INNER-CITY NEWS

THE

New Haven, Bridgeport

NEWS

Volume 21 No. 2184

Workers March On Yale

The Kidnapped School Girls in Nigeria?

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

Dear Governor Malloy and Our Connecticut State Legislators

Labor leader Proto at rally

Changing the Narrative of Black Men in College

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Small-Biz Chief Blasts Her Boss “It Never Leaves You” FOLLOW US ON

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INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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Dear Governor Malloy and Our Connecticut State Legislators I am on the Board of Directors of Family ReEntry, an essential nonprofit agency serving released inmates and their families in Fairfield and New Haven Counties.

These reentry services include critical mental health and substance abuse treatment for over 1,500 Paroles each year – thus increasing public safety, reducing recidivism, and decreasing the collateral consequences and costs. In addition, Family ReEntry provides effective interventions for over 1,200 family violence offenders throughout the State - resulting in significant reductions in the victimization of women and children.

These programs help halt the tragic intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse.

Family ReEntry Youth Programs focus on prevention and very early intervention for children of incarcerated parents and youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System – thus saving lives and dollars. Other community justice providers across the State are essential to the social order, humane and effective care, and public safety.

Without these services, crime will increase, incarceration will increase, associated costs will increase, unemployment will increase, and communities will suffer. This is not an attractive climate for business!

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

I am reaching out to implore you

If you recall, it did not go so well when hundreds of psychiatric facilities were closed in the U.S. According to the NYT, the policies that led to the release of most of the nation’s mentally ill patients from the hospital to the community without appropriate care in the community are now widely regarded as a major failure. Sweeping critiques of the policies, notably a report of the American Psychiatric Association, have spread the blame everywhere, faulting politicians…..and others. Another dismal policy failure should not be your legacy.

Rev. Jeff Grant

to do everything in your power to prevent budget cuts in the community justice sector.

Cuts already implemented have devastated the community justice providers across the State. Family ReEntry, for example, has lost 67% of its Department of Corrections community programs, including two large mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, which were already over utilized by 450 Parolees and were projected to effectively assess and treat 1,600 by June 30 when the contracts are terminated.

What happens to public safety after that? And these are only two of the many mental and substance abuse treatments programs eliminated this week.

Some relevant points for you to consider: Find Another Way: Please attempt to meet the projected budget deficits without devastating the nonprofit human services and criminal justice (CJ) sectors. Even a small reduction in these sectors will have a devastating and lasting ripple effect. In the long-term, these cuts will increase costs and leave a legacy of human and social destruction.

Plan Long-Term: Create a long term State Budget plan that funds human services and community justice at appropriate levels that maintain quality of care and a stable workforce. Nonprofits are businesses throughout the State vital to the State’s economy and its ability to attract new businesses.

Don’t Compromise Public Safety: Cuts to the criminal justice sector will result in decreased public safety (and commensurate costs) and setback much needed criminal justice system reforms (with commensurate human, societal, and financial costs).

Don’t Retreat: Decimating the community justice sector and the mental health and substance abuse sectors will make future structural changes and savings much less likely. “You cannot build an effective and efficient criminal justice system on a weak crumbling foundation destroyed in fiscal years 16, 17, and 18.”

Consider Alternative Solutions: Although long-term structural changes are needed in the State’s Budget, the only way to achieve the long-term fiscal and policy goals without major setbacks is a combination of carefully targeted and realistic expense reductions and some increases in revenue.

Consider other investment strategies in the nonprofit sector, such as Social Impact Bonds and similar instruments.

Focus on Effectiveness: Like other providers in the CJ sector, Family ReEntry is a high-impact, cost-effective provider of community justice services for reentering citizens, those suffering from mental health & substance abuse, perpetrators of family/ domestic violence, and at-risk

youth and families. These services are proven to decrease costs, increase public safety, reduce victimization, and create a climate for business growth in the State.

I have confidence in you and all the leadership to recognize that Connecticut holds a unique position in this country - we have a safe place to live and work that leads the nation in social reform.

It is inconsistent and simply wrong to cut funding at a time when the Federal government and our sister states finally recognize the scope and severity of criminal justice, mental health and substance abuse problems, and are redoubling their efforts and funding to find solutions.

We need to keep moving forward and use justice reinvestment strategies to provide an ever safer, more secure and more enlightened place for our children to grow and prosper. We must keep our eye on the longterm prize, not cave to short-term budget demands. Otherwise, what do we have left?

Please feel free to call upon me if I can provide any service in this regard.

Thank you for your consideration of these critical issues.

Blessings, Rev. Jeff Grant

Publisher / CEO Babz Rawls Ivy Managing Editor Liaison, Corporate Affairs

YALE’S TWISTED LOGIC

Doreen Strong Advertising Director Sales Team Trenda Lucky Delores Alleyne John Thomas III Hilda Calvachi

Editorial Team Staff Writers Ratasha Smith / Current Affairs Anthony Scott / Sports Arlene Davis-Rudd / Politics Contributing Writers David Asbery Tanisha Asbery Jessica Carl Jerry Craft/Cartoons Barbara Fair Mubarakah Ibrahim Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner Smita Shrestha Kam Williams Content Contributors At-Large Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass New Haven Independent www.newhavenindependent.org Dr. Fred McKinney Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council www.cmsdc.org Memberships National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc.

After much anticipation, the President of Yale University revealed the University’s decision concerning the naming of three residential colleges. The University decided to name their two recently built colleges for Anna Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin. Ms. Murray, after graduating from Howard University and The University of California, Berkeley Law School, also graduated from Yale’s Law School receiving the Doctor of Juridical Science degree. She was a Civil Rights protester, and later became the first African-American woman to be appointed to the Episcopalian Priesthood.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a founder of the University of Pennsylvania, never attended Yale but received an Honorary Degree from the school.

Though few constituents of the University lobbied for either of the two chosen to grace the buildings, many of its students and alumni rallied against keeping the name of John C. Calhoun on one of the colleges. But, Yale decided to do just that.

The part of the decision that perplexed me was the twisted logic applied as expressed by President Peter Salovey. Salovey, who among other things is the spokesperson for the Yale Corporation, reasoned before the world and all of the intelligent people in it that Yale University decided to keep Calhoun’s name not because of his positive contributions to humanity, as with the other men and a woman, but because his contribution to the world was as an ardent supporter of slavery. Further, if Calhoun does not receive this eponymous honor, Yale reasoned, the University will lose the opportunity to teach its students about the tragedy of what he represented.

According to the decision makers, the only way that the University and its students can remember slavery or the school can teach about slavery is if a proponent of slavery’s name is emblazoned on

one of its buildings. Huh?!?

What?!?

So, let me get this straight. If we follow the lead and the logic of one of the top universities in the world, does this mean that we cannot remember, teach, or revile other social ills without first honoring those who committed and advocated for those wrongs? Is there a lapse in our remembering the Holocaust without first honoring Hitler? Will we forget the horror and the evil of 9/11 if we fail to build a statue honoring Osama bin Laden? Will the tragic effects of Pearl Harbor be forgotten if there is no monument built to esteem those who dropped the bombs there?

Of course, none of the people who committed those offenses need to be honored for us to remember them or their offenses.

Without Yale’s erroneous logic, Calhoun would have no legitimate place on one of its residential colleges.

The President could have made a better case for keeping Calhoun’s name by pointing out that other members of the select list of residential colleges also committed offensives against humanity at one time. Or that Calhoun’s offenses were not understood as such when he was initially chosen for this exceptional honor. But to say that they needed to keep it for the specific purpose of remembering that

he was an advocate for enslaving Africans is particularly offensive to its African-American students, alumni, and professorate. The decision is also offensive to African-Americans who are not associated with the University.

If Yale needed a person to glorify from the antebellum period, why not award any abolitionist an honorary degree and then chisel that person’s name on a residential college.

Yale’s status as a leading academic institution in America sets a standard that the country and the rest of the world is prone to follow. If Yale is suggesting that the only way they can remember and teach the horrors of slavery is by bestowing prominence on its proponents, what does that say to those of us who are the descendants of people held in slavery’s chains? Is our holocaust so forgettable that one needs a huge building on a prominent college campus that honors the proponent of our tragedy to remember it?

Now, let us consider what keeping Calhoun’s name says about the supposed honor of naming one of the colleges after Ms. Murray.

Murray’s life was just the opposite of Calhoun’s. While he argued for the enslavement of Blacks, she fought for freedom.

While he worked to limit the posCon’t on page 13

Connecticut’s Congressional leaders are champions for the nation’s sickest children Last month, advocates for children’s health care reached an exceptional milestone on behalf of some really exceptional kids. The Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act of 2016, also called the ACE Kids Act, now has more than 200 co-sponsors in the United States House of Representatives.

This is a level of bipartisan support that few proposals ever receive. On behalf of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, we want applaud all seven members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation who signed

on early as co-sponsors, demonstrating their unwavering resolve as advocates for children and their access to care. Thank you Senators Blumenthal and Murphy and Representatives Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Himes, and Larson—we are all fortunate to have you in Washington promoting the needs of families and children.

about 5% of all kids who rely on Medicaid, their care accounts for 40% of the costs. The ACE Kids Act would improve the care they receive while helping contain costs. An independent analysis conducted by Dobson DaVanzo estimates that if ACE Kids were enacted, total state and federal savings in Medicaid could reach $13 billion over 10 years.

Medicaid serves approximately 2 million children with medical complexity. In Connecticut, these children receive most of their health care services from our two hospitals. While they comprise

Children’s hospitals around the country have shown that innovative solutions for improving the care for these children are within our reach. The ACE Kids Act would build on that experience

and advance care for the sickest children on Medicaid by allowing states the option of creating children’s hospital networks for children with medical complexity.

Congressional support for this important legislation will strengthen Medicaid by facilitating more seamless care for these children and their families.

