THE INNER-CITY NEWS

Page 1

Financial Justice a Key Focus at 2016 NAACP Convention

First HBCU team to win national championship finally gets White House visit after six decades of victory

INNER-CITY INNER-CITY

“DMC” “DMC”

Malloy To Dems: Ignore “Tough On Crime”

Malloy To Dems: Ignore “Tough On Crime”

HBCU Prez Visits Hillhouse —

HBCU Prez Visits Hillhouse —

With Acceptances Ready

Color Struck? Color Struck?

With Acceptances Ready

Snow in July? Snow in July?

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 1 (475) 32 1 9011 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016 1
NEWS Volume 21 No. 2194 New Haven, Bridgeport
FOLLOW US ON
Volume 30. No. 1584

475 Rally At “Morning Without Childcare”

It was not the time for inside voices on the Green on Wednesday morning.

“We tend to be respectful and polite, but we are outside today, so not today,”

Friends Center for Children Executive Director Allyx Schiavone told a spirited group of roughly 475 early childhood educators, childcare advocates, and families clad in bright yellow T shirts beneath a chilly, overcast sky. “Today, we’re using an outside voice and we universally say, ‘We need you to fix childcare, governor. Our collective future depends on it.’”

The occasion was the third annual “Morning Without Childcare,” an hourlong rally that eschewed protest chants for lively calls and responses, and a children’s singalong that included a lesson in Gaelic. Organized by the Child Care for Connecticut’s Future coalition, it was one of ten such gatherings across the state on Wednesday morning to push for adequate government funding to support families, educators, and child care providers.

“Right now, we are trapped in this destructive cycle,” said Schiavone amid a crush of color-saturated signs bearing slogans like PAY TEACHERS LIKE HE-

ROES and TEACHERS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUNDS. “We pay teachers poverty-level wages. No teachers means closed classrooms. Closed classrooms means families don’t have reliable childcare. Without reliable childcare, families can’t work. Families not working means less money in the economy.”

She then led the crowd in a chant that called for 100 percent of Connecticut families to pay no more than 7 percent of household income for childcare the current level is 20 percent, she said with half calling out “NO MORE THAN” and the other half “7 PERCENT.” The coalition is also pushing for the state legislature to pass HB 5002 which would pump $100 million into an early childhood fund to increase pay for teachers and decrease tuition across the state.

With that, emcee Aundrea Tabbs-Smith introduced Friends Center toddler teacher Rondraya Barron, lamenting the average $29,500 annual salary for early childhood educators and thanking her for “caring for our tiniest humans.”

“I’m happy that that we could all be here today, but I’m also very angry that we are because we shouldn’t have to be here demanding funds,” said Barron. “We

should be in the classroom. My classroom at Friends would be having snacks right now and I would be playing Bob Marley to get the positive vibes going.”

As a teacher and a parent, “it’s really hard living paycheck to paycheck, anticipating the next payday and we need more money,” she said to a cascade of cheers and hoots.

Mayor Justin Elicker shifted the focus back to children. “If we reinvest in our young people at a very early age, their trajectory in life will dramatically change,” he said. “They’re less likely to go to prison, more likely to own a home, more likely to have a long-term job, so we need to invest more in our kids.” With the $3.5 million the city has dedicated to early child care, he said, “we’ve done our part, and now we need to see much more leadership and investment from the state.”

He paused, as three young kids chased each other around a flagpole behind him. “I go to a lot of protests and only at the Morning Without Childcare protests do we sing songs, do we learn how to say hello in Gaelic,” he said. “There’s something special about this group, and I think that one word in my mind is love.”

All-Women Jazz Trio Breaks Sound Barriers

GATHER Women in Jazz:

and Concert with

Public Library Center for Contemporary Culture Hartford March 26, 2024

I’d never seen an all-women jazz performance before, but that was only one of the unique aspects about the GATHER Women in Jazz concert held at the Hartford Public Library’s Center for Contemporary Culture.

The other is that it featured an interview with the performers before the concert got underway. Audiences usually show up primarily for the music, but those in attendance seemed to greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about Arcoiris Sandoval, the pianist; Shirazette Tinnin on drums; and of course, Mimi Jones herself, who played the bass and provided vocals.

The three women are accomplished professionals with decades of musical training and experience between them, professorships at leading music programs, and fans and students all over the world. But as they spoke, they shared stories of frustration that they’d experienced as a result of being treated as lesser than for being women in a field that is dominated by men.

“It’s a problem to put people in a box when we all have the DNA of both men and women inside us,” Tinnin said. She shared how she has often been told by both men and women that drums are a “boy’s” instrument,. “People think that I’m set-

ting up for my husband when I show up to gigs,” she explained. “I let them think that until I sit down and start performing, and I love the look on their faces.”

Sandoval spoke about how important it is to find community when trying to make it as a woman in the world of jazz. “It’s hard to overstate how hard it is to be alone,” she said. “But that’s why I’m so glad I found Mimi. We’ve been able to build a community right here.”

For her part, Jones shared the struggles she faced as well, where many wanted to as-

sign her a role they felt suited women better, such as strictly performing vocals. She fiercely fought back against such stereotyping. “There’s an essential reason why you’re here, why you’re alive,” she said to the audience. “You can’t know what mine is any more than I can know what yours is, so how can either of us tell each other what we must do?”

Once the music began, it actually became clear what Jones’ essential reason for existing is, and that’s to play jazz. I have to admit that sometimes I feel like jazz goes

over my head. I respect the skill involved, but the music sounds so esoteric that it feels like I’m listening to a theory of music instead of music itself.

The Mimi Jones Trio was about as far away from navel-gazing jazz as anyone I’ve ever heard. Their sound was rooted in music, the joy and passion that it elicits. Jones’ bass thrummed with the sound and urgency of a performer who has endured the slights of ignoramuses not to prove a point, but because the essential reason of her life compels her to do so. She looked

like a woman possessed as she drew sweet, melodic sound out of an instrument that many consider a background instrument a boy’s background instrument. On piano, Sandoval commanded the multitude of tones from the instrument as her fingers danced across the keys. At times she seemed possessed by the same spirit moving Jones, standing as the songs reached their crescendo. Tinnin was on fire, switching between instruments and styles as the songs required, bringing the energy of three men to percussion.

But it was still Jones’ show. Her name headlines the band, and she showed the audience why.

The Mimi Jones Trio’s concert is easily my favorite jazz concert ever, and I think that’s in no small part due to the fact that the performers were all women. They brought a different kind of energy and perspective to the sound of jazz- not overintellectualized ego or pompous technicality. It was a love of music that has endured treatment that no one should have to go through. A love that radiated out from the stage and has become one of my favorite musical performances.

NEXT

Hartford Public Library’s next concert is the Baby Grand Jazz series featuring Nino Ciampa and the Hartt Salsa All-Stars on April 7.

Jamil gives some first-class takeout a try.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 2
LISA REISMAN PHOTO Stephanie Bartocetti (center), using her outside voice. The Mimi Jones Trio, from left to right: Mimi Jones, Shirazette Tinnin and Arcoiris Sandoval Interview Mimi Jones Hartford The new haven independent The new haven independent

HBCU Prez Visits Hillhouse — With Acceptances Ready

Hillhouse High School senior Chamar Lee came to school never having heard of North Carolina’s Livingstone College until he was surprised with a visit and “opportunity of a lifetime” by the college’s president.

Fifteen of Hillhouse’s Class of 2024 were given on-the-spot acceptances to the private Black Christian college during a New England tour stop on Friday by the college’s president, Anthony J. Davis, who himself is a New Haven native.

The Friday event was arranged by Chaka Felder-McEntire , who is the founder and executive director of Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Programs, Inc., and by Taneha Edwards, the college access advisor at Hillhouse.

Out of 25 applications received on Friday, 15 local student Academics left the Sherman Parkway school’s auditorium as potential future Blue Bears. Each also received scholarships. A total of $215,000 for students’ first years at Livingstone was given out Friday, reported Shari Hill, a senior recruiter at the college.

Also in attendance Friday was Connecticut NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Youth, Family, and Community Supervisor Kermit Carolina.

Davis told the Hillhouse class of 2024 that he grew up in foster care in New Haven. That obstacle didn’t stop him from having hope, he said.

He said during his senior year of high school he had 90 days to make a decision for his future before he aged out of the system and would become homeless. He decided to go into the military. After serving in the military, his mother, the late beloved city educator Wanda Gibbs, encouraged him to further his education. “Twenty two years later, I got my dream job,” he said, thanks to going back to school.

“Somebody from your neighborhood is now one of 100 HBCU presidents,” Davis added. “I want to come back to my hometown and help young people unlock their potential. Unleash their power.”

He told the students that Friday was a day of “no games, no gimmicks, and not a gamble, just a gift.”

He encouraged students to apply on the spot Friday if they play sports, are in band, play video games, are club leaders.

“I need to grow my band for battle of the bands. We have any trumpet players in here? I need a trumpet player bad.”

Senior Jose Santos was the only senior to raise his hand when asked who plays trumpet.

Before Friday, Santos was considering Norfolk State University as a top school but after learning about Livingstone and being accepted on the spot, he said he has something to discuss with his family now.

“I’m going to go to the school that offers me the most money,” he said. He added

that he wants to join a school marching band.

“I didn’t see a lot of opportunities so this is really big for me,” Santos said. “It means that there’s hope out there.”

“All of you who have a 3.5 GPA or high-

er, as the president of Livingstone College, I’m extending you an opportunity to be a presidential scholar on the campus of Livingstone College starting this Fall,” Davis said.

The Livingstone team offered students

average annual tuition and cost of attending Livingstone is around $28,000 a year before student aid, and $15,000 after aid. He also promised students that if they increase their GPA to a 3.5 or higher by the end of the year, the school would increase their scholarship.

“As the president we give away $4.5 million every year, so why wouldn’t I start in my own community?” Davis said.

Senior Niyah Walker left her school’s auditorium Friday with a full ride offer from the Livingstone admission team. “It makes things easier because you get to talk and see actually people. Doing things online or on paper is just not the same,” she said.

“Financially this does seem like a good choice,” she said. “It will probably be my top choice.”

Not only does Livingstone check off Walker’s list of being a HBCU, but also offers a major in early childhood education, which is her career goal thanks to inspiration from her Hillhouse teachers. “I want to become a teacher in general because of the teachers that I’ve had. Teft a really good impression on me.”

Senior Adam Massey was inspired to apply to Livingstone Friday after hearing Davis’ story and commitment to give back to New Haven students. “It was easy, quick, and fast,” he said.

On a scale measuring his interest in attending the school, Massey placed himself Friday at 90 percent, with 100 being ready to leave tomorrow.

Senior Chamar Lee couldn’t believe the opportunity put in front of him Friday as he’s been searching for the right college that is financially feasible for his mother who is raising five children.

with 2.0 GPA’s an acceptance. He added that students who were offered full rides would be awarded the difference in their tuition after their FAFSA funds are applied.

According to the college’s website, the

Lee is also considering starting at Southern Connecticut State University because he been able to rack up 18 college credits while in high school.

When listing his top priories for a school, he said, “I really don’t want my mom to pay for school at all” and he doesn’t want to be too far from home so he can visit for holidays, and he wants to major in business and sports management.

Lee exchanged numbers with Davis Friday to talk more about football and shot-put opportunities at the college. “It shows that he’s real interested. I got his phone number to contact him, that shows that I can have that trust and bond which is really needed,” Lee said.

Senior Mohamed Faro got a full ride Friday and called his mom alongside Felder-McEntire . He said it sounds like a better offer than he got from UCONN for theatre, which is the only school he applied for this year.

“I feel really grateful and blessed,” he said. “It even inspired me to one day come back to my community and give back to my community.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 3
MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Livingstone President Anthony J. Davis with Hillhouse senior Chamar Lee. Adam Massey gets on-the-spot acceptance from Hill. The new haven independent Mohamed Faro calls mom after getting full ride. Niyah Walker gets a full ride to Livingstone. Senior Alanis Morales, who left Friday with an acceptance and a $3,100 scholarship, calls her mom with President Davis. "You just never know what you're going to get until you put yourself out there," she said.

Big Read Dives Deep On Migration, Motherhood & Identity

Growing up in Connecticut, Angelina Li didn't have the words for how white supremacy split her identity in two. At home, she was proud to be Chinese American. At school, she insisted she was actually white. It would be years until she heard the words "model minority myth," and felt something click.

Now, she is working to help other students bust through that myth —and hoping that a graphic novel can help her.

Wednesday night, Li brought her story to the Stetson Branch Library, as the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and New Haven Free Public Library launched this year's NEA Big Read from the building's bright second floor. As rain hammered down on the roof and balloons bobbed beneath the ceilings, attendees celebrated Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do, an illustrated memoir that chronicles her family's journey from Vietnam to the U.S. in the late 1970s.

Roughly three dozen attended despite the wet weather. As it unfolds in New Haven, the Big Read is a collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NHFPL, with several events between now and the end of June. For the first time this year, the book will also be taught by at least two educators at every New Haven public high school.

"This is about coming to this country and feeling like you have to make yourself smaller, like you have to conform to what's going on here and lose your identity," said Shamain (Sha) McAllister, associate director of education and community impact at the Festival. "These are things we have to talk about. No one is the same, and we shouldn't have to hide one's culture to fit a mold. Food is great when you have all the different ingredients in it, right?"

That begins with the novel itself. Published in 2017, The Best We Could Do tells the story of Bui's parents and young family, who became refugees in the 1970s following the Vietnam war and fall of South Vietnam. At the time, Bui was just three, and spent time in between worlds in a refugee camp in Malaysia before ultimately coming to the U.S. What she found was a country that did not always live up to its promise of safety and welcome—especially for people of color.

The result is a powerful and unflinching lesson in 20th century colonialism, war, and displacement that most American students don't get in their history classes. It is also a nonlinear narrative, that begins with the birth of Bui’s son and pedals back in time, reflecting on the fierce love, physical and emotional pain, and toil of motherhood itself.

But the themes—migration, parenthood and family, generational trauma and the harm of whiteness —are not limited to Bui's experience at all.

Both McAllister and anti-racist educa-

tor Jennifer Heikkila Díaz, with whom she collaborated closely, saw it as a natural choice for that reason. In 2021, Díaz was able to teach the book as part of a community of practice with 10 teachers in Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and Naugatuck and saw firsthand how engaged students were in the material. At the time, a teacher told her that his students couldn’t put it down, she remembered. She's excited to return to it.

"This book resonates," she said. "There's something in it for everybody, even if your story is very different from the author's story. Talk about this book. Engage with people. There's many, many other stories, so go read them. Find them."

