chief: Sorry. And We Saved Money

by MARKESHIA RICKS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Top city cop Anthony Campbell came to City Hall bearing an apology as well as some good news about the police department’s budget.

Interim Chief Campbell and his officers had been a no-show earlier this week at a Board of Alders Public Safety Committee meeting that ended up with delay of approval for a $1.5 million grant application needed by the police department to purchase body cameras. Alders decided not to vote on the request because the cops didn’t show up and because of confusion over police officials’ handling a second pilot program underway for body cameras.

Campbell did show up in City Hall’s alder chambers Thursday night at a hearing of the board’s Finance Committee to discuss the police department’s request for a nearly $43 million total operational, special funds and capital budget for fiscal year 2017-2018. He called police brass’s prior absence this week “completely unacceptable.” He had been on vacation and “communication snafus” resulted in no one attending the meeting, he said.

“Before I get into the finance part, I wanted to take a moment to apologize to the members of the board

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

Interim Police Chief Anthony Campbell and Assistant Chief Ontoniel Reyes pitch their budget to alders.

who are members of the Public Safety Committee,” Campbell said. “Had we been here we could have answered the questions that you had.”

This is Campbell’s first year presenting the budget to alders in the role as acting chief. Despite the misstep two days ago, his debut at Thursday night’s hearing featured none of the tension and tough questioning that greeted his predecessor, former Police Chief Dean Esserman, who retired last September.

The absence of fireworks seemed

to be mainly because Campbell had pretty good news.

He reported that the department is on pace to replace its patrol fleet in two years. A recruit class of 30 new officers is ready to graduate May 12, putting the department closer to full staff of nearly 500 officers, and likely reducing overtime. Only two cops have retired over the last seven months, slowing a troubling trend. Ranks such as detective are back to full strength. And with the the upcoming promotion of seven

sergeants and the completion of the lieutenants exam, the rank and file has had room to advance.

The biggest update for alders concerned one of the largest new expenses to hit the department in recent years —and it turns out the expense will be less than expected.

Last year, with only two months notice, the budget-strapped state government informed the city it would have to take over management of — and the cost of running — the pretrial detention facility at 1 Union Ave.

At the time the police department estimated that staffing would cost as much as $2 million in overtime.

Now, Campbell reported Thursday night, that annual cost estimate has come down to about $520,000.

Westville Alder Adam Marchand said he was “heartened” by Campbell’s “optimistic assessment.” But he asked for more details about how the department has been operating the detention center and why the chief was confident that the department had figured out the best operating model.

“My fear is that we approve this amount and then we see you in four or five months and you say, ‘We need another million dollars,’” Marchand said.

Campbell said he based his estimates on weekly staffing breakdowns he receives as well. To run the lock-up, he said, it takes a supervisor and four officers a shift. He said the incoming class of officers next month and the recent promotion of sergeants mean that the department will have more flexibility in staffing the lock-up rather than pay so much overtime. In fact, Campbell said that he believes that the the $520,000 amount could come down in the future.

Candidate Calls For CT Single-Payer System

by PAUL BASS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Dan Drew knows what it’s like when reporters stick their noses into your campaign fundraising records because he was one of those reporters once himself.

As a reporter with the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger, Drew discovered a Prince William County sheriff candidate had misrepresented a source of corporate cash to his campaign. Drew’s story sparked a special prosecutor’s investigation that resulted in an indictment against the candidate.

Now, Drew is raising money himself, for Connecticut’s highest office.

He has formed an exploratory committee to begin seeking the Democratic Party’s 2018 nomination to replace Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who announced last week that he’s

PAUL BASS PHOTO

Gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew at the WNHH studio.

not running for reelection. Potential candidates such as Republican

Joe Visconti and Democrats Jonathan Harris and Chris Mattei have emerged daily since Malloy’s announcement. Drew was first out of the box, months before.

At 37, Drew, who’s in his third term as mayor of Middletown, presents a young face in what promises to be a 2018 field dominated by aging boomers. In an interview on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven,” he stopped short of calling his age a reason to vote for him (as opposed to former presidential candidate Howard Dean, who said in a recent New Haven visit that the Democrats need to jettison boomers in favor of millennial candidates). But Drew did make a generational pitch.

“I want to be a transformational candidate. I don’t want to make my pitch based on my age. I want to make my pitch based on ideas. The baby boom generation has largely embraced this

10

idea of trickle-down economics. I think we should change direction.

It’s not working. ...“In our society we’ve gotten used to the idea that we have kowtow to very elite people in order to make all of us successful….

We’ve put ourselves in the position where we’ve repeatedly asked the middle class and the working class to subsidize the wealthy on the presumption that it’s good for them. I just don’t agree with that. I think it’s wrong. I think it’s immoral… I think it’s bad public policy. I want to get back to the idea that we have to help real people. That’s how we become prosperous again.”

Branding himself a “Franklin Roosevelt” Democrat, Drew has joined other 30-something Democratic local officials like South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in a national “pro-growth progressive” group called The NewDEAL. Drew has

tapped a 28-year-old campaign manager, Kyle Buda, who ran Justin Elicker’s 2013 New Haven mayoral quest.

In the WNHH interview, Drew borrowed a page from 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in citing two campaign positions. He supports universal free tuition to Connecticut’s public colleges and universities, and he supports a single-payer universal health care plan in the state.

He said he’d pay for those plans by raising the income tax rate on high earnings; ending a “carried-interest” loophole that allows hedge fund managers to pay 20 percent rather than 39.6 percent in federal taxes on their income (even Donald Trump opposed that loophole on the campaign trail); and ending state subsiCon’t on page 14

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Cops & ICE Focus Of Black & Hispanic Caucus Address

by MARKESHIA RICKS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

From the lectern, Upper Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr. recalled the time a New Haven police officer grabbed him and yelled at him about riding a red mountain bike.

The incident happened on the street he grew up on, Ray Road.

In the same neighborhood he now represents. It happened in front of his childhood home, in front of his two sisters and their neighbors.

The bike was his. It even had his name on it. Brackeen was a teenager at the time; he has never forgotten it.

Brackeen recalled that anecdote Wednesday night as part of his remarks during the Black and Hispanic Caucus’s annual State of the City address at City Hall. He said that experience of racial profiling changed how he saw the police.

Brackeen, Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo, and City Point Alder Dolores Colon shared the duties of delivering the address.

“I never thought I would be a sta-

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

Jose Crespo and Darryl Brackeen: two sides of the public safety coin.

tistic for simply riding my bike while being black,” Brackeen said. said. “It was at that moment that I realized that I was a victim of racial profiling. It was then that I realized that no matter that I was a smart decent kid from a middle class neighborhood I too was a target for racial profiling. It was at that moment that I questioned the

policing practices of our city.”

Brackeen said the city has made progress by bringing walking beats back to the city. But as evidenced by a recent public hearing on the establishment of a civilian review board, the police haven’t completely won the confidence of the community.

“There is a real concern about

police violence,” he said. “Their concerns are real; their losses are real. We hear each and every one of your stories. We hear your pain” He said the city needs to put in place that civilian review board, as directed by a 2013 charter revision vote.He also praised the steps that have been taken so far to secure and fund body cameras as a

necessary part of reestablishing that trust and encouraging transparency.

“It’s going to take work to rebuild confidence in our system,” he said.

“If community policing is going to live up to its reputation and potential, we need to build more trust between both sides and hold each other to the highest standards of accountability as well as expanding those elements that work best like walking beats.”

The issue of public safety dominated the address with Fair Haven Alder Crespo talking about the importance of the city’s status as a “sanctuary city” and how it has, and continues, to live up to that designation for immigrants in the city regardless of their status.

He praised the Board of Education’s plan for establishing a policy that would not allow the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement to come into schools without a warrant, and for creating caregiver plans for children who are undocumented, or have undocumented parents that might be Con’t on next page 13

Dog Bites Alder; Will Alders Bite Back?

by MARKESHIA RICKS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Newhallville Alder Brenda Foskey Cyrus had surgery on a Thursday, returned home on a Friday and was bitten by a dog on Saturday.

She wasn’t bitten by a pit bull, which is the kind of dog that mauled and killed New Haven native Jocelyn Winfrey last year. She was attacked she said by a Shar Pei, known mostly for its distinctive wrinkly skin.

Foskey-Cyrus said last Saturday was not her first encounter with her neighbor’s dog. It was her third. On the last two occasions she was bitten.

During this incident last week, she was simply standing outside when the dog bolted from her neighbor’s home. The dog’s owner told her to stand still.

Foskey-Cyrus recalled that story as she and her legislative colleagues met at City Hall Tuesday night a workshop held to drum up ideas and best practices to deal with the problem of dog bites, vicious dogs and the responsibility of owners and

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO Brenda Foskey-Cyrus: alder and two-time dog bite survivor.

the city.

“I did stand still, but this dog was really biting me,” she recalled at the workshop, held by the Board of Alders Public Safety Committee.

