INNER-CITY NEWS

$3 Million Summer Literacy Initiative Takes Off

by Ale Cruz, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

A $3 million federal boost will help kids catch up in reading and math this summer. Now Mayor Justin Elicker, the New Haven Public Schools and several nonprofit partners are asking city residents to volunteer their time and help make it a success.

That was the news at New Haven Reads’ 85 Willow St. satellite Monday afternoon, as city officials, nonprofit leaders, and representatives of the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) gathered to announce a $3 million, pandemic-relief-funded reading and math pilot during the summer months. Dubbed the New Haven Tutoring Initiative, the pilot fuses intensive tutoring with existing summer programs, so that kids who are already signed up for summer enrichment get an extra infusion of math and literacy.

It will unfold at several sites across the city, including New Haven Reads, Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership, Inc. (LEAP), the Boys & Girls Club, New Haven Youth Tennis and Education (New HYTEs), Horizons at Foote, Inspired Communities, Inc., and New Haven Counts. Currently, the city hopes to work with 600 New Haven Public Schools students between kindergarten to fifth grade, and will require 200 volunteer tutors.

“Literacy is about tapping into everything,” announced incoming NHPS Superintendent Dr. Madeline Negrón. “Together, we can make New Haven the city that reads.”

In addition to Negrón and Elicker, speakers Monday included Assistant Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans, LEAP Executive Director Henry Fernandez, United Way of Greater New Haven President Jennifer Heath, New Haven Reads Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn, Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce President Garrett Sheehan and Lauren Zucker, associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties at Yale.

All represent partners on the project, which has sites in almost all of New Haven’s neighborhoods (exceptions include Cedar Hill, West Rock/West Hills, Morris Cove and the Annex, according to partner organizations’ summer program websites). Elicker noted that the New Haven Free Public Library, which has satellites in the Hill, Dixwell, Fair Haven, Westville and Downtown, has also been a particularly supportive partner on the project.

The initiative, which is funded by a chunk of New Haven’s $115 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation, seeks to get students up to or closer to grade level in reading and math. Last year, a status report from the New Haven Public Schools showed that thousands of students were reading below grade level,

painting an educational picture that the city’s Board of Education described as “crisis.”

In 2022, 84 percent of New Haven third graders were reading below grade level and 88 percent were below grade level in math, according to numbers from the district. The pilot, which the Elicker Administration first announced at a press conference in December, seeks to tackle the issue head-on. The city’s full Board of Alders voted to approve the pilot in January, and NHPS officials selected a plan in March of this year. Ultimately, the city aims to work with 1,500 students; this summer represents the first part of that effort.

“There’s no secret about our current state of affairs when it comes to our student test scores,” said Redd-Hannans. “But we do strongly believe that collaboratively, working together, we will be able to improve student outcomes … This program will force our students to perform on grade level. It is rigorous, it is relevant, and it is meaningful for our student learning.”

Monday, several speakers noted that Covid-19 and nearly two full years of remote school did not start this crisis, but exacerbated it. Even before the pandemic, getting kids up to grade level before third grade was critically important: that’s when kids make the switch from learning to read to reading to learn. Students who cannot read “cannot access the full opportunities of a K-12 curriculum,” Elicker said.

But Covid-19 has added a new dimension to the problem. LEAP’s Fernandez, who is a New Haven Public Schools parent, pointed to a gaping opportunity gap that has long existed in the city, and grew during remote learning. This summer, LEAP will implement the pilot at summer learning sites across Dixwell, Newhallville, Fair Haven, The Hill,

Dwight-Kensington and the West River, and Quinnipiac Meadows.

Fernandez added that LEAP will also offer “a series of workshops and trainings” from Summer Choate, director of

to learn to read. So we have a lot of work to do to catch up.”

Others noted that the pilot doesn’t work without the help of committed volunteer tutors, who can sign up on a website run by the United Way. Monday, Levinsohn said that New Haven Reads would provide adequate training and support to those interested in getting involved. In an interview with the Arts Paper last month, she also said that the approach works for English language learners as well as those who may be learning English as a second language, which represents a growing number of students in New Haven.

“This effort is appropriately ambitious and hugely important given the reading crisis that New Haven, along with many other urban areas, is facing,” she said. “Teachers are doing great work, but they can’t do it alone. And in fact, even adding this wonderful group of after-school providers isn’t enough for this effort. We need the whole city to come together to support its children.”

With 200 volunteers needed in order to get the initiative up and running, Elicker urged attendees to get involved, at as little as one to two hours per week. Zucker, who works in the Office of New Haven Affairs, said that the university is allowing staff and students to count a number of tutoring hours towards work time, in an effort to streamline the process. So has the Chamber; Sheehan’s first tutoring session was last week.

Elicker said that he has signed up himself, and is working on finding a way to let city officials and staffers trade work hours for tutoring.

“What greater gift can you give to the community?” he asked.

In an interview after the presser, Inspired Communities Founder Kim Harris said she is thrilled to be part of the initiative. In Newhallville, she will be implementing tutoring at both Harris & Tucker School, a daycare and preschool that she runs with her cousin, Karen Tucker, and the Inspired Communities Center at the corner of Bassett Streets and Shelton Avenue.

For her, she said, it’s personal—reading and writing were once difficult for her. She’s grateful to the community mentors who took the time to make sure she caught up.

“I’m trying to be a saving grace to students who are in my shoes,” she said. “I’m elated that people don’t have to walk far at all to get the help they need.”

training and curriculum at the nonprofit.

“For a couple of years, we were trying to teach little kids to read over Zoom,” he said. “Guess what? It was hard for all of us to figure out Zoom. We weren’t trying

Ale Cruz is the Arts Paper's 2023 New Haven Academy intern. The New Haven Academy internship is a program for NHA juniors that pairs them with a professional in a field that is interesting to them. From now through June 1, look out for their byline! Lucy Gellman contributed reporting.

Lucy Gellman Photos: Mayor Justin Elicker at Monday's press conference.

Incoming NHPS Superintendent Dr. Madeline Negrón.

Keisha Redd-Hannans, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the New Haven Public Schools.

Freddy Fixer Cleanup Crew Makes Dixwell Avenue Shine

Lucy Gellman

Steve Driffin leaned over a storm drain on Dixwell Avenue, clearing away matted grass, plastic lids, a discolored carpet of flattened nip bottles. To his left, Opal Harmon raked cigarette butts and bits of plastic wrapper from the sidewalk, studying the pavement to make sure she hadn't missed a spot. Jackie Downing teased open a black trash bag, and opened it wide.

As they worked, strains of gospel wove their way onto the avenue from Mount Hope Temple, making everything feel holy.

Sunday, the three joined city workers, healthcare professionals, teams of dancers and majorettes, members of the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee (ECFFPC) and lifelong Newhallville and New Haven residents in "Take Pride in Where You Reside," a neighborhood clean-up before the 57th annual Freddy Fixer Parade on June 4. The event, like the upcoming parade, is meant to amplify neighborhood preservation after a threeyear hiatus.