James E. Shmerling, DHA, FACHE President and Chief Executive Officer Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Cynthia Sparer Executive Director Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital

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By Samuel T. Ross-Lee

I was not surprised by the decision by the University to keep Calhoun’s name among those who received this particular honor.

Calhoun was a Yale graduate, a financial contributor to the school, and a Vice President of the United States. However, he was also a virulent racist, who not only owned slaves but argued vigorously for the maintenance of that “peculiar institution” even as its popularity and moral acceptance was waning across the nation.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

John P. Thomas Jr.

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Over 1,000 Workers March On Yale said. “Somebody has to do that work. ...The question is, ‘Who is going to do them?’”

by ALIYYA SWABY New Haven Independent

Elia Vollano marched to work Thursday evening with 1,000 fellow union members, in the hope that she and her colleagues will still have jobs.

Thursday, clerical and technical workers in the dermatology department learned they would see two layoffs, Kennington said at the rally.

Vollano, a unionized account assistant for 20 years, fears she will lose her job and benefits at Yale Medical Group in an announced pending wave of university layoffs.

Rebecca Corbett, chief union steward in that department, said administrators called them into a meeting to announce one person working in the lab and another working in administration would be laid off. “They haven’t told us who,” she said.

So she joined more than 1,000 UNITE HERE Local 34 clerical and technical workers and community and union allies who marched from downtown to the Yale Medical School at 333 Cedar St. Thursday evening to rally to keep their unionized jobs and the benefits that accompany them.

Blue-collar Local 35 members, who turned up in large numbers at the rally, fear similar job cuts elsewhere at Yale.

More Work, Less Money Yale Medical Group Chief Executive Officer Paul Taheri and Chief Administrative Officer Fred Borrelli met with employees April 14 at 300 George St. to discuss the potential layoffs. Though the group is attracting more patients each year, that revenue does not totally offset the loss of funding and services, they wrote, in a document sent Conroy sent to the Independent.

They rallied in the face of an announcement that an unspecified number of layoffs, believed to be around 100, are indeed coming at the medical group practice.

About half of the protesters Thursday evening gathered at College and Elm Streets at around 5 p.m. and slowly made their way from downtown to the medical school.

“What do we want?” organizers called out to the crowd.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

“Job security!” they called back.

“When do we want it?”

“Now!” Union leaders and medical staff argued that the university is not cutting the jobs to run a smaller operation, but rather to hire nonunionized workers through Yale New Haven-Hospital at a cheaper rate. The School of Medicine is part of Yale University, and unionized; Yale Medical Group, a 1,400plus member faculty group practice, is part of Yale University.

Yale-New Haven Hospital is technically a separate (though intertwined) entity and non-unionized.

University representatives said that anticipated layoffs at the

ALIYYA SWABY PHOTOProtesters

in front of 333 Cedar St.

School of Medicine are not related to hires at the hospital. Instead, they grow out of a need to do more work with less money in a fluid funding environment.

Yale Medical Group relies on two sources of revenue: money from payers, including Medicaid; and income from a shared services agreement with Yale-New Haven Hospital, said university spokesperson Tom Conroy. State Medicaid payment cuts of $160 million to Yale-New Haven Hospital are passing along a 7 percent reduction to services at the School of Medicine across all clinic departments, with a $1.8 million cut to Yale Medical Group, he said.

Another anticipated $7 million cut comes from the Northeast Medical Group canceling a billing services contract with Yale Medical Group, he said. Plans for how to balance the budget must be made in mid-May before the new

fiscal year starts July 1.

Vin Petrini, senior vice president of public affairs at Yale-New Haven Hospital, said after the rally that no such plan exists. The layoffs are a direct effect of state cuts, he said.

“The decisions that are made at the state level like that have real and unfortunate implications. You can’t really continue to tax hospitals and slash payments without impact,” he said.

Organizers Thursday argued Yale had been working to decrease unionized positions for several years.

Carrying large red signs that read “Yale: Protect Our Jobs,” protesters marched down College Street toward the Hill neighborhood, drawing glances and attention from people on the sidewalks and even inside the restaurants they passed. The other

half of the protesters awaited them at South Frontage, cheering and whooping as the marchers approached.

The two groups merged into each other and continued to head toward the medical school, where a giant stage and a banner had been readied for the main event.

The event was part of a movement urging Yale to protect the “986 clinical jobs in the medical school and more broadly to really emphasize to Yale that job security is our number one priority in the contract. Because both sides of campus, [Locals] 34 and 35, are experiencing the squeeze of our jobs as they try to downgrade and undermine the number of good union jobs around town,” said Local 34 President Laurie Kennington.

“Everything about the work we do is expanding,” Kennington

“How do you grow a practice when you are getting fewer dollars for services? We are going to have to develop new ways of doing things that are more efficient and effective,” they wrote.

Vollano, who works in patient financial services, said she doesn’t understand why her job is at risk, if it seems as though her workload is increasing with more patients being billed.

Vollano makes $29.77 per hour at her job. She has a senior in high school who will be attending college in September. If she loses her job, she loses college tuition reimbursement through the Scholarship Plan for Sons and Daughters that Yale offers its staff and faculty. She and her husband cannot afford to pay the $1,000 for her husband’s health insurance, so the family depends on hers, she said. She worries about losing that, too.

This week, the department has had meetings discussing the budget and the potential of cutting Con’t on page 18

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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Budget Deal Leaves City With $8M Hole previous years” or emerged with no increase, Looney said. “We took care of the larger cities because of greater need.”

by PAUL BASS New Haven Independent

New Haven cleaned up at the Capitol, collecting $8 million more than last year from the state despite a budget crisis.

To New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, the budget deal “penalizes” New Haven for responsible budgeting and has her team scrambling to find ways to plug a gaping new last-minute hole in the proposed $525 million new fiscal year budget in the last stages of public approval.

New Haven got creamed at the Capitol, collecting $8 million less than promised.

Both local perspectives on the tentative state budget deal are factually correct. State Democratic legislative lawmakers reached the deal with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this week before close late last night of the legislative session.

Legislators plan to reconvene in a special session next Thursday to vote on the deal.

PAUL BASS PHOTO

Harp: “A huge shock.”

State Senate President Martin Looney of New Haven offered the perspective that the city made out well in the deal.

ting the budget across the board in such painful ways for everybody, we increased aid for the major cities by substantial amounts,” Looney said in an interview Thursday.

Legislators were closing a projected $960 million deficit in the budget previously approved for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

So they had to make drastic cuts.

(The governor put any tax hikes off the table.)

New Haven will receive a total of $227 million in the deal, up from $219 million last year, he said. He said that equals the rate of growth in municipal aid to New Haven in years when the state did not face a budget crisis.

“At a time when we were cut-

“Other cities lost money from

In putting together its own proposed new fiscal year budget, the Harp Administration had counted on a $15 million increase in payments in lieu of taxes (“PILOT”) alone for the coming year; that was contained in the original version of the upcoming state budget, before state lawmakers revisited the budget in the face of cratering tax revenues.

Harp recently predicted the budget changes would require her staff to possibly have to make up a few million dollars under the worstcase scenario; she didn’t expect to see $8.1 million disappear. She said the $8.1 million includes cuts in the promised PILOT increase as well as in budgeted educational

cost-sharing and transportation support.

school

Asked if the new budget hole means taxes might rise (her proposed budget included no tax increase), Harp said it’s too early to tell. While directing her budget staff to draw up new plans to cover the hole, she’s also hoping that New Haven lawmakers can succeed in restoring some of the money next week.

Harp, a former state senator, said Bridgeport and Hartford’s aid was cut less in the budget deal because, she argued, they haven’t managed their finances as well as New Haven has. Unlike New Haven, which has had a balanced budget, those cities have wrestled with fiscal crisis this year; Bridgeport’s total budget deficit (including schools) is around $30 million, Hartford’s $32 million.

“We’ve been responsible not just my administration, the DeStefano administration,” Harp said. She said most city departments have gradually cut their budgets by 30-50 percent in recent years: “We’re not overstaffed. Im some places, if you cut [now], it actually costs you

more money: If you cut police or fire, you end up because of contracts paying more [in overtime]. We’re in a position where we’ve already done the responsible thing, reduced government.

“We have done what everybody sasy you need to do. We have reduced government. Our reward is to have to pay more,” Harp said.

“This comes as a huge shock.

Something that’s going to be difficult to fix.”

In the end, based on the pending budget deal, Hartford and Bridgeport and New Haven all had 3.4-3.6 percent increases in overall in municipal aid from the previous year, Looney said. “Hartford always gets more aid than everybody else because their poverty is greater than everybody else’s. But there was a rough equivalence.”

Earlier versions of proposed new budgets by the governor and the legislators had the city losing a few million dollars, then $6 million, said New Haven State Rep. Juan Candelaria. He said Con’t on page

City Clerk Puts Deputy On Leave payable to sign off on a settlement involving a labor relations dispute involving back pay for a former office employee. Brown said she is authorized by the city to sign off; she said Smart’s directive did not cover this area.

by PAUL BASS

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

New Haven Independent

Another simmering City Hall feud has surfaced, with City Clerk Michael Smart placing his deputy on leave and launching an investigation into alleged insubordination.

Smart informed the deputy, Sally Brown, of the move on Friday afternoon. He placed her on indefinite leave with pay.

Brown has worked in the office since 1986, when she won election as city clerk. She has worked as the deputy since mid-1995 and until Smart won the office and began serving in the position on Jan. 1, 2014. Until then, as full-time deputy, Brown had served as the de facto day-to-day head of the

Smart,

office, dealing with elections and land records. (The elected clerk’s job itself is part-time.) Since Smart’s election, the two have had tensions over the running of the office.

Smart informed Brown that she had violated his directive that only he sign off on financial

Brown.

transactions involving the office.

“As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Brown said in an interview Wednesday.