Foskey-Cyrus said her first instinct wasn’t to call the police. It was to call for medical attention. But police did ultimately respond. The owner claimed that the dog had had its

required shots. But police refused to take her word when she couldn’t produce paperwork that proved her claims, Foskey-Cyrus said.

The dog turned out to not have had its shots and was ultimately quarantined for the requisite 14 days to make sure there were no signs of rabies and then returned to its owner.

Foskey-Cyrus said that isn’t enough

12

to make her feel safe that she won’t be bitten by her neighbor’s dog again.

Assistant Police Chief “Archie” Generoso told Foskey-Cyrus that criminal and civil penalties can be pursued against the owner. The state’s attorney would decide whether to pursue criminal penalties. Generoso said while the police officer has no discretion to decide anything about the dog beyond the quarantine, the courts can make a decision.

“You do have the right to take civil action against this person,” he said.

Foskey-Cyrus now has paperwork that requires the owner to keep the dog muzzled on walks. But given that she has been attacked when the dog bolts out of the house, it doesn’t make her feel confident that it won’t happen again.

The alder and other victims of dog bites and attacks could one day have a new ordinance that increases the responsibilities and maybe even the fines for owners. Already, a new protocol is being put into place to guide how the city responds to animal at-

tacks and rescues.

The committee is sending the findings from its workshops to Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker with the recommendation that the Legislation Committee be tasked with making some changes to city’s animal ordinance. Possible changes include increased fines for owners whose animal attacks and mandatory training for animals involved in such incidents.

Fire Chief John Alston Jr., along with Public Service Answering Point (PSAP) Director Michael Briscoe, Deputy Director George Peet and Assistant Police Chief Generoso presented a draft standard operating procedure policy during the public safety meeting. The draft outlines what will happen in the city when there is a 911 call for an animal attack or animal rescue.

The main takeaways are that such calls will be treated as Priority 1 for response. Firefighters, police and emergency medical respond in tandem. Firefighters will wear

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Con’t from page 12

Black & Hispanic Caucus Address

detained while the children are at school. Crespo praised the city for creating family immigration guide to help people understand their rights and know what resources are available.

He said a sanctuary city is a place of refuge and safety, and that means looking out for the people who live here, including those who are facing raids and deportation.

“Whatever your background, you race our your gender, we are a city that strives to work as one,” he said.

“There’s currently a resident who is facing deportation even though his wife of nine years and his child are American citizens. We cannot allow that to happen. We have an obligation to assist those who are being marginalized.”

Hill Alder Colon, chair of the Black and Hispanic Caucus, highlighted the good that has been accomplished in the city—graduation rates are up, for the third year in a row a budget was passed with no mill rate increase, and New Haven Works, which the caucus pushed to help establish, has in five years helped 1,000 people find work.

Access to jobs is a key priority of the caucus and the whole board, and remains the top priority of residents according the Board of Alders recently released legislative agenda survey results, Colon said.

She also patted the caucus and the community on the back for raising money for teens, senior citizens and the homeless.

Colon praised Yale University for its commitment to hire 1,000 people from New Haven, at least half of which will come from the city’s “neighborhood of need.”

But she chastised the city’s other large employers like Yale-New Haven Hospital, who have yet to make a similar commitment. She, like her fellow alders, touched on the issue of safety and crime, praising the city’s drop in crime, while acknowledging that many residents still live in fear.

“Too many of our residents live in fear,” she said. “They fear the ICE raid in the middle of the night.

They fear the traffic stop gone wrong, the stray bullet.”

Diversity Blooms Along With Blossoms

by CHRISTOPHER PEAK

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Both the old and the new Wooster Square were on display at this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival, where octogenarian ladies from the Amalfi Coast chatted with old friends they hadn’t seen in years, couples danced to salsa music, women in saris made paper flowers, and families lined up for La Carreta’s tacos.

In 1973, admiring the annual bloom in Washington, D.C., the New Haven Historic Commission, the parks department and neighbors planted 72 Yoshino Japanese cherry blossom trees around Wooster Square’s perimeter. Every April since, as petals cover the sidewalks like a thawing, pink frost, the neighborhood has celebrated spring’s arrival with a festival in the trees’ honor.

Earlier years’ version of the festival predominantly featured pizza and a performance by a Frank Sinatra impersonator. As Wooster Square has diversified over the years, the annual festival — now in its 44th incarnation — has,too.

“Now, we look like New Haven, we sound like New Haven, and we eat like New Haven,” said Peter Webster, a theater and opera director who was producing his last Cherry Blossom Festival before he moves to Hanover, N.H. As captain of the local block watch, head of the community management team, and board member on several historical associations, Webster looked around in admiration as thousands of visitors from neighboring towns descended upon the square on Sunday afternoon to eat Pakistani, Ethiopian and Indian food and dance to steel drums and swing.

“This is the kind of event that I really think is emblematic of the kind of city we want. We can have jazz and salsa and steel drums, and not one seems out of place,” said Errol Saunders, a history teacher at Hopkins School, after twirling to the sounds of Carlos Santiago y Su Momentuo Musical. “Ages, ethnic groups, people from all over not just from different city neighborhoods but also coming from out of town are like, ‘This is a thing we’re supposed to see.’”

St. Luke’s Steel Band performs at the event.

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTOS Cherry blossoms were in full splendor in time for Sunday’s fest

Webster accepts the Friend of Wooster Square Award.

Joe Pesticci and his daughter, Sara, drove in from Orange.

13

Even before festivities officially kicked off with a procession by the Italian societies at noon, folks flooded the square to take pictures of the blooms and bask in the sunshine. Dogs sniffed each other, as kids chased after bubbles.

Over in the family area, children decorated paper flowers to hang on the still-bare trees, and volunteers wrapped pink filter paper around branches in a take-home souvenir.

Aisha Thra, a 7-year-old attending the festival for the first time, nodded that she was having fun, in answer to a reporter’s question.

Then she interjected, “I have a question: Do you know where the face painting is?”

This being Wooster Square, the historic first destination of immigrants from Italy, Little Italy still occupied a central corridor near the concerts on the main stage. Andiamo Tours tried to entice would-be tourists to Italy, Consiglio’s dished out plates of penne and meatballs, and the Olive Oil Factory sent customers home ready to make their own pastas. At the St. Trofimena Society table, Julia Nicefaro (who wouldn’t let us publish her age) recalled the days when her family lived nearby, before many ItalianAmericans moved to Hamden and Branford. Sunday’s festival was a kind of reunion, she said.

And it works, because the community is so tight-knit, said Bill Iovanne, Jr., director of the Wooster Street Business Improvement Association. “It’s one of the last solid neighborhoods around, you know?” he said. “The people change, but the neighborhood is still very close.”

The area’s history and the ways it has changed were not lost on attendees.

“While I was looking forward to being here this afternoon, I stopped to think about the time that has transpired since these cherry trees were planted more than 40 years ago. … The city we share has changed quite a bit in those 40 years,” Mayor Toni Harp told the crowd. “One of the things I enjoy each year at this event is the way it highlights both the old and the new in our city: how tradition is honored and celebrated, [and] how new artists, new chefs, new ideas and new businesses emerge.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017 Con’t from page 7

Con’t from page 10

They’ll need to, Romano added, to begin the arduous task of fundraising for an election that is more than 18 months away.

Meanwhile, Murphy’s support in his own party seems solid.

“Perhaps no one in the United States Senate has been more active and effective in pushing back against the Trump administration’s dangerous agenda than Chris Murphy,” Connecticut Democratic Party Chairman Nick Balletto said.

There are no Democrats looking to primary Murphy.

“Since Jan. 20 Democrats have been mobilizing across this state like never before. We’ve seen grassroots organizations and activities pop up across the state and country,” Balletto said. “Right here in Connecticut we’ve seen the difference that can be made when activists show up and make their voice heard at Republican town halls or the electoral impact that volunteers can have when they step up for local and state elections.”

Murphy was elected in 2012, defeating Republican Linda McMahon, who is now the administrator of the Small Business Administration for Trump.

McMahon, who along with her husband Vince, were professional wrestling magnates, spent $100 million in two losing Senate campaigns - first to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and then to Murphy in 2012.

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14

Candidate Calls For

dies to corporations like the $22 million in grants and loans to the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates under Gov. Malloy’s “First Five” program.

(Drew said he had no answer when asked if he would have supported the “First Five” support for New Haven’s Alexion Pharmaceuticals move. He also didn’t specify the level at which he’d raise income taxes; some Democrats have proposed raising rates on annual incomes over $1 million from 6.99 to 7.5 percent.)

Drew offered few specifics on the single-payer health care plan for instance, whether the state would administer the program itself or hire an outside manager. But he said a single-payer plan would also cut medical costs, as the Medicare program (a single-payer system) currently does.

He called private health insurers “the only industry I know where you pay out the nose then the minute you need to use it, you’re penalized.”