Nowhere was that need clearer than during a panel that addressed both the book and the danger of the model minority myth, which in the U.S. has often been used to pit Black Americans against Asian Americans as a tool of white supremacy. Alongside Li, a Harvard-bound senior at the Hopkins School, panelists included Díaz and Bethel High School senior Simar Soni, all in conversation with McAllister.

All three panelists have all been active in curriculum development for House Bill 5282, which will require Connecticut public schools to fold AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) history into their curricula.

Throughout, all three reflected on how their own lived experience made Bui's novel that much more powerful when they read it. Raised in Orange, Li remembered growing up with a "fragmented identity," ashamed of her Chinese heritage at school even as she embraced it at home. In her classes, teachers assumed that "I was that shy Asian girl" who would excel academically, even as she struggled with math and learning English as a second language.

She told her peers that her parents, who are visibly Chinese, weren't her actual parents. By her own admission, "I hated myself for 15 years."

Then she transferred into private school. Suddenly, she was learning a history of migration that her other classes had skipped over entirely. She understood so much more about her parents’ generation and their choice to immigrate, as well as some of the discrimination they faced in the U.S. It was as if someone was sewing her two selves back together.

"I was able to learn why my parents came to the U.S., and why other Asian Americans are in the U.S., but also the history of African Americans and Black Americans," she said. "Once I finally was able to grasp all that knowledge and understand ... this is the reason we're so pit against each other ... I began teaching these classes about immigration and U.S. history."

She spread her myth-busting teaching to kids of multiple ages, from first graders and students in Chinese school to her

peers in Connecticut high schools. She launched Hearstory, an oral history project focused on AAPI identity. She's now a member of the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission and a student consultant on the Connecticut AAPI Curriculum Lab, a project of the University of Connecticut (UConn).

"It's really about history and telling our stories, but it's also about infusing those diverse perspectives into policy and politics," chimed in Soni, who plans to study PoliSci at the University of Pennsylvania. "I think that it's important for us to have social change and cultural change across social groups, intersectionality in that way, but there also has to be systemic change."

As a fellow organizing member of Hearstory, Soni remembered her own battle with internalized racism. Growing up

She turned the clock back to the 1980s and 1990s, when she was just a kid growing up Korean American in Los Angeles. During those years, L.A. saw the killing of Latasha Harlans, a 15-year-old Black girl, by Korean store owner Soon Ja Du, and the beating of Rodney King by L.A. Police Department officers who were not charged, despite the presence of video footage. Díaz was in seventh grade at the time of the L.A. riots that followed.

"I remember seeing the city burning, right?" she recalled. "And then seeing how the systems were set up to protect certain parts of the city—the white parts of the city—while Koreatown was burning, while South Central L.A. was burning. The model minority myth—that hurts Asians, but it also hurts all of us, right? And particularly the Black community."

The focus on the book comes at a significant time for public education and AAPI history in Connecticut, Díaz added. By fall 2025, Connecticut schools will be required to integrate AAPI history into their curricula, although "each district is going to come up with their plan," so it may look different from one town to the next. Díaz credited years of legislative advocacy, largely led by Black and Latino young people for Connecticut Public Act 19-12, as paving the way.

She was also quick to shout out the people who have helped steer legislative advocacy and curriculum development at the state, including UConn Professor Jason Chang and Yale lecturer Quan Tran. It's long overdue, Díaz continued. Even well-meaning teachers may stock their classrooms with books that appear diverse, but all have some version of the same up-by-the-bootstraps immigrant narrative. That doesn't help immigrants and other people of color, Díaz said. It hurts them by perpetuating harmful stereotypes and obfuscating the very real hurdles that are tethered to whiteness and capitalism.

in Bethel, where almost 70 percent of the population is white, she often felt pressure to assimilate and fit in. At school, she would tell students that her name was Summer, not Simar. In middle school, she watched as teachers encouraged students to debate whether colonizers were in the wrong, or actually innovators.

"I remember, I was always like, 'That's .., that's not ... that's not okay," she said. Now that she's working with Hearstory, she is proud of her identity—and constantly reminds others that Asian Americans are not a monolith, and no single experience should be accepted as the cultural norm.

Díaz, who for years has worked with the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute at UConn, also stressed how the model minority myth hurts not only Asian Americans, but all marginalized peoples.

"Our schools are built in very white supremacist ways, that keep out our communities and keep out our families, and ask people to leave their cultures and their identities at the door," Díaz said. "To leave all that out and act like it doesn't exist."

She encouraged attendees to both read the book and bring it into their communities, something that the Festival and NHFPL are also trying to do. In addition to copies at all five library branches, the NHFPL has all-ages microbranches dedicated to migration and diaspora, featuring authors from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iran and Central and Latin America.

In addition, the Festival also has several Big Read events, from an author talk next week to discussions around legacy, family ties, and the Great Migration.

"This is a book that needs to be read," Díaz added. "And not just by Asian Americans. By everyone."

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 4
Readers Esther Chiang and Michelle Phuong Ho. The new haven independent
Where

personal breakthroughs

are powered by medical ones.

At Yale New Haven Health, we’re delivering pioneering research from Yale School of Medicine to improve people’s lives every single day. Like Dr. Kevan Herold who led teams of colleagues across the U.S. to develop a game-changing drug that can delay the onset of type 1 diabetes for years. Together, we’re powering breakthroughs with the greatest of care.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 5

Fatal Crash Victim Was Unhoused Activist

Arthur Taylor brought the music and an unflagging sense of urgency to advocacy for the rights of unhoused people like himself.

He died at age 71 in a car crash this week while walking along an I-91 travel lane, a few weeks after moving into the city’s new non-congregate shelter in a former hotel on Foxon Boulevard.

State police first announced Taylor’s death on Tuesday morning, stating that he had been walking on I-91 near Exit 9 in North Haven around 9:15 the night before when he was struck and killed by a car driven by a 20-year-old from Stamford. They initially identified Taylor as 53 years old, but both the city and several people who knew Taylor confirmed that he was actually in his early 70s.

Taylor had been wandering along I-91 in a northbound travel lane, right by Exit 9 in North Haven., when the car struck him. No one the Independent spoke to knew why Taylor had been walking on the highway at that time.

Having lived in and out of homelessness for years, Taylor dreamed of a home in an elderly housing complex. He grew up in New Haven and moved back to the area after spending much of his life in Georgia, where he worked supporting people with developmental disabilities. He spent the last few years moving between apartments, outdoor tents, and, this past winter, the Varick Church warming center.

On March 4, he moved into a room at the former Days Inn hotel on Foxon Boulevard, which the city recently converted to a shelter unique among local alternatives for offering individual rooms operated by Continuum of Care.

Christopher Dixon, a fellow shelter resident, found himself “heartbroken” upon hearing the news of Taylor’s death. “It’s sad that it happened to him,” Dixon said on Thursday, “because he was going through a transformation in his life.”

In a statement, Continuum of Care Vice President John Labieniec wrote, “It’s been a sad few days for us at Continuum and for many of Mr. Taylor’s fellow residents. We continue to extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Taylor’s family, in particular to his sister who was of support to him.”

Taylor was a leader in the Unhoused Activists Community Team (U-ACT), a group of housing advocates who have personally experienced homelessness. At demonstrations, public hearings, and U-ACT planning meetings, Taylor ensured that no one could forget the urgent, life-or-death nature of the homelessness crisis, U-ACT community organizer Billy Bromage said.

At a Board of Alders committee meeting in February 2023 about how to spend federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, Taylor delivered off-the-cuff public testimony with characteristic fire. He grilled alders for not adequately responding to the homelessness crisis, accusing them of “looking down on your brothers perishing in the dust.”

He stressed the point that anyone might someday become homeless. “Y’all want to be all this and all that because you think you got it made?” he asked them. “Don’t underestimate God.”

He wrapped up his remarks by adding: “Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening.”

Bromage recalled that Taylor would come to U-ACT’s weekly community lunches on the New Haven Green with “an old-time speaker, and he would be playing this upbeat music from the ’70s.”

The R&B and disco tracks prompted the U-ACT community to serve food and eat amongst each other with “a little bit more life,” Bromage said. “He always brought the music. He didn’t wait for permission.”

Update: Arthur Taylor’s funeral will take place at Howard K. Hill Funeral Services (1287 Chapel St.) on Friday, April 12. Family greetings will begin at 11 a.m. The ceremony will begin at noon.

Shelter Residents Face Pedestrian Perils

Two residents of the Foxon Boulevard shelter, neither of whom have access to a car, said they feel vulnerable to traffic in that highly car-centric portion of New Haven.

The shelter is located along Route 80, a six- to seven-lane artery controlled by the state. There’s no sidewalk outside the shelter or by the closest bus stop. In fact, several nearby bus stops require riders to balance on a narrow, slanted strip of slanted grass (or else in the actual road).

Labieniec said the shelter has a loose curfew of 7 p.m., but “there is a grace period to 10 p.m.”

“People can come and go,” he said.

“The model is that we’re there as support staff 24/7, but we’re not telling people they can’t leave and they can’t go about their business. We encourage people not to panhandle that’s just encouraging. We can’t control what people are going to do.”

“With the crisis we’re in, there’s people sleeping on the highway,” Labieniec added.

“Anywhere you would have placed a model like this is going to have its pluses and minuses,” Labieniec said.

“We do worry about the traffic because we have a lot of medically compromised folks, we have a lot of folks who are el-

derly. … At the end of the day, this is going to improve the lives of the people we’re servicing. It’s offering something that will get people out of the street.”

Labieniec said he and the city have been advocating for a safer walkway outside the shelter. In the meantime, Continuum of Care offers some transportation services to shelter residents, with one six-seat van for the approximately 75 people staying there. Labieniec said that the organization prioritizes the transit for clients who have housingrelated appointments or who need medical care. He added that staff educate clients about the nearby bus stops and encourage them to use public transportation.

Fellow shelter resident Hillary Forbes said she’s found the shelter’s transit option to be insufficiently reliable. She recently decided to stop trying to cross Route 80 by herself: “I almost got hit!” Instead, she said, a friend from her church drives her to the nearby CVS or Walmart so that she can buy the items she needs, including her insulin. She said she once went several days without insulin due to her fear of crossing the street.

“It’s very hectic crossing the street,” Dixon confirmed. “It’s like playing Frogger. … Hopefully someone has a heart to let you go by.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 6 John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO Babz Rawls Ivy Editor-in-Chief Liaison, Corporate Affairs Babz@penfieldcomm.com Advertising/Sales Team Keith Jackson Delores Alleyne John Thomas, III Editorial Team Staff Writers Christian Lewis/Current Affairs Anthony Scott/Sports Arlene Davis-Rudd/Politics Contributing Writers David Asbery / Tanisha Asbery Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee Contributors At-Large Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass www.newhavenindependent.org Memberships National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-387-0354 phone; 203-3872684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment. Postmaster, send address changes to 50 Fitch Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Display ad deadline Friday prior to insertion date at 5:00pm Advertisers are responsible for checking ads for error in publication. Penfield Communications, Inc d.b.a., “The Inner-City Newspaper” , shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication, except to the extent of the cost of the space in which actual error appeared in the first insertion. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication. The entire contents of The Inner-City Newspaper are copyright 2012, Penfield Communications, Inc. and no portion may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. 10 Penfield Communications Inc
NORA GRACE-FLOOD PHOTO Arthur Taylor, with Tammy Imre, at a 2023 May Day rally. "We’re tired of being criminalized for things like eating, sleeping, using the bathroom,” he said at the protest. “We shouldn’t have to
emergency is tonight. The
to act is now.
be begging for shelters… The
time
The new haven independent

Advocates, Democratic Lawmakers Call For A Permanent Child Tax Credit

HARTFORD, CT – Trinity College students partnered with the United Way of Connecticut this year to investigate and document financial hardships faced by families with children in Hartford.

Their work, which is still ongoing, was cited Wednesday as advocates called for a permanent, state-level child tax credit – support for which the Lamont administration does not appear to be willing to provide.

Lisa Tepper Bates, President and CEO of United Way of Connecticut, explained the intent of the project during the event at Trinfo Cafe.

“We asked the students here at the [Liberal Arts] Action Lab to help us to lift up the voices of people in our state, in this community, who are experiencing financial hardship with a special focus on those with children as we look together with our coalition partners for passage in Connecticut of a state-level child tax credit,” Bates said.

Specifically, Trinity students have been interviewing Hartford residents in line to receive Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) at Trinfo Cafe across Broad Street from the Trinity campus.

The VITA program offers free tax help for low- to moderate-income people who need help preparing their tax returns.

Jude Staples, a Trinity freshman, explained the interview process and its findings in Wednesday’s presentation. “We were looking to interview Hartford residents to gain a better perspective on how the child tax credit could benefit Connecticut families who need it most,” Staples said, adding that thus far they had interviewed 19 families.

Staples said that all of them were in support of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Their interviews also indicate that

60% had lived in Hartford for 20 or more years, 61% struggle to pay rent, and 39% struggle to pay utilities.

Bates cited the United Way of Connecticut’s 2023 ALICE Report that she said provides a look at the financial hardships of households across Connecticut that don’t meet the poverty threshold, but are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed (ALICE).

“What that data tells us is that 39% of households in Connecticut are either just barely making ends meet, paycheck to paycheck every month, or are falling behind,” Bates said. Bates described the Child Tax Credit (CTC) as a proven and practical way to “put money into the wallet of that family who is struggling to pay the basic costs of living,” and highlighted their hope that elected leaders will lis-

ten to those who voice this struggle in order to understand what many families in Connecticut are experiencing.

Rep. Kevin Brown, D-Vernon, reiterated the importance of elected leaders understanding the adversity many Connecticut families face.

“I would challenge any of my colleagues in the legislature who maybe haven’t had those adverse experiences themselves to get out and see how other people are living,” Brown said. “Then maybe, just maybe, they’ll understand why a Child Tax Credit is so important and how far it could go and how it could be transformational and change people’s lives and allow them to be able to participate.”

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas referred to the state’s budget as a “moral document,” as “policies like this really reflect the moral direction

that we need to head in if we’re really serious about serving the needs of the people who just need that additional support.”

According to the fact sheet provided by the Trinity students, Connecticut is the only state with personal income tax that does not adjust for number of children.

DataHaven also researched the issue and produced a report indicating that 75% of households with children would benefit from a child tax credit, translating to $306 million in refunds distributed to 268,000 eligible families.

Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, said a permanent, refundable tax credit would support 75% of the families across the state, “predominantly women-led households and families of color.”