“I’m feeling good! I’m optimistic and excited,” said ECFFPC Executive Board President Chanelle Goldson, who has spent the year rebuilding the parade with board members Diane Brown, Petisia Adger, Jacqui Glover and Board Vice President Tracey Joseph. “A few months ago, we were struggling for help. Now, these events are helping people get excited for the parade. Today is hands on— they’re connecting with other residents in the community.”

After starting at the Stetson Branch Library Sunday morning, over 75 volunteers fanned out along the parade route, which will begin at Dixwell Avenue and Bassett Street and travel roughly a mile and a half to Dixwell Avenue and Lake Place. Armed with thick gardening gloves, rakes, shovels and bags for both garbage and grass clippings, they got to work, often chatting as they walked to an assigned block and worked up and down its length.

Close to Thompson Street, a crew from the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT), the Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP) and the reopened Dixwell Community Q House split into two groups, taking opposite sides of the street.

On one side, Arnold Hunter and Rachel Graziano spread out, and started to take stock of the trash in front of them. On the other, Driffin and Harmon worked methodically alongside Downing, a longtime champion of the Q House who is the senior director of grantmaking and nonprofit support at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Every so often, the three paused to take in the sheer amount of litter that had gathered on the street and sidewalks.

Harmon, who works as the human resources manager at ConnCAT, suggested aloud that it likely wasn’t left by neighbors, but discarded by passing drivers as they made their way up Dixwell Avenue. She smiled at the thought of making it spotless again.

“New Haven is beautiful,” she said, remembering similar neighborhood cleanup and outreach events before the annual Barnum Festival in her native Bridgeport. “All parts of New Haven are beautiful. When people see beauty, they have hope.”

The Director of Programs at ConnCAT, Driffin remembered walking the same route in 2019, when ConnCAT CEO and President Erik Clemons was one of the parade’s grand marshals. As he speared the flat, see-through plastic lid of a discarded to-go cup, Driffin remembered soaking in the gentle June sun as hundreds of attendees cheered marchers on. It was, unbeknownst to event organizers at the time, the last parade that would grace Dixwell Avenue for three years.

“For me, it pretty much means building self-esteem, pride in the neighborhood,” he said. The lid crackled and bent as it made its way into a nearby garbage bag. Newhallville also holds a special place in his heart. In the early 1990s, Driffin lived on Thompson Street, a young playwright fresh out of college who was completely new to New Haven. After five or six years he moved further into the neighborhood, onto Shelton Avenue. Long before “the mudhole” was ever the Newhallville Learning Corridor, the neighborhood became the cradle of some of his most formative dramatic work, including Yo’ Street and decades later, Death By 1,000 Cuts.

While he now lives in West Haven, his work at ConnCAT brings him back into the neighborhood at least five days a week—a kind of ritual for which he is grateful. He is currently putting the final touches on the organization's summer youth program, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop. As he spoke, a quartet of larger-than-life sparrows painted on the side of Moe’s Market spread their wings wide, as if to show

their excitement.

Meanwhile, he said, community-oriented events like Sunday’s have also made his daughters “more civic-minded,” as they watch and learn what it looks like to be in community. Harmon agreed, noting that her son and daughter often notice litter now when they are walking through a space.

As she leaned over remnants of a shiny, silver-colored plastic fork, Downing remembered decades of community build-

and 40s. They include, for instance, Bereavement Care Network Founder Nakia Dawson-Douglas and political strategist Moses Nelson. When Downing attended a ribbon cutting for the building in November 2021, she was amazed when Nelson sat down next to her, and placed his head in her lap.

“It’s a restoration,” she said. Music spilled out onto the sidewalk from Mount Hope’s Sunday services, making its way right through the sanctuary’s heavy, closed doors. “It’s a restoration. If you look at the houses, they’re beautiful.”

She motioned to the house behind her, a soaring, wood-paneled home with a red brick porch and green paint that glowed in the sunlight. For years, she knew it as the house belonging to William Spruill, a fellow neighborhood booster and advocate of the Q House alongside whom she served. While she lives in Hamden, where she was born and raised, the neighborhood feels like a second kind of home, she said.

Across the street, Hunter and Graziano worked quietly, stopping every so often to greet a pedestrian, or wave hello to a neighbor who had stepped out into the sunlight. Born and raised on Goffe Street when the Saint Martin’s Townhouses were still new, Hunter remembered watching the parade as it passed his home on its way downtown. Year after year, it became the event of the season. “Freddy Fixer was the thing,” he said. “Everybody looked forward to the parade.”

When Hunter retired after years as a security guard at the Yale University Art Gallery, he started looking for ways to plug back into the community. It was Brown who suggested he get involved with the parade, after which he started attending monthly board meetings at the Stetson Branch. Although he struggles with chronic pain and arthritis, he said, there was no question in his mind that he’d be out there Sunday, helping clean up before parade day.

“Even though I’m struggling, my damn knee hurts, I’d rather be here than at home,” he said with a smile. “It’s important. Especially in our community.” Driffin, who had crossed the street and was half-listening, beamed and looked up.

ing in the neighborhood, where she first joined the Dixwell Community Q House as a volunteer in 1985. By 1991, she was working as the space’s development director part time. Four years after that, she was a program manager. She is now a board member for the reopened building, where a seasonal rotation of classes is running through June 24.

Even after she left in the late 1990s, she remained close with many of “the Q House Kids,” who are now in their 30s

“It’s that feeling that he gives you in here!” he said, bringing a hand to his chest, where it rested over his heart. His smile looked like it could leave the whole block sparkling.

Nearby, Graziano recalled growing up as a young, artsy kid in New Haven and attending the Freddy as a teen. Years later, she still spends time in the city as a barber and dance teacher at ConnCAT. While she now lives in the Naugatuck Valley, she’s often in New Haven, bouncing between ConnCAT and ConnCORP’s Morse Street space in Hamden. “I just miss my city so

The full cleanup crew. Photo contributed by Diane Brown.

Harmon: All of New Haven is beautiful. Lucy Gellman Photos.

The CEDP crew. Lucy Gellman Photos.

New Haven Independent

With Black Composers At The Helm, NHSO Raises The Standard

Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

It was the woodblock that made the audience suddenly feel on edge, as strains of "I Want Jesus To Walk With Me" swelled over the room. The sound ticked past the stage and into the house, quickening as if someone had lit a fuse in the percussion section. The bass drums rolled in underneath; symbols crashed violently. The sound crested, then fell eerily silent.

In an instant, musicians had cleaved time and space in two. In one world, they were still in New Haven, dressed in coattails and suit jackets and long black skirts, hands hovering over their instruments. In the other, it was September 1963, and a blast had ripped through the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four little girls because they were Black. In the audience, a listener could have heard a pin drop.

It was one of several astounding moments last Friday night, as the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) presented its final concert of the season at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Connecticut State University. Over two hours, it featured the work of composers Margaret Bonds, Helen Hagan, Florence Price and Quinn Mason—all Black artists whose sonic influences range from African American spirituals, juba and jazz to Antonín Dvořák and Igor Stravinsky.