Drew supported Hillary Clinton, who was seen as the “corporate”

Democrat, over Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries, for which he took heat from some WNHH listeners who posted on the Facebook Live page during the broadcast. But he said he liked both campaigns and agrees with much of Sanders’s platform.

Drew also came out in favor of “sanctuary cities” like New Haven and Middletown that embrace immigrants and decline to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. He said he supports legalizing recreational use of marijuana, though he himself has never smoked it. (“I don’t like the feeling of my not being in control of my body.”)

Drew edited the campus paper as a University of Connecticut student.

After working in Virginia, he moved back to Connecticut, where he worked for the Connecticut Post. He decided to make the switch to government because, he said, he felt he could make a difference in people’s lives.

How To Help Students In Need LEAP Into Prom Season

New Haven has come through again for LEAP’s annual Prom Drive. Over the last month we have collected dozens of donated dresses and suits for young people who need something to wear for prom.

We know that prom is a wonderful rite of passage for teenagers.

We also know that not every teen can afford to pay for a prom dress or suit (or shoes or accessories— we have those too).

Now we need to ask one more favor. If you know a young person who would benefit from a free suit or prom dress, please have them contact us to schedule a confidential “fitting” where they can look at the clothes and pick something that fits and that they like.

Teens can call LEAP and ask to speak with Yakeita or Shyrelle at (203) 773-0770 to set an appointment. Or they can email sspears@leapforkids.org.

Students can contact LEAP now during regular business hours and schedule a time from April 17th to 21st. Thanks New Haven!

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Feds Prep Religious Leaders To Handle Hate Crimes

by LUCY GELLMAN

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

If you see an injured person on the ground while an active shooter is in your sanctuary, don’t stop to help. Figure out the best escape route, which may be through a window, and get out of there.

Working with members of federal and local law enforcement, 45 spiritual and community leaders from 17 different organizations learned that lesson Monday at a training session hate crimes, hate speech, bomb threats, and active shooter situations that may take place in houses of worship.

Held at Congregation Beth ElKeser Israel in Westville, the three-hour meeting was dedicated to teaching representatives from the state’s Jewish, Sikh, Christian, and Muslim communities and civic organizations to identify and report hate crimes, respond to bomb threats, and have a plan in place

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO

Judy Alperin Diamondstein: Hate is on the rise.

for active shooter situations.

It comes at a time when “hate is on the rise,” said Jewish Federation Chief Executive Officer Judy Alperin Diamondstein. ‘Things we never thought we would have to confront, we are confronting.”

The closed-door meeting was

organized in the aftermath of thousands of harassing telephone calls and bomb threats to synagogues and Jewish community centers and schools across the country, including several in Connecticut. Despite the April 21 filing of federal charges against Michael Kadar, the

18-year-old Israeli-American citizen who made a majority of those threats, law enforcement officials still “felt the need to go forward” with the meeting and training, said FBI Community Outreach Specialist Charles Grady.

In part, that’s because law enforcement officials want to make sure faith leaders know how to respond if sent a bomb threat, or put in a crisis situation. Diamondstein has been there: she recalled starting the year “constantly on edge,” concerned every time a new alert popped up on her telephone, or a concerned parent or community member called her.

Kicking off the meeting with a screening of FBI-produced film The Coming Storm, which depicts an active shooter situation on a college campus, FBI Special Agent in Charge Patricia Ferrick, U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly, and Interim New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell spoke with at-

tendees about what to do if shooters enter their sanctuaries—like evacuate quickly and efficiently, not stopping for those who may be too injured to walk. And finding exits that might not be doors. Daly also spoke on listening for, identifying, and pushing back against hate speech, urging leaders, congregants, and “members of the public out there” to speak up.

“And if you think it might be a crime, report it,” she said.

In addition to the training, Grady said, the meeting was intended to give faith leaders and law enforcement officials the opportunity to meet each other, and present a united front in the face of potential violence.

“The one thing that offers us protection for our safety, our liberty, is the unity ... to stand up against, terror, hatred, criminality, bigotry” together, said Beth El-Keser Israel Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen.

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It’s Neighbors Vs. Experts On Speeders

by ALLAN APPEL

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

A simple-sounding question before New Haven’s Traffic Commission is a matter of life and death for neighbors looking to slow down speeders: Should there be an all-way stop at Hobart and Elm Streets?

The neighbors brought that request to Tuesday night’s Traffic Commission meeting at 1 Union Ave. First, city Traffic Operations Engineer Bruce Fischer presented his recommendation: Do not approve the request.

The intersection has too little traffic and too few accidents — one police-reported accident in two and half years to meet the criterion to turn a two-way intersection into an all-way stop there, Fischer reported.

Sixty-seven petition signers disagreed. One of them, Cora Upshaw, who lives on Hubinger near Elm, stood up before the commissioners and spoke passionately about many unreported near misses, and how her daughter’s car was totaled nearby.

The commissioners (they also double as the Police Commission) had to keep in mind what also never got into official reports: the little kids playing ball and biking and the elderly Jews walking to their synagogues on Saturday, all in danger of speeding cars on Elm Street. That’s because, neighbors explained, Elm has only one stop sign, at Brownell, for the full run between Ella Grasso Boulevard and West Park, the result being that cars speed through often at 40 or more miles an hour.

Commissioner Stephen Garcia asked Fischer if he didn’t have a warm place in his traffic-calming heart for the residents along Elm Street.

“I feel strongly it’s the wrong thing to do,” said Fischer.

“We’re bound” by the rules and the scientific findings, added Michael Pinto, the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking’s deputy director.

“Yes, but we can overrule,” Garcia replied.

In the ensuing back and forth it became clear that Upshaw, Anderson, and the other neighbors who beginning in June last year had formed themselves into the Edge-

18

Neighbors like Cora Upshaw, front, and Lauren Anderson and Ward 24 Alder Evette Hamilton jamming the commission meeting.

wood Neighborhood Community Group to advocate for more traffic safety were not necessarily asking for stop signs.

Stop signs are not in themselves a traffic calming measure, Fischer reminded the commissioners and the neighbors.

“Have you asked for speed bumps?” Fischer said.

Other speakers called attention to the need for an overall plan to address speed and the inconsistency of the stop sign configurations in the area all along Elm Street.

“Let’s find a compromise so we don’t have this meeting when someone has lost their life,” said Upshaw.

“It’s just unsafe without an intervention. It doesn’t show in the data,” said Anderson.

“We get it,” said Commissioner Chair Anthony Dawson.

In the end, the request for the allway stop at the Hobart and Elm intersection was tabled until the next meeting.

Dawson asked Fischer to be able to present by then accident, volume, and other studies on the other intersection in question, at Pendleton and Hubinger, so that the issue can be addressed more comprehensively, not piecemeal.

Assistant Police Chief Tony Reyes said that during the next month he’ll try to give that area “an increased presence.” He asked where the speeding situation was most acute.

“Mornings and evenings,” said Upshaw.

Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved a mid-block crosswalk on

Prospect Street between Trumbull Street and Sachem Street.

That’s where Yale University’s new colleges are moving steadily toward completion. The resulting pedestrian traffic there is expected to swell.

The crosswalk which will be paid for by Yale and Dimeo Construction, which are building the new colleges will be located mid-block, 600 feet from the corners. It will traverse Prospect from two sides of a bump-out, which will have narrowed the width of Prospect at that point from 40 to 20 feet, explained Fischer.

It will also be outfitted with a rectangular rapid flash beacon (RRFB), which a pedestrian can activate before he or she crosses, similar to the one recently installed on Olive Street at Greene in Wooster Square after a traffic fatality there.

Also on the table for a vote was a measure to relieve neighbors concerned in Morris Cove that Nathan Hale School teachers are regularly taking up too many spots on Pope Street.

The commissioners voted, at the request of Ward 18 Alder Sal DeCola, to establish a two-hour parking regulation 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday on the north side of Pope Street, which is adjacent to the school, from Townsend Avenue to No. 78 Pope.

While teachers and other school staff have ample room to park in the school’s lot on the south side, and the administration has asked staff not to park on Pope, the situation has not resolved. Thus the vote, which was unanimous.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017 Con’t from page 5

Former Obama Official To

a series of different living accommodations. But his mother drove 45 minutes each way to keep him in a “good quality daycare program.”

“A few bad breaks … all could have thrown off my life outcomes and hers all too easily,” Wilkinson said.

He said “the line between hope and giving up is all too narrow,” for many families. It’s with that background that he steps into what is one of the biggest budget challenges the state faces.

Wilkinson will have to figure out how the state is able to serve more children through a federal and state childcare subsidy program called Care4Kids. The $122 million program, which helps subsidize quality daycare programs for working families, faces many challenges.

Last year, the federal government changed its requirements and required states to keep chil-

dren enrolled in the program longer, but without more resources. That meant Connecticut was forced to close the program to new families and keep enrollment closed for certain populations. In the past, allowing children to churn in and out of the program had given the state a financial cushion.

The program is one of a handful, which is running a deficiency in the current fiscal year.