DataHaven’s analysis assumes the child tax credit would $600 per child annually, for up to three children per filing family. Single-filing families making less $100,000 per year, and joint-filers making less than $200,000 per year, would be eligible to receive the credit. The credit would be fully refundable, meaning that families without tax liability would receive the full value.

Despite bipartisan support for a child tax credit or a deduction of some type, Gov. Ned Lamont and his administration are opposed to the idea.

Following a request for comment on where they stand today on adding the child tax credit, Lamont budget spokesman Chris Collibee responded by email with the following statement:

Gov. Lamont is always willing to listen to ideas from the General Assembly to make Connecticut a more affordable place to live and work. His often stated goal is to increase the number of taxpayers, not taxes. Any changes to our tax laws must be part of a balanced budget and adhere to all constitutional and statutory requirements, without impacting our state’s competitive position in the regional economy.

During the Lamont administration, with strong bipartisan support from the General Assembly, we delivered the largest personal income tax cut in state history, increased the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and capped motor vehicle taxes, while continuing to pay down legacy pension debt – thereby reducing fixed costs allowing for increased spending on essential services such as education and childcare. Residents and businesses have taken note of our progress, while other nearby states are losing population, Connecticut is experiencing an increase in population.

The Office of Vital Records Implements New Policies for Marriages and Hours of Operation

Bridgeport, CT— Today, Mayor Ganim announced that after a collaborative effort between the Chief Administrative Office, Health Department, and elected officials, as well input from other municipalities in Connecticut, the Office of Vital Records is instituting the following changes effective Monday, April 15, 2024:

• Weddings being performed for individuals who are NOT Bridgeport

residents must fill out a digital marriage license application form on the City’s website and submit copies of photo IDs for both individuals being married. The online application is already available for people to begin the process of booking their appointment.

(https://www.bridgeportct.gov/government/departments/vital-records/ marriage-licenses)

• The Office of Vital Records, upon

review and acceptance of the application and supporting documents, will reach out to each couple via email or phone call to set up an appointment. Payment will be due at the time of the appointment.

• Bridgeport residents will still be allowed same-day marriage license service; however, they are also encouraged to fill out the application online and set up an appointment.

• The Office of Vital Records will be open from 9 AM through 4 PM. The office will no longer close during lunchtime from 12 PM to 1 PM.

Due to these new policy changes and the digitization of marriage license applications, the Office of Vital Records will be able to process marriage licenses much faster and serve customers requesting birth certificates, filing death certificates, applying for Park City Resident IDs, among other requests much faster.

“My biggest priority is our residents,” stated Mayor Ganim. “While we remain open for service to nonresidents, we need to ensure that we are putting the interests of our own residents first and providing them with efficient and effective service.

Keeping Vital Records open at lunchtime and taking measures to cut down lines in the office will ensure that we are providing the kind of quality service that the public expects of us.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 7
Lisa Tepper Bates, President and CEO of United Way of Connecticut, advocates for a child tax credit during a news conference Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Trinfo Cafè in Hartford, alongside (from L to R) Trinity College students Jude Staples and Thaddeus Hempel, Liliana Polley, Director of CHER Strategic Partnerships, and Maria Nùñez, an interviewee from the study. Credit: Coral Aponte / CTNewsJunkie
CTNewsJunkie

No Limits for College Bound BIPOC Students

A group of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (“BIPOC”) high school students across the New Haven area were initially intimidated by the daunting process of college applications, especially after the abolition of affirmative action. Together, they have united and formed an organization called College Bound BIPOC Students Alliance (CBBSA) to help them and other BIPOC students find free college advisory resources.

CBBSA is a community based organization that guides grade 6-12 and gap year BIPOC students to free college advisory and preparation programs. These include academic enrichment programs, free SAT test prep/boot camps and academic tutoring, college essay and college supplements support, internships, fellowships, mentorships and entrepreneurship programs.

“CBBSA recognized my ambitions and provided a tremendous amount of guidance to me.” said Aleisha Luna, a junior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, during an interview with the CBBSA leaders. “Not only did they further my desire to attend college, but they eased all of the growing doubts and struggles I was facing with the search for financial aid, scholarships, and grants.”

CBBSA’s efforts have begun to pick up significant traction around the New Haven area. While interviewing their Vice President, Jonas Ward, he discussed some of CBBSA’s recent initiatives.

“In 2021, CBBSA created and facilitated student panel college information sessions in New Haven at St. Martin de Porres Academy and Horizons at Foote School. Most recently, we co-hosted a series of virtual college information workshops with the assistance of Ms. Katherine Vi-

era, the former Co-Chair of Yale Latino Networking Group.” These information workshops have received support from various affinity groups at Yale University, and even national organizations such as the Ron Brown Scholar Program, Ron Brown Guided Pathway Support College Board, Questbridge, Schoolhouse, and Matriculate.

In 2023, Jonas and his brother Tristan, the president and co-founder of CBBSA who is currently a freshman at Brown University, decided to pivot from CBBSA’s initial direction based upon what they observed and experienced up to that point. It had become clear to them

that the long term project would require an influx of college bound students working with them in the short term. The plan was for these students to become youth leaders themselves, both in their schools and within their home communities. Students from their school, who were aware of CBBSA and needed support beyond what was provided by their schools and families, led to the organic development of the six students becoming CBBSA Leaders-In-Training.

“Our new direction after this development was to find organizations that were open to allowing students of color the opportunity to have a leadership position within their organization.” said Jonas.

“This placement component has now become a fundamental part of CBBSA’s mission. We seek leadership positions in organizations that provide services to the youth in the New Haven area and ensure that youth leaders are seated at the decision making table where they are seen, heard, valued and respected.”

In addition to placing students in positions of leadership in local organizations, CBBSA also works to find free opportunities for their members to take advantage of. The Leaders-In-Training discussed some of these opportunities in a recent interview.

“I was able to learn about the City of New Haven Youth Commission and I was appointed as a youth Commissioner” said Angelo Sevilla, a senior at New Haven Academy. “I got into a three week summer program at NYU and was able to receive a recommendation letter from a professor there. I also learned about college fly-in programs, and was accepted to the fly-in program at Wesleyan University.”

Aqueelah Irshad, a senior at James Hillhouse High School, also chimed in: “Right now I am an ambassador and member of Hemispheres, a club for high

school students run by the Yale International Relations Association. Through that, I was selected to attend Yale Model United Nations Europe (YMUNE), an international Model UN conference in Belgium.” Aqueelah also volunteers at New Haven Reads, a local non-profit that assists students who are reading below grade-level.

In the wake of elite universities requiring SAT scores in college applications, The CBBSA team has also been making a concerted effort to connect their members with SAT preparatory programs.

According to Yael Cervantes-Nava, there are a plethora of programs out there, so students don’t have to figure it all out on their own: “There are many free college advisory and academic tutoring programs designed to help college bound students, more than I could ever have imagined. I worked hard to get good grades, and I did all that I could on my own to prepare for the SATs, but I knew that I needed help to get the results that I desired. In addition to the support that I received from my school, I turned to CBBSA.”

Aleisha Luna, said that, “as a collegebound BIPOC student, I knew that it was ultimately up to me to search out an appropriate path to higher education. She said this was a daunting task coming from “a background within a disadvantaged community and with low expectations concerning higher education.” She highlighted how this task was more difficult while attending a high school that does not focus on college preparation.

“CBBSA is familiar with this issue and understands that I was amongst many in the same predicament.” Aleisha said. Both Aleisha and Yael were directed to free college preparatory services like Higher Heights and Urban Improvement Corpo-

New Fellowship Boosts “Liberation” Quest

Samantha Sims will get a chance to spend her first post-college year taking what she’s learned in New Haven to build a new roots tradition.

Sims is one of the two inaugural recipients of a “Chauncey Fellowship.”

The fellowship was funded by the late Ed Bennett and named after legendary civic leader Henry “Sam” Chauncey Science Park founder, former Yale university secretary, Gaylord Hospital President, participant on around 140 percent of New Haven’s boards and commissions over the decades ranging from economic development to charter revision, and mentor to countless young people (in-

cluding Bennett, a Yale alum who revived the New Journal magazine in the early 1980s).

The $60,000 fellowship goes to each of two graduating seniors to spend a year pursuing an arts or community service project: “The aim is to remove the financial pressures that stop young people from pursuing their dreams and help bring their artistic or community service visions to light.”

Sims attended New Haven schools then attended Yale (as a New Haven Promise scholar). She calls the project she’ll pursue over the next year following graduation “Liberation Table.”

Its aim: to “Bring together Black peo-

ple of the African diaspora to share a traditional meal and discuss their roots in a new tradition.”

The other recipient, composer Jonathan Weiss, also attended Yale. In future years the fellowship will branch out to include graduates of other local colleges and universities.

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, which administers the new fellowship, is holding a public reception at the Blake Hotel on Thursday, April 18, from 4 to 8 p.m. for anyone interested in learning more about it and/or meeting those involved.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 8
Henry "Sam" Chauncey, Jr., at center with initial fellows Jonathan Weiss and Samantha Sims.
on page 23
Continue

Fire Department Bleeds Paramedics

The number of paramedics employed by the city’s fire department has plummeted from around 40 a few years ago to just 15 today — hiking mandatory overtime and prompting the city to recruit workers from out of town and state.

Fire Chief John Alston and Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin delivered that sobering news at a budget workshop before the Board of Alders Finance Committee.

The workshop marked the latest step in local legislators’ review of Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $680 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2024 – 25 (FY25), which begins on July 1.

Alston, Coughlin, City Budget Director Michael Gormany, and Chief Administrative Officer Regina Rush-Kittle told the alders that the fire department’s budget would increase by around $415,000, from $39.9 million to $40.35 million, under the mayor’s proposal.

Included in that departmental budget would be a $410,000 increase in overtime, from $5.3 million to $5.71 million. The Elicker administration has proposed covering $400,000 of that $410,000 fire overtime bump with one-time soon-to-

Questions about your bill?

Yale New Haven Hospital is pleased to offer patients and their families financial counseling regarding their hospital bills or the availability of financial assistance, including free care funds.

By appointment, patients can speak one-on-one with a financial counselor during regular business hours. For your convenience, extended hours are available in-person at Yale New Haven Hospital once a month.

Date: Monday, April 15, 2024

Time: 5 - 7 pm

Location: Children’s Hospital, 1 Park St., 1st Floor, Admitting

Parking available (handicapped accessible)

An appointment is necessary. Please call 855-547-4584

In light of COVID-19, patients may call 855-547-4584 any time during regular weekday hours to speak with a counselor on the phone.

Spanish-speaking counselors available.

expire federal pandemic-relief dollars. Alston, Coughlin, and Gormany said that the department currently has 53 vacancies among the 316 budgeted firefighter positions in its “fire suppression” ranks. Since the city fire union contract requires a minimum staffing of 72 firefighters at all times, Coughlin said, that means some 15 to 20 city firefighters working any given shift are usually working mandatory overtime. Which in turn stresses the department’s overtime budget.

Alston and Coughlin stressed over and over again during the workshop held at City Hall this past Thursday evening that one of the biggest staffing challenges the fire department has right now is in its dearth of paramedics.

Those city fire department staffers are trained and qualified not only to fight fires, but also in Advance Life Support (ALS). They have “a lot of life-saving skills that the average EMT doesn’t have,” including “cardiac monitoring” and the ability to intubate people, Coughlin told the Independent.

The city has three emergency medical units which, ideally, would be staffed by two paramedics each. They are more

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 9 WOMEN’S HEALTH • Gynecology • Mammography • Obstetrics #WomensHistoryMonth 203-503-3000 CORNELLSCOTT.ORG Let Us Support Your Health Journey
CHRISTOPHER PEAK FILE PHOTO NHFD Paramedic Keith Kerr treats man who overdosed on heroin.
Continue on page 1 7
The new haven independent

A&I Gives Sneak Peek At 2024 Festival

Shakespeare in circus, choral fusion, climate activism and optimism talks, making your own empanadas: this eclectic mix of events and more is part of this summer’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas, which is returning with a full schedule of programming that covers just about anything an arts and culture lover would have a taste for and maybe something they have never tasted before.

The festival community gathered last night at 195 Church St. for a 2024 sneak peek and reception, where patrons mingled and chatted up the new season’s events as they snacked on tasty tidbits such as polenta bites and orange lavender fairy bites provided by Claire’s Corner Copia. Posters hung throughout the room advertised a few of the events before Shelley Quiala, A&I’s executive director, came to the front of the room to address the crowd.

Kevin “RevKev” Ewing, chair of A&I’s board of directors, gathered everyone together to get the evening started and to introduce Quiala.

“I’ve been around the festival for about 15 years and I’ve always looked forward to the day that we announce what’s coming that year,” said Ewing, adding that he was “excited about everything that’s on the ticket.”

“If I only just met you this year, it’s because I started in the middle of a pandemic,” Quiala said, noting how she experienced the festival in 2020 online from her

home in Minneapolis. She recalled how her first festival in person had the Green fenced off “not because we wanted to, but because we had to.”

“And now we’re back,” she added with a smile. This year will be A&I’s 29th festival, and they were already starting the “momentum” toward next year’s 30th celebration.

A two-minute video of some of the highlights of this year’s festivities included a few words from some of the festival’s performers, such as jazz vocalist Samara Joy, who will be performing at College Street Music Hall on Wednesday, June 26; Brazilian bossa nova artist Caro Pierotto, who will perform a free show on the New Haven Green on Thursday, June 27; music

director Perry So, who will conduct a free show with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra on the Green on Saturday, June 15; performers from Contra-Tiempo’s dance theater, who will perform at the University Theater on June 27 and 28; and a cast member from The 7 Fingers arts collective, who will perform at the University Theater from June 21 to June 23. There will be over 150 events, and 85 percent of them will be free.

“What you just saw is a big chunk not all of it, but a big chunk of what’s happening June 14 through the 29th,” Quiala said after the video ended, adding that “that’s not all we do.” Events have already begun and will continue through until June. One of those is the Big Read Program, in partnership with the New Haven Public Library. The book for this year is The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, which Quiala described as a “story of migration” of the author’s Cambodian family.

“It’s also a story that’s intrinsic to who New Haven is,” she added. “We’re using that opportunity as a starting off point to talk about migration beyond that book,” noting that she was talking about all migration: “The Great Migration, stories about Cambodian residents who live here in CT, and other families who have come from different parts of the world: Italian families, European families, South African families, who found their way to Connecticut for a multitude of reasons.”

Migration is a theme that, according to Quiala, we will see throughout the entire

festival’s programming.