With Grammy-winning pianist Michelle Cann, it also marked the premiere of Helen Hagan's 1912 Piano Concerto No. 1, Mvt. 1, orchestrated by Dante Anzolini. From its first note to a final standing ovation, it doubled as a triumphant celebration of Black voices and Black futures, blazing a clear and bright path forward for the organization and for classical music in New Haven.

As Maestro Alasdair Neale returned to the podium after months away, it was also a reminder that any incoming music director has enormous shoes to fill.

"[These are] three remarkable Black women, trailblazers very much in their own right," Neale said of Hagan, Bonds and Price at the top of the concert, beaming as he introduced the first work of the evening. "The music of Margaret Bonds, Helen Hagan and Florence Price ... we are in for three real treats there."

It was, if such a thing is possible from a maestro who can and often does go airborne while conducting, an understatement. When Bonds' Montgomery Variations began, it was not a classical convention that grabbed a listener, but the bone-deep strains of "I Want Jesus

To Walk With Me,” a spiritual that reminds its listener of Christ's constancy and goodness in the depths of suffering. Where words might otherwise have been, the audience heard Bonds’ rising, harmonious strings and soulful horns, fierce and certain but never bombastic.

There’s a thrilling, deeply affecting treatment of the source text there. When an oboe warbled at the top of her second

movement ("Prayer Meeting"), it sounded like a gentle human voice, reminding others in the room of chapter and verse,

of what was once at stake in the Jim Crow South. When it picked up later in the same movement, the audience could feel it marching in time with the music, the footfalls clear and steady as horns stuck their landing.

The work is steeped in history: Bonds wrote Montgomery Variations in 1964, in response to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington and the horrific, white nationalist bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in September 1963. The attack killed four Black girls—Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley—and left over 20 people injured.

"It's one of the most brutal and obscene episodes in the civil rights struggle, and it's cataloged here by Margaret Bonds with incredible power and potency," Neale said Friday. "Out of that shocked abyss, there emerges a wonderfully simple and stark lament.”

Friday, listeners could hear that in real time, as Bonds telegraphed the destruction of the bombing (and indeed, of white supremacy that continues in this country today) with angry, irritated percussion, crashing cymbals and drums that frothed and undulated before going quiet just as quickly. When Neale brought musicians to their final note, one arm soaring before it came in close and gentle, attendees sprang up from their seats, some bursting into applause. A few wiped tears away from their faces.

No wonder, then, that it laid the groundwork for Hagan's piano concerto, written when the composer was just 19 years old and still living in New Haven. Over a century ago, it was first performed in Woolsey Hall with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 1912. When Anzolini began reconstructing the work, he was working from a piano duet version of the first movement, the only part of the work to survive over a century later.

As Cann took a seat at the piano Friday, it was the certainty and vigor of her touch that defined the piece’s premiere in New Haven. She took a breath in, and it was as if the piano was breathing with her. She leaned over the keyboard, her shoulders rolling forward, and bore down until the sound soaked the space, rushing out to the aisles and into the furthest of back rows.

Within seconds, she and the instrument were extensions of each other, her fingers at their most natural as they flew across and thrummed with energy. At one moment, the music around her parted, and it was as if it was just Cann and the piano on stage. At another, she let the orchestra rise around her, the keys holding their own as horns, woodwinns and percussiom joined the mix. In the audience, Anzolini watched, spellbound, as his orchestration came to life.

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Matt Fried Photos courtesy of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Michelle Cann. Matt Fried Photos courtesy of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Rosalind Estelle Lawrence and Valerie Eugenia Rooks. Lucy Gellman Photo. Read more by going to THE

Student Engineers Put Pressure To Practice

by MAYA MCFADDEN

As her hands worked deftly on a new in-classroom engineering project, KingRobinson eighth grader Nevaeh James glanced back and forth between a basic model of a hydraulic system and her own build — which she had designed to be bigger and with an additional moving claw. James undertook that work on Friday at King-Robinson Inter-District Magnet School at 150 Fournier St., a day after students concluded a week of state assessments.

This reporter recently visited second and eighth grade STEM classes at the Beaver Hills school, where students used their hands to build everything from Lego replicas of the Windsor Castle to models of hydraulic systems used for heavy machinery like airplanes and cranes.

In Jonathan Hill’s class, eighth grade students created models of an aircraft hydraulic system.

With a video explaining hydraulics playing on the classroom board, students worked independently to each create their own model.

“Once they get an understanding, they have to get a hands on [approach],” Hill said.

Students also incorporate lessons in ge-

ometry and physics while building systems that use liquids to transmit force.

King-Robinson was one of several schools in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district that received a federal manufacturing grant, which brought Goodwin Manufacturing Lab to the Beaver Hills school to expose students to local manufacturing careers. The school also received two VR headsets to introduce career trainings in the manufacturing field.

During Friday’s lesson Hill checked in with his students mid-class on the lesson’s terminology and gauged their understanding of how hydraulics work in aircrafts.

Jaiden Rogers demonstrated an example of the class’s previous project making a wind lift.

By pointing a small fan toward the blades of a windmill, the blades began to turn from the air flow and cause a cup attached to a string on the windmill to lift thanks to air pressure power.

“So how does this relate to an airplane or a wing of an airplane?” Hill asked the class.

“It’s the same air flow that causes lift,” said one student.

Students also recalled the four dynamics of flight as lift, thrust, drag, weight.

Hill displayed his own example of a hy-

draulic system which he engineered to use water pressure pumps to cause mechanical movement and operation of the system. While working on their own projects the students moved back and forth in the

classroom to refer back to Hill’s model.

“They solve their own problems in here,” Hill said.

After James measured a wooden stick to one used in Hill’s model. She then cut her

stick to the same length and inserted it to hold her syringe into place.

After completing the foundational structure of the hydraulic system James went on to begin engineering a hydraulic arm claw that could pivot side to side and up and down.

Other students re-watched the demonstration video on their phones as they created their own models.

Some made projects that resembled Hill’s model very closely while others created spins on the structure by adding claws, longer arms, or more movements to their design.

Using personal workbooks Hill teaches his students to act like engineers by drawing out different mechanisms and asking specific questions about the systems on their own.

He’s also taught them to sign off and date their work designs like an actual engineer. Eighth grader Joshua, 14, said he enjoys working hands on in the classroom. “It’s easy as long as you pay attention and follow the steps,” he said.

Like his peers Joshua bounced between standing at his desk with his own project and looking at the model example made Read more by going to THE INNERCITY NEWS .COM

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTOS King-Robinson STEM teacher Jonathan Hill, with seventh grader Thomas: "They solve their own problems in here."

New Haven Independent

1,700 Group Home Care Providers in Connecticut to Strike for Living Wages and Benefits

by Christine Stuart

Over 1,700 group home care providers in Connecticut are planning to strike next Wednesday, demanding living wages, affordable health insurance, and retirement funding. The strike notices have been delivered to several group home agencies, including Oak Hill, Mosaic, Whole Life, Network, Caring Community, and Alternative Services, Inc., with an indefinite work stoppage scheduled to begin on May 24.