Over the next year, the changes to the program precipitated by the federal government means 5,000 to 8,000 children could lose their childcare, which means parents will be forced to make some tough decisions that could have dire consequences.

Without reliable child care these children will be “pushed into unregulated care,” Merrill Gay, executive director of the Early Childhood Alliance, has said.

The consequences of leaving a child with a person who is not qualified could be deadly and “too horrible to fathom,” Gay has said.

“We will certainly be as creative as we can to serve as many children and families as we can,” Wilkinson said. “I look forward to diving in and tackling that challenge.”

Wilkinson said his job at the White House was to determine how to spend about $800 billion in social services smarter.

“There is no state that is more innovation, that is more creative, more dedicated to efficiently serving its citizens than the state of Connecticut under Gov. Malloy,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said it’s “amazing” what the Obama was administration was able to get done in its final months, and he sees many parallels between that administration and Malloy’s administration.

“I know we can get a lot done,” Wilkinson said.

Gina Torres:

“Go Over There And Conquer The World”

by Aria Ellise, BDO Special Contributor

Beloved for her roles in the Matrix trilogy, Nebula in Hercules, Cleopatra in the cult-hit Xenia: Warrior Princess and gun-slinging, alien-slaying Zoe Washburne in Firefly, just to name just a few, the statuesque Gina Torres is currently presiding over her own law firm on USA Network’s legal drama Suits. She plays Jessica Pearson, who is the biggest baddest, take-no-stuff characters Torres has ever portrayed. Not only is she the chess master behind the firm’s every move, but she exclusively wears sky-high heels — allowing the fivefoot-ten actress the unprecedented opportunity to tower over every man onscreen.

Her character has remained one of the best female characters on television over the past few years.

She is a black woman leading an elite Manhattan law firm, surrounded by cocky white men and proving herself better than all of them. Jessica is career-driven, perhaps to a fault, but never made any apologies for prioritizing her work over a traditional family.

The character has gotten so good that as of March of 2017, Torres signed a deal produce and star in a Suits spinoff. The particulars of the deal are still being worked out but it seems like Jessica and her impeccable suits and coats will be back on our screen.

“I’ve played precious few women that aren’t badass and strong and capable, and I’ve always gotten incredibly positive feedback across the board, from men and women alike. Men, women, children, grandmothers — yeah. There are a lot of power women that are working today.”

Gina graduated from Fiorello LaGuardia School of Arts where, before entering the world of acting, she studied opera and jazz as a vocal major. Within a year of graduating, she was cast as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls, her first professional acting job. And the rest is history. The wife of actor Laurence Fishburne now looks forward to play on her strength of showcasing women in strong positions.

“I’ve played precious few women that aren’t badass and strong and

20

(Photo credit: Gina-torres.com)

capable, and I’ve always gotten incredibly positive feedback across the board, from men and women alike. Men, women, children, grandmothers — yeah. There are a lot of power women that are working today.”

Gina graduated from Fiorello LaGuardia School of Arts where, before entering the world of acting, she studied opera and jazz as a vocal major. Within a year of graduating, she was cast as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls, her first professional acting job. And the rest is history. The wife of actor Laurence Fishburne now looks forward to play on her strength of showcasing women in strong positions.

“I’ve had a lot of female lawyers thank me for the character of Jessica” says Torres, “they’re always so grateful that I’m representing them; Jessica’s become a poster girl for female lawyers.” Although many start to embrace it now, why was taboo that a female or a black female for that matter, couldn’t be head of a leading law firm? Don’t you remember Claire Huxtable was a excellent lawyer climbing up the corporate ladder too?

Torres brings this point home, “Jessica was conceived as a man – but here I am, a black woman in a world of white men. The strength

of her character is that, in Suits, we never play on that.”

Torres also notes how the tactics to find a white actress when actors of color apply are subtle to the untrained eye, but clear as day to her others who know. “They can’t really say that out loud, but you know what it is because… … they go a ‘different way’ [in casting] …and you see what the different way was each and every time – it was the white way.” But a woman who made a name for herself wrestling with demi-gods and warrior royalty didn’t take any of it lying down, brushing off the resistance with a simple matter-of-fact attitude; “I could crawl up into a ball in a corner and cry or I could just go to the next one and prove them wrong. And here I am…25 years later.” That said, she’s also used the prejudices of the industry to her advantage. “For this industry, I’m impossibly tall…either you’re a ball-buster or the not-so-attractive girlfriend standing by the lead… [but] when you fall within the cracks, you thank God for sci-fi, because they’ll give you a gun, and they’ll say, ‘Go over there and conquer that world!’”

And that is just what she’s done and continues to do. Go ‘head Gina!

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

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3/23/17 12:35 PM

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

National Fatherhood Organization Announces “National Real Dads Read Day” — First National Real Dads Read Day set for June 9, 2017, with a Focus on Children of Color—

Atlanta, GA — It wasn’t too long ago that Fathers Incorporated, a leading national nonprofit for the promotion of Responsible Fatherhood, launched its new initiative, Real Dads Read (RDR), in Atlanta, GA. The initial project objective was to create literacy centers in barbershops with the goal of encouraging father-child involvement through reading and improving literacy for young children. Today, with help from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, RDR has established 26 libraries in barbershops around metro Atlanta and 9 in Columbus, GA. In addition, 45 barbershops and partners engaged in a citywide book drive, collecting 2,245 books, which included a large donation from the Atlanta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi. “We are encouraged that so many organizations have come on board to celebrate and support the effort of Real Dads Read,” says Kenneth Braswell, Executive Director of Fathers Incorporated. “The inquires to bring the project to other cities around the country are overwhelming. We have had to temper the excitement because we are still building our capacity to meet the tremendous need and requests for RDR,” Braswell continues. “Fathers Incorporated is now working on

building the RDR infrastructure to support broader and more intentional programmatic activities.”

Currently, RDR has a pilot site in Columbus, GA with its partner, Chattahoochee Valley Parent 2 Parent.

One RDR program objective is the creation of a national engagement day. Fathers Incorporated is pleased to announce its inaugural National Real Dads Read Day on June 9, 2017. This day is designed to encourage individuals, groups,

businesses, etc. to plan reading activities in support of fathers/ male caregivers and their children.

“This day supports all our program outcomes for children,” says Lamont Jones, co-partner of RDR and CEO of Furthering Fathering.

While RDR is designed to encourage all fathers to read to their children, there is a focus on children of color, particularly in low-income communities.

Real Dads Read is aimed at elementary and middle school aged

children (K-8) and their fathers/ male caregivers with the goals of 1) encouraging children to develop a love of reading, 2) improving children’s literacy skills and educational outcomes, and 3) strengthening bonds between fathers/caregivers and their children.

National Real Dads Read Day will take place each year on the 2nd Friday of June. “This isn’t complicated; children do better on a host of measures, including reading, when fathers are actively involved

Black Fraternities and Sororities Have the Economic Clout to Power the Next Black Renaissance

By James Clingman, NNPA Newswire Columnist Remember the scene from “New Jack City” when Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) told Scotty (Ice-T), “This ain’t personal; this is business?”

And at the end of the movie, Scotty said to Nino, “This ‘is’ personal,” as he proceeded to give him a beatdown. Well, this article is both personal and business. It’s a call to the Alphas, Omegas, Kappas, Sigmas, Deltas, AKAs, Zetas, Thetas, Iotas, known as the “Divine Nine,” and the fraternity I was apart of back in the 1960’s at North Carolina College at Durham (now North Caro-

lina Central University), “Groove Phi Groove.”

The latent collective power within these organizations is mind-boggling. Their members are conscientious, which is demonstrated by their friendship and loyalty to one another. They rally around their members during crises; they support one another when they get married and have children; they work together, locally and nationally, on community projects across this country. They even formed a national collective organization, The National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc.; the group’s stated purpose and mission is “Unanimity of thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek letter collegiate fraternities and sororities, and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations.”

I especially like the part about “mutual interests.” I know it’s a

hard question to answer, based on our individualistic and proprietary approach to solving many of our problems, but what are the mutual interests among not only sororities and fraternities, but all Black organizations? Is there one thing that all of us can and should do together without compromising our various missions and such? I believe there are several things we can do together, but reality tells me that all Black people will never do any one thing together. So in light of that reality, we must come up with something that is simple yet powerful and will demonstrate our collective resolve, not just to the world, but to ourselves and our children. Keep in mind I said, “Simple.”

On the business side of things, this is a call—a challenge—to each member of the abovementioned Black, proud, historic, and venerable organizations to purchase at

22

least one bag of Sweet Unity Farms Tanzanian Gourmet Coffee. The coffee is grown by family co-ops founded by Jackie Robinson’s son, David, twenty years ago. April 15, 2017 was the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball; we can break the economic barrier by collectively propelling his son’s company to unimagined heights by purchasing his coffee. In case you didn’t know, Jackie Robinson went to work for a coffee company when he left baseball.