She said Smart’s directive, in a memo to staff, concerned signing off on “invoices and procurements.” She said in this case she was asked by accounts

“I’m not going to respond,” Smart said in an interview in his office, because “it’s an ongoing investigation. It’s a personnel matter. I’m not going to play this out in the press.”

Smart said he issued the directive about signing off on financial matters involving the clerk’s office as a matter of “general accountability.”

“As city clerk I am ultimately responsible for the office,” Smart said. “The voters elected me into the office.”

He said the “internal investigation” into Brown’s conduct will be conducted within his office, not through the city’s corporation counsel’s office.

The move came as a surprise to the mayor’s office, said Chief of Staff Tomas Reyes.

“The mayor was not aware of this. And neither was I,” Reyes said Wednesday.

Three other high-ranking city officials have been the subject of disciplinary or work-related disputes in recent weeks. Those cases involve department heads who report to the mayor. As the independently elected clerk, Smart does not report to the mayor and can act on his own.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016 10

health.”

by BRIAN SLATTERY

Cruz said that people in the neighborhood have been talking about creating the walking routes for “probably about six years, and really actively doing it for the last couple years.”

New Haven Independent

At Quinnipiac River Park in Fair Haven, Orquesta Espada was heading into the last song of its set.

The en.com/”Caseus truck had run out of supplies to make sandwiches and was packing it in, while the ¡Ay Arepa! truck was still going strong. Chatham Square resident and community organizer Lee Cruz ran back and forth through the crowd of hundreds, from the stage to make announcements to the registration table, where families were still coming.

And along Front Street bordering the park, the sharp-eyed could detect a string of new badges fixed to some of the street signs a string that loops 5.8 miles through Fair Haven in a system of urban trails representing the culmination of a long, community-driven effort.

Orquesta Espada.

It was part of Saturday’s Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival, a neighborhood party and fundraiser for early childhood education that featured music, food, activities for kids, and the involvement of a couple dozen organizations, from New Haven Reads and Neighborhood Music

“We needed to get the right combination of people motivated to get out there,” he added.

CHRIS RANDALL PHOTO

Children from local early childhood education center cut ribbon to start the Fair Haven Family Stroll.

School to the New Haven Health Department and the Peabody Museum. It kept a crowd of hundreds at Quinnipiac River Park from the late morning through the afternoon.

The beginning of the festival marked the opening of the Fair Haven Urban Trail, a series of walking routes that lead those who

follow them neighborhood.

through

the

The trails are the result of a collaboration among the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, the Office of the Mayor of New Haven, Yale School of Public Health, and the Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival.

After a short ceremony, dozens

of families walked a 1.5-mile loop of the trail, taking them the length of Quinnipiac River Park and across the Grand Avenue and Ferry Street bridges.

“These are trails that people have been walking for years,” Cruz said. “We’re affirming it here to increase safety and to encourage people to do something about their

The entire project cost about $3,000 total from the neighborhood association and the School of Public Health plus a lot of volunteer time and labor. The city, a willing partner, paid for the labor to install the trail markers, designed by architect and Fair Haven resident Kathleen Flynn, who donated her services. The city will also pay to install maps on stands at five locations along the routes, adorned with photographs donated by Ian Christmann.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

Fair Haven Celebrates Opening Of Urban Trails

“Our next step is to be active about promoting people walking,” Cruz said. As foot traffic increases, small improvements along the trail, such as better sidewalks and lighting, might be in the offing.

“Community building is a lot of little blocks it’s a constant mix of people, ideas, and resources,” Cruz said.

Parents Put Harries, Cordero In Hot Seat student body of about 800, Harries answered: No but let me explain.

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

He was answering the question on the same day that the city learned that it will probably take a last-minute $8 million hit in state funding for the coming year’s budget, and after Harries had already unsuccessfully advocated for an increase in a districtwide school security force that is down from a high of 120 to nearly half that number now.

“The challenge is these are not yes or no questions,” schools Superintendent Garth Harries told a crowd of parishioners, parents and supporters from other faith communities gathered at St. Rose of Lima Church to demand more security and transparency at Fair Haven School.

“Yes,” a voice from the crowd yelled out. “They are.”

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTOS Crowd

at St. Rose of Lima Thursday night.

schools.

The crowd of 200 put the “yes/ no” screws to Harries and Fair Haven School Principal Heriberto Cordero on four specific demands:

hiring more school security, providing translators for parent teacher conferences, addressing overly harsh student discipline and sharing the struggling school’s

Harries.

turnaround plans.

When pressed to commit to hiring more security for the K-8 school, which currently has one full time security guard for a

Parents Yolanda and Felix Pablo have five children at Fair Haven School. They said one of their daughter has come home multiple times crying.

“When I ask her what’s wrong, she said the teacher punishes us Con’t on page 21

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The parents gathered in the basement of the church Thursday night as part of the spring assembly of CONECT, or the Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, an activist group that has taken on issues ranging from gun policy to conditions at local

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“The Word” Begets Words raise their thorny heads a lot, and never in ways that are easy to stomach. Relationships are made and broken and made again all in the space of the stage, with only the help of a mic and three to four minutes of exposition.

by LUCY GELLMAN New Haven Independent

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTOSmith.

Jasmine Smith had a story to tell. But she didn’t want the audience to stop at listening to her voice.

“Listen to my hands,” she beseeched audience members. “They are trying to tell you something.

If you don’t open your senses you will miss it.”

The audience leaned in, silence where giggles and a smattering of high-fives had been just moments before. Fifty or so young faces snapped to attention, some catching the low light as they pursed their lips and nodded their heads.

Smith’s hands traveled through the air like small, hollow-boned birds.

Around her, everyone was hanging on, trying not to miss a beat.

But if this was exhausting Friday night, it was equally necessary and empowering here were the city’s young and brave voices laid bare, asking only for 90 minutes of listeners’ time. Indeed, as Jafferis himself wrote before the event, “conversations about poems turned into conversations about life turned into conversations about how to be human.” Eli Whitney’s Anthony Rivera did a takedown of ADHD and adolescent depression that had fellow high schooler Debralee Valentin and several audience members whooping for a happy ending.

Matt Santiago a.k.a. Benny Sazon dismantled social media, economic inequity, and human predisposition in a two-minute rap. Several young women, including Anisa Anuar and Oviance “Tweety” Shuler, came with ballads of self-love and reflections on race and socioeconomic class that struck and stuck as needed, rhythmic meditations on the city and its residents.

Emcees Yaryanne Mercado and Santiago.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

Smith’s untitled piece traveled from her hands and strong, uncompromising voice to several New Haveners’ ears as part of The Word: Citywide High School Poetry Jam, a now-annual chance for several New Haven Public School (NHPS) students to perform spoken word poetry on which they’ve been working for a number of months.

Originally a collaboration among Word founder Aaron Jafferis, a New Haven hip-hop poet and playwright, former Institute Library Director Will Baker, and several collaborators at The Future Project, the program has since grown into a robust organizing effort by Jafferis, poet Ifeanyi

Awachie, current Institute Library Director Natalie Elicker, teaching artists Salwa Abdussabur and ”Siul Hughes, and Future Project units at different schools. Friday night, all of the members con-

vened at the Neighborhood Music School on Audubon Street for an end-of-year showcase.

Fact: High school poetry takes a specific kind of mindset. There’s a lot of young love, with rib cages

getting blasted open and metaphorical pants falling down and metaphorical belts pulling them back up. Disclaimers come with the weight of the world attached to them. Bullying and misogyny

“The Word is something that we hope will continue to grow,” said Jafferis at the event. His words from earlier that night of the students that “some nights, I realize, my life depends on them” floated into the space, and crackled to life.

percent of their earnings, then the program should be self-sustaining at the end of year two.

by Christine Stuart CT. Junkie news

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he would veto a championed by progressives that would create a quasi-public agency to administer a public retirement system for all private sector employees if the legislature doesn’t fix it.

It will take one or two years longer at 3 percent, according to the fiscal note.

The concept has the support of the AARP, state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, state Treasurer Denise Nappier, and other progressive politicians. Even former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who Malloy supports, seemed to endorse the idea during a recent visit to Connecticut.

“I would veto the bill unless the changes are made,” Malloy said Friday at an unrelated press conference.

The bill would require every business with more than five employees that doesn’t offer a retirement savings plan to deduct three percent of an employee’s’ paycheck to deposit in a state

Con’t from page 5

YALE’S TWISTED sibility of people who were different from him, she worked to increase and make equal the possibilities of us all. While he believed in the superiority of White men over everyone else, she struggled to tear down barriers that were built on that belief.

How does Yale justify honoring both Murray and Calhoun in the same way, when their lives and what they stood for were so diametrically opposite? Simply put: It can’t. There is no argument that Yale can offer that makes sense of what they have done. They have, contrary to their mission, defied logic, critical thinking, and the spreading of Truth and Light by the mere suggestion that Mr. Calhoun should be recognized in the way that they have chosen to do so.

CHRISTINE STUART PHOTO

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

retirement fund. Every eligible employee would be opted into the plan, but they could choose to opt out. And employers would not be required to contribute to the fund, but they would be required to offer the payroll deduction for the Roth IRA. Opponents of the legislation argued that it will push those private-sector businesses selling competing products entirely out of the market.

Malloy has quietly expressed concern about the composition of the board that would manage the fund. The governor also wanted to be the one to select the chairperson. Currently, there is only one fund manager allowed

under the legislation headed to his desk. The governor wants to expand the number of fund managers in an effort not to undercut the private securities industries, which sells individual retirement accounts.

The changes needed to satisfy the governor could be made during a special session on the budget next week.

The legislation is based on a Connecticut Retirement Security Board report that found a public retirement program would need approximately $1 billion in assets to become financially selfsustaining. If one-third of those eligible to enroll in the program did so and contributed up to 6

“I am a big believer in the states being the laboratories of Democracy,” Clinton ew-havensaid during a visit to New Haven. “We have to come up with some new approaches to help people save for retirement. Often that’s practically impossible because . . . you don’t have any money left to save.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to make New York City the first in the country to create a retirement savings program for private sector employees.