Oak Hill President and CEO Barry Simon has called on the Connecticut General Assembly and Gov. Ned Lamont to authorize a cost-of-living adjustment to the organization’s state contracts. With only a 1% increase over the biennium, Oak Hill can no longer pay its staff a fair rate. As a result, the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU, gave strike notice on Friday, May 12th. If a reasonable COLA is not included in the budget, a strike impacting Oak Hill’s programs will commence on at 6 a.m., May 24th until further notice. If the strike begins, up to 420 vulnerable and medically fragile group home residents will be temporarily moved to other DDS programs, consolidated group homes, or placed in the care of family members.

“I urgently call on Legislative Leadership and the Governor to authorize a reasonable cost-of-living adjustment to Oak

Hill’s and all non-profit state contracts,” said Simon. “If union terms are not met, there will be severe quality-of-life implications for the individuals we serve. A strike of any length will have debilitating mental health and treatment impacts for the individuals who call Oak Hill home. Can you imagine having to leave your home of 30 years?”

Oak Hill supports SEIU 1199’s position that group home workers and other

direct support professionals should be fairly compensated for their work. After more than 17 years without a true costof-living adjustment to its state contracts, Oak Hill’s group home workers’ and educators’ salaries have not kept pace with inflation. Many employees in the industry are forced to work multiple jobs and rely on public assistance to make ends meet. Due to the rate set by the State, Oak Hill has nearly 200 open positions that it strug-

gles to fill. If Oak Hill were fully staffed, it could provide residential services to 75 additional individuals with disabilities and educate the 65 students on the waitlist for Oak Hill School.

Rob Baril, President of the New England Health Care Employees Union, SEIU 1199NE, stressed the importance of ending poverty for all caregivers. He emphasized that despite the challenges faced during the pandemic, essential workers

and caregivers in Connecticut continue to struggle financially.

To lift group home workers out of poverty, Connecticut’s group home services require an additional $400 million in Medicaid funding in the state’s biennial budget. This would provide a pathway to a $25/hr minimum wage, access to affordable healthcare, and a pension allowing workers to retire after decades of service.

Connecticut group home services receive 50% matching funds from the federal government. The additional investment of $400 million in Medicaid funding consists of $200 million in state dollars, with the remaining $200 million funded by federal dollars.

The strike will involve union group home workers from various roles, including direct support and direct care staff, dietary workers, maintenance staff, program aides, job coaches, assistant managers, assistant program coordinators, residential day program workers, assistant teachers, behavior paraprofessionals, and some licensed practical nurses.

Stacy Heyliger, a direct support staff member from Network Inc. in Manchester, shared her experience of working two full-time jobs and still struggling to make ends meet. She highlighted the strenuous nature of the work and the difficulties faced by many workers who cannot afford to take care of themselves due to low pay and inadequate benefits.

Cross Sophomore Wins Ed Board Election

by MAYA MCFADDEN

Wilbur Cross High School sophomore

John Carlos Serana Musser will be the next student representative on the Board of Education, after coming out on top in a three-way race for a soon-to-open seat.

Serana Musser was elected by his student peers Friday after an hour-and-a-half ballot count occurred in a second-floor meeting room at City Hall. This was the first contested election for a student rep seat on the school board in four years.

Serana Musser was one of three students vying for the soon-to-be-open seat currently filled by graduating Hillhouse senior Ma’shai Roman. Also running were Co-op sophomore Laila KellyWalker and Hillhouse sophomore HsiuMei Chow-Yen.

After all 2,246 ballots were counted Friday, Serana Musser won with 994 votes from high schoolers across the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district. Kelly-Walker received 825 votes, and ChowYen received 427.

He’ll now join Dave Cruz-Bustamante, a rising senior at Wilbur Cross, as a fellow non-voting student member on the city’s school board.

At a candidate forum hosted by the district two weeks ago Serana Musser, who

grew up Wooster Square, described himself as diligent, responsible, self-reliant, and community-oriented. He is also a student athlete on Cross’ soccer team.

He shared plans to speak up to the board about the lack of permanent teachers and its effects on students like himself, who has two classes this year without full-time educators. He also promised to encourage students to voice their opinions through protest, and to push to allow teachers to create classroom curriculums to make class instruction more engaging and relevant.

Kelly-Walker was the only candidate present in-person at Friday’s ballot count while Serana Musser joined the announcement via Zoom.

Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans and staffers Martiza Gant and Liz Dematteo counted all 2,246 ballots alongside Newhallville Alder Kim Edwards, who was also a member of the district’s student election committee. All 5,200 NHPS high schoolers were eligible to vote in Friday’s election.

Kelly-Walker was joined by her mom as well as by her classmate Carizma Bulnome for support at Friday’s count.

While waiting, Kelly-Walker described having “nervous excitement” as the ballots were tallied.

“Regardless of the outcome I’m excited to be a part of it,” she said.

The day before the vote was KellyWalker’s last day of campaigning, as she was joined by a small support team to hang flyers and announce her campaign to classes around school.

This year’s student election committee, charged with setting up the voting process, distributing information, and

verifying students’ collected signatures, included members from City Hall, Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox, Alder Edwards, Board of Alders Legislative Services Director Al Lucas, Hillhouse Coach Darrell Brown, and Citywide Youth Coalition Executive Director Addys Castillo, among others for total of about 10 members.

Each high school was tasked with giv-

ing its students the opportunity to vote in the Friday election.

Assistant superintendent Paul Whyte reported Friday that one student voter, who is a refugee, was the first in her family to vote in an election.

Current junior student rep on the board, Dave Cruz-Bustamante, who attends Cross, said Friday’s student vote was well organized and better arranged than last year’s uncontested election.

“I love the entire slate,” he said. “And we all know that this is not the end all, be all.”

Similar to young voters in the real world, Cruz-Bustamante said, he heard from many Cross students that they didn’t see the point tin voting because they feel student voice is not a priority of the district. Student representatives do not have a formal vote on the Board of Education, At Wilbur Cross, Cruz-Bustamante said, Friday’s election was a big deal and had multiple voting booth on each of its floors manned by two staffers.

During Friday’s second period each classroom door was knocked on to encourage students to take a moment to vote. Then staff also offered any students who missed the vote the opportunity to

SEIU District 1199 workers on the picket line Credit: Christine Stuart / CTNewsJunkie.com

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Tallying up Friday's school board election results at City Hall.

New Haven Independent

Russell, Lamont Reach Deal To Start Baby Bonds This Summer

by Mike Savino

Treasurer Erick Russell, Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic lawmakers unveiled a plan Tuesday to finally launch the state’s Baby Bonds program.

After finding $381 million in funding, Russell said the state can start setting aside $3,200 for each child born after July 1 who is covered by Husky, the state’s Medicaid program.

“This is an example of how we can invest in people, and think about the long term future for lifting up all of our residents,” Russell said during Capitol press conference.

In reaching a deal with Lamont, Russell was able to finally start a program that had been in limbo since lawmakers passed the program in 2021.