May 1 through May 5 will find Compagnia TPO, an interactive theater company from Prato, Italy, offering an interactive show that will be held at The Legacy Theater in Branford “for young people and their grown-ups,” with the young ones being invited up to the stage to dance with the projections that they use to create an imaginary city in a piece called Erba. The show has an environmental theme, which Quiala noted will be another theme that runs through the festival.

“The rest of May is all about our neighborhoods,” said Quiala as she spoke about the neighborhood festivals that will occur during that time. Quiala said they have had five such celebrations in the past 10 years, in West Rock, West Hills, Newhallville, The Hill, Fair Haven, and Dixwell, but will be adding Long Wharf this year as the sixth. They received support from the National Endowment of the Arts’s My Town program to help them create a documentary about “all of those neighborhoods and the process of creating festivals and community with them.” That documentary will be shown on the Green. Quiala then spoke about the June events that will kick off on Friday, June 14. They will begin celebrating Juneteenth that weekend, since it lands in the middle of the following week. Compagnia De’Colombari’s production of King Lear also kicks off that night for three days of performances at The University The-

5 Police Recruits Sworn In

Five new police recruits were sworn in at City Hall marking perhaps the first ever group of all Black male recruits to head to the training academy.

Mayor Justin Elicker swore in those recruits last Tuesday in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of 165 Church St.

Sgt. Paul Finch, the supervisor in charge of recruitment for the New Haven Police Department, said that the fact that all five of these new police recruits are Black was not intentional, but is unique and important.

The group of five including Terrence Roundtree, Talmadge Vick, Jabare Roach, Nathan-Craig Machado, and Felder Jean Baptiste were a part of a larger group of 40 who passed the written and oral exams with a score of 70 or better. Not all of those who were eligible and received a conditional acceptance offer from the NHPD moved forward with the process.

City Police Chief Karl Jacobson began

Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony by welcoming the recruits and commending them on their efforts so far: “We’re very glad to have you here. You come from a varied and diverse backgrounds, and we’re just very excited about this opportunity for you.” He described how New Haven is different from other departments in that its model is based on community policing, “making sure that we’re in tune with the community and moving forward with the community.”

Jacobson imparted a special message to the families in the audience. He talked about the support that these young men will need, not just as they navigate the training academy in Meriden, but once they finish and move into field training in New Haven, and eventually become fulltime officers. He shared with them how important it is for them to support and hold the young men because it will not be an easy road.

Before Mayor Elicker conducted the swearing in, he congratulated the group on making it into the academy and on their work thus far. “We talk a lot about com-

munity policing, but can’t be as effective at policing the community if the police department doesn’t look like the community,” he said. That is one of the reasons his office and the department have been working very hard to “not only recruit more individuals that reflect the diversity of our community, but more individuals that live in New Haven to be part of a police department.” He went on to say, “Today is

one example of the results of that work. We have a lot more work to do.”

Sgt. Finch also talked about the fact that these recruits are mostly from the New Haven area and what that means for community policing. “Why not work where you live? There are benefits to that for officers and for the community.” He noted that when officers come from the community they have common ground with the com-

munity. It helps to build trust and critical relationships and presents the potential for a greater ability to deescalate tense situations based on that common ground. One of the recruits, Talmadge Vick, who grew up in Westville, attended high school at Hopkins and has worked in a variety of capacities and roles around town. He said, “I applied to help people. I applied as someone who’s been involved in community work here in New Haven, I have mentored, I’ve worked in nonprofits, and I see this as another avenue by which I can support my community.” He also said that, “I want to be the person in the situation where if someone needs help, I’m there to support them.”

When asked what it means to him to be a Black man in this position, he said, “It means representation. It means hopefully being in a position where I can create internal change one day. I see that they’re making positive change, and I think I can further that positive change in and for my community.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 10
ARTIDEA.ORG Jazz vocalist Samara Joy, an A&I headliner this year. The new haven independent LISA GRAY PHOTO Terrence Roundtree, Talmadge Vick, Jabare Roach, Nathan-Craig Machado, and Felder Jean Baptiste take the oath at City Hall.
on
19
The new haven independent
Continue
page

Won’t You Be My Neighbor, “Dr. Robinson Way”?

Dr. Ann Garrett Robinson, the future namesake of Dixwell & Argyle?

The corner of Dixwell and Argyle might soon bear Dr. Ann Garrett Robinson’s name, in honor of a beloved champion of local Black history who, in 89 years of life so far, has made a mark on history herself.

Dixwell Alder Troy Streater has begun gathering petition signatures to rename the street corner “Dr. Ann M. Garrett Robinson Way,” positioned so that Robinson can see an emblem of her impact simply by looking out her window.

The petition drive follows a recent street corner naming that Robinson herself had championed in honor of the first known Black resident of New Haven, a woman enslaved by the colony governor until eventually securing her freedom. In 2022, after years of Robinson’s research and advocacy, the Downtown corner of Orange and Elm was officially named Lucretia’s Corner.

Now, Streater and other community members have received Robinson’s blessing to try and honor her own legacy: the path she forged for generations of Black female psychologists, the lessons she imparted upon thousands of her students, and the impact of her everyday actions as a “good neighbor.” A group of petitioners have embarked on a quest to gather the requisite 250 signatures for Robinson’s own street corner. The petition would then head to the Board of Alders for review and a potential final vote. “It’s a wonderful feeling,” Robinson said of the honor. Addressing Streater and other petitioners, she said, “Thank you for giving me my flowers.”

In 1970, Robinson moved with her family from North Branford into the red house where she still resides on Dixwell Avenue.

“People were fleeing the city, out to the suburbs,” Robinson said. “There were questions about why we would do such a thing.”

To some, civil unrest against racial oppression and rising unemployment had cemented the reputation of Black neighborhoods like Dixwell as “dangerous” or “undesirable.” People would warn her, “be careful, be careful,” she said.

But Robinson found a sense of purpose in moving to the neighborhood, where she already attended Dixwell United Congregational Church. “We wanted to contribute to peace by being good neighbors,” she said. She would tell naysayers, “I need the city and the city needs me.”

By then, Robinson was no stranger to forging her own path and thwarting expectations.

Her professional life was marked by many “firsts,” she said. “I became a first of this, a first of that” the first Black woman to join the Trinity College faculty, one of the earliest Black women to be a researcher at Yale, and the first Black certified psychological examiner in the New Haven Public Schools system.

As a professor at Gateway Community College, Robinson left her mark on a sea of students who passed through her class. Former students often approach her with fond memories of her class, to the point that her son George used to ask her, “Did you teach everybody?”

One former student, Trina Greene, has become an “adopted Goddaughter” to Robinson. In class, Green recalled, Robinson pushed her to put her best effort into everything, even when she could slack off and still earn an “A.”

All the while, Robinson and her family set down roots in Dixwell-Newhallville. Her kids attended the former Martin Luther King School up the street. She shopped for groceries at Bob’s Market “Bob had the best food of all kinds.” She found friends in her new neighbors, despite the warnings she’d received.

She had absorbed an idea of neighborliness from her childhood in Greenville, North Carolina, where “people cared about each other and never let litter be on their yard.” She sought to carry on that culture in Dixwell-Newhallville whether in “a cheerful ‘Thank you,’ a pleasant ‘Good morning,’ ” or in weightier ways of “helping each other in need.”

The Robinsons hosted cookouts and con-

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 11
LAURA GLESBY PHOTO

Ground Broken On Housing, Not Highway

Officials joined West River neighbors to celebrate the government-backed construction of 56 new affordable apartments where Urban Renewal’s bulldozers once plowed through the Oak Street neighborhood six decades ago to make way for a mini-highway.

Speaker after speaker after speaker took to the microphone at the tentcovered press conference Thursday morning to mark the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Curtis Cofield II Estates.

Roughly a year from now, builders expect to complete that complex on a 4.3-acre site bounded by Legion Avenue, Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Tyler Street. Plans include 56 new townhome-style rental apartments, as well as a clubhouse, a community center, a coffee shop/bakery, parking, a playground, and a gazebo.

Forty-four of those apartments will be rented out to residents making up to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), or around $55,000 for a family of two, and the remaining 12 apartments at 100 percent AMI, or around $90,000 for a family of two. Of the 44 apartments set aside for low-income households, 14 are reserved for supportive housing in partnership with Columbus House.

The nonprofit development duo behind the project consists of the New York

Elder Jamarr A. Myrick

Elder Jamarr A. Myrick was born to Cheryl J. Hill and the late Ulysses G. Myrick on November 22, 1977, in New Haven, Connecticut. Jamarr was initially introduced to church at an early age by his mother. He attended New Haven Public Schools and graduated from James Hillhouse High School in 1995. He attended Zion Divinity School, Hartford Seminary and studied at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. Jamarr always had a passion for church and the desire to lead in the Church. He was employed by The New Haven Board of Education as a Paraprofessional at Jackie Robinson Middle School. In 1999, Mrs. Eleanor Boyd recommended that he receive training at Jackie Robinson under the leadership of Dr. Belinda Carberry, who became very influential in his life, becoming a mother figure to him. Later in his career he became a Dropout Prevention Specialist within the New Haven Board of Education. “Myrick” helped so many students and afforded them many opportunities to focus on learning and their future. He started the gospel choir at Jackie Robinson where he met and adopted his two Godchildren: Tiffany Baines and

City-based NHP Foundation and the locally-based West River Self Help Investment Plan (WRSHIP).

The developers bought the land at 104 Tyler St. from the city last November for $840,000 after putting together a mix of public and private financing for the $20 million project. Money came from the state Department of Housing, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA), the City of New Haven, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Bos-

Davida Fulton.

A man of vision, integrity and wisdom, Elder Jamarr A. Myrick sought God for ways to help society believe in whom they served. Thus in 2012, he established his motto, “ANOINTED TO SURVIVE”. Elder Myrick has been a mentor, role model, example, and father-figure to many. An honorable and upright Man of God, his character was consistent with his life and message. He preached faith and he lived faith. He was so cherished for his biblical teaching of faithfulness to God, his excellent work ethics, and diligence in business. In September 2021 he started his own Graphic Design business. He named his business, Royal Printing. There is so much to Jamarr everything he touched flourished. He was the Founder and Organizer of “ The Royal Priesthood” Singers. Also, was widely known for his Annual Black History Program, where he honored many “unsung heroes” within our communities and throughout the Greater New Haven area.

Elder Jamarr A. Myrick leaves his legacy to cherish, Cheryl J. Hill (Mother) Daughters: Tiffany Baines-Brown, Davida Fulton, Crystal Parks. Grandchildren; Kaelyn Parks, Tianna Young, Tijae Young, Trinity White, Royal Baines, Prince Baine; Broth-

ton, among other sources.

“This could be the most complicated one I’ve ever seen,” NHP Foundation CEO Richard Burns said about the West River housing project’s financing. But, every speaker said or alluded to in a collective sigh of relief Thursday, the financing is now in place. The plans are approved. Construction has begun. And, a year from now, 56 families should be able to move into new affordable housing constructed in a part of the city that

for so long has been vacant publicly owned land serving as a reminder of urban planning mistakes of the past.

“This is the first housing to be built in the Rt. 34 corridor in 60 years,” said longtime West River community member Jerry Poole, who received a standing ovation from Thursday’s crowd for his work over the years advocating for this project. “60 years!”

Anthony Dawson, a former alder and police commissioner who is now

the president of WRSHP, said that this housing complex has been “22 years in the making.” It’s named for the Rev. Curtis Cofield, longtime former pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church and the first president of WRSHP.

“I know Rev. Cofield is smiling on this neighborhood, because he loved this neighborhood so much,” said former Livable City Initiative (LCI) Executive Director Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, standing alongside current LCI director Arlevia Samuel and Board of Alders President, West River Alder, and press conference emcee Tyisha Walker-Myers.

The Curtis Cofield II Estates aren’t the first development to take root in the Rt. 34 corridor over the past two decades.

Large swathes of publicly owned land have been built up over the years with a now-closed Rite Aid, The Learning Experience daycare center, The Cambria Hotel, Continuum of Care, a hospital-adjacent parking garage, and, closer to downtown, the 100 and 101 College lab and office buildings (with another biomed building in the works for another nearby West River block).

As speakers like Poole and WalkerMyers and Mayor Justin Elicker emphasized over the course of Thursday’s event, this project represents the first housing to be built in this stretch in a long time.

“Mr. Poole,” Elicker said during his time at the podium, “let’s knit these neighborhoods together.”

ers: Donnie McDaniel, Matthew Murphy, Lawrence J. Washington III, Pastor Robert L. Smith (Kristen), AlwyneSmith, Darius Moody, Bishop Charles Brewer, III (Kamiya) Kyshant Moore (Naimiah); Sisters: Deborah A. Myrick, Olivia C. Hill, Gail Pressley, Dorothy Barber, Dr. Seesa Ellison, Monet Durham, Ashley Smith, Jessica Marks, Elizabeth Parson, Lenora Parks, Candice Carberry (Tobin), Naomi Carter, Dara Williams, April Jones, Nakia Dawson-Douglas (Marquis); Godchildren: Davon Jamar Sanders, Jy’air Hill, Mahogany Hines Niece: Jamiya I. Bryant (his heart) Aunts: Sally Lee, Gladys Lee, Celeste Hill, Lou-Ann Brown (Charles), Donna Conyers (Charles) Barbara Fair (Cousin) Uncles: Kevin Hill, Rev. Dr. Boise Kimber (Shevalle).

rone), Elder Joel Pullen (Maria), Nicole Moore, Tomeka Vinston, Angelina Outing, Elder Brenda Ward, Karissa Stolzman, Elder MacArthur Bethea (Sonya), Celestine Lawton (Kevin), Apostle Randy Furlow (Autumn), Elder Martin Evans (Tiara), Gwendolyn Busch-Williams (Marvin), Pastor Corey Saulsbury (Sherri), Elder Devon Coleman (Kanijah), Elder Ron Hurt. He was Pre-deceased by Father Ulysses Myrick, spiritual mother; Ardell Tucker, brother Corey Abraham, Mattie Darden, Lucinda and Herbert Ratley, Rosa Fair, Terri Fair-Allen, Uncle Frank Lee, Bishop Charles H. Brewer, Jr, Aunt Julia Long, Paris Lee and Kim Troutman.