A recent AARP survey found 61 percent of Connecticut voters ages 35 to 64 support a public retirement plan.

private securities industry, which felt the state was infringing on its market. However, proponents say there are 600,000 Connecticut residents without any retirement savings beyond Social Security who will likely have to turn to the state for assistance in their old age because it’s nearly impossible to live on only a Social Security income.

Lembo, who co-chaired the Connecticut Retirement Security Board, has said he thinks the private sector solution should be the first answer to this challenge, “but the market is currently failing to reach nearly half of our workforce.”

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

Malloy Threatens to Veto Public Retirement Bill

He concluded that the program may push Connecticut companies that don’t currently offer their employees retirement saving accounts into the private market.

“In fact, in the market feasibility study survey of Connecticut employers, approximately half of the employers said that should the program be implemented they would go out into the private market,” Lembo said.

The legislation does not mandate that employers must contribute to the fund, only that they make a payroll deduction available to their employees.

The bill was opposed by the

It should surprise none of us if potential applicants decide to abandon Yale as a viable choice for their educational advancement, as the University’s leadership proves that they are willing to twist logic to avoid changing their status quo.

13

Reverend Samuel Ross-Lee is the Senior Paster of Immanuel; Missionary Baptist Church in New Haven, CT.

14

“Escape” Could Mean “Employed” For New Haveners rider for those walk-ons.

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

“We have received notice today that a walk-on rider has been put in place on this project,” she said before Monday night’s vote. “So residents interested in a couple days work [on the center], they will be able to do so. I think this is a really good item going to help with people making money to help their families.”

The city’s forthcoming teen drop-in center and homeless shelter, The Escape, could mean a chance at day labor jobs for New Haveners.

On Monday, during its first regular meeting of the month at City Hall, the Board of Alders unanimously approved the transfer of $100,000 to the Department of Engineering and the Department of Youth Services for the building of the soon-to-open teen center, called The Escape.

Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison had pressed city officials at a previous Finance Committee meetings about whether the construction of the center could mean day labor jobs for city residents.

Those officials said that the city would have to secure an insurance

The city set aside $285,000 to rebuild a spacious building, owned by the Bethel AME Church into The Escape, and formed a not-forprofit corporation to operate it.

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

The Job Corps agreed to send a team to do part of the work. In September, the city signed a 15-year, $4,000-a-month lease to create the 30,000 square foot center, which formerly housed the church’s Community Outreach Center at 654 Orchard St. near the corner of Goffe.

Morrison and Paolillo.

FOI Complicates Cop Body Cam Rollout technology. “Today, you can’t just highlight the person and just blur the face, and tell the computer to do that throughout the video. You have to go frame by frame.”

by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

New Haven is preparing to outfit nearly every one of its cops with body cameras. But that means figuring out an unintended challenge how to handle an unexpected flood of Freedom of Information requests for footage.

He said as the technology advances, so will the capabilities, which might reduce the need to hire so many people. He said the police department has been working with the city’s IT department and Yale to look at storage solutions.

The police estimate they’ll need to hire up to five new employees in the next two or three years just to handle the review and redaction of camera footage, the maintenance and repair of body cameras, and the training of officers to use those cameras.

Campbell: Cams work.

City Chief Administrator Mike Carter, Campbell and Esserman

Information (FOI) requests.

The police department has staked out two “placeholder” positions for body camera specialists, funded at $1 each, in the mayor’s proposed $525 million budget for next year. But officials confessed at a recent departmental budget workshop of the Board of Alders Finance Committee that they will need more specialists to handle what they expect to be a significant increase in Freedom of

Assistant Chief Anthony Campbell said that best practices recommend a camera specialist for every 100 cameras in a department. With the number of cops in the city at nearly 500, that means the number of people just dealing with body camera footage and FOI requests would have to grow to five people. He got that information after visiting with police departments in Chesapeake, Va., and Las Vegas, both of which

have been using body cameras between three and five years.

(Yale law researchers recently published a study about the need for FOI access to body cam footage, in this story.)

Campbell said in a follow up interview that after sitting down with officials from the Chesapeake Police Department, which has a police force similar in size to New Haven’s, he learned that back when that department had only a quarter of its officers wearing

body cameras, one camera specialist wasn’t enough to keep up with all of the demands associated with using the cameras.

He said the most taxing part about a FOI request for body camera footage is the need to redact specific images of, for instance, the unticketed passengers in a traffic stop, or the faces of juveniles who interact with the police.

“It is extremely time consuming,” he said of current

Chief Dean Esserman said the camera footage is not just reserved for criminal prosecutions.

Insurance companies will likely request it to deal with accident claims. Members of the public and the press also could request it. He said the city has reached out to state public safety officials, and they are overwhelmed with FOI requests and that’s just because of the changes in the state law.

“With the addition of the cameras in more than 100 police departments in the state of Connecticut, the anticipation is Con’t on page 16

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

15

Dough Saint Aedan- St. Brendan School 351 McKinley Ave., New Haven, CT 06515 “Nurturing the Spirit, Educating the Mind”

Jewish Baker Takes Muslim Apprentice in Unlikely-Buddies Dramedy

song. If successful, he’ll be able to kick Nat out once the lease expires. Worst of all, Dayan and Son is having trouble staying afloat due to a dwindling clientele that’s dying off.

ture effectively contrasts the former’s being old, Jewish,white, British and middle-class with the latter’s being young, Muslim, black, African and living hand to mouth.

Nat (Jonathan Pryce) is the owner of Dayan and Son, a Kosher bakery located in London.

The store’s name is a bit of a misnomer since he’s been the only Dayan working there ever since his father passed away.

Nat’s fortunes change soon after he hires Ayyash (Jerome Holder), a teenaged Muslim immigrant from Darfur, as his new apprentice. For, it isn’t long before the store is attracting long lines of customers.

Nat’s disappointed that his own son, Stephen (Daniel Caltagirone), opted to become a lawyer rather than join the family business. Consequently, he had to settle for teaching the tricks of the trade to a neighborhood kid (Dominic Garfield), only to have that sole assistant eventually stolen away

by Sam Cotton (Philip Davis), a conniving competitor planning to open another bakery right next door.

But what Nat doesn’t know is that Ayyash has been spiking the batter with marijuana. That’s the reason for the sudden increase in satisfied shoppers. Of course, it’s just a matter of time before the cat’s out of the bag, and matters come to a head when the proprietor gets an explanation for his skyrocketing profits.

The film also features a surprising number of intriguing subplots, including a love triangle involving Nat, Joanna and Cotton; Ayyash and his mother’s (Natasha Gordon) becoming homeless, Nat’s neglected granddaughter (Melanie Freeman) craving quality time with her grampa, and Ayyash’s antagonizing a vengeful drug dealer (Ian Hart).

Film Review by Kam Williams

To add insult to injury, Cotton is also wining and dining Nat’s lonely landlord Joanna Silverman (Pauline Collins), not out of affection, but to buy the building for a

Thus unfolds Dough, a tenderhearted dramedy directed by John Goldschmidt (Maschenka). The cross-cultural adventure milks most of its humor and tension out of the friendship grudgingly forged between between unlikelybuddies Nat and Ayyash. The pic-

By the closing tableau, all the loose ends are tied up quite satisfactorily, and we’ve also learned a very timely lesson in tolerance.

‘Dough’-lightful!

Excellent (4 stars) Unrated Running time: 94 minutes Studio: Viva Films Distributor: Menemsha Films

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Con’t from page 6

March On Yale jobs, she said.

Yvonne Evans makes $28 an hour in the neurology and neurosurgery department in the Yale Physicians building, where she has worked for eight years.

Before this, she worked in a nonunion job in private practice and made $11 an hour.

She took in two granddaughters and her adult son several days ago, and she fears losing benefits and high pay.

Kimberly Mathis, who works with patients in the ear, nose and throat department at Yale Medical Group, said she helps doctors with procedures for about 20 to 50 patients per day. She takes their vitals and gets the room set up.

She said it already feels as though the department is short on staff to deal with the volume.

“I want Yale to put it in writing and stop saying it’s in our heads.

It can’t be in all of our heads,” she said to the crowd Thursday at the rally.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

According to the question and answer document, about 70 percent of Yale Medical Group’s costs cover employees. Those costs increase disproportionately quickly compared to the revenue.

Therefore, a hit on revenue would have to impact staff.

Taheri and Borrelli wrote that they were pursuing other ways of cutting costs and boosting revenue, including collecting more copays at the time of service and assessing the use of overtime.

They are reducing fixed costs such that related to IT, by about $3 million.

numbers…Are we going to look the other way?” A resounding no roared back up to her on the stage.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy addressed the rally Thursday.

“Any time good jobs are at stake, that matters to me,” he said. “You are fighting for everyone in the state at risk of layoffs.”

Barbara Vereen, who used to work at Yale Medical Group and now is a Local 34 chief steward, said Yale staff want it to be the best place for securing jobs for New Haven community members.

She said she sat in more than two dozen meetings in 11 departments where layoffs were discussed. But in all those discussions, leaders also mentioned institutional growth, bringing in many more patients to different departments and centers associated with Yale Medical School. “‘What 986?’ That’s what they say to us,” she said Thursday.

“The very next day, they sent out a newsletter saying they were going to lay off 150 people.

“Shame on Yale!” one man in the crowd yelled back to her.

Local 35 leaders joined Local 34 in the rally because they worry their own jobs are at risk on the other side of Yale’s campus.

Local 35 Secretary-Treasurer Tyisha Walker called on Yale to “come to the table” and keep jobs secure for unionized staff. “We are not turning back,” she said.

“You might have money but we got people.”

Kennington said the hospital has a plan to “take over as much as they can take over.” The question is, “will the university hold up its commitment to us and our contract” to keep unionized jobs? she asked.