The state will utilize $381 million that had been set aside in a reserve account when the state borrowed money to help fund the pension program for retired teachers. The reserve fund was meant to cover any missed payments.

Russell says the state is now in a better financial position and can afford insurance to cover that risk. The $381 million otherwise would have gone back into the state’s budget reserve in 2032, but he suggested to Lamont the state use it for Baby Bonds instead.

“I pushed Erick pretty hard,” Lamont said. Initially, lawmakers wanted to use bonding to fund the program, but Lamont said he didn’t want to do something ”that’s going to saddle taxpayers” with roughly $165 million in interest.

The program approved by lawmakers is slated to last for 12 years. For each eligible child born during that time period, the state will deposit $3,200 into a trust. Those children can withdraw the money

between the ages of 18 and 30 and can use the funds for certain approved expenses, like attending college, buying a home or starting a business.

Sen. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford and chairwoman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, said this program was important to her caucus. Many members raised their hands when she asked how many experienced poverty growing up.

“The children today that are in poverty — these children are struggling and I don’t want them to go through what I went through,” Miller said.

The agreement does require legislative approval. Democratic leaders voice their support for the compromise.

“We were looking to do something that could be transformative for people who often don’t come into any kind of inheritance at any time in their lives,” Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven said.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said he still wanted to see the details Tuesday afternoon, but he was concerned about using money put aside to protect bond payments. “We are really, I guess, squeezing out every penny that we can possibly squeeze out and spending it,” he said.

Russell said the $381 million fully funds the programs. He estimated each child would receive $11,000 and $24,000, depending on how long they wait before withdrawing.

Members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus said Baby Bonds will give a boost to people growing up in poverty, allowing them to be a bigger part of the state’s overall economy.

“We keep talking about the kids graduating and leaving,” said Rep. Geraldo Reyes, D-Waterbury. “This could be one of the reasons they stay.”

Trey Moore Takes A Trip

by BRIAN SLATTERY

“Love Drugs,” the first cut from the New Haven-based musician Trey Moore’s new album Psychedelic Love Drugs, starts as a smooth number, a sultry guitar, a gentle rhythm. “Reality,” Moore sings. “I want it now.” As if in response, the song kicks into a new mode, with swirling keyboards, a dirty drumbeat, lush strings. It’s a signal for what the album has in store; as the name implies, Psychedelic Love Drugs is about expansion — mentally and musically.

“I’m proud of everything I make. This one feels a lil different tho. It took some time.

I hope it makes you feel something,” Moore wrote on social media by way of introduction. “drive somewhere, spend time with it, catch a vibe. we’ll see what happens.”

As New Haven music fans know, watching what happens with Moore is worth doing. He appears onstage frequently, whether presenting his own music or playing as a sideman. He has also become a music

scene organizer. Last year he created the Seeing Sounds Festival, which filled the skate park at Edgewood Park with vendors and music on a hot July day. This summer the festival will take place from June 27 to July 1 with the main event returning to Edgewood’s skate park once again. This spring Moore also organized a few shows under the moniker of INDIEWAV, “a curated showcase for the community to explore and experience the next generation of indie artists from CT and beyond,” as well as The Undrgrnd, a dance party.”

And meantime, there is Psychedelic Love Drugs, which shows how Moore has been stretching out as an artist. “Hypnotized” uses a simple riff from a crunchy guitar as a setting for an adventurous, romantic melody that turns a sharp corner halfway through. Drums and bass bolster the beat while a MC takes over. “If you’re feeling psychedelic, I’m on it,” the rap goes. By then, it’s easy to believe him. The musical turns continue with each song.

“Get to Know You” slides along on a slinky beat that gets a little grit from guitars and keys. “Illusion” partakes of a classic strut until it breaks into a gallop and finally takes off in a sweep of synthesizers. “Altitude” starts off with driving drums but then floats off into the ether — ending in an alarm clock. “Sober” and “Closer” are lush ballads, while “Do You” strips down to the essentials. The album’s closers, “Shrooms” and “You,” find Moore at his spaciest, and in the end, his most anthemic. Each specific song, and the album as a whole, is marked by transformation. The songs begin in one sonic space and end in another, taking the listener (as, again, the title promises) on a trip, outward and inward. All told, Psychedelic Love Drugs is Moore’s most complete and complex record to date, and also a sign that maybe he’s just getting started.

Psychedelic Love Drugs is available on Apple Music and Spotify. Follow what Moore is up to as an artist and organizer

State Treasurer Erick Russell announces compromise on Baby Bonds Credit: Mike Savino photo

New Haven Independent

PARADE

The Legacy Lives On!

Freddy Fixer Weekend

35 Years Later, Ethnic History Steps Into Future

by PAUL BASS

As culture wars continued raging elsewhere across the country, an island of crossethnic cooperation and understanding celebrated a milestone in New Haven.

That celebration took place Sunday on Fitch Street inside the Ethnic Heritage Center on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University.

Members of five ethnic historical societies gathered there to celebrate their organization’s 35th anniversary.

The five groups — the Jewish Historical Society, the Italian-American Historical society, the Ukrainian-American Historical Society, the Irish-American Historical Society, and the African-American Historical Society (known in a previous incarnation as the Afro-American Historical Society) — came together while working on a joint exhibit for New Haven 350th anniversary bash on the Green in 1988.

They found they enjoyed sharing each other’s stories. So they formed a formal organization. In 2001 they brought their archives and exhibits and records to create a home in the joint space offered by SCSU.

“We have learned so much about each other. And we love each other,” EHC Ukrainian-American Society President Gloria Horbaty (pictured) told the three dozen people gathered inside the one-story facility for Sunday’s event.

Italian-American Society President Laura Parisi (pictured) spoke about discovering how each group’s tradition had its own version of “the evil eye.”

Each group had historical artifiacts on

display, like these Ukrainian dolls … … pages of the original New Haven Independent, an early 20th century Italian-language newspaper published on Wooster Street …

… including minutes starting from 1910 from the “20th Century Club,” a group of Black women helping newcomers from the South adjust to living here and navigate health care, while also staging theatrical and musical events. (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library has the minutes books from the group’s first decade.)

“Each of the ethnic groups represented here today had a role in building New Ha-

ven,” said African-American Society President Carolyn Baker, pictured reviewing the minutes. The center unveiled at the event a new ongoing exhibit about their members’ group’s decade-by-decade histories in New Haven.

SCSU Vice-President Diane Ariza called organizations like the EHC “vital to civic society. … A sense of unity cannot be taken for granted anymore. … If a group is not recognized, it cannot be protected from injustice.” Ariza is pictured above at left with Rhoda Zahler Samuel, coordinator for one of the EHC’s newer projects: Creation of ethnic neighborhood walking tours, featuring books with self-guided routes and histories.

Democrat Downer Seeks School Board Seat

by PAUL BASS

This year’s Board of Education campaign officially began Wednesday afternoon, as Andrea Downer filed papers to seek the District 2 seat as a Democrat.