Viewing

APR 14. 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Elder Jamarr A. Myrick

Special Cousins: Tanisha Hill, Whitney Hill, Erika Thompson, Sabrena Crabbe, Ayja Allen, Holly Tucker and Naro Lee Jr.and a host of Family and Friends: His best and lifelong friend Tawanna Newton- Barnhill (Jayda); and Extended Family whom he loved and cherished so much: spiritual parents; Bishop Lonnell and Lady Deborah Lawson, Helen Adams, Dr. Belinda Carberry (Tony), Bishop Willa Moody (God-Sister), Pastor Dorothy Bridges (Ty-

The New Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ 285 Dixwell Ave New Haven, CT

Musical Celebration Service

APR 14. 5:00 PM (ET)

The New Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ 285 Dixwell Ave New Haven, CT

Calling Hours

APR 15. 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (ET)

The New Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ

285 Dixwell Ave

New Haven, CT

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 12
Thursday's press conference crowd. The new haven independent

At First Symphony, Students Hear A Starburst

Strings jolted the audience awake, cellos singing their low-bellied hello to the violins. Viola glided in behind them, the sound sailing into the front rows.

Above the musicians, an animated star catapulted through space, shedding pinpricks of violet light as it traveled.

On the edge of their seats in Row O, seventh graders Rhayn and Kelly sat transfixed, imagining galaxies they’d never seen before.

Tuesday afternoon, the two were among hundreds of New Haven Public Schools students at the New Haven Symphony Orchestra's (NHSO) 90th Annual Young People’s Concert, held at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). Designed to introduce students to live music, the performance included selections from Georges Bizet, Jessie Montgomery, Antonín Dvořák, Paul Dukas, Amanda Harberg and Russell Peck.

In an era that is increasingly digital, it became part rock concert, part close listening session and part prayer, students slack-jawed and wide-eyed as musicians took them on a journey through time, space, and sound.

“It’s just amazing,” said Eliel Martinez, a music teacher at Fair Haven School who resurrected the band when he arrived last year. Behind him, two dozen students filed into their rows, English and Spanish drifting through the space as they chatted. “I’m so happy to have them watch these musicians.”

From the moment lights went down, a sense of excitement crackled through the air. In the audience, conversation fell to a hush, a few sharp whispers weaving through the darkness. Across the auditorium, a shrill, uniform cheer rippled back through the aisles, some students raising their arms as if ready to dance. When Maestro Tom Duffy made his way out onto the stage, a listener could have mistaken the space for a stop on the Eras Tour.

Back in row O, Rhayn sat back and studied each movement on the stage, a ballet of tuning instruments and rustling sheet music. On dozens of music stands, Bizet’s “Los Toreadors” waited expectantly for a cue. Before it came, Stephan Tieszen stood with his violin, and turned toward Olav van Hezewijk for an A. Across the auditorium, Rhayn took mental notes, ready to bring what she had learned back to the school band. “It feels nice,” she had said just moments before the concert started, adding that it was her first NHSO performance. As the audience stilled, she and Kelly watched as Duffy raised his

arms—"my job is to tell the orchestra how fast they’re supposed to play,” he noted—and traveled instantly back in time, conjuring the warm winds of southern Spain. Woodwinds trilled their entrance. Strings entered at a clip and horns bellowed below. On a screen over the musicians, a bull pawed the earth, hooves sending up clouds of dust.

In the audience, a murmur of approval rippled through the dark rows, growing louder as the projection shifted, and a flamenco dancer moved in slowmotion, his chest glowing beneath an unbuttoned shirt. Baton gliding through the air, Duffy half-bounced in place,

leaning in just so as strings slowed, then resumed their quick march forward. When a smattering of applause came early from somewhere left of the stage, he held up a single finger as if to say just wait for it. When the end came, the room erupted in sound.

They were just getting started, Duffy said from the podium. He jumped from 1875 to 2012, when a young Jessie Montgomery first introduced her composition “Starburst” to the world. The piece, commissioned by the Sphinx Virtuosi just over a decade ago, places ebullient, erupting strings beside sections that slow and sweeten the piece,

West Side Story flickering in the dark auditorium as students joined in on the hook. It bloomed into color as Damali Willingham joined musicians for Peck’s “The Thrill of the Orchestra,” and a pair of arms rose and danced in place somewhere around row H.

But nowhere was it clearer than during Harberg’s “Prayer,” written in 2011 as a prayer for her mother, who was sick at the time. As students came down from a raucous “Mambo,” Duffy described the importance of listening closely to the piece, in which harp starts a gentle dialogue with the strings and orchestra. As the piece deepens, there is something sublime that weaves each section together, transforming the stage into a house of worship. While it is entirely Harberg’s own, a listener can close their eyes and hear the soft footfalls of “Ave Maria” folded into the work.

“Do you hope for things?” Duffy asked as a chorus of agreement rose up from the audience. “Does anybody hope for a world where we don’t fight each other? Does anybody hope for a world where we can be accepted, just as we are? Does anybody hope for a world where we can preserve our natural resources?”

sewing a sort of short, thrilling sonic tapestry.

“Imagine a thousand suns exploding all at once in a galaxy,” Duffy said, and that was all it took for students to snap back to attention. Above his head, a star began its journey through space. As if playing a soundtrack to its journey, musicians launched into the work, the sound spilling from the stage and drifting towards the ceiling.

Close to the back of the auditorium, Rhayn and Kelly made sure not to miss a moment, taking mental notes. As young Fair Haveners, the two play clarinet in the school band. Outside of school, both are students at Music Haven, where they study violin with Patrick Doane. In a room where silence itself felt miraculous and delicate, the two held onto each note.

“It made me imagine the worlds outside of ours,” Rhayn said in a conversation after the concert, already interested in learning more about Montgomery. “How beautiful they can be.”

“It made me feel like I was experiencing my favorite instruments again for the first time,” Kelly said.

That sense of revelation flowed through Dvořák’s “Serenade for Wind Instruments,” a projection dancing above the orchestra as the piece unfolded. It gained speed as musicians opened Dukas’ “Fanfare” from La Péri, horns blaring. It tittered and thrilled with Bernstein’s “Mambo,” a video from

In row O, Rhayn was thinking about a world without conflict and a friend who was sick. Beside her, Kelly was too. “I thought about if we could all be kind to each other,” she said afterwards. “It helped me learn how to improve and enjoy what I’m doing,” Rhayn added. That’s the hope, said NHSO Chief Executive Officer Elaine Carroll. While the concerts have continued largely uninterrupted since the 1930s, they’ve taken on a new kind of significance amidst the rise of tech platforms like Instagram and TikTok. In the past two years, both NHPS teachers and NHSO staff have found that the addition of projections and video help keep students engaged.

Following the performance, Carroll likened the experience to watching a professional baseball game, or listening to music through earbuds. It’s possible to follow along and enjoy the game— or the music—on a television screen or iPhone, but there’s no substitute for seeing it in person. “What you do in a live audience is so different.”

“This is a great experience for our kids,” added Ellen Maust, NHPS supervisor of performing and visual arts. She pointed to the significance of having concerts designed for young people, many of whom have not attended the symphony before, and may not be quite as buttoned-up as some of the symphony's decorum-conscious silver-haired patrons “When you’re at a live concert, it’s community.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 13
NHPS' Ellen Maust, who will be retiring this year, receives recognition from NHSO Operations Director Jeremey Lombard. Lucy Gellman Photos. Composer and NHSO Operations Assistant Damali Willingham narrates Russell Peck's "The Thrill of the Orchestra.” The new haven independent

Arts & Ideas Takes Flight

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas turns 29 this summer. As it does, the upcoming celebration promises to weave together the cultural, political and intellectual threads of migration into a tapestry that is uniquely American and undoubtedly New Haven.

Festival insiders got an intimate look at this year’s festival last Thursday, during a reception highlighting the upcoming 2024 celebration. This year, the festival boasts a robust calendar that begins in April and May and crescendos with a blitz of events between June 14-29. (Check out the Arts & Ideas calendar here.)

“We actually have already started festival-ling,” Arts & Ideas Executive Director Shelly Quiala said to the crowd that gathered at the festival’s headquarters at 195 Church Street Thursday.

Some of that activity begins this week. Once again, the festival is partnering with the New Haven Free Public Library for the “Big Read,” an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts that takes place in cities across the country. Starting with a kickoff at Stetson Library on April 3, readers will discuss Thi Bui’s illustrated memoir “The Best We Could Do,” which tells the story of Bui’s parents’ life in Vietnam and migration to the U.S.

During the kickoff Wednesday, Bui will participate in a virtual conversation hosted by the University of Connecticut Asian and Asian American Studies Institute and the Asian Pacific American Coalition of CT.

The book tells the story of the author and her family’s escape from Vietnam and their migration to the United States. Quiala said the narrative of migration has an intrinsic connection to New Haven’s own story of receiving immigrants from all over the world and Black American migrants from the Jim Crow South.

Like Bui’s memoir, the 2024 festival will fête performers, thinkers, and events from the many countries and cultures that have helped write the Elm City’s story. Those include Italy, Ireland by way of Montreal, and several countries in Latin America, as well as a World Refugee Day celebration with the Ukrainian folk quartet DakhaBrakha and a world food bazaar.

Some of those cultures, Quiala added, are distinctly American. In a nod to the city’s jazz roots and “up South” bonafides, festival goers will have a chance to see Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Samara Joy at College Street Music Hall and the Ebony Hillbillies on the New Haven Green.

The second performance may feel like a homecoming; the group has graced the festival with its sound before. Quiala said that bringing them to New Haven this year felt especially fortuitous after musical

superstar Beyoncé dropped her 27-track country-influenced album on Good Friday.

“They’re amazing,” Quiala said of the Ebony Hillbillies, “and it’s so timely. We could not have planned it better. This is our call and response with Beyoncé.”

Circus performers, which Quiala said have been highly requested (and are part of the festival's decades-long roots), will make a return with Montreal-based troupe The 7 Fingers. The group will perform their act “Duel Reality,” which she characterized as a “circus fight” based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Red Trouser Show! Circus will also be staging roving performances all over the Green. Arts & Ideas Board Chair, the Rev. Kevin “Rev. Kev” Ewing, said he’s looking forward to all that the festival has in store for attendees this year.

“I’m excited about everything on the ticket, including the stuff I’m sure I’m not going to like,” he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. “I’m excited to see it anyway.”

A good portion of the ideas track of the festival will also be dedicated to climate change and its impact on migration. Best selling author Amy Tan will be talking about observations on a migratory creature whose wellbeing is intrinsically linked to climate from her latest book “The Backyard Bird Chronicles.” Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson of the Urban Ocean Lab will be in conversation with John Dankosky from Science Friday on June 15.

Quiala said Johnson will share more than “gloom and doom,” but also the good news of “what it looks like when we get it right.”

Festival goers can also look forward to the return of neighborhood festivals starting with Fair Haven on May 4. Arts & Ideas has produced neighborhood festivals for more than a decade.

For the first time ever this year, Quiala announced, Long Wharf will get a neighborhood festival, which will be held at the Canal Dock Boathouse. The area is often seen as a non-residential space between Wooster Square, downtown New Haven, and the Hill (which has its own neighborhood festival May 18).

“Come out to every neighborhood festival,” Quiala urged the crowd. “This doesn’t mean anything unless there are people to experience it. Your co-creation is your participation.”

Quiala said this year’s festival lays the groundwork for the celebration of the festival turning 30 next year.

“We’re really starting that momentum now so by the time we get to 2025 it’s a full blown party,” she said.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 14
Quiala talks about all things Arts & Ideas Festival 2024 at the kickoff reception. Markeshia Ricks Photos.
Inner City News Editor-in-Chief and WNHH Community Radio
Host Babz Rawls Ivy.
Ewing: “I’m excited about everything on the ticket, including the stuff I’m sure I’m not going to like."

April: Sisters’ Journey Survivor of the Month- Traci

I told myself a lot of things. I had known there was a lump in my right breast for a couple years, but I didn’t think much of it. I thought that before I get checked out, I must finish school to make enough money to send my son to college.

At the time I felt the lump, it was just me and my son living towns away from my family. So, I pushed to the side going to the doctors. It was not about me. I have always put the needs of my son before mine. I have also put the needs of my family before my own. But here I was in my gynecologist’s office, getting my annual physical. She of course discovered the lump in my right breast. I know now I was in denial or the fear of hearing the word “cancer.”

My doctor referred me to Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale for a mammogram around February 2020. I put it off twice and rescheduled the appointment because at the time, going to work was more important to me. At least that’s what I told myself. Then the Yale Breast Cancer Center called and convinced me to come in for the mammogram. I remember that day. I do not know if I was angry, in denial, or simply scared.

Once they completed the mammogram, they wanted to do an ultrasound so they could get a more in-depth image of the tumor in my breast. The doctor came in and said that they also wanted to do a biopsy. I refused it for that day and asked to come back another time. This was March 2020. They told me I must come back before the end of the week.

I went back on Friday so they could take a biopsy of the tumor. I remember being so scared. I began to cry because I already knew what the result would be. The nurse with me held my hand, and it was then that I felt like I would not be fighting this battle alone. I was still more than terrified of what wasto come. All I know is that I had to get through this no matter what and that I was not going to give up at all.

On April 3, 2020, I received the call confirming my worst fears. The biopsy was positive for breast cancer. I remember because I was talking with my sister, who had recently put her husband to rest. I was only 33 years old and would turn 34 on April 29. A lot was going on in my life.

When I met with my medical oncolo-

Frasier

gist, my only concern was what the plan was to get rid of this awful disease. All I knew was that I had to fight this. I was not going to allow this cancer to get the best of me in any way. I knew without a doubt that it was not going to stop me from accomplishing everything I wanted to do in life. My son needed me, my family needed me, and most of all I needed me. So, with all the strength I had, I made sure that I attended every appointment so that I could move on with my life.

After 16 chemo treatments, multiple hospital stays, 25 radiation treatments, and a mastectomy in November 2020, I am still here! I see this as taking time to realize what I want from life.

From this experience, I tell everyone, no matter what is happening in their lives, never give up! See yourself through it and know that everything will be okay.

Upcoming Events Save the Date!

The Great Give - May 1st -2nd You can also Support us by Shopping or Donating:

Tee Shirts are available in our Shop!