Local 35 President Bob Proto said the united contingent will not rest until more jobs were created for the local community, until Yale graduate students have a union recognized by the university, and until job security are guaranteed for Local 34 and 35 union members.

“We cost money and I’m proud of the money we cost,” she told the protesters Thursday. “Their new plan is instead to shrink our

Facing the medical school, he led thousands in a chant addressing Yale leaders: “We are Yale! We’ll be back!”

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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20

Oh SNAP! Blacks Aren’t The Main Recipients Of Food Stamps

“I’m surrounded by very staunch conservative people who consistently talk down about food stamp recipients, and I cannot say one word out loud. Also because I am a certified financial planner, if word got out that I was on food stamps, none of my neighbors would approach me to buy retirement products or annuities or life insurance or anything,” said a financial planner who called into Conan’s show.

By Iesha Pompey, BlackDoctor.org Contributor Oftentimes, the same person who’d bash someone for being on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will claim to have sympathy for another person who is starving.

The stigma surrounding SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is so bad that some individuals and families who need help would rather skimp on meals or live on nutritionally-deficient foods, like ramen noodles. This stigma has even encouraged the government to implement certain changes, like changing the name from food stamps to SNAP and changing the payment method from paper currency to electronic benefit cards (EBT).

But, that’s still not enough for individuals and families who are afraid of being stereotyped at the register.

“Eligibility is based on income, and 47 million people have made the often wrenching decision to take help from the government to put food on the table. Millions more qualify, but they may not know they’re eligible, they may be embarrassed, or they may not want to accept government help,” said Neal Conan on his show Talk of The Nation.

Black people are not the major-

(And Other Stigma-Busting Facts)

ity of recipients.

According to NPR, nearly 47 million Americans received SNAP in 2013. In 2015, the US Census Bureau reported that one in five children receive SNAP benefits.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of recipients are not African Americans.

In 2013, 40.2 percent of SNAP recipients were white, 25.7 percent Black, 10.3 percent Hispanic, 2.1 percent Asian and 1.2 percent Native American according to 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The way our taxes are set up…

Many people fail to realize that people on welfare also pay taxes.

The also forget to take into account that their “tax money” isn’t only

going to single mothers on welfare. (It could be going to the 1.2 billion dollar museum their mayor wants to dedicate to George Lucas after allowing dozens of schools to close due to a lack of funds.)

According to the Huffington Post, SNAP provides a critical safety net for our economy as a whole. In 2011, the federal government spent about $78 billion on SNAP, (approximately 2.11 percent of the $3.7 trillion U.S. Budget).

“Each dollar spent on SNAP generates $1.84 in economic activity, leading to increased productivity for our nation. In this way, SNAP helps maintain a demand for food and agricultural products, as well as jobs in those sectors, during a lagging economy,” said

Susan Blumenthal, M.D, in the Huffington Post article.

Now, there are some “welfare queens/kings” (of all races) who milk the system for all it’s worth.

After being offered $10 per hour for positions that required a bachelor’s degree, I don’t blame them for giving up on the job search. That’s not to say it’s ok.

It’s not. But, I understand.

It could be you.

Though many SNAP recipients are employed, married, college graduates, etc. some of them are still quiet about receiving SNAP benefits because they fear it’ll ruin their professional and personal reputation. While their silence is understandable, it only adds to the stereotype that the only recipients are single Black mothers.

“I’m a 22-year-old white male student. I’ve applied for SNAP twice. Both times, I’ve never completed the process because I know that I would feel extreme shame when trying to use it. I fear being stigmatized for being part of the food stamp culture,” said another listener who wrote into the show via email.

Show real support.

Let’s not wait until someone is completely down on their luck and living on the streets to support them. If you are truly empathetic about helping those in need, start by speaking out when you hear someone make negative remarks about the SNAP program. Remind them that people are starving behind this stigma. If you know someone who may be eligible to receive SNAP benefits, try to assist them with the application process and assure them that they are doing the right thing.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

Con’t on page 11

and yells a lot,” Yolanda Felix said. “She doesn’t want to go to school anymore.”

Pablo said when she finally got a chance to speak with the teacher, the teacher seemed to have no interest in getting to the bottom of the problem or acknowledging that the teacher’s own classroom behavior might be to blame.

“I asked the teacher, ‘Are you a parent?’” she recalled. The teacher said no. “Then you don’t know the pain of a parent.”

Felix Pablo directed his questions at Cordero: Will you commit to fewer teachers using overly harsh methods of discipline? Yes or no?

Cordero’s response: “Yes and no.”

Felix Pablo asked Cordero to commit to respond to requests from parents within 24 hours?

Cordero said he couldn’t.

Cordero later was given the opportunity to explain his answers.

He said he has an open door policy with parents, teachers and students, but Thursday night’s forum is the first he’d heard of some of the concerns that parents had raised. He also encouraged parents to engage in the school’s SPMT, or school planning and management team, as well as the parent teacher organization.

“I’m committed to addressing these issues,” he said. “I’m willing to make time to deal with every issue raised by the families here and also the 800 families not here tonight.”

But he reminded the parents that his school is big and he needs the support of parents and the church to address problems.

Jose Ostroba, a co-chair of CONECT and one of the forum’s moderators, wasn’t ready to let the security guard issue go. He told Harries that the issue is important to the parents and the community.

“I cannot responsibly say I’m going to hire three security guards,” Harries said. “I don’t

have the resources.”

“Can you not commit to finding resources for two security guards?” Ostroba pressed.

“Now we’re negotiating,” Harries said. The superintendent said that Fair Haven School is on his priority list for hiring at least one more full-time security guard, but it is unlikely that it is going to happen any time soon.

“I cannot mislead you,” Harries said. “We’ve been cut by $8 million more than Hartford, more than Bridgeport.”

The parents and school officials found consensus in access to the school’s turnaround plan. The parents want a copy that they can

look over and weigh in on.

Cordero said he could have it in their hands by the end of the month. He agreed to meet with them this summer and make sure they have access to the school management meetings, which he pointed out are always open to parents.

Father David Blanchfield of St. Jerome Catholic Church in Norwalk, also a co-chair and moderator for the evening, had one more yes/no question for the school officials: Can we build a relationships with the members and parents of St. Rose of Lima?

“If it is a relationship,” Harries answered with a hesitant smile, “then yes.”

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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22

Changing the Narrative of Black Men in College Development Symposium hosted at Arcadia University, and were also invited to the White House to participate in a Youth Policy Hacka-thon by the deputy director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

by Sunni L. Solomon II Special to the AFRO What does it mean to support your community? As individuals, it’s everything from clearing the snow off your sidewalk to volunteering at your child’s school. For the University of Baltimore, it not only means that our students, faculty and staff are out in neighborhoods across the city, doing all kinds of work – it means that we recognize Baltimore for what it truly is: a gathering of people, a past, present and future, a true community of individuals who are worthy of our time and our best efforts as educators, mentors and leaders. This community insists that we be a part of it – because we are.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

UB began admitting first-time full-time freshmen students in the Fall of 2007, and since that time the institution has monitored student success through a number of measures. Two of these key student success measures are yearto-year retention rates, and 6-year graduation rates. In 2014, while reviewing this data we discovered some alarming trends regarding the persistence of Black men beyond the second year, as well as graduation rate disparities for the same population.

Instead of placing the onus on the student, and equating these disparities in retention and graduation rates to unchangeable issues that had more to do with where students lived, attended school, and their family backgrounds, we took a more institutionally responsible approach. As a university that has primarily served white students in the past, UB took on the effort of

creating a more inclusive, encouraging, supportive academic environment for young men of color to learn and thrive in. We took on the task of changing the way we do things at the institution, with a specific focus on meeting our students where they are, and in the process we began to challenge how we had traditionally engaged (or failed to) with our men of color on campus.

The Brotherhood, Mentorship, Achievement, Leadership, and Enterprise Academy (B.M.A.L.E. Academy) is the largest and most visible example of the work that is being done in this area with men of color. BMALE employs an enhanced academic support structure by utilizing intense mentoring, peer cohort support structures, and academic skills building interventions coupled with opportunities to engage with the academic world outside of the traditional classroom setting. The BMALE Academy moves UB closer to being a campus

environment that supports, embraces and engages undergraduate men of color at the institution. Faculty are being provided with development and engagement opportunities, partnerships with academic advising and tutoring services are being built, and BMALE staff actively participates in the campus climate assessment activities with specific attention on diversity, inclusion, and support of underrepresented populations.

During the program’s first year the number of student participants grew from 15 to 45, with male students of color self-selecting into the program based on a strong desire to be mentored and receive additional academic guidance. The students come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, religions, and socio-economic levels, with a majority of the young men having attended Baltimore City Public Schools.

The current students in the program include two who are

currently interning in Annapolis at the state capital, one who was named Baltimore City’s first Youth Poet Laureate, and a soonto-be graduate who will enter the University of Maryland’s Carey School of Law in the fall.

In addition to its focus on academics, and juxtaposed against the backdrop of social angst regarding issues like education and law enforcement, the program has also discovered its power as a conduit to helping students discuss, understand, and engage in current events on both a local and national level. Over the past year our young men have engaged the campus and community in an ongoing series of town halls that have created a space for community activists, scholars, clergy, policy makers, and law enforcement to engage issues like police brutality and the school to prison pipeline on a more solutions-oriented level. Students have attended the Black Male

In a city that is increasingly concerned about the plight of, and options available to men of color, we have created a program that provides support and guidance even in times of unrest and high emotion. As an institution, we seek to provide the absolute best services to our students in order to help them attain success.

Currently, the program is staffed by one full-time professional who is assisted by a dedicated group of volunteers. It has been funded by a small (but extremely helpful) internal start-up grant that was provided by the University of Baltimore Foundation through their Fund for Excellence Program.

This is how UB defines community: We are a university in the city, of the city and for the city.