Downer filed the papers at the City Clerk’s office surrounded by Campaign Manager Sean Hardy, Treasurer Yvette Torres, Deputy Treasurer Nichole Jefferson, and supporter Jonathan Quinn Berryman.

New Haven’s nine-member ed board has two elected voting positions, each from a district representing half the city. District 2 is the only one with a seat open this year.

Darnell Goldson, who currently holds the seat, said Wednesday he plans to make an announcement within the next week about whether to seek reelection.

“I have been busy performing BOE work and haven’t focused on the mechanics of launching a campaign. I will do so at the appropriate time,” he said. He welcomed Downer’s candidacy as “democracy at its best. The more people involved, the better it is for our students, staff and taxpayers.”

Downer, 51, is a 1989 Hillhouse High School grad and mother of a Career High grad. She works as an electrical engineer and serves as Democratic co-chair of Ward 27.

She said she decided to do more to support

public education beyond her work tutoring students every week at the Mitchell Library. She said she has seen students struggle with the shortage of teachers in core subjects like science, and math and engineering. With degrees in management information systems, engineering, and business policy and strategic leadership, she said, she can help the board work with the incoming Superintendent of Schools Madeline Negrón to tackle budget challenges and the teacher shortage.

“That is a retainment problem,” she said. “I hope the new superintendent has wonderful ideas and the board can support her. We have to be collaborative.”

Downer said she is currently finishing up a Paradigm for Parity program focused on gender equality, a topic she’d like to address as a school board member. She also suggested offering software programs to help parents of English language learners master English themselves so they can help their children with homework.

ALLEN SAMUEL PHOTO

EHC member society Presidents Marjorie Drucker, Diane Petaway, Gloria Horbaty, Carolyn Baker, Laura Parisi.

New Haven Independent

Team Downer, from left: Deputy Treasurer Nichole Jefferson, the candidate, Treasurer Yvette Torres, Campaign Manager Sean Hardy.

Career Opportunities Knock On The Green

by ABIBA BIAO

Dozens of New Haveners on the hunt for new work turned out to the Green to learn about employers, participate in job interviews, and explore training and careerbuilding programs.

That took place Thursday afternoon at an outdoor Community and Career Festival hosted by Workforce Alliance / American Job Center.

Workforce Alliance provides job training and placement services for individuals in the Greater New Haven and Middlesex areas, according to the organization’s president and CEO, William Villano. It provides help for those newly entering the workforce and those looking to change careers, as well as for individuals who have been laid off and trying to get a new job.

“Since the pandemic, we found that it’s much more effective if we bring our operation to where people are,” Villano said. “And we thought that we will see how this works out on the Green to see if we can attract more people.”

At one table on Thursday were brothers Adonis and Terrance Myers, spreading information about medical coding. Terrance, 33, is the CEO and head instructor at Myers Medical Coding and has been in medical coding for eight years, getting his license back in 2015.

Terrance described medical coding as “the process of translating a doctor service into alpha-numerical code.” Their company offers online training courses for the Certified Risk Adjustment Coder (CRC) and Certified Professional Coder (CPC) exams to become a medical coder. The CPC and CRC exams consist of 100 multiple choice questions and last for four hours. To earn CPC or CRC certification, test takers must pass with a grade of 70 percent or higher.

“In order for the hospitals to get reimbursed, they need to submit an insurance claim,” Terrance said, “so I am training people how to look up the medical codes to be able to help the physicians in need.” His younger brother Adonis, 26, is an intern at Myers Medical Coding and said his brother’s affinity in the field led him into doing a deep dive to explore the subject for himself.

“Medical coding itself is a very interesting field. Not a lot of people know about it,” Adonis said, “and once you research on it, and actually learn what you’re doing, it’s pretty interesting.”

Typing away on the mobile career training bus was Jacqueline Sewell-Freelove registering for Metrix Learning, an online learning program that helps users gain certifications to lead to employment.

“I want to be more skilled on the computer, because a lot of jobs require you knowing those type of jobs on the computer,” she said.

A Bishop Woods resident, Sewell-Freelove said she used to be more tech savvy when she was younger and hopes to get

back into the swing of things through her career training.

“When I heard about it on the radio I said, ‘I’m going to that’ because I needed the skills in a lot of different things because it’s been so long.”

By the end of these courses SewellFreelove wants to be proficient in Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and Excel. She hopes her efforts lead to her getting a work-from-home job, so that she can be more financially independent without expending too much energy.

Guiding Sewell-Love was 58-year-old Duncan McIntyre, an education and training supervisor for Career Resources. For McIntyre, his passion for teaching digital literacy is seeing his students apply their newfound knowledge.

“I love helping people. I love seeing people learn new things,” McIntyre said. “I’ve had people go through some of my classes, and then they will call me and say they created their own website for a business.”

McIntyre said a notable population of students that are technologically averse are usually seniors and the elderly. He ad-

vised people who were hesitant to learn to “take one step at a time” and to be patient with the process.

“They all think that these younger people were born with the skills and you’re not born with it,” he said. “You learn one thing at a time, then you learn the next thing and before you know what, you’re a master.”

Waiting in line to write his name and email for the American Job Center / Workforce Alliance tent was Eddie Freeman.

Freeman, 63, said that he “went through a bad time” in his past but is now back on his feet and excited to start his new job at the New Haven Parking Authority next week.

“God is good so I’ll be there on time,” Freeman said. “I’m very happy because I can fill my pocket up.”

Freeman urged those looking for a job to not give up hope and continue their pursuits.

“Everybody’s hiring, and if you want it, you can get it,” he said. “Nothing beats a failure but a try!”

ABIBA BIAO PHOTO Eddie Freeman: “Everybody's hiring, and if you want it, you can get it.”

Adonis and Terrance Myers.

Community Health Centers Say Services Will Be Scaled Back Without Funding

by Christine Stuart

It’s rare for organizations to ask the state for a one-time infusion of cash, but that’s exactly what Connecticut’s federally qualified community health centers are doing this year.

They need $32 million to be divided between 17 facilities to make sure services, which includes everything from behavioral health to medical and even dental, aren’t scaled back at a time of need. The centers, which serve more than 400,000 patients a year, serve about 61% of patients on Medicaid and according to the association that represents the centers they haven’t received the full reimbursement rate in two decades.

Kathy Yacavone, interim CEO of the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, said the Department of Social Services has underpaid the health centers for the Medicaid program for many years “even though the federal law is very clear.”

She said the growing cost of the workforce, coupled with inflation and the loss of COVID funding, has “caused this perfect storm,” and the immediate need for the funding.

Over the course of 2022, the health cen-

ters collectively lost over $90 million, according to Yacavone.

President and CEO of Connecticut Institute for Communities in Danbury Katie Curran said they won’t be closing their doors without the funding, but they will have to look at cutting services. She said for example, dental is a very expensive service, so it’s one area they may look to reduce the number of patients they are able to see.

“Do we invest in areas where we’re reimbursed closer to our costs?” Curran said.

Sabrina Trocchi, president and CEO of the Wheeler Clinic, said dental is a perfect example because she can only afford to offer dental in Hartford and she can’t afford to bring it to Waterbury, Bristol and Plainville where there’s also a need. She said the other area she can’t invest in is her workforce because post-COVID the hiring of medical professionals has become increasingly competitive.