New Haven Virtual Support Group Meeting:Every 3rd Tuesday of the month 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Bridgeport Virtual Support Group Meeting: Every 3rd Thursday of the Month 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Contact Us: sistersjourney@sbcglobal. net Or Call: 203-288-3556

We’re on the web @ Sisters Journey Inc. or Dimitria Ford Sisters’ Journey Inc. Digital Media Coordinator

she

In 2022, she starred in her first film ‘The military unit.

er Women Summit, Thuso Mbedu tearfully

In 2017, Mbedu was nominated for the ‘DSTV Viewers Choice Awards’ and the ‘International Emmy Awards for the ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the 2016 -2017 television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’

In 2018, she won the ‘South African Film and Television Awards’ for ‘ Best Actress – TV Drama’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the 2016 -2017 television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’ She was also nominated for the ‘International Emmy Awards for ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’

In 2021, she was nominated for the ‘Television Critics Association Award’ (Individual Achievement in Drama), the

da Lane happened in 2016. The role that Amanda Lane gave me was the difference between life and death for me. Receiving that audition brief, I told myself that tion. I gave it the last of everything that I had, that at the time I got the callback, I had nothing left. I secretly made the decision ing left to give. But fortunately, I received the callback. So I didn’t do the callback because the role was mine. I had given up. I was in a very dark place at the time, and the character, the role, the opportunity, was a much needed light. And I told myself that I will act as if it was the last character that I will play. And through a great script and an amazing director, I earned two International Emmy Awards for that role…”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 15 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - March 15, 2023 - March 21, 2023 14
dramatic arts class in the 10th grade,
News TheInnerCitynews. CONNECTICUT’S FIRST CHOICE FOR URBAN NEWS e-Edition-online
Connecticut’s first choice for Urban

DNC Slams NBC for Hiring of ‘Proven Liar’ Ronna McDaniel

In a scathing rebuke, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has lambasted NBC News for its decision to bring on board former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, labeling her a “proven liar” and a lackey for the twice-impeached and four-times indicted former President Donald Trump. DNC Chair Jamie Harrison minced no words in his criticism of NBC, asserting that the news outlet’s employment of McDaniel, known for her staunch defense of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, undermines the integrity of journalism.

“The free and independent press is fundamental to our democracy and has and continues to face unprecedented attacks by Donald Trump and his lackeys—including Ronna McDaniel—to chip away at its credibility and allow space for MAGA lies and deceit,” Harrison declared in a statement.

capacity as a paid contributor.”

Harrison further emphasized the gravity of McDaniel’s role in perpetuating falsehoods about the 2020 election, which culminated in the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Lying about the 2020 election results culminated in Donald Trump encouraging his supporters to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Harrison asserted. “Allowing one of the key architects of that shameful period in our country the platform to whitewash her role in what happened, and then provide ongoing ‘commentary’ about American politics, does a disservice to the journalists who put themselves in harm’s way to cover the violence and brutality at the Capitol, so the American people knew the facts.”

DNC Chair Jamie Harrison minced no words in his criticism of NBC, asserting that the news outlet’s employment of McDaniel, known for her staunch defense of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, undermines the integrity of journalism. tion.

The controversy erupted following McDaniel’s appearance on Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press, where she faced intense questioning from host Kristen Welker regarding her defense of Trump’s “Big Lie” surrounding the 2020 presidential elec-

Following McDaniel’s segment, Chuck Todd, another program host, attacked NBC for hiring her, stoking the flames started by the DNC’s criticism.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” also ripped the network. “We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we

were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons, including, but not limited to, as lawyers might say, Miss McDaniel’s role in Donald Trump’s fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results while Donald Trump was on the phone,” Scarborough asserted.

Brzezinski added, “To be clear, we be-

lieve NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage. But it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier. We hope that NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on Morning Joe in her

He stressed that there should be no room for falsehoods in political discourse. He reiterated McDaniel’s lack of credibility, asserting she has no place in honest and objective discussions about the nation’s future.

“There should be no debate about the truth in our political discourse,” Harrison declared. “Ronna McDaniel is a proven liar and has no place in an honest and objective conversation about the future of this country.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 16 ARTIDEA.ORG DUEL REALITY JUNE 21–23 • NEW HAVEN, CT BUY TICKETS

Fire Department

regularly staffed by one paramedic and one EMT, Coughlin said. Those three units respond to medical calls all over the city for everything from chest pain to difficulty breathing to seizures to overdoses. He said that the city’s Emergency 3 unit out of Goffe Street does “630 runs per month.” “Nationally, that’s mind blowing,” he told this reporter.

Alston told the committee alders that the fire department “normally” has between 48 and 50 paramedics in its ranks. In this 2018 article, the Independent reported that the fire department had 38 paramedics on staff at that time.

As of now, Alston and Coughlin told the alders, the department only has 15 paramedics.

“Paramedics are being ordered in [for overtime] at an alarming rate,” Coughlin said. “This is a national problem.” He and Alston pointed to the fire department’s brand new designation of all fire fighter positions as “fire fighter / paramedic / lateral,” thanks to a Board of Alders position resdesignation approval granted late last year.

Just like with the police department, they said, that “lateral” designation allows the city’s fire department to recruit trained and certified paramedics from other cities and states to allow for a shorter on-boarding process with the New Haven Fire Department. Lateral paramedic recruits need to come to New Haven’s fire academy for only two months, Alston said. “We’re accelerating the process.”

He and Coughlin said that the city currently has five paramedic laterals in the academy, one of whom from is from Massachusetts, one from New York. Alston also said that Yale New Haven Hospital Center for EMS now has an accelerated paramedic program that takes only one year and comes at a significant discounted price for those training to work for the New Haven Fire Department. Training to become a paramedic in Connecticut costs between $10,000 and $23,000. This Yale course costs $11,000.

These recruitment efforts are designed to beef up the city’s number of paramedics at a time of surging medical calls, and more and more burnout and PTSD among emergency medical providers who find themselves responding to such traumatic incidents as, for example, “fetal infant mortality.”

“When you have to order them in or hold them over for a shift,” Alston said about the city’s few remaining paramedics, “and they’re going out on medical calls over and over and over again, we worry about their mental health.” So, he continued, “lateral paramedics” — the ability to recruit certified paramedics from outside New Haven — “was a good move for us.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 S a t u r d a y A p r i l 1 3 , 2 0 2 4 S o u t h e r n C o n n e c t i c u t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y - E n g e l m a n 1 1 2 5 0 1 C r e s c e n t S t . N e w H a v e n , C T 0 6 5 1 5 9 A M - 4 P M L h i l l b i d d T H E B L A C K M A T E R N A L H E A L T H P R O J E C T S U M M I T A T R A I N I N G T O L E A R N F R O M T H E E X P E R T S S c a n o r c l i c k h e r e
Continue from page 09

First HBCU team to

Over 60 years later, former Tennessee A&I Tiger basketball players finally got the chance to shine during a joyous visit to the White House.

George Finley, one of the players, said to CBS that meeting Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House was “the greatest day of my life.”

Finley was joined in the Roosevelt Room of the White House by his colleagues, the majority of whom were in their eighties: Henry Carlton, Robert Clark, Ron Hamilton, Ernie Jones, and Dick Barnett. The vice president had invited them all, along with their close friends and family.

Harris remarked, “I look at each of you and the path and the journey that you’ve been on and your willingness to tell the story in such an active way is so important. There are forces right now that would try to overlook or deny our history. But I think the only way that we will continue to strengthen ourselves and see progress as a country is when we remember where

win

national championship finally gets White House visit after six decades of victor y

Commentary: Dr. King’s last campaign was an AFSCME campaign

Fifty-six years ago this evening, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., when he was fatally struck by an assassin’s bullet.

Dr. King was in Memphis to lend his voice and moral authority to a group of extraordinary people taking a courageous stand, the city’s sanitation workers (represented by AFSCME Local 1733) who had gone on strike.

These 1,300 Black men had endured years of dangerous and degrading working conditions, earning poverty wages for backbreaking work, somehow turning the other cheek as they were called “boy.” They were essentially working in a modern-day plantation.

Finally, in February of 1968, they

walked off the job — following a horrific accident in which two sanitation workers were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck.

The strike was not just about better pay, retirement benefits and safety standards; the workers were seeking recognition of their basic humanity. That was the root of their bold, defiant slogan: I AM A MAN. Dr. King believed to his core that civil rights and labor rights went hand in hand, part of the same struggle. He was in Memphis to join the sanitation workers’ fight because he knew that racial justice and economic justice are fundamentally linked.

The night before his death, in a speech to sanitation workers and members of the community at Mason Temple in Memphis, Dr. King seemed to foreshadow his own fate.

“Like anybody, I would like to live a

we’ve been to help us guide where we want to be.”

“I thought this would never take place,”

Finley said, reflecting on the decades it took to experience the moment. “[Winning] the championship was big, but it wasn’t as big as being here with [Vice President] Harris today.”

Despite being picked by the NBA’s Detroit Pistons after playing for the 1959 championship team, Finley opted to play for the American Basketball League. The men’s basketball team of Tennessee A&I Tigers made history by being the first HBCU team to win a national championship in 1957. They also became the first college team to win three consecutive national titles from 1957 to 1959. However, Black collegiate athletes were frequently denied recognition and opportunity to compete at the highest levels during segregation and the Civil Rights Movement. Tennessee A&I, now Tennessee State University, is a public HBCU.

As per CBS, the team faced numerous ob-

stacles on and off the court on the route to the White House visit. On their flight home from Kansas City after winning the 1957 NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) championship, the team received a bomb threat. Later, team members took part in a sit-in to protest segregation policies at a lunch counter in Nashville.

The Tigers were finally honored for their historic victories and admitted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 after decades of waiting. But they were still yet to have a celebration at the White House for their championship victory, a celebration that has been an American tradition over the years. In January, more than 50 members of Congress signed a letter on behalf of the team asking for a White House invitation for a “proper celebration.”

On Friday, before they left the White House, the players gave Harris—an HBCU alumna herself—a customized jersey.

Remembering Dr. King, And Adam C. Powell

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

long life. Longevity has its place,” he said. “But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

More than half a century later, even with progress made on racial equity and workers’ rights, we still haven’t reached the promised land. So, on the anniversary of his death, we resolve to carry on his urgent work and answer his powerful call to action.

To learn more about the Memphis Sanitation Strike, check out AFSCME’s fivepart podcast: The I AM Story.

This commentary was originally published by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, a day those of us who are old enough will never forget. But April 4th is significant for another reason, because on April 4, 1972, the Rev. Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Congressman from New York, died in a Florida hospital. His death, although not related to Dr. King’s, occurred exactly four years, four months, and four days after the death of Dr. King. Both men represent great losses to humanity and to African Americans in particular.

We know of Dr. King’s achievements and sacrifices but so much of Adam Clayton Powell's record, which has gone unnoticed. Powell is the member of Congress that President Lyndon Baines Johnson went to in order to pass the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act and the War on Poverty under the Economic Opportunity

Act. He is responsible for the Arts and Humanities Endowment Act, Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education Act, the Title VI Public Accommodatons provision of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.

In all he authored more than 60 major pieces of legislation in his six years as Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee on which the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm also served. He authored the Older Americans Act and the Black Lung Legislation for those suffering from years of working in the nation’s coal mines and he was a voice for all Black Americans in particular, whether or not they lived in New York’s Harlem as his Congressional District. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. died of cancer. Martin Luther King, Jr. died of an assassin's bullet. We must never forget either even as we honor others who came before and after them.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 18
Before they left the White House, the players gave Harris—an HBCU alumni herself—a customized jersey. Photo credit: CBS/Willie James Inman Special to The Inner-City News, courtesy of The Afro.com By Lee Saunders Protestors march in the last campaign of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was fighting on behalf of sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tenn. Credit: Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Labor

2024 Festival

ater. An ensemble of ten actors “of all races, of all genders, of all identities,” will play Lear.

The Ideas summits — “daylong explorations of content” — also start that weekend, and are all free this year. Saturday, June 15 will focus on environmental voices. The week after, on June 22, the events will focus on how we live and the basics of everyday life: loneliness, aging, and happiness. Summit Day Three, on June 29, explores intersections in the arts.

Perry So’s conductorial debut on the Green on June 15 will be a show called Celebrate New Haven, featuring New Haven artists. Earlier that evening, Yale Choral Artists will perform Malhaar: A Requiem for Water at Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall.

Another New Haven-based group of artists, the Regicides, will have a show on Sunday, June 16 that will be framed around “funny and not so funny” dad jokes, since that day also happens to be Father’s Day. That night, a Celtic band — Cecelia, from Montreal — will be performing, as well as The Ebony Hillbillies, an African American string band that has performed at the festival previously.

Quiala walked through the rest of the programming, including films, photography exhibits, food tours, cooking demonstrations (including the ever-popular Grand Avenue Gastronomy Tour that this reporter still remembers fondly from a couple of years ago), concerts on the Green — including an “R&B blowout” with Stoli Williams on June 21 — and the return of circus to the festival.

She said people wanted circus back, and this year they will get exactly that from Montreal’s 7 Fingers arts collective, who will perform their take on Romeo and Juliet, called “Duel Reality.”

Speaking of comebacks, the recently reopened Peabody Museum will be the setting for renowned author Amy Tan’s talk with WTNH’s Ann Nyberg about her new book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, on June 18.

Other special events that will be celebrated during the festival are World Refugee Day on June 23 — that will include a World Food Bazaar on the Green — and Caribbean Heritage the last weekend of the festival, as June is Caribbean Heritage Month.

Add to the mix Italian folk music, Brazilian samba, Inuit soul, bomba, and that College Street show with Samara Joy — the announcement of which garnered shouts of joy from the crowd — and so much more. Quiala said she did not mention every single event, but she did say that the website will continue to be updated. As her presentation ended, she encouraged everyone to keep checking it as more information is added and to join in where and when they could.

“We can’t wait to start this journey with you all,” she said. “It doesn’t mean anything unless there are people to experience it. It is your co-creation, it is your

Yale Institute of Sacred Music Presents

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 19
Cantorum
Juilliard415
Hill,
April 27 7:30 pm
Hall 500 College St. New Haven
and open to the public. Livestream.
J.S. BACH MASS IN B MINOR Schola
with
David
conductor Saturday,
Woolsey
Free
Photo of Bach statue and St. Thomas Church, Leipzig courtesy of Jeff Hazewinkel. Photo of David Hill courtesy of Harold Shapiro.
Continue from page 10

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR

THE ELM CITYCOMMUNITIES, AUTORIDAD DE VIVIENDA DE NEW HAVEN

(ECC/HANH) MOVERSE AL TRABAJO (MTW) PLAN ANUAL PARA EL AF2025

THE ELM CITYCOMMUNITIES, HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW HAVEN

NOTICE

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Section II and Section VII of the Authority's Moving to Work Agreement {the "Agreement") requires that before the Agency can file its Approved Annual Moving to Work Plan (“Plan”) and Report (“Report”)to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the "HUD") that it must conduct a public hearing, consider comments from the public on the proposed Plan, obtain approval from the Board of Commissioners, and submit the Plan to HUD.

The thirty (30) days comment period begins on Monday, April 15, 2024 and copies of the Moving to Work (MTW) FY2025 Plan, will be made available on the agency website www.elmcitycommunities.org or via Twitter, www.twitter.com/ECCommunities or via Facebook www.facebook.com/ElmCityCommunities.