On the personal side, Black folks are taking an Ice T beatdown like Wesley Snipes received, only ours is an economic beatdown, much of which we are doing to ourselves by not supporting one another more than we do presently. What could be more personal than family? Again, one simple solution is for our Black Con’t from page 24

in their care, so we simply want to earmark this day to encourage reading among dads and their children and remind the public of the important roles fathers play in the lives of their children. We encourage whatever you can do as a dad, individual, group, business, or organization to help achieve this outcome. Let us know about your efforts and plans so we can let others know,” says Braswell. RDR is planning a twitter chat (@RealDadsRead), social media contest (#2017NATRDR), and other fun activities to support National Real Dads Read Day on June 9, 2017.

Fathers Incorporated has submitted several requests to cities to proclaim June 9th as National Real Dads Read Day, including Atlanta and Columbus.

For tips on engaging fathers, barbershops, planning events and more information on National Real Dads Read Day visit their website at www.realdadsread.org, email us at fathers incorporated@ gmail.com, or call our office at 770-804-9800.

Con;t from page 12

Bite Back?

their structural firefighting gear and once the scene is secure, they will approach. Police officers will be responsible for securing the scene and handle animal control. Prior to Winfrey’s death there was no established protocol on how to dispatch and categorize an animal attack call, or a procedure for response.

Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate, who serves as the Public Safety Committee vice chairman, is pushing for New Haven to adopt language in its animal ordinance that more closely mirrors one that exists in New Britain. It is supported by City Animal Control Officer Joseph Manganiello and Wingate, who witnessed the mauling of Winfrey, said that he believes with a new internal policy for how to respond to animal attacks and perhaps the adoption of a more up-to-date animal control ordinance it might be possible to prevent such tragedies from happening.

“Absolutely, there is no magic wand,” he said. “But it will be better than what we have, and I’m comfortable with that.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Job Prospects Flat for Black Workers in March

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Newswire

The employment prospects for African Americans showed little improvement in March, according to the Labor Department’s most recent jobs report.

The labor force participation rate, which is the share of Blacks who either hold jobs or are looking for work, remained unchanged from February (62.3 percent) to March.

The share of Blacks who have jobs within the population (employment-population ratio or E-POP) was also flat (57.3 percent). The Black unemployment rate improved slightly, decreasing from 8.1 percent to 8 percent in March.

Meanwhile, the key labor market indicators for White workers continued to improve under the Trump Administration. The labor force participation rate for White workers ticked up from 62.9 percent in February to 63 percent in March and the E-POP increased from 60.3 percent to 60.5 percent last month. The unemployment rate for White workers also improved, dipping below 4 percent in March.

The labor force participation rate for Black men over 20 yearsold climbed up a few rungs from 67.8 percent in February to 68.1 percent in March and the E-POP ticked up from 62.5 percent to 62.6 percent. The jobless rate increased from 7.8 percent to 8.2 percent in March, which may occur when workers are optimistic about their prospects.

The labor force rate for White men over 20 years-old decreased from 72 percent to 71.9 percent in March. The E-POP also declined from 69.3 percent in 69.2 percent.

The unemployment rate improved from 4.1 percent to 3.9 percent, but this was most likely the result of White men leaving the labor market in March.

The labor force rate for Black women over 20 years-old was the same 62.7 percent in March that it was in February. The employmentpopulation ratio increased from 58.3 to 58.6 percent in March. The jobless rate for Black women fell from 7.1 percent to 6.6 percent in March.

The labor force rate for White

women over 20 years-old rose from 57.6 percent to 57.8 percent in March. The E-POP also increased from 55.5 percent to 55.7 percent in March. The unemployment rate for White women fell from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent in March indicating that White women entered the labor market and found jobs at higher rates in March compared to February.

The national unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in March and the economy added 98,000 jobs, the lowest monthly job growth under the Trump Administration, so far.

The professional and business services sectors added 56,000 jobs and retail trade lost 30,000 jobs in March, according to the Labor Department.

In a statement about the March jobs report, Rep. Bobby Scott (DVa.) said that the current economic growth, once again, disproves President Trump’s claim that he was handed ‘a mess’ by the Obama Administration.

“President Trump and Congressional Republicans have failed to build on the economic progress made during the Obama years,” said Scott.

Scott also noted that the House Republicans of the 115th Congress have rolled back protections that

would help Americans stay safe at work, have access to a high-quality education, save for retirement, breathe clean air and drink clean water.

In a blog post about the March employment numbers, Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that, despite President Trump’s claims, the economy has been slowly but steadily headed ever-closer to full employment for years.

Gould also refuted Trump’s assertion that he could enact policies that will see the American economy add 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years.

“This pace of job growth over a

at

decade is pretty much impossible ment rates in both good times and to envision,” said Gould. “But we bad,” said Gould. “For example, it could in theory see 2-3 years of was only in July 2015 that the Black significantly faster job growth than unemployment rate finally ducked what hasMARCH characterized the recent below where the White unemploypast. Unfortunately, no sign of this ment rate was at its peak in the afin Concert! theoretical possibility has shownLive termath of the Great Recession.”

FRI up in the data yet.”

Gould continued: “So, while the GouldAPRIL said that policymakers economy is the strongest it’s been must aggressively pursue full em- in years, there are still a lot of SPECIAL DOUBLE BILL! ployment to ensure that all worksittingWEBSTER on the sidelines special guestworkers LINDSEY SAT ers share in the nation’s economic and underutilized. For communigrowth. MAY ties across the country to feel the “While the topline indicators pro- full extent of the recovery, the Fedvide important measures of the eral Reserve needs to keep their SATworkers of color, foot off the brakes and let the econoverall economy, as well asJUNE young workers and less omy reach full employment before credentialed workers, suffer from raising interest rates again.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Remember the Chibok Girls

By Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.)

Three years ago, Boko Haram terrorists burst into dormitory rooms at the Government Secondary School in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok and kidnapped nearly 300 girls simply because they dared to get an education. In the days leading up to anniversary of their kidnapping, there were plenty of headlines devoted to the “Chibok girls,” as these now young women are famously known. On April 14, 2017, we reached another sad milestone. Some of us paused to remember the anniversary of this horrific, ongoing tragedy.

Soon the news reports will fade and the story of the still missing Chibok girls will slip once more to the backburner.

The 195 Chibok girls who haven’t been able to escape their captives or were not among the 21 released last October, are still the most compelling symbols of the Boko Haram insurgency, but we must never forget that the group has committed increasingly heinous acts in the past three years from which innumerable victims may never recover. Let me count the ways.

More than 2.6 million people are currently displaced across Nigeria and its neighbor nations in the Lake Chad region, and Nigeria is in the process of building a comprehensive orphanage to house approximately 8,000 children who’ve been separated from their parents. At least one million children have been forced out of school. Millions more Africans are at risk of starving to death and countless men, women and children all of ages, both Christians and Muslims, have been kidnapped, tortured, and/or killed.

It gets worse. In addition to engaging in the human trafficking of women, forcing them into sexual and domestic slavery, the insurgents also use children as suicide bombers. Even ISIS, to whom Boko Haram has pledged

allegiance, has expressed concern that the group goes too far.

As a mother, a former educator, and indeed, a human being, I have felt heartbroken, shocked and angered by the daily horrors our West African sisters and brothers have been forced to endure. The actions of the world’s most deadly terrorist group have also emboldened me to use my voice and every resource available in the fight to ensure that the Chibok girls are not forgotten and to help eradicate Boko Haram and repair the damage it has caused.

I have traveled twice to Nigeria to meet with victims’ families and government officials and brought the #BringBackOurGirls movement to the United States.

Each week that Congress is in session, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle participate in a “Wear Something Red Wednesday” social media campaign that helps maintain pressure on the Nigerian government to keep working to negotiate the release of the remaining Chibok girls and pull out all stops to defeat Boko Haram.

On December 14, 2016, President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and I

sponsored that directs the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense to jointly develop a five-year strategy to aid the Nigerian government, the Multinational Joint Task Force created to combat Boko Haram, and international partners who’ve offered their support to counter the regional threat the terrorists pose.

In a telephone conversation between President Donald J. Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in February, the two leaders pledged “to continue close coordination and cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria,” according to a readout from the White House.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also has reportedly praised the Multinational Joint Task Force’s efforts to defeat Boko Haram a “success story,” but while the terrorist group may be down, it is far from out.

On June 12 we will mark another milestone in this terrible saga. That is the day the State and Defense departments’ five-year plan is due. It also is the deadline for the director of National Intelligence to assess the willingness and capability of Nigeria and its regional partners to implement the strategies outlined. We must use our collective voice to ensure 24

they don’t miss this urgent deadline.

By now you may be asking yourself why any of this should matter to African Americans who are fighting their own battles to close the economic and opportunity gaps that still exist here at home and to exercise fundamental rights like the right to vote. Some of you may have never even heard of the Chibok girls. But if we don’t, who will? If we don’t teach the world to acknowledge that Black lives matter across the globe, who will? Until then, it will continue to cry for victims of terrorism in European nations, the Middle East and even Russia, while African and AfricanAmerican lives lost go ignored.