“The impact of the inadequate rate is so much greater today than it has been in the last couple of years,” Trocchi said.

“We’re working in a different environment, the health and health inflation is at

a point where it’s absolutely unsustainable.”

The funding was included in the Appropriations Committee budget, but the health centers are concerned that Gov. Ned Lamont remains skeptical of the request.

Chris Collibee, a spokesperson for the Office of Policy and Management, acknowledged the ongoing budget negotiations and the commitment to adequate funding for the health centers.

“The administration continues to meet with legislative leaders on the upcoming budget, and ensuring an appropriate level of funding for our FQHCs is part of those conversations. It it is important to note that unlike most other Medicaid providers FQHCs are guaranteed inflationary increases. As budget conversations are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time,” Collibee said in a statement.

Yacavone said this funding is a stop gap while they try to resolve the issues regarding Medicaid reimbursement with the Department of Social Services. “The governor has made it known that because this $32 million request is large he’s targeting it for reduction,” Yacavone said.

Biden, Democrats Want Extra Credit for Black Appointments

WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden said Friday he will nominate Federal Reserve economist Philip Jefferson to fill a key policy-making role, promoting him to the central bank’s second in command after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Jefferson, 61, was an administrator and professor at Davidson College in North Carolina before starting a 14-year term on the Fed’s board in 2022.

Biden made a move toward more Black appointments, saying he would nominate Fed governor Lisa Cook, 58, to a full 14year term after she was confirmed in 2022 to a term that runs through January 2024.

“We kept our promise to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, and we’ve appointed more Black women to the federal circuit courts than all previous presidents combined—and we’re not done yet,” Biden tweeted on May 12 in a message that got 2.8 million views.

Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) — whose last-minute endorsement helped propel Joe Biden’s 2020 White House campaign — have all gone on record saying that America isn’t a racist country. Why then do they expect so much extra credit for hiring qualified Black persons?

In a rebuttal to Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress in 2021, Tim Scott, then the lone Black Republican in the Senate, parroted another South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and became an apologist for racism denials when he said that the U.S. wasn’t racist.

While praising Biden’s comments on race and domestic terrorism in his first joint address to Congress, Harris agreed, saying “No, I don’t think America is a racist country.”

Biden was also on board, telling NBC’s Today Show in April 2021, “No, I don’t think the American people are racist but I think after 400 years, African Americans have been left in a position where they’re

so far behind the eight ball in terms of education, health, in terms of opportunity.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), then the No. 3 House Democrat, told CNN in April 2021, “We should stop arguing about whether or not this is a racist country. It is not. A racist country would never elect Barack Obama president or Kamala Harris vice president.”

“When people say that America is a racist country, they don’t necessarily mean that all or even most Americans are consciously racist,” Blow wrote. “However, it is important to remember that nearly half the country (voted) for a full-on racist in Donald Trump, and they did so by either denying his racism, becoming apologists for it, or applauding it. What do you call a country thus composed?”

Biden promised to have a cabinet that “looks like America” and he has kept his promise with the most Black appointments of executive branch leaders and presidential advisers in American history, NewsOne reported.

Whether these Black appointments are in positions that will help Black people is less apparent.

Expecting extra credit for hiring qualified Black people is a government tactic that “ain’t gonna work no more…” tweeted documentary film producer and author Tariq Nasheed. “Elevating ‘tHe fiRst bLacK pErSon’ to a certain position where they cannot and will not help Black

Millie Landock, Lead Community Health Worker at Project Access New Haven, talks to a client on the phone while doing outreach to connect residents to health providers and social services, March 18, 2021. Credit: Cloe Poisson/ C-HIT.org photo

Photos: Philip Jefferson The post Biden, Democrats Want Extra Credit for Black Appointments appeared first on The Tennessee Tribune.

Connecticut’s first choice for Urban News since 1990

If He Was Framed, Why Is He Still Convicted?

by LAURA GLESBY

Daryl Valentine has only recently stopped sleeping with his shoes on. For months after leaving prison, he slept ready to run.

If something happened to him, he reasoned, he wouldn’t want to call the New Haven Police Department which allegedly framed him three decades ago for a murder he didn’t commit, a charge that assistant state’s attorneys found to be credible.

New Haven State’s Attorney John Doyle has the power to change the course of Valentine’s conviction. But he hasn’t so far leaving Valentine in limbo, still technically in custody.

Valentine spent 32 years at Cheshire Correctional Center, convicted of perpetrating a 1991 shooting outside the Athenian Diner on Whalley Avenue at the age of 25 a shooting that resulted in the murders of Hury Poole and Andrew Paisley, as well as the injury of Christopher Roach. Valentine always maintained that he was innocent.

A September 2021 review of the case by Independent reporter Ko Lyn Cheang revealed flaws in his conviction. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles granted him a sentence commutation in May 2022, reducing his 100-year sentence by 57 years. He is currently serving the final year of his sentence on “community release.”

Valentine has since been living in halfway homes under the state’s supervision.

Though Valentine is now out of prison at the age of 56, he still bears the weight of more than three decades spent behind bars as well as the weight of a criminal conviction for a murder he still insists he did not commit.

His tears well, his voice tightens, when he tries to explain what it feels like to go about day to day life with what he thinks might be PTSD. “I’m struggling,” he said in a recent interview with the Independent.

He wants accountability from the state: “You sat here and let this happen to an innocent man.”

As he waits for the last day of his sentence on May 22, he is trying every way he can to clear his name. He has filed a habeas lawsuit charging the state with detaining him unlawfully, and he’s even considering suing for a new trial for the 1991 murder.

When the state created a new division of prosecutors tasked with reviewing allegations of wrongful convictions the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in 2021, Valentine submitted his case. Today, he is the only person in Connecticut to have received a public report from the CIU, helmed by Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Valdes. (By December 2022, the unit received 131 investigation requests and closed 52 of them.)

An early, unpublished version of the report on Valentine’s case from May 2022 issued a strong rebuke of Valentine’s con-

viction, citing “credible” evidence of witness coercion on the part of the police.

“This office believes we have identified plausible and verifiable evidence that would cause a reasonable person to lose confidence in the conviction due to issues of official misconduct and discredited eyewitness evidence,” the CIU members wrote last May.

The CIU would later walk back accusations against the police, removing the words “official misconduct” from that line in a September 2022 version of the report the version that was ultimately released to the public in February.

In December 2022, the Conviction Integrity Review Panel a committee of prosecutors unconnected to the original case, a retired judge, and a criminal defense lawyer tasked with issuing a recommendation based on the CIU report wrote that they believed Valentine’s conviction should not be overturned.

Valentine was “disgusted” by this outcome, he said one April morning but he was not surprised. “When you got the police policing the police, they’re never going to change,” he said. “I don’t trust the system.”

Since the end of December, the fate of Valentine’s conviction has sat in the hands of New Haven State’s Attorney John Doyle.