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

You are invited to provide written comments addressed to: ECC/HANH, Moving To Work FY2025 Annual Plan Attn: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 or via email to: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org.

NOTICIA

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Pursuant to said Sections II and VII), a public hearing where public comments will be accepted and recorded is scheduled for Monday, May 13, 2024 at 4:00pm via https://v.ringcentral.com/join/664815939?pw=991f363d509d063fafd3d433d79287e0

Meeting ID: 664815939

Password: s8Zt3qzZYg

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510

Or dial:

+12679304000 United States (Philadelphia, PA)

Access Code / Meeting ID: 664815939

Dial-in password: 7898379994

International numbers available: https://v.ringcentral.com/teleconference

Any individual requiring a Reasonable Accommodation to participate in the hearing may call the Reasonable Accommodation Manager (203) 498-8800, ext. 1507 or at the TDD Number (203) 497-8434.

La Sección II y la Sección VII del Acuerdo de Mudarse al Trabajo de la Autoridad {el "Acuerdo") requieren que antes de que la Agencia pueda presentar su Plan Anual Aprobado de Mudarse al Trabajo ("Plan") y su Informe ("Informe") al Departamento de Vivienda de EE. UU. y Desarrollo Urbano (el "HUD") que debe llevar a cabo una audiencia pública, considerar los comentarios del público sobre el Plan propuesto, obtener la aprobación de la Junta de Comisionados y presentar el Plan al HUD.

El período de comentarios de treinta (30) días comienza el lunes 15 de abril de 2024 y las copias del Plan Moving to Work (MTW) para el año fiscal 2025 estarán disponibles en el sitio web de la agencia www.elmcitycommunities.org o a través de Twitter, www. twitter. com/ECCommunities o a través de Facebook www.facebook.com/ElmCityCommunities.

Le invitamos a enviar comentarios por escrito dirigidos a: ECC/HANH, Moving To Work FY2025 Annual Plan Attn: Evelise Ribeiro, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 o por correo electrónico a: eribeiro@elmcitycommunities.org.

De conformidad con dichas Secciones II y VII), se programa una audiencia pública donde se aceptarán y registrarán comentarios públicos para el lunes 13 de mayo de 2024 a las 4:00 p.m. vía

https://v.ringcentral.com/join/664815939?pw=991f363d509d063fafd3d433d79287e0

ID reunión: 664815939

Contraseña: s8Zt3qzZYg

O marcar:

+12679304000 Estados Unidos (Filadelfia, PA)

Clave de Acceso / ID de Reunión: 664815939

Contraseña de acceso telefónico: 7898379994

Números internacionales disponibles: https://v.ringcentral.com/teleconference

Cualquier persona que requiera una Adaptación Razonable para participar en la audiencia puede llamar al Gerente de Adaptación Razonable (203) 498-8800, ext. 1507 o al Número TDD (203) 497-8434

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

New Construction,

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour

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

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the

Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 3:00PM.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 20 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016
Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER QSR STEEL CORPORATION APPLY NOW! Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT WANTED TRUCK DRIVER Truck Driver with clean CDL license Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE POLICE OFFICER City of Bristol $73,220 - $89,002/yr. Required testing, general info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov DEADLINE: 12-04-23 THE HOUSING AUTHORITY of the CITY OF NEW BRITAIN (Authority) Is soliciting proposals from licensed asphalt paving contractors under the laws of the State of Connecticut, to furnish all labor, materials, equipment, and supervision necessary to complete all work as specified or
implied in the RFP. Proposals must be received at the NBHA Office
p.m. To obtain a
of the RFP visit www.nbhact.org ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Request for Proposals IQC Environmental Services The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking proposals from qualified firms for Environmental Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s
reasonably
no later than Monday, March 04, 2024, at 3:00
copy
(ECC/HANH) MOVING TO WORK (MTW) FY2025 ANNUAL PLAN

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

NOTICE

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

Construction

REQUEST FOR BIDS

Sale of Surplus Rolling Stock

New Haven, Connecticut

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Contact: Tom Dunay

Phone: 860- 243-2300

Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks: Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

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

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

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300

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

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

New Haven Parking Authority Project #24-024

Bids due April 15, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

Bid Documents will be available beginning April 1, 2024 at no cost by downloading from the New Haven Parking Authority/Park New Haven website at https://parknewhaven.com/request-for-bids/ or visit the Temple Street Garage Office at One Temple Street, New Haven, CT to obtain a copy.

New Haven Parking Authority is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

NOTICIA

Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

Union Company seeks:

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

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

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

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510

Full Time Administrative assistant position

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

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

TOWN OF EAST HAVEN PURCHASING AGENT

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

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

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

The Town of East Haven seeks a qualified candidate to serve in the position of Purchasing Agent. This is a highly responsible position involving purchasing and directing the purchasing functions of the municipality. Qualified candidates should possess a bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field preferably including or supplemented with special course work in purchasing/municipal bid processes and materials management plus five (5) years’ of progressively responsible purchasing work or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience. Must have valid class 3 Connecticut Driver’s License. The salary for this position is $62,841/year, 35 hours per week and the Town offers an excellent benefit package. Please send cover letter and resume with references to: Town of East Haven, Ed Sabatino, Assistant Director of Administration and Management, 250 Main Street, East Haven, CT 06512 or jobs@easthaven-ct.gov. Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a work force of diverse individuals. Minorities, females, handicapped and veterans are encouraged to apply. The Town of East Haven is an equal opportunity employer.

Andrea M. Liquori / Chief Examiner Civil Service Commission 250 Main Street East Haven  CT 06512 (203)468-3375

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids from qualified firms for On-Call Electrical services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, April 8, 2024, at 3:00 PM.

Water quality inspector

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

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

Senior Sales Representative

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Performs responsible specialized work in protecting the quality of the water supply and distribution system for the Town of Wallingford, CT. Applicants should possess an Associate's degree in an environmental science or sanitary engineering plus 3 years of progressively responsible experience in a water utility, or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience. Must possess a valid Connecticut Driver's License. Must have, or be able to obtain within the probationary period a State of Connecticut Department of Public Health Class I Water Treatment Plant or Distribution System Operator Certification, including Certification as a General Backflow Preventer Tester and Cross-Connection Survey Inspector. Hourly rate: $28.33 to $34.42. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. Applications may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page and can be faxed or mailed to the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, or emailed to: wlfdhr@wallingfordct.gov by the date the 50th application or resume is received or the closing date of April 30, 2024, whichever occurs first. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

Penfield Communications, Inc. Publishers of The Inner-City News Weekly Print Publication is seeking a Senior Sales Representative

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

Haven,

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

New Haven,

Milford, Bridgeport. This free weekly print publication is committed to sharing news and information important to the Black community.

Advertising and the cultivation of existing and new advertising clients is key to the growth and continued success of The Inner-City News. The paper is delivered weekly to businesses, schools, shopping

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

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

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 21 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016
Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20,
Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis,
(203)
Host,General Bishop Elijah Davis,
ofPitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64
St. New Haven, CT
CT.
2016 1:303:30 Contact:
M.S., B.S.
996-4517
D.D. Pastor
Brewster
SMALL MINORITY SUBCONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY – New Building – St. Vincent Commons, Middletown, CT SOLICITATION OF SBE/MBE CONTRACTORS: Enterprise Builders, Inc. seeks State of CT DAS-Certified SBE and MBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers to bid applicable sections of work/equipment/supplies for the following new construction project: St. Vincent Commons, Middletown, CT. Bid Due Date and Time: 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Electronic Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting the Estimating Department at Enterprise Builders at (860)466-5188 or by email to bids@enterbuilders. com. Project is Tax Exempt and Prevailing Wage Rates apply. EBI encourages the participation of certified SBE and MBE subcontractors. This project is subject to State set-aside and contract compliance requirements. EBI is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
The Inner-City News is a legacy, Black owned print publication, celebrating 30+ years as Greater New Haven’s urban news and information outlet. The Inner-City News is a weekly print publication with a readership
across
From
spanning
Greater New Haven.
Hamden,
West
Stratford,
outlets and wherever newspapers can be found. This is a remote sales position. Call John 203 435-1387
Invitation for Bids On-Call Electrical Services
ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

NOTICE

DRAFT 2025 STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

In accordance with the provisions of Title 23, Section 135 of the United States Code; as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA); the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has prepared a draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

The draft STIP compiles all highway and public transit projects that CTDOT intends to pursue over the next four years, utilizing Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding. STIP documents can be found on the CTDOT website, at CTDOT Headquarters, and at all Councils of Government offices. It is suggested to schedule an appointment at these locations. To make an appointment at CTDOT, please call (860) 594-2040.

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

CTDOT is conducting two hybrid public informational meetings regarding the draft STIP on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at CTDOT Headquarters, 2800 Berlin Turnpike in Newington. Both meetings will also be held on Zoom; registration is required. To register, please visit https://portal.ct.gov/DOT/ PP_Bureau/ConnDOT-Plans/State-Transportation-Improvement-Program

NOTICIA

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

CTDOT staff will be available 30 minutes prior to each meeting to informally discuss the draft STIP with members of the public.

Language assistance and/or ADA accommodations are provided at no cost to the public, and efforts will be made to respond to timely requests for assistance. Persons needing language assistance or ADA accommodations may request assistance by contacting CTDOT’s Language Assistance Line at (860) 594-2109, at least five (5) business days prior to the meeting. Persons with a hearing and/or speech disability may dial 711 for Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) and instruct the operator to contact (860) 594-2243.

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510

Parking is available in the rear of the building. The meeting facility is ADA accessible, and persons with disabilities can access the building from the main entrance of the building.

The draft STIP will be available for review for a 30-day public comment period from May 1-31, 2024. Comments from the public must be received on or before May 31, 2024. Comments should be emailed to DOT.STIPComments@ct.gov, or mailed to Maribeth Wojenski, Bureau of Policy and Planning, Connecticut Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 317546, Newington, Connecticut 06131-7546.

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

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

Town of Bloomfield

Salary Range:

$87,727 to $136,071

Deputy Finance Director/Controller

Pre-employment drug testing. AA/EOE.

For Details go to  www.bloomfieldct.org

Town of Bloomfield

Finance Director

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

Fully Benefited – 35 hours weekly

Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org

Go to www.portlandct.org for details Portland

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

The Housing Authority of the City of Bristol Request for Proposal (RFP)

Interior Renovations at Union Street

The Housing Authority of the City of Bristol (BHA) is seeking sealed bids from qualified contractors for the following: Interior Renovations at Union Street located in Bristol, CT. Bid opening date is Tues., May 2, 2024, at 2:00 PM (EDT) at BHA’s Central Office, 164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT 06010. All bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No electronic bids will be accepted.

A pre-bid walk through will be held on Apr. 18, 2024, at 2:00 PM at 75 Union St., Bristol, CT. Attendance is strongly recommended for all interested parties. Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed online and purchased from Advanced Reprographics website www.advancedplanroom.com or by calling 860-410-1020.

A 5% Bid Security and 100% Performance/Payment Bonds are required. Bidders will note requirements of minimum wage rates, nondiscrimination/equal opportunity rules (Executive Order 11246) and related provisions in the General Conditions. No bid shall be withdrawn for sixty (60) days. Complete bidding requirements are noted in the Contract Documents. This project is federally assisted. Therefore, bidders must comply with the following requirements: Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968; Equal Opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246; Non-Discrimination provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Labor Standards provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts and Contract Work Hours Standards Act; prevailing wage determinations as issued by the United States Department of Labor; and all applicable provisions under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bristol is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. SBE, MBE, W/DBE, and Section 3 businesses are encouraged to respond.

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

APPLY NOW!

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

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

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Request for Proposals Independent Audit and Tax Services

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking proposals from qualified firms for Audit and Tax Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Monday, April 1, 2024, at 3:00PM.

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

Listing: Mechanic

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

Immediate opening for a part time mechanic; maintenance to be done on commercial diesel trucks and trailers. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or emailhrdept@eastriverenergy.com

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

***An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disabled and Veterans***

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay.

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE

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

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 230927&R2=7602FR&R3=001

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

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 22 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016
CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host,General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor ofPitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. New Haven, CT
informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the
ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
of
of Policy and
State
Connecticut Office
Management
The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for an Information Technology Technician (40 hour).
Police Officer full-time
STATE OF CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY
NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR BID HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY Tree Services IFB No. B24003 Please register here to obtain Bid Package: https:// ha.internationaleprocurement.com/requests.html?company_id=49968 PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL RETURN: Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 Envelope Must be Marked: IFB No. B24003, Tree Services Attn: Lisa Gilchrist, Purchasing Agent SUBMITTAL DEADLINE April 30th, 2024 at 10:30am (EST) CONTACT PERSON FOR IFB DOCUMENT: Lisa Gilchrist – Purchasing Agent Telephone: 203-744-2500 x1421 E-Mail: lgilchrist@hacdct.org [Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond]

College Bound

ration, and utilized Schoolhouse and Yale Education Tutoring Initiative (YETI) for SAT prep and tutoring resources.

The Leaders-in-training of the first CBBSA cohort all agreed that the program has profoundly affected their trajectory with respect to higher education. “Not only did CBBSA further my desire to attend college, but they eased all of the growing doubts and struggles I was facing with the search for financial aid, scholarships, and grants.” said Aleisha. The students not only saw a shift in their horizons for college, but also said they each saw areas of personal growth and learning within themselves and as a team. Jameelah Irshad, a gap year student who relocated to New Haven after graduating from high school in Florida, discussed how she has changed over these past eight months: “I have always been a shy person, but with CBBSA, I have learned to get out of my shell and work with others towards a common goal. I am also learning that my voice should always be heard and that I need to be seen, valued and respected wherever I go.”

Azaad, a senior at New Haven Academy followed up on the importance of sharing a common goal with his team members saying “it is gratifying to see the others around me develop just as much… When we aid other team members in their victories, the feeling is shared between all of us.”

Angelo mentioned how his own growth led to some reflection on student support in New Haven. “Being part of CBBSA, I learned that there is a vast network of opportunities available for all students, but that a lack of knowledge remains a barrier to many students from less privileged backgrounds. I believe that public schools can do more to break these barriers in the way that CBBSA helps its members to expand their options.”

Yael agreed with Angelo, and stressed how it important it was to give all students access to important information about the college application process: “Every day, I learn more and take advantage of free opportunities to apply for scholarships, and I would like to share with students like me what I have learned within CBBSA so that all students can reach university successfully and hopefully avoid taking on student loan debt as well.”