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and represents parts of northern Miami-Dade and southeast Broward counties. She serves on the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. To learn more about Congresswoman Wilson’s work in Congress, please visit her Facebook and Twitter pages and congressional website.

Con’t on page 29

Con’t from page

Black Fraternities

sororities and fraternities, comprising millions of members around the world, to take this challenge personally and buy at least one bag of David Robinson’s coffee, a fitting tribute to his father’s legacy. By doing so, the world would witness a Black- owned company, operating in Africa and the U.S., become a billion dollar firm virtually overnight, all because a group of conscientious Black folks individually spent a very small amount of money on a Black owned product. A veritable, Black economic renaissance.

After accomplishing that simple goal, we could repeat it hundreds of times with other Black companies, thus, creating larger firms that have so much business they would have to hire more employees. In the words of the soul singing group, Atlantic Star, “Am I dreaming?” Maybe I am, but it’s a great dream, and I pray it will come true.

From what I observe among our social organizations, members of sororities and fraternities are the most conscientious; therefore, I am calling on the Presidents of the Divine Nine to spread the word to their members to take this simple action step toward economic empowerment. In addition, I want all HBCU student associations, Greek Letter organizations, and individual students to insist that their cafeterias serve Sweet Unity Farms Coffee. Now that’s really a no-brainer, isn’t it?

As I said, this is both personal and business, and I truly believe that our Black sororities and fraternities can make it happen. With a little bit of money from a lot of people, we can accomplish a very personal and business milestone, one that our youth can look upon as an example of Blacks utilizing our latent power rather allowing it to sit on the shelf and eventually expire. Order your coffee at www.iamoneofthemillion. com (Click on the products tab.)

No excuses, y’all. If you don’t drink coffee, give it as a gift to someone who does. C’mon, let’s do this.

James Clingman is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people.

His latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How to Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics.com.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Environmental Justice Must Be a National Priority

By Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. (N.J.-10) Too often missing in discussions on the challenges facing African Americans is any focus on environmental justice, the idea that all people should enjoy a clean, healthy environment while being treated equally with regard to environmental policies, regulations, and laws. African-American communities are disproportionately burdened by environmental degradation, and unless real action is taken, the environmental and health risks facing our communities will persist.

For decades, African-American communities in urban areas have been treated as dumping grounds for pollutants at the expense of community members, the environment, and the economy. The effects are felt every single day.

In Congress, I represent Newark, New Jersey, home to a dense transit network, waste and sewer treatment facilities, industrial plants, the third largest port in the nation, and the largest trash incinerator in the Northeast. In other words, the city and its residents are overburdened with concentrated environmental pollution, the cumulative impacts of which are making people, especially children, sick.

Newark residents face the nation’s second greatest cancer risk due to diesel emissions. Asthma is now the leading cause of absenteeism for school-age children in Newark, Bayonne, and Elizabeth, New Jersey. According to the Village Voice, “One in four Newark children suffers from asthma; the hospitalization rate is 150 percent greater for kids living in the city than in the rest of the state, and more than thirty times the rate nationwide.”

Environmental injustice, of course, is not unique to Newark.

In the United States, 13 million people, including 3.5 million children, are concentrated in the

vicinity of transportation facilities and are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution from busy diesel trucking routes, oceangoing vessels, cargo handling equipment, railroad locomotives, and cargo handling equipment.

Across the nation, communities of color suffer from higher rates of exposure to air pollution, higher rates of lead poisoning, and higher rates of water pollution. This is made even worse by their lack of equal and meaningful access to the environmental decision-making process.

What can we do about this?

In Newark, the City Council passed a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring developers requesting environmental permits to inform the city of any environmental impacts. As a result, decision-makers and the public will be able to make informed decisions about sustainable development. Other municipalities should follow Newark’s example and pass similar ordinances.

Of course, we also need a commitment from the federal government, including the Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency, to secure the health and safety of all communities across the country. Sadly, we do not have this buy-in from the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans.

Against public sentiment, President Trump has prioritized rolling back environmental regulations, from emissions rules for power plants to the mandate that federal decision-making must take into consideration climate change impacts. At the same time, the president has proposed slashing the EPA’s budget by 31 percent, eliminating climate change programs, cutting funding to protect water and air quality, and eliminating 19 percent of the agency’s workforce.

The President’s EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, shares the president’s vision of drastically limiting, if not eliminating, the agency’s scope, and moved quickly to roll back President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which aimed to limit carbon pollution from

power plants. Pruitt also doubts basic facts on climate change and supports dismantling the historic Paris climate agreement.

The positions and policies of the Trump Administration are a direct threat to the health of African-American communities.

Their anti-science, anti-environmental regulation will only exacerbate the environmental threats that disproportionately impact African Americans, from climate change to harmful exposure to toxic substances.

With threats of excessive cuts to the EPA, air quality across the nation may be worse than expected. In the American Lung Association’s “State of Air,” my district and many other metropolitan areas ranked as having the most polluted air in the country.

Unfortunately, only one-third of counties have ozone or particle pollution air monitors. I will fight to ensure funding for more air monitors for environmentallyvulnerable communities.

Get Healthy Walk ‘N Talk Take a walk with local doctors.

Each Saturday in April, May and June 9 am - 10:30 am

Join us on Saturday mornings on the Farmington Canal Greenway Trail:

Farmington Canal Greenway Trail, corner of Shelton Ave. and Starr St., New Haven Walk will begin at entrance on Starr St. and walk north towards Hamden, returning back along the same route (approx. 2 miles). Parking is available at New Freedom Missionary Baptist Church, 280 Starr St., New Haven.

- Discuss different health topics each week - Walk for 1 hour with local healthcare professionals - Improve your health

Interested in walking?

All ages and fitness levels are welcome!

Register at ynhh.org/events or by calling 888-700-6543.

Please arrive by 8:45 am on each walk day.

Attend as many walks as you can!

To find out more about Get Healthy CT, visit gethealthyct.org.

For more information, contact Andy Orefice at 203-688-5671 or andrew.orefice@ynhh.org.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

Laborers/Pipe Layers

Currently seeking laborers/pipe layers; 5 years min. exp., OSHA 10 preferred. Please forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; visit RED for an application or Email resumes to info@redtechllc.com.

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Benefits Risk Manager: The Town of East Haven is seeking qualified applicants

to fill the position of Benefits Risk Manager. Candidates must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, Management, Accounting or closely related field along with 5 years of progressively responsible, professional experience in municipal administration and/or benefits, risk management and loss control or any combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year for year basis. Starting salary effective 7-1-2017 is $ 68,696/year and the Town offers an excellent benefits package. Interested candidates should forward a resume with references to Frank Gentilesco, Assistant Director of Administration and Management, 250 Main Street, East Haven, CT 06512 by May 1, 2017. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Police Officer Town of Greenwich

Do You Want A Job That Makes A Difference? Become A Town of Greenwich Police

Officer. To view detailed information and apply online visit www.greenwichct.org/jobs

Candidates must fulfill several basic requirements including:

Be a U.S. Citizen

Be at least 20 years of age Possess 45 college credits, or 2 years of active military service or equivalent

Current Salary: $64,552

The Town of Greenwich is dedicated to Diversity & Equal Opportunity Employment; Town of Greenwich, HR Dept., 101 Field Point Rd, Greenwich, CT 06830 Close Date 4:00 PM 5/19/17.

The GUILFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY

is currently accepting applications for COUPLES ONLY for its one bedroom apartments At Guilford Court and Boston Terrace 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. An information packet will also be provided with the application. Applications will be accepted until June 30th , 2017. Credit, Police and Landlord checks are procured by the authority. Smoke Free Housing.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY HOUSING

Mechanical Insulator

Insulation Company offering good pay and benefits.

Please forward resume to P.O. Box 475, North Haven, CT 06473 This company is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT

is seeking bids for Janitorial Services. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the business tab, RFPs/RFQs. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

ELECTRICIANS

Semac Electric is seeking Electricians (CT Licensed Journeymen & Foremen, E1 and E2) to join our team for medium & large commercial construction projects thru out the State of CT: Hartford, Fairfield & New Haven Counties. We have excellent wages and benefits. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applications available at our main office at 45 Peter Court, New Britain, CT or send resume to

Invitation for Bid (IFB) Trumbull Gardens – Building 10 & 11 Roof Replacement Solicitation Number: 075-PD-17-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for the replacement of roofs at Trumbull Gardens building 10 & 11. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on February 15, 2017. 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 pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on March 1, 2017 @ 2:00 p.m.

Although attendance is not mandatory, 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 March 10, 2017 @ 2:00 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 March 21, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 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.

CONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY - BRIDGEPORT

Construction Resources, Inc., an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, seeks certified MBE/WBE/SBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applicable sections of work/equipment/supplies for the following construction project: Project known as South End Commons - Demolition of existing properties and new construction of eight (8) residential two-family dwellings and site improvements located on Columbia Street and Johnson Street in Bridgeport, CT. Bid Date and Time: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 by 12:00 noon. Electronic Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting Mark Rubins at Construction Resources Farmington office at (860) 678-0663 or by email to mark@corebuilds.com.

Electrical Apprentice Maintenance Electrician - The Town of Wallingford Public Utilities, Electric Division is seeking an individual to perform maintenance and installation of electrical equipment such as but not limited to maintaining and repairing high and low voltage equipment. Position requires completion of high school, technical high school or trade school plus two (2) years’ experience in electrical maintenance or construction OR an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-for-year basis.

Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut motor vehicle operator’s license. Wages: $24.63– $32.77 hourly and an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: (203) 294-2084. The closing date will be the date the 75th application or resume is received or January 30, 2017 whichever occurs first. EOE.

Common Ground High School Seeks Curriculum Development Consultant Common Ground High School is seeking an experienced, creative professional who can work with teachers, school leaders, students, families, and community partners to strengthen our curriculum and classroom teaching — ensuring it is driven by standards, rooted in our local community and unique site, culturally relevant and inclusive, contributing to social justice, and pushing students towards both environmental leadership and college success. For a complete job description and compensation information, please visit http:// commongroundct.org/2017/01/common-ground-seeks-curriculum-development-consultant

Facilities Manager – Portland, CT:

Responsible for leadership, management & maintenance of plant infrastructure and all related/associated equipment.

5 plus years supervisory experience. Email: Info@redtechllc.com, Fax: 860-218-2433, RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Class A Driver Class A CDL Driver with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480.

RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

26

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Help Wanted:

Immediate opening for construction laborer for Heavy and Highway Construction. Please call PJF Construction Corp.@ 860-888-9998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F Help Wanted: Immediate opening for Dump Truck Driver for Heavy and Highway Construction. CDL A license and clean driving record required.

Please call PJF Construction Corp. @ 860-888-9998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Request for Proposal (RFP) for Security Guard Services

Solicitation Number: 077-SEC-17-S

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently requesting proposals from qualified security firms to provide security guard services at various public housing complexes throughout the city of Bridgeport.

Solicitation package will be available on April 3, 2017. 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 pre-proposal conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on April 12, 2017, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, 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 April 21, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities. org. Proposals shall be mailed or hand delivered by May 2, 2016 @ 3:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Late proposals will not be accepted.

VNA Community Healthcare is searching for Certified Home Health Aides (HHA). Must have 6 months – one year of experience as a HHA. Several opportunities for full and part-time flexible schedules. Submit resume and cover letter to jobs@vna-commh.org. Visit our website www.connecticuthomecare.org for other opportunities. EOE/M/F

Town of Bloomfield

Assistant Tax Collector

$29.81 hourly Pre-employment drug testing. AA/EOE For details and how to apply go to www.bloomfieldct.org

American Industries is hiring CDL drivers for our fleet of 2017 Mack Granite Tri- Axle Dump trucks for the up coming paving season.Applicants must have a clean driving record and be able to pass a pre-employment drug and alcohol screening.

Experienced in tri-axle dump truck is helpful, but willing to train the right candidates. .

Applications are available at

American Industries Inc.

630 Plainfield Rd Jewett City, CT 06351 Job Type: Full-time Preferred experience: • Tri-axle Dump truck w/ paving: 1 year Required license or certification: • Current CDL License and Medical Card Class A Driver

KMK Insulation Inc.

1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473

Mechanical Insulator

Insulation Company offering good pay and benefits.

Please forward resume via REGULAR MAIL only.

This company is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Class A CDL Driver

with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480.

RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

TRANSFER STATION LABORER Off load trailers, reload for trans/disp. Lift 50 lbs., operate industrial powered trucks and forklift. Asbestos Worker Handler Training a +. Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 173 Pickering St., Portland, CT 06480; Fax 860-342-1022; or Email to lkelly@redtransfer.com RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Class A Driver Class A CDL Driver with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed.

(Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480.

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Grants

Administrative Grants Secretary-Performs secretarial and administrative work of a confidential and responsible nature in the Program Planning Office. The position requires a H.S. Diploma or GED and five (5) years of responsible office work experience. One (1) year of the above experience must have been in a municipal grants office. $20.84 to $25.60 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. The closing date will be the date the 50th application/resume is received, or May 3, 2017, whichever occurs first. EOE

2BR Bristol, CT $950-$990 Zbikowski Park Neighborhood now taking applications for newly rehabbed 2BR apartment.

Available immediately. Income restrictions apply. Equal Housing Opportunity. Contact Beatrice Nieves at (860) 585-2042 or at bnieves@bristolhousing.org

Economic Development Specialist The Town of Wallingford is seeking a qualified individual to develop and implement the marketing, business recruitment and retention programs for the Town. Wallingford. Applicant must have a bachelor’s degree from a college or university in economics, business, public administration, planning or related field, plus three (3) years’ experience in municipal economic development office or agency, or equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year - for year basis. Wages: $50,000 to 65,000 annually. The closing date for applications is May 3, 2017 or the date the fiftieth (50) application is received, whichever occurs first. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone #: (203) 294-2080; Fax #: (203) 294-2084. EOE

The City of Norwalk Housing Authority

is seeking qualifications from photographers, videographers, journalists and graphic production professionals to create documentary materials related to a major urban redevelopment project. The Washington Village / South Norwalk Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) is a $150 million-dollar housing and neighborhood revitalization strategy being implemented with federal, state, municipal and private investments. The transformative nature of this collaboration provides a unique and extraordinary opportunity to tell a story and share the lessons learned over a 4 to 5-year period. It is also an opportunity to engage local residents including children in documenting this transformation. This Request for Qualifications is directed to firms, collaborations, partnerships or individuals with the pre-requisite skills to produce professional quality video productions, photo journals, graphic illustrations and journalistic copy to document this historical transformation. A complete copy of the Request for Qualifications can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFPs/RFQs or the project website: www.norwalkcni.org Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Stockperson

Performs a variety of stockroom/warehouse duties in the storage of material and equipment for an electric utility. Requires a H.S. diploma or equivalent and 1 year of employment in a stockroom, warehouse, office, maintenance or construction environment. Must have a valid State of CT driver’s license. Pay rate: $21.65 to $26.42 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. The closing date will be that date the 75th application form/resume is received, or April 19, 2017, whichever occurs first. EOE

Engineering Intern (temp.) – Town of Manchester

$15/hr - 30 hrs/wk CLOSING DATE: April 24, 2017 Call HR Recruitment Line at (860) 647-3170 for info or view website: www.townofmanchester.org.

27

Construction oriented company seeking full-time Accounting/Administrative Assistant to answer phones, schedule sales appts, filing, typing & other general office duties. Will also have accounting responsibilities-data entry, sales order billing, and processing A/P transactions, supporting our overthe-counter sales person, the controller & CFO. Min 5 yrs. Related experience, excellent written & verbal skills, ability to multitask, knowledge of basic accounting principles, excellent computer skills (5+ yrs. Experience) with Excel & Word, accounting software knowledge a plus. $31,200 annual salary-negotiable based on experience & qualifications. AA/EOE Email resume to mmunzner@atlasoutdoor.com

VNA Community Healthcare is searching for Certified Home Health Aides (HHA). Must have 6 months – one year of experience as a HHA. Several opportunities for full and part-time flexible schedules. Submit resume and cover letter to jobs@ vna-commh.org. Visit our website www.connecticuthomecare.org for other opportunities. EOE/M/F

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE TRUMBULL HOUSING AUTHORITY – STERN VILLAGE

The Glendower Group, Inc

Accepting Applications for NON-SMOKERS ONLY

Starting April 3, 2017 at 9 AM & Ending on April 30, 2017 at 4 PM Applications postmarked before April 3 or after April 30 will not be accepted.

Invitation for Bids Code Compliance Consultant

Eligible applicant households must have a head, co-head, or spouse age 62 or older, or eligible disabled, at least 18 years old to qualify. Applicants who meet the criteria which are: national credit & criminal background checks, landlord verification and interviews will be selected randomly for a place on the waiting list by a lottery system.

The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking BIDS for Code Compliance Consultant.

A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM, EST.

OPENINGS ARE FOR NON-SMOKERS ONLY!

Income Cannot Exceed:

$46,000/YEAR FOR 1 PERSON $52,600/YEAR FOR 2 PEOPLE

For one person the base rent is $400.

For two people the base rent is $450.

The Glendower Group, Inc

Tenant cannot pay lower than the base rent.

Tenant pays for utilities (except water) and cable TV. Rent calculation is based on 30% of adjusted monthly income.

Invitation for Bids Landscaping Services

Applications can be downloaded at www.sternvillage.com, or can be obtained at The THA Office, located in the Stern Village Community Room, at 200 Hedgehog Circle, Trumbull, CT between 9 am and 4 pm weekdays.