A spokesperson for the state’s Division of Criminal Justice declined to comment on questions about the case from the Independent, writing, “A decision in the matter of State v. Valentine is currently pending with the New Haven State’s Attorney so any public comment about the case would not be appropriate.”

The CIU’s report on Valentine’s case changed over the course of several months, as the CIU met with the Review

Panel and answered questions. In June and again in August 2022, the panel asked the CIU to gather additional information about the witnesses’ proximity to the getaway car, their original police interviews, and files from the defense lawyers representing Valentine.

Alex Taubes, one of Valentine’s lawyers, has a theory about the report’s evolution. He counted 23 lines detailing police misconduct from the May 2022 report that were ultimately taken out.

Taubes surmised that after the parole board commuted Valentine’s sentence in May, the CIU and the panel decided it would not be worth exposing internal corruption. “They could no longer take credit for freeing an innocent man.”

A Record of Corruption — But No "Lost Confidence"

Just before Valentine’s first trial in 1994, two of the three witnesses central to the

and Anthony DiLullo, whose conduct as a detective was called into question last year during the habeas trial of Adam Carmon.

In the May report, the CIU cited Greene’s conduct during the interview of Coleman as a reason to doubt the conviction. Referring to Greene’s concession that he “could have told” Regina Coleman incorrect information about the police investigation while pausing the tape recording her statement, the May report reads, “Greene admitted to introducing information during the stopping of the taping of Coleman’s statement that proved to be false.” In the September report, the CIU took that line out.

At the time of Valentine’s trial in 1994, prosecutor Michael Pepper argued that Higgins and Coleman were recanting their accusations only because they were afraid of retaliation for putting Valentine behind bars.

But in an investigation into the case three decades later, the CIU found Higgins and Coleman’s initial statements implicating Valentine to be “highly inaccurate and implausible” and conceded that “there were credible allegations of witness intimidation into falsifying statements” on the part of the detectives in Valentine’s case.

The third witness to testify against Valentine was Christopher Roach, the surviving victim of the shooting. In weeks following the shooting, Roach first declined to give a statement and then claimed he did not remember what happened.

Two years later, however, he found himself in trouble with the law. He was extradited from Georgia to Connecticut on charges of attempted assault and reckless endangerment related to a separate shooting. It was then that he told detectives that he had recovered his memory, that Daryl Valentine was the shooter at the Athenian Diner. Afterwards, prosecutors dropped the charges against Roach.

state’s case recanted their testimony. (The conviction coming out of that trial would later be overturned on appeal, and Valentine would be convicted again in a new trial in 1998.)

Christina Higgins and Regina Coleman, who said they arrived at the diner after the murders took place, both claimed that detectives coerced them to name Valentine as the shooter. In sworn testimony during Valentine’s first trial, Coleman attested that Det. Joe Greene bribed her with money for cocaine, alcohol, and cigarettes; Coleman testified that when she gave her statement, Greene would periodically pause the tape and feed her information to repeat to the recording. Meanwhile, Higgins said that Greene harassed her until she agreed to testify.

The detectives on the case were Greene, who had previously been held liable for misconduct leading to a wrongful arrest,

In its May report, the Conviction Integrity Unit found Roach to “lack credibility,” calling him “a deceptive, self-serving individual who misdirected the police for years until he was extradited himself to face serious charges.” That line did not make it into the September report.

No forensic evidence tied Valentine to the crime.

After reviewing the CIU report that questioned the three eyewitnesses critical to Valentine’s conviction, the Conviction Integrity Review Panel recommended that the state’s attorney take no action on the case.

In its decision, the panel wrote, “The basis of the decision was that no new relevant evidence was presented to the Panel that the jury and the Courts had not previously considered and that the Panel had not lost confidence in the conviction.”

The panel continued: “Absent any such

THOMAS BREEN FILE PHOTO

Top New Haven prosecutor John Doyle, who has the power to vacate Valentine's conviction.

Alex Taubes and Daryl Valentine.

New Haven Independent

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Yes, Black Women Can Be Mermaids

Halle Bailey in “The Little Mermaid” is just the latest example of the powerful symbolism of mermaids throughout Black history.

by Nadira Jamerson, A Word In Black

When Halle Bailey was announced as the new face of “The Little Mermaid,” white supremacists immediately flooded the internet to protest. Chief among their complaints? That there was no way a Black woman could ever be a mermaid.

Jalondra Davis, an English professor at the University of California at Riverside, strongly disagrees.

Not only can a Black woman be a mermaid, but she says that from books to music videos, mermaids have been an important symbol throughout Black culture, history, and religion for centuries.

“‘The Little Mermaid’ with Ariel wasn’t my predominant relationship with mermaids. I loved that film, but I also saw a picture book, ‘Sukey and the Mermaid,’ and I had the Virginia Hamilton folktale collection, which had some mermaid stories,” Davis says. “I saw Sade as a mermaid in her video for ‘No Ordinary Love’ and thought she was a real mermaid for most of my childhood.”

In fact, as far back as the 1500s, Black folks have associated mermaids and “water spirits” with serving as protectors of the enslaved Africans who were stolen from their homes and forced to voyage across

the Atlantic Ocean during the Middle Passage.

“In most of the children’s literature I’m reading, it’s mostly Yemaya or Mami Wata who are usually the central mermaid in the text, who are either watching over or traveling with people through the Middle Passage,” Davis explains. “You can’t talk about this without talking about these cosmologies, these religions, and these deities because that is what the mermaids are in African-derived traditions.”

When Davis began teaching about the link between mermaids and Black history, she, like Bailey, received plenty of backlash. Many parents and faculty argued that there was no academic relevance to her teachings. Still, Davis remained dedicated to her work because, as she explains, mermaid stories and lore allow for a unique and engaging lens through which students can learn about the intricacies of Black life across the diaspora.

“Yes, I talk about mermaids and teach about mermaids, but anything that I’m writing about or teaching about is using that thing as a lens to look at deeper and more serious things,” Davis says. “I’m using mermaids as a lens to look at the relationship between Black people to history.”

Davis is drawn to Black creatives that

aren’t throwing away history but finding ways to work with it, especially in ways that are not re-traumatizing.

“The kinds of mermaid stories that I’m looking at are providing opportunities for experiences of joy, healing, and catharsis, while still bearing witness to a history I don’t think we ever need to put behind us.”

Davis encourages folks to support “The Little Mermaid” when it comes to theaters on May 26. However, this mainstream film adaptation is not the only way to learn about the tradition of Black mermaids. For parents wanting an engaging way to get their children interested in Black history, culture, and religion, Davis recommends introducing them to books like “Josephine Against the Sea,” “Skin of the Sea,” and “Rise of the Jumbies.” You can also learn more about the intersections between Black life, Black mermaids, and aquatic culture on Davis’ podcast Merwomanist.

“We all deserve to see ourselves in the stories that we love,” she says.

Professor Jalondra Davis teaches an English class with the topic, Crossing Merfolk, at UC Riverside. Photograph courtesy of UCR/Stan Lim.

Legendary NFL, Movie Star and Activist