Although most of the leaders-in-training have already submitted their college applications for this year, they are not losing any steam. According to Jonas, CBBSA plans to deliver college preparation information sessions this upcoming spring, and they “will be a community collaboration with some of the organizations that supported us in the past.” He encouraged all college bound students in grades 6 through 12 (and their parents/guardians) and all gap year students to email cbbsainfo@gmail.com so they can be notified as soon as the dates, times and locations of sessions or other events are released.

A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music

“All Creation Sings” Hymn Festival

Sunday, May 5 • 4 pm

Woolsey Hall, 500 College Street, New Haven

Free and open to the public. Livestream.

Yale Camerata and community choir

Dr. Felicia Barber, conductor

The Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor and the Rev. Dr. James Forbes, special guest preachers

Dr. Nathaniel Gumbs and Dr. Bruce Neswick, Newberry Organ

Dr. John Paul McGee, keyboards

Additional accompaniment with brass, percussion, guitars, and a gospel ensemble

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 23
Barbara Brown Taylor Felicia Barber Nathaniel Gumbs John Paul McGee Bruce Neswick James Forbes Photo on left courtesy of Michael Held
Continue from page 08

Black-Owned Media: Key to a 2024 Biden-Harris Campaign Victory

OP-ED: Why the Biden campaign should invest in the Black Press

President Joe Biden wouldn’t have won the 2020 presidential election without the Black vote. In this Groundhog Day redo four years later, if President Biden wants to defeat Donald Trump again, he needs the Black vote more than ever. The GOP knows this and has been courting Black men in particular, with Trump suggesting in a bizarre and racist remark that Black men will root for him because they identify with his legal troubles.

The 2024 national elections will be the most consequential elections in American history. The Black Press and the Black Vote will be determinative factors in the outcome of the elections this year. Insider Intelligence predicts that campaigns will spend more than $12 billion on advertising during this election cycle, a new record. Dollar for dollar, the biggest ROI the Biden campaign can get is by advertising in Blackowned and -operated newspapers and media. Specifically, this means the Black Press—the more than 200 Blackowned newspapers and their respective websites. There are also more than 1000 other kinds of Black-owned media that include websites, podcasts, CTV channels, and radio stations.

It’s not just the Biden-Harris campaign. Democrats down the ticket and around the country will see immense advertising amplification by advertising in Black-owned media. In other words, advertising in Black-owned media isn’t just another insertion order because the Black Press is a different kind of media. Over decades—in some cases since the 1800s—Black-owned newspapers have

built deep trust with their readers. Their coverage or endorsement can positively influence voter opinions, building credibility for Democratic candidates and the issues they champion. By advertising in the Black Press, Democrats can directly impact how Black voters perceive their policies and candidates. Here are a few of the unique qualities and advantages of advertising in Blackowned media.

Targeted Reach: Black-owned newspapers and websites have a dedicated readership within the African American community. By advertising there, Democrats will directly engage with a crucial voting bloc.

Increased Visibility Beyond Urban Centers: Advertising in the Black Press provides deeper visibility beyond the mainstream media. It allows the Democrats to reach Black voters who might not otherwise encounter their campaign

messages. Moreover, national polls may not capture the diversity of Black communities among urban, suburban, and rural areas. Black-owned newspapers reach readers in small towns, big cities, and beyond. Advertising in these platforms is part of a comprehensive outreach strategy for reaching Black Americans.

Community Connections: These publications serve as vital sources of information for Black communities. Advertising in the Black Press demonstrates a commitment to understanding and addressing the unique concerns of Black communities. The ad buy itself demonstrates that the candidate is doing more than paying lip service to Black issues.

From Polling to Policy: The Black Press plays a critical role in shaping public opinion within diverse Black communities. Advertising in Blackowned media will allow Democratic

candidates to highlight specific policies that affect Black Americans, such as criminal justice reform, economic empowerment and debt reform, overseas wars, and access to affordable, quality healthcare.

Historical Context: Black-owned newspapers have a rich history of advocating for civil rights and social justice. Advertising within these platforms reinforces Democratic commitment to equality and progress for all Americans.

Solidarity: Advertising in the Black Press sends a powerful message of unity. It shows that Democrats value Black voices and are committed to uplifting marginalized communities. Local leading to National Impact: The cliché that all politics is local happens to be true. Many Black-owned newspapers focus on local news and issues that then gain national attention. By advertising with the Black Press, Democrats

will connect with voters at a grassroots level, emphasizing their commitment to community development.

Fighting Misinformation and Disinformation: Russia has already started intense election interference in the U.S. and other democracies facing 2024 elections, including websites masquerading as local news outlets. Blackowned newspapers are established and reputable within their communities. By advertising in the Black Press, Democrats can support high-quality journalism that counters conspiracy theories that circulate elsewhere.

Getting out the Black Vote: Recently, the DNC announced a historic Get-Outthe-Vote (GOTV) campaign in Nevada and South Carolina. These are paid ad campaigns. Directing media investment for such campaigns in the Black Press can increase turnout for this key voting bloc.

Battleground States: Black voters are influential in key battleground states. Advertising in the Black Press can help sway opinion and mobilize voters in critical regions.

In the most recent Census, Black Americans represented 12.4% of the U.S. population. The amount of money that advertisers of all sorts spend on Black-owned media comes nowhere close that percentage.

However, Democratic candidates shouldn’t advertise in the Black Press just because it’s the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing to do.

Charles Cantu is the founder and CEO of RESET Digital, the first Blackowned DSP.

Dr. Benjamin Chavis is the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

For the first time, DR Congo has a woman prime minister

President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed Judith Suminwa Tuluka as the first female prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to Africa News, the historic decision satisfies a pledge made by President Tshisekedi during his campaign and is a major step in the direction of gender equality in Congolese politics.

The just-appointed minister, a former planning minister and an economist, takes up her position at a pivotal moment for the country, especially in the war-torn East where violence has been unrelenting for years, forcing millions of civilians to

flee their homes amid one of the worst humanitarian crises in history.

During her inaugural speech, Prime Minister Tuluka committed to emphasizing peace and development efforts, particularly in the conflict-affected eastern provinces.

She also voiced deep concern for people affected by the ongoing violence, reaffirming her commitment to finding longterm solutions to the problem.

According to the publication, her election coincides with the difficult process of building a new government, which is anticipated to result in lengthy negotiations with different political divisions.

Notwithstanding the difficulties that lie ahead, her appointment represents a ma-

The

Credit: LinkedIn

jor turning point in Congolese politics and gives hope for increased inclusivity and representation in the political process.

The situation in eastern Congo remains terrible, with multiple armed factions competing for power, sustaining a cycle of violence and instability. The violence has been difficult to contain for both domestic and international peacekeeping forces, which has made the suffering of the civilian populace even worse.

As Prime Minister Tuluka takes on her new post, she has the arduous task of directing the country toward peace and prosperity amidst daunting circumstances. Her selection marks a watershed moment in Congolese politics, emphasizing the significance of gender equality and

women’s empowerment in national leadership.

Before being appointed as minister of planning, economist Tuluka was working for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a coordinator. An expert in strategy management, budget monitoring and program monitoring and evaluation, Tuluka has a master’s degree in Labour Sciences – Administration and personnel management. She also earned a degree in applied economics and is a graduate of accounting from the School of Promotion and Continuing Education (EPFC) for Brussels.

Tuluka takes over takes over as prime minister from Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 24
Charles Cantu is the founder and CEO of RESET Digital, the first Black-owned DSP. Dr. Benjamin Chavis is the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
just-appointed minister, a former planning minister, takes up her position at a pivotal moment for the country. Photo
THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 25 OUR WOMEN’S HEALTH TEAM CARES FOR YOU 203-503-3000 This [project/publication/program/website, etc.] is supported by the Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $4 million funded by OMH/OASH/HHS. The contents are solely the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by the Office of Minority Health/OASH/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov. Know your risk and stay protected cornellscott.org/ title-x-family-planning Educational Videos Watch Now! ARTIDEA.ORG SAMARA JOY JUNE 26, 2024 • NEW HAVEN, CT 20%OFF USE COUPON: INNERCITY20

Black Families Beg Cops to Take Action When Loved Ones Go Missing

This story is part three of Chicago Missing Persons, a two-year investigation by City Bureau and Invisible Institute, two Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organizations, into how Chicago police handle missing person cases reveals the disproportionate impact on Black women and girls, how police have mistreated family members or delayed cases, and how poor police data is making the problem harder to solve. (WIB) – Some say it’s simply a mother’s intuition: a lump in the throat or a throb to the heart that warns their child is in danger, even when police suggest otherwise.

It guided Latonya Moore when her 26-year-old daughter Shantieya Smith still wasn’t home as night fell on May 28, 2018. It was out of character for her to not reach out, especially on a school night. Moore worried officers would be dismissive if she called in, so her cousin suggested they head to a nearby 10th District police station. “I wanted them to see my face so that they could understand my concern was real,” remembers Moore.

It guided her even as the officer at the front desk told her not to worry, she remembers. Maybe she is with a boyfriend, the officer suggested. It wasn’t uncommon for young women like Smith to run off with a man. “Give it 48 hours” before filing the report, Moore remembers the officer saying.

But Moore didn’t want to give it 48 hours. She thought about 15-yearold Sadaria Davis, another girl who had gone missing in the neighborhood that spring, who later was found decomposed in a trash-strewn abandoned building. It was the latest in a spate of missing women and girls; in fact, the whole neighborhood was on edge.

Moore’s cousin, part of their tight-knit family group, was adamant the officer accept the report and said they would not leave the station without one. They mentioned Smith’s bipolar disorder, which — unknown to the family at the time — meant police could have immediately characterized her case as “atrisk” and started an investigation.

Finally, officers told Moore her request was accepted.

“If she shows up, give us a call,” officers told Moore. She wouldn’t hear from them for the next four days.

RELATED: Black Children Deserve to Be Children

In Illinois, it’s against state law for

any law enforcement official to refuse an in-person missing person report on any grounds, regardless of the missing person’s age, affiliation, lifestyle, or amount of time missing. Nowadays, the first 24 to 48 hours after someone goes missing are widely understood as the most vital part of a police investigation — critical to finding leads, collecting evidence and, in some cases, saving lives. The Chicago Police Department even collaborated with the network A&E on a show called “The First 48: Missing Persons,” showing (as research confirms) those crucial early hours can make or break a missing person case. And yet, Moore clearly remembers an officer telling her to wait before filing a missing person report. City Bureau and the Invisible Institute spoke with multiple people who had similar experiences. In an analysis of police complaint records from 2011 to 2015, City Bureau and Invisible Institute found 17 complaints against officers for allegedly refusing to file missing person reports. None of the officers named in these complaints were disciplined. Black women made a majority of the complaints against officers, often when attempting to report their children missing.

Additionally, at least three complaints alleged that officers at stations where they tried to file a report in-person told them to instead call 911, even though Illinois law clearly states police can-

not refuse in-person reports. One father, who asked to remain anonymous, told City Bureau and the Invisible Institute that police would not allow him to report his 17-year-old daughter missing in 2020 because police told him she was an adult and could move freely in the world.

“They were saying you have to wait 48 hours before you can actually report the person missing,” says the Rev. Robin Hood, who remembers hearing this from police officers starting in the 1990s. The West Side activist preacher has raised awareness and led communi-

possible to prove a hypothetical, these heartbreaking stories demonstrate how important urgent police response can be.

On July 24, 2016, Shante Bohanan called her sister and said she was being held against her will. Bohanan’s boyfriend had recently died in a shooting, and the 20-year-old had gone to her boyfriend’s family’s house in order to grieve, family members told City Bureau and the Invisible Institute. A police document stated that during the phone call, Bohanan told her sister that she had a “gun held to her head.”

Bohanan’s mother, Tammy Pittman, says she went to the boyfriend’s house herself the same evening, but residents of the home said Bohanan had already left. Worried for her daughter’s safety, she attempted to report her missing. Instead, officers suggested Bohanan had run away, and urged Pittman to wait another 24 hours before reporting her daughter missing, against state law and their own policy. Police did not search the boyfriend’s home until the next evening, and they found nothing.

Three days after her mother first tried to file a missing person report, Bohanan’s naked body was found inside a black plastic garbage bag on 92nd Street in Burnside. As of 2023, Pittman says she hasn’t heard from detectives in five years.

Ultimately, whether it’s a refused report, confusion about whether or not they can file a report, or a delay in investigation, the process leaves families in limbo as leads are lost and cases go cold.

Tammy Pittman talks about her experience with police after filing a missing person report for her daughter Shante Bohanan.

“The police failed me,” Pittman says. “Even though she’s dead, she’s gone, I don’t have no answers and that’s what hurts most of all. It hurts more than anything.”

CPD media affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

ty searches for missing Black girls and women on the West Side for decades.

In response to this accusation, police spokesperson Thomas Ahern wrote in an email statement: “The Chicago Police Department takes each missing person report seriously and investigates every one consistently. Under state law, CPD is required to take every missing person report regardless of how long the person has been absent or who is submitting the report.”

In some cases, families believe if police had acted more urgently, their loved ones might still be alive. While it’s im-

Editor’s Note: In this article, anonymous sources have their names and credentials checked and double-checked by reporters and editors, though their identities are not revealed to the public. Sources may be granted anonymity if they provide unique and critical perspective or information and are at risk for personal or professional harm if their identities are revealed.

This story is part of the Chicago Missing Persons project by City Bureau and Invisible Institute, two Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organizations. Read the full investigation and see resources for families at chicagomissingpersons.com

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 26
At least three complaints alleged that officers at stations where they tried to file a report in-person told them to instead call 911, even though Illinois law clearly states police cannot refuse in-person reports. One father, who asked to remain anonymous, told City Bureau and the Invisible Institute that police would not allow him to report his 17-year-old daughter missing in 2020 because police told him she was an adult and could move freely in the world. Photo Captions: Tammy Pittman holds a portrait of her daughter, Shante Bonahan. Pittman says police asked her to wait 24 hours before reporting her daughter missing in 2016, even though her daughter had called in distress. (Photo: Natasha Moustache)
THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 27

WiFi that goes where the sun don’t shine.

Get a powerful connection that works all over your home. That’s Wall-to-Wall WiFi from Xfinity. Fast, reliable coverage that extends from room to room to even that room you thought you’d never get a signal in. On all of your devices, even when everyone is online. Only on the next generation Xfinity 10G Network.

1-800-xfinity xfinity.com/10G Visit a store today

Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. Actual speeds vary and not guaranteed. NPA400505-0043 NED-WHWNoOfferQ2-V10

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - April 10, 2024 - April 16, 2024 28
1004060_NPA400505-0043 WHW ad NoOffer 9.25x10.5 V10.indd 1 3/29/24 3:30 PM

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.