As Baltimore changes, and as our hopes rise with that change, UB will be there to support the people who create community in Baltimore.

Sunni L. Solomon II is the founding director of the institution’s BMALE Academy. In addition to his current role at UB, he is also a full-time doctoral student at Morgan State University in the Higher Education Administration program. His research interests include mentoring, fraternal organization dynamics, and support of minority serving institutions.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

23

Do-It-Yourself Therapy: 10 Practices For Self Care By Inger

8. Limit alcohol intake.

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), low risk drinking is no more than 3 drinks per day and 7 drinks per week for women and no more than 4 drinks per day and 14 drinks per week for men. You may find yourself having an extra drink or two after a long day to “de-stress” or “wind down” or to help with sleep. However, alcohol intake before bed can actually disrupt your sleep-wake cycle. Limit your alcohol intake and find other ways to self-soothe such as noncaffeinated tea, a warm bath, listening to music, or meditation.

Burnett-Zeigler, PhD Approximately 1/3 of adults in the U.S. will meet criteria for a DSM-IV-TR (the psychiatric handbook) diagnosis in their lifetime. That is a lot of people, especially considering that most people see themselves as “normal” and everybody else as “crazy.”

The most common diagnoses are depression and anxiety_—_which have even higher prevalence rates among women and those with fewer social-economic advantages (education, income, employment).

Most people (40–60%) never receive any mental health treatment. Common reasons for not receiving treatment include believing that the problem isn’t bad enough yet, the problem will go away on it’s own or that mental health treatment will not be effective. Additionally, a significant proportion of people do not receive treatment due to embarrassment and stigma associated with being in therapy or taking antidepressant medications.

Receiving mental health treatment is important and beneficial for many, particularly those who have severe disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, or chronic and acute depression or anxiety. However, there are a number of behavioral steps that ALL people can take to improve their mood, well-being and daily functioning. Therapists trained in evidence based psychotherapy interventions can be invaluable in helping individuals increase motivation and implement these cognitive and behavioral strategies. However, with discipline, drive and determination many of these wellness practices can be implemented independently.

1. Get up, get dressed and get out of your home everyday. Lack of motivation, tiredness and

as fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. A big part of healthy eating is planning your meals and snacks in advance.

fatigue, isolation and withdrawal are common symptoms of depression. Simply “going through the motions” of carrying out your typical daily routine is the first step in improving your mood.

2. Practice gratitude. When feeling down, you may distort your thinking to focus on only the things that aren’t going right in your life. This is called tunnel vision. Establish a routine of waking up and identifying the things in your life for which your are grateful. Expand your purview to notice the small daily pleasures that are already occurring in your life.

3. Establish structure to your daily schedule. When people are depressed they often stop doing the things that they enjoy. They feel tired and unmotivated, and tell themselves “i’ll do it when I feel better.” However, there are mental health benefits to faking it until

you make it. Sometimes the behavior comes first and feeling better comes second. Create a calendar of activities. Include obligations (work, doctor’s appointments, errands) and pleasures (exercise, movies, reading).

and live longer. Identify the positive people in your life, make connections with these people_— _by phone or in person. Engage in enjoyable activities. Ask for help and support when you need it. Don’t be afraid to share with those you trust!

4. Set manageable goals and expectations. In my practice, people often identify vague goals such as “be happy” or “find my purpose” or “figure out why I do the things I do.” It is important to set goals that are 1.Specific 2.

Manageable (small) 3. Realistic (doable, in your control). Think about your larger goals and break them down into smaller, time specific fragments. Don’t forget to congratulate yourself for each small step!

6. Exercise. With low mood can come difficulty sleeping or restlessness, leading to tiredness or fatigue, leading to excessive sleeping or napping. In turn, you might find yourself becoming less and less active and more and more sedentary. It is important to get up and get moving everyday. Start by walking around the block, doing a 20 minute you tube or exercise app on your phone or joining a gym.

5. Spend time with friends.

Research demonstrates that people with strong social support networks are happier, healthier

7. Eat mindfully. Heavy, fat and carb laden fast foods can contribute to feelings of fatigue and sluggishness. Eat foods that give you sustainable energy such

9. Stop negative self-talk and develop self-compassion. People who are depressed have often become attached to an automatic negative tape they play in their minds of self-blame, guilt, shame, fear, regret, anger, ect. They may engage in social comparisons, leading them to be hyper critical and down on themselves. Notice the tape, pause and stop the tape.

10. Set healthy boundaries.

Feeling down is often accompanied by feeling overwhelmed and frustrated which may lead to immobilization. Set limits and don’t be afraid to say “no”. Let go of feelings of guilt that can accompany not being able to meet everyone’s expectations all the time. By taking care of yourself first, you are better able to take care of other people and attend to the myriad obligations around you. Identify your own wants and needs and align your behaviors so that your needs are being met.

Inger Burnett-Zeigler, PhD is an assistant professor, clinical psychologist, published social science writer, public speaker and avid yogi.

Blackonomics: Are Black People Becoming Obsolete?

By James Clingman NNPA News Wire Columnist Coalition-building is the best way for Black people to make the kind of progress we need to make in this country, especially when it comes to economic empowerment. Some have posited that Black people are swiftly becoming obsolete. From the agricultural economy to the industrial and mass production economy Black folks, in some cases, had it going on. Many individual Blacks did quite well with jobs and businesses in those areas. As we moved through the technology/information economy and now into the knowledge-based economy, the rules for survival have changed.

Are Black people as a group becoming obsolete? Someone said, “All the shoes have been shined and all the cotton has been picked,” which suggests that Black people are no longer needed

by White folks, therefore, if we do not change our ways when it comes to business and job

development we will indeed become obsolete. Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey spoke of a time when we would have to consider the question of Black obsolescence if we did not awaken from our deep sleep and refuse to be dependent upon the largess of others for our sustenance.

The strength we gain from coalescence will bring about this much-needed change, and one major step is to reach out and connect with other likeminded people of African descent. This should be done on a national and an international level, the closest area being just south of our country the Caribbean.

One of the greatest Africans in modern history was born in Jamaica. Of course, that would be Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Look across the Caribbean and you will find other Blacks who knew and followed through on solutions; they took action rather than merely talk about their problems. They stood up against aggression, ignorance, and oppression. They understood and followed through on the value of educating their people, and they

subscribed to the lessons their elders left behind.

reciprocity in the marketplace as well as in the public policy arena.

Haitian history shows us strength and refusal to submit to enslavement; it also shows us resolve and a willingness to help others, as in the case of Haitian soldiers going to Savannah, Georgia to fight against the British in the Siege of Savannah on Oct. 9, 1779, during the U.S. Revolutionary War. We also remember the irrepressible Toussaint L’Ouverture, JeanJacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe, Haitians who led the only successful slave revolt in the western hemisphere.

Marcus Garvey instructed us to do one thing prior to taking on economic empowerment initiatives. He told us to “Organize!” He shared with us the truth about economic empowerment over political empowerment and how we should seek economics first. He said, “The most important area for the exercise of independent effort is economic.

After a people have established successfully a firm industrial foundation they naturally turn to politics and society, but not first to society and politics, because the two latter cannot exist without the former.”

Many Black people came to the United States from the Caribbean and brought with them the same spirit, the same dedication and drive, and the same resolute character that causes men and women to seek for themselves, as Richard Allen taught back in 1767.

Our Caribbean brothers and sisters have come with the determination to do for self, to rely on self, to cooperate with one another, and build an economic system within their own ranks. This article is written in an effort to celebrate our people and establish relationships that will engender cooperation among our people.

Lessons from Garvey and others have led a precious few of us to implement strategies that, in fact, will lead to economic empowerment; we need many more. One such effort is the One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors (OMCBV&C), which was established on Garvey’s words, “The greatest weapon used against the Black man is disorganization.” The OMCBV&C movement is underway, actively recruiting that critical mass of Black people who will take action rather than merely talk about problems. The One Million will leverage dollars and votes to obtain

Black people, no matter where we were born or where we live, must appreciate the fact that we started out in the same place and our differences emanate from our experiences in the nations where our ships docked in the western hemisphere.

In the tradition of Marcus Garvey, the One Million is organized, cooperative, and supportive of one another. It is entrepreneurial in its philosophy regarding ownership and control of income producing assets. The One Million is molded in the very practical notion of using our own resources to help ourselves and our children. We are committed, dedicated, sacrificial in our giving, and unapologetically Black as we pursue our ultimate goals of economic and political strength—in that order.

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

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

When It Comes to Voting, Choose to Choose

by George H. Lambert Jr. Special to the AFRO The current presidential election season already feels like the longest in history. We have seen and heard so much about the candidates that it’s hard to remember what it’s all about. If we are to have, in Lincoln’s immortal words, a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” then the people need to vote. And yet the United States, which sees itself as the greatest democracy in the world, lags behind every other developed nation when it comes to voter turnout.

There are no simple explanations for this problem— or should we call it a crisis? Nor are there simple solutions to remedy it. I believe, however, that we all can play a part in boosting voter turnout in our communities and that as a society we should make it a priority. Here are a few thoughts.

Beyond the White House.

There’s no doubt that this presidential election is important, but all the attention on the race for the highest office in the land is distracting us from other contests. I encourage the news media to devote more focus to local elections so that voters are better informed and make better choices.

The Black vote. In recent years,

black voters have turned out in greater numbers than white voters. Nevertheless, we can and should do better. Nonprofit organizations like the one that I run can’t endorse candidates, but working to improve turnout is fair game.

The millennial vote. This is the group of Americans who came to adulthood around the year 2000.

More than 40 percent of the 80 million people in this vital demographic belong to a racial or ethnic minority group. Despite their reputation for apathy, they are actually passionate about social justice. Two out of three millennials told USA Today that they see police violence against Black people as a problem. The challenge lies is convincing them

that their vote matters. We know that millennials are constantly on their smartphones. I hope that there’s a technology genius out there right now who’s coming up with a killer democracy app.