The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking BIDS for Landscaping Services .

A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM, EST.

-Apply by mail or drop off your completed application to the THA. -For an application to be mailed back, address an envelope to the THA and include a prestamped, self-addressed envelope.

Phone, fax, email or voice-mail applications will NOT be accepted.

Only one application per family; one family submitting more than one application will be disqualified.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

The Trumbull Housing Authority does not discriminate in admission or access to its housing programs on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, mental retardation, mental or learning or physical disability, handicapped condition, and hearing impairment, lawful source of income, familial status, and sexual orientation.

Both State & Federal Law contain specific exceptions for certain protected classes.

For additional information, please call the Main Office: 203-261-5740 x1 for Heather LeMoult, Office Assistant TRUMBULL HOUSING AUTHORITY 200 HEDGEHOG CIRCLE

The City of Norwalk Housing Authority of Norwalk, CT

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently seeking bids from qualified elevator companies to provide elevator preventive maintenance and repair authority-wide. There is a mix of elevator types and locations. Solicitation package will be available on April 17, 2017. 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 pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on May 2, 2017, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, 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 May 5, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. Seal bids will be received until May 18, 2016 @ 2:00 PM, at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

is seeking bids for (1) F250 pickup truck and (1)Transit Connect Van. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed atwww.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFPs/RFQs. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Town of Bloomfield

Assistant Director of Public Works Salary $74,337 - $114,743 For details and how to apply, go to www.bloomfieldct.org Pre-employment drug testing required AA/EOE

THE COVENTRY HOUSING AUTHORITY

Pre-applications for waiting list at Orchard Hill Estates I & II Housing Complex will be accepted until June 30, 2017. To qualify, you must be at least 62 years old or disabled by Social Security. Current income limits are determined by the Office of Housing and Urban Development. Interested parties may pick up an application online at coventryct.org, or at 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 or have one mailed by calling 860-742-5518.

Invitation for Bid (IFB) Elevator Preventive Maintenance and Repairs Solicitation Number: 079-AM-17-S

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) C.F. Greene Apartments Unit Renovation Solicitation Number: 078-PD-17-S

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for the unit renovations at C.F. Greene Apartments. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on April 17, 2017. 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 pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on April 27 2017 @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only tobids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than May 4, 2017 @ 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 May 16, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 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.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

Jeff Sessions is rolling back basic rights

By Jesse Jackson As Donald Trump nears the end of his first 100 days, media commentary focuses primarily on how little he has achieved in comparison to other presidents.

It’s a mistake, however, to discount the threat that the Trump administration poses to our Con’t from page

Must Be a

National Priority

Given the Trump Administration’s relentless attack on environmental protections, we need to make it clear to our elected officials that we will hold them accountable for any actions they take to dismantle environmental protections and any failures fight for environmental justice.

We can’t let any votes they take against environmental protections go unnoticed, or any harmful policies go unanswered. We also need to make it clear that environmental justice is a civil rights issue—that is, it’s not only about the health of our communities, but about fair treatment and equal involvement in environmental planning and decisionmaking.

So, call your senators and representatives to let them know that you are paying attention. Environmental justice should be a national priority, not a problem confined to minority communities.

Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. represents New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District. He serves as Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications and also sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Follow Representative Payne on Twitter @RepDonaldPayne.

fundamental rights. His attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, is a case in point.

Sessions has set out with a vengeance to transform the Department of Justice into a Department of Injustice. He’s been hindered by the incompetence that characterizes this administration. He’s home alone in his department, with no nominations offered for the heads of top DOJ units the civil rights, criminal or national security divisions. His deputies — Nos. 2 and 3 in the DOJ — have been nominated but not confirmed.

That has slowed but not stopped Sessions’ efforts to rollback basic rights. He’s reversed the Justice Department’s position of challenging voter identification laws; he deems the Voting Rights Act too “intrusive.” Now the DOJ will intervene in favor of states that pass discriminatory measures to restrict access to the ballot. The right to vote — the fundamental right of a democracy — will now depend on the willingness of judges to stand up for the truth, as U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos did in ignoring the DOJ intervention and ruling that the Texas ID law was “passed, at least in part, with a discrimina-

tory purpose.”

Sessions has issued orders to revive the old, failed war on drugs. The promising bipartisan efforts to reform sentencing provisions to end the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders are to be abandoned.

Sessions wants to revive private prisons and insure them a steady stream of prisoners.

People of color, particularly young African-American men, will be the greatest victims of this injustice.

Sessions has called for a “review” of all the reform agreements that Obama’s Civil Rights Division has reached with police forces. His DOJ sought to delay implementation of a consent decree reached in Baltimore in the wake of the Freddy Gray killing. Sessions scorns these agreements as “political expediency” that will “handcuff the police.” In Baltimore, the judge ignored the DOJ’s efforts to impede reform. But despite the outcry at the killings of young black men and women, Sessions is clearly telling police they can act with impunity once more.

And Sessions has been point on the administration’s efforts to ramp up deportation, terrorize immigrants and defend the president’s unconstitutional

Muslim ban. He expressed amazement that a “judge sitting on an island in the Pacific” could overturn the president’s order. That judge was a federal district court justice in the state of Hawaii, part of the union for 58 years.

Sessions has issued letters to nine sanctuary cities, counties and states, including the state of California, New York City, Chicago and Cook County, threatening to deny federal grant funds — largely funds for local law enforcement — unless they commit to cooperating with the administration’s sweeping assaults on immigrants. This arbitrary assertion of federal power is particularly remarkable from Sessions, who as a senator declaimed endlessly about the glories of states’ rights. Luckily, Sessions wasn’t at Herod’s side when Mary and Joseph sought sanctuary in Egypt with the baby Jesus.

The sanctuary jurisdictions have vowed to resist Sessions edicts. Speaking for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, spokesman Matt McGrath noted: “The administration’s plan to deny federal funds to cities that are standing up for their values is unconstitutional, and Chicago is proud to stand with 34 cities and counties across the coun-

try in asking a federal court to prevent the federal government from illegally withholding federal funds.”

New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio declared that New York City will “remain a city welcoming of immigrants who have helped make our city the safest big city in the nation. Any attempt to cut NYPD funding for the nation’s top terror target will be aggressively fought in court.

We won’t back down from protecting New Yorkers from terror — or from an overzealous administration fixated on xenophobia and needless division.”

The assault on rights — for the LGBT community, for people of color, for women, for immigrants — is clear. Efforts to rollback voting rights, civil rights, police reform and sentencing reform have already begun. The resistance — from courts, from decent public officials, from activists and citizens of conscience — has been and will be fierce. Sessions’ Department of Injustice is measure of the damage that Trump can do.

Instead of making America a more perfect union, Americans will have to mobilize to defend their rights from the very department that is tasked with protecting them.

Beyoncé creates scholarship for young women studying the arts, black studies

It’s been a year already since Beyoncé launched Lemonade, and to mark the anniversary, Beyoncé is announcing a new scholarship program called “Formation Scholars” which will help young women studying creative arts, music, literature, or African-American studies.

The scholarship will start to become available for the 2017-2018 school year, with aims to “encourage and support young women who are unafraid to think outside the box and are bold, creative, conscious and confident.”

The colleges participating in the program are Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design and Spelman College.

What an amazing way to celebrate one year of Lemonade.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

N O T WO C AREER P ATHS A RE T HE S AME We Offer: • Employer Incentives to Hire • On-the-Job Training • Job Search Assistance • Re-Training • Transportation Assistance • Hiring Events

4 Locations: New Haven: (203) 624-1493 Meriden: (203) 238-3688 Middletown: (860) 347-7691 Hamden: (203) 859-3200 Open Mon-Fri, 8:30am – 4:30pm Hamden opens at 8am

Visit www.workforcealliance.biz/services/wheredoistart Be Part of the South Central CT Economy

*There is never a fee for the jobseeker or the employer. Services are funded through state and federal grants.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

save

the date

yale university african american studies department

the henry louis gates, jr. annual lecture

photo credit: chris crisman c’03

dorothy e. roberts

george a. weiss university professor of law and sociology and the raymond pace and sadie tanner mossell alexander professor of civil rights at the university of pennsylvania law school

“killing the black body: a twenty year retrospective” thursday, april 27, 2017, 5pm auditorium, whitney humanities center 53 wall street, new haven, connecticut free and open to the public • contact: lisa.monroe@yale.edu

afamstudies.yale.edu

FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR FUTURE AT GATEWAY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Summer 2017 Classes Begin

Session I: Session II: Session III:

May 31 - June 16 May 31 - June 29 July 5 - August 3

Fall & Summer Registration

Starts Now!

Fall classes begin August 29th

GatewayCT.edu • (203) 285-2010 • 20 Church Street, New Haven, CT 31

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 26, 2017 - May 02, 2017

The Stylistics • Heatwave • The Emotions Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes • Peaches & Herb and Carl Carlton MAY 12 • 8PM • GRAND THEATER

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