The District vote. We have seen the “Taxation without Representation” slogan on license plates for so long that it’s easy to forget how unfair it is that nearly 700,000 people have no Congressional representative.

Surely this historic disenfranchisement leaves D.C. residents feeling that their vote doesn’t count.

Election reform. More and more states are making it harder and harder to vote. Wisconsin is perhaps the worst offender. North Carolina’s voter ID laws have also

drawn controversy. Organizing to block and overturn unfair election laws makes our society more just. The lessons of the Civil Rights moment should still be fresh in our minds. Be sure to teach them to the younger people in your community.

Our democracy may not be perfect, but it’s the only one we’ve got. Even if none of the candidates fires you up this election, there’s no excuse to shirk your civic duty. Vote for the “least worst” candidates and wear your “I Voted” sticker proudly.

George H. Lambert, Jr. is the President and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League.

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Katherine Jackson On Motherhood:

“It Never Leaves You”

By Aria Ellise BlackDoctor.Org

MUST READ: What We Can All Learn From Michael Jackson’s Death

Katherine Jackson doesn’t celebrate Mother’s Day or birthdays for religious reasons. But Michael Jackson’s mother, who turned 86 on May 4, but she never forgets the principles that come with being a mother.

Michael’s generosity and his desire to “heal the world,” she says, were apparent from a very early age.

“You remember when they used to show the little African kids starving to death, flies all around their mouth? We,…

Born in 1930, Katherine contracted polio at the age of two.

Though she survived the devastating disease, she would walk with a noticeable limp for the rest of her life. As a child, Katherine wanted to be a country singer, but became discouraged upon realizing that there were rarely successful Black people in country music.

…Michael and I, would lay there on the floor watching TV. Michael would look up at me and said, ‘Mother,’ he said, ‘one day’ – he was only a kid then – ‘I’m going to do something about this.’” when they need her. They should be there at all times and know where your children are at all times. You must make your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and let your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ That’s really the way to bring your children up.”

Michael and his siblings singing, dancing and even moon-walking to greater and greater fame.

Katherine later met Joe Jackson in 1947. After he annulled a previous marriage, the couple married in 1949. They sang together, while Joe played guitar, until he took a job at a steel mill and Katherine began giving birth to what would eventually be 10 children. Brandon, Marlon’s twin, died within 24 hours of childbirth.

k jackson2 Katherine Jackson On Motherhood: It Never Leaves You

“I love the message. It says, ‘Don’t go to war no more. Steady peace because peace is all we need.’”

“One thing about mothers,” Katherine says. “They have to really be there for their children

Unlike so much of her clan, Katherine Jackson has shunned the spotlight even as she supported

Katherine went to every concert she could.

“Man of War” by the Jackson 5 and “Man in the Mirror” from Michael Jackson’s solo act.

“I’d have to say my favorite concerts of Michael’s—all of ‘em.

I never got tired of seeing it over and over and over again. Because I thought that they were just that great.

But the tour that sticks out in her mind as the ultimate, she says was the brothers’ record setting Victory Tour in 1984.

“Especially the Victory Tour. I love that one because it had all of my sons in it. All six.”

Katherine says he kept his promise, sending boxes and boxes of food to people who needed it, paying tuition for those who couldn’t afford it.

“There’s not a day that passes I don’t think about my child and he should be here right now.” says Katherine.

We miss him too, Ms. Jackson.

Happy Mother’s Day. (photo courtesy of facebook)

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

Association of Black Cardiologists Announces New President and Board Chairman and opportunities ahead of us.”

New York, NY — The Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC), an inclusive organization dedicated to eliminating disparities in cardiovascular diseases, has elected Felix Sogade, MD as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Barbara Hutchinson, MD, PhD as President.

“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Sogade and Dr. Hutchinson to their new leadership roles,” said Malcolm Taylor, MD, chairman of the Nominating Committee. “Their outstanding contributions to ABC across many sectors and proven leadership and business experiences will serve our organization well as we embrace the challenges

Dr. Sogade currently serves as the CEO/President of Georgia Arrhythmia Consultants and Research Institute(GACRI). He is ABIM board certified in clinical cardiac electrophysiology and cardiovascular diseases and has provided services to the mid-Georgia area for more than nineteen years. In addition, he serves as Associate Professor of Medicine at Mercer University.

Barbara Hutchinson, MD, PhD President, Association of BlackCardiologists

“ABC as an organization and its constituent members have played a tremendous role in my personal career development,” comments Dr. Sogade. “21 years ago I was awarded the very first ABC fellow-

ship to continue my training in Cardiac Electrophysiology at Duke University. I am honored today to serve as chairman of the board and shall continue to remain appreciative for this opportunity. This depth of gratitude makes commitment and determination to ensure success of this organization unfaltering.”

Dr. Hutchinson is the managing partner of Chesapeake Cardiac Care, P.A., a cardiology practice in Annapolis, Maryland. She is board certified in both cardiovascular disease and sleep medicine as well as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC). Dr. Hutchinson is an instructor in the

Department of Internal Medicine at University of Maryland Hospital and a noted international speaker.

“I am thrilled to accept the Board and membership appointment as President,” remarked Dr. Hutchinson. “The organization is at an exciting place in its 42 year history and I look forward to advancing its mission through the collaborative efforts of our board, our membership and staff. We want to build on the successes we have achieved thus far in education, research and advocacy while cultivating expansive progress in eliminating disparities. As an Con’t on page 27

federal agencies spend is at stake,” Chavis said. “Hopefully, in the remaining months of President Barack Obama’s administration, there will be an expedited effort to correct what appears to be a gross inequity.”

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA News Wire Contributor District of Columbia Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on Thursday fired off a letter to the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) demanding a new report detailing federal advertising contracts and subcontracts with minority-owned newspapers and media companies.

The Democrat’s missive to the GAO comes a little more than a month after she held a press conference on Capitol Hill with leaders from the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization made up of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers, and the National Association of Hispanic Publications, a trade group that represents the largest Spanish language publications in the country.

At the press conference, Norton called on the GAO to perform a new study and update a 2007 report that revealed government agencies spent $4.3 billion in advertising, but just a pittance of that amount was spent with minority media publications.

She reiterated that call on Thursday.

“The federal government is the largest advertiser in the United States, and it is important that news outlets and media companies owned or published by people of color with a primary mission to serve communities of color have Con’t from page 26

Black Cardiologists organization, we are strongly positioned to deliver reliable solutions to achieving health equity and diversity strategies (workforce, clinical trials) through high quality partnerships.”

the same opportunities as other media outlets – especially as African-Americans and Hispanic Americans continue to grow in number in our country,” Norton said.

The Congresswoman also secured the support of a number of others in the House of Representatives.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G.K. Butterfield, California Rep. Karen Bass, New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, Georgia Rep. John Lewis, and California Rep. Maxine Waters – all Democrats – were among those who signed Norton’s letter.

“We believe that this request is particularly timely because GAO will be conducting an audit of (Treasurer); and Michael Weamer, CAE. New officers were inducted earlier last month at ABC’s General Membership Dinner held during the American College of Cardiology’s Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

The ABC Board of Directors comprises a wide range of experience in various fields, including healthcare, organizational management and capacity building. To learn more, visit www.abcardio.org/ boardmembers.php About the Association of Black Cardiologists Founded in 1974, the Association of Black Cardiologists,

spending by federal agencies on public relations and advertising,” Norton said. “We ask [the GAO] to take this opportunity to look into how much is spent with newspapers and other media companies that are owned by people of color and whose audiences are largely AfricanAmerican or Hispanic.”

In 2007, GAO looked into spending on advertising contracts with minority-owned businesses by five agencies – the Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – and found that just five percent of the $4.3 billion available for advertising campaigns went to minority-owned businesses.

Inc., (ABC) is a nonprofit organization with an international membership of 1,500 health professionals, lay members of the community (Community Health Advocates), corporate members, and institutional members. The ABC is dedicated to eliminating the disparities related to cardiovascular disease in all people of color and achieving the highest level of health for all individuals and communities. The Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). For more information, please visit www.abcardio.org.

Norton wants an update from the GAO and more accountability.

Her actions were met with enthusiasm by those in the Black and Hispanic press.

“Having a constructive relationship with members of Congress is critically important and the NNPA’s relationship with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and Congressional Black Caucus Chair G.K. Butterfield has produced a significant step forward in getting federal agencies to do more advertising with African-American-owned and Hispanic-owned newspapers and media companies,” said Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a longtime civil rights activist and president and CEO of the NNPA. “This is not about charity, it’s about equity, in particular what

“Then-Sen. John Kerry had a meeting in 2006 and requested a report. We should have demanded the report every year. It should be standard compliance because it’s data everybody needs,” Montoya said.

The NNPA and NAHP have a combined reach of 43 million readers each week across the United States.

“With close to 97 million African Americans and Hispanics in the U.S. today – representing 33 percent of the total population – this consumer segment demands attention,” Montoya said. “The buying power of the AfricanAmerican and Hispanic communities, currently at more than $2.3 trillion combined, continues to outpace the national average.”

GAO Spokesman Charles Young said the office remains in contact with Norton and will work with her and others going forward.

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ABC also elected new board members Aaron Horne, Jr., MD, MBA; Onyedika Ilonze, MD, MPH; Heather Kinder; Wilma McGee, RN; Cheryl Pegus, MD; and Chima Nwaukwa, MD. Returning members and new officers include Andre Artis, MD, Mahfouz El Shahawy, MD (Secretary), Mark Thompson

NAHP Vice President Martha Montoya has said that Black and Hispanic newspapers should stay on top of the issue, demanding both accountability and constant feedback.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton Calls for Probe of Government Advertising

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BUSINESS HOURS - MONDAY FRIDAY 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM - 50 FITCH NEW HAVEN CT, 06515 - Career/Education/Training • Bid• L egal and Public Notices • Health Care • Real Estate • Professional

The Housing Authority of the City of Waterbury is accepting proposals for Chief Financial Officer Consulting Services. The pre-proposal conference will be on Monday, May 02 at 2:00 pm at the 2 Lakewood Road office in Waterbury. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, May 10 at 3:00 pm. To obtain the required documents pertaining to RFP S-CFO04012016 please contact Gina Worth, Purchasing Coordinator, at (203) 596-2096 or email at gina.biello@waterburyha.org .

NOTICE OF LEGAL SERVICE NORWALK HOUSING AUTHORITY The Norwalk Housing Authority is seeking Legal Services. Proposals are to be submitted no later than 4:00 p. m. on May 4, 2016 at Norwalk Housing Authority, 24 _ Monroe Street, Norwalk CT. Copies of the RFP Legal Services are available on our website, www.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFP/RFQ. Please use the following contact information for any additional inquiries; TTD/TYY 800-545-1833 x437, or the Office of Thomas F. Hickey, Director of Finance at 203-838-8471 x133.

Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Pre-application for waiting list at Orchard Hill Estates II State Elderly complex will be accepted until June 30, 2016. To qualify, you must be at least 62 or disabled with a maximum gross income of $46,000 (one person) or $52,600 (two people). Interested parties may pick up an application on line at coventryct.org, or at 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 or have one mailed by calling 860-742-5518.

Drivers: Company Drivers. $5000 transition bonus. Paid out in the first 4 months - Call us for details! New Home Time policy: 5 days out - 2 days off; 10 days out - 4 days off; 15 days out6 days off. We offer: average $1200$1400 weekly. $1500 quarterly bonus. $5000 referral bonus. Dedicated lanes.

Longevity bonus. Dedicated driver advocate team. Health, dental, vision benefits available. Paid layovers & orientation. Requirements: must have CDLA with tanker & hazmat endorsements.

Have or be willing to obtain TWIC card. 1yr. tractor-trailer exp. Call Jessica: 866-983-0855 or apply online at www.Work4QC.com

Pre-applications for waiting list at Orchard Hill Estates I HUD complex will be accepted until June 30, 2016. To qualify you must be at least 62 or disabled with a maximum gross income of $18,800 (one person) or $21,450 (two people). Interested parties may pick up an application on line at coventryct.org, or at 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 or have one mailed by calling 860-742-5518.

Autoridad de Vivienda de Branford 1224 Mill Street Edificio A, Suite 102 Berlín Este, CT 06023 WAITLIST ABIERTO

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

La Autoridad de Vivienda de Branford comunica que los ancianos / discapacitados Parkside Complejo Pueblo de 1 y 2 estarán aceptando presolicitudes para unidades de eficiencia sólo 9 de mayo de, el año 2016 hasta el 30 de junio de 2016. Para calificar, usted debe tener 62 años de edad o discapacitados. Los límites de ingresos según lo publicado por HUD no puede exceder de $ 46.100 (una persona) y $ 52.650 (dos personas). Los interesados podrán recoger una pre-solicitud en Parkside Village, 115 South Street Montowese, Branford, CT 06405 o puede tener uno enviado por correo llamando al (203) 481 a 5.632. pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse o enviarse antes del 30 de junio de 2016.

Branford Housing Authority 1224 Mill Street Building A, Suite 102 East Berlin, CT 06023

Help Wanted. Immediate opening for construction laborer. Please call PJF Construction Corp. @(860)232-9251.

We are an equal opportunity employer. M/F

OPEN WAITLIST

Elm City Communities Invitation for Bids

The Branford Housing Authority hereby announces that the Elderly/Disabled Complex Parkside Village 1 & 2 will be accepting pre-applications for EFFICIENCY UNITS ONLY May 9, 2016 through June 30, 2016. To qualify you must be 62 years old or disabled. Income limits as published by HUD cannot exceed $46,100 (one person) and $52,650 (two people). Interested parties may pick up a pre-application at Parkside Village, 115 South Montowese Street, Branford, CT 06405 or you may have one mailed by calling (203) 481-5632. Completed pre-applications must be returned or postmarked no

Elm City Communities also known as The Housing Authority City of New Haven is currently seeking Bids for 76 Day Street Townhouse Renovation. Bids will be received until Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at 3:00 PM. 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

later than June 30, 2016.

25, 2016 @ 3:00 PM.

76 Day Street Townhouse Renovation

Welder-Exp. Welder for structural steel Misc shop. Send resume:gwf@snet.net

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Listing:A Maintenance Assistant Immediate opening for a part time maintenance assistant for grounds and building maintenance.

Position requires flexible work schedule. Some heavy lifting required. Computer knowledge a plus. Send resume to HR Manager, 401 Soundview Road, Guilford, CT 06437. **An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven Invitation for Bids Winslow- Celentano Hydronic Upgrades The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (HANH) is currently seeking Bids for Winslow- Celentano Hydronic Upgrades. Bids will be received until March 4, 2016 at 3:00 PM. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @ 11:00 AM. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from HANH’s front desk at 360 Orange Street beginning on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 @ 3:00 PM. Request for electronic copies of the request should be emailed to bids@newhavenhousing.org.

Millennium Construction Services, LLC INVITATION TO BID Sayebrook Village South, Old Saybrook, CT Millennium Construction Services, LLC www.millennium-realty.com Phone: 860-529-1111 Fax: 860-529-5555 Email: bwhitaker@millennium-realty.com General Contractors are invited to bid on the new construction project known as Sayebrook Village South in Old Saybrook CT. The development consists of 17 individual new construction apartments of elderly affordable housing in four (4) buildings located on a 1.0 acre parcel on Sheffield Street in Old Saybrook CT.

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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Inner-City Inner-City News

Construction shall commence late Summer 2016 and continue until complete (weather pemitting). Owner is a Tax Exempt 501C3 non-profit organization.

Funding for the project is supplied by Essex Savings Bank and the Department of Housing. Performance and Payment Bonds are required for the full contract price. This project is NOT prevailing wage. Bids are due May 20, 2016 at 4pm. Bid form is included in the project specifications.

A complete set of plans and specifications are immediately available for review at http://www.wilesarch.com/#!contact/c1et The Owner reserve the rights; to accept any, all, or any part of any bids; to reject any, all or any part of any bids; to waive any nonmaterial deficiencies in bid responses; and to award the bid that in its judgment will be in the best interests of the Owner.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, SECTION 3 BUSINESSES AND WBE AND SBE/MINORITY BUSINESSES ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE. CONTRACTS AWARDED UNDER THIS SOLICITATION ARE SUBJECT TO STATE SET-ASIDE AND CONTRACT COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS.

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT is seeking quotes for HVAC MAINTENANCE SERVICES. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFP/RFQ. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Listing: Senior Accountant.

Immediate opening in a fast-paced petroleum environment for a degreed accountant w/ 2+ year’s public accounting experience. Duties include data transmission, tax prep, assistance w/monthly closing, account analysis/reconciliation, assistance managing network and system projects. Strong Excel and analytical skills a must. Great growth potential! Benefit package. Candidate must possess a high level of accuracy and attention to detail. Petroleum industry and propane experience a plus. Send resume to: Human Resource Dept. P O Box 388, Guilford CT 06437.

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**An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

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CT Junior Republic Human Service Positions CLINICAL COORDINATOR (Danbury, Meriden, Waterbury) (3) FT Positions Available – Conducts client assessment and supervises intake process, develops service plans, provides clinical supervision, provides crisis intervention, prepares reports and cofacilitates service team meetings. Master’s degree and 3 yrs exp in screening, assessment and treatment planning. LCSW, LMFT, or LPC license required.

EDUCATIONAL ADVOCATE (Danbury) FT - Reviews the educational history of clients, advocates for clients and coordinates services with school districts and provides academic testing and tutoring. Master’s with 2 yrs exp or Bachelor’s with 3 yrs exp.

THERAPIST (New Britain) FT – Provides evaluations and individualized treatment plans, both clinic-based and community/ home-based treatment services utilizing the A-CRA and ACC models of care to youth and families.

Master’s Degree and will be CT licensed or license eligible, bilingual (English/Spanish).

CJR offers a competitive salary and benefits package – EOE For full position descriptions go to: www.ctjuniorrepublic.org Send cover letter and resume to hr@cjryouth.org

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN MOVING TO WORK 2017 ANNUAL PLAN

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016

Section VB of the Authority’s Moving to Work Agreement (the “Agreement”) requires that before the Agency can file its Approved Annual Moving to Work Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the “HUD”) that it must conduct a public hearing, consider comments from the hearing on the proposed amendments, obtain approval from the Board of Commissioners, and submit the amendments to HUD. Pursuant to said Section VI B, the Authority will conduct a public hearing on May 31, 2016 at 4:00 PM, in the 3rd floor Board of Commissioners Conference Room at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 to receive comments and recommendations. A copy of the Plan will be available for review starting May 2, 2016 on the Authority’s website at www.elmcitycommunities.com or can be picked up at the front desk in the main lobby area at 360 Orange Street. You are invited to provide written comments addressed to HANH MTW 2015 Plan, Attn: Maza Rey, P.O. Box 1912, New Haven, CT 06509-1912. Any individuals requiring a reasonable accommodation to participate in the hearing may call Teena Bordeaux, Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator for HANH at 498-8800 extension 1507 or at the TDD Number 497-8434.

JOIN US OPEN HOUSE “NEW APARTMENTS” 258 Fairmont Avenue, New Haven, Ct. 06513 May 7, 2016 from 10:00am to 1:00pm Spacious two and three bedroom units, new appliances, carpet, parking, close to I91 and I95, bus stops and shopping centers.

For more information contact Maria @ 860.985.8258

INNER-CITY NEWS May 09, 2016 - May 15, 2016

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INNER-CITY NEWS May 09 04, 2016 - MAY 15, 2016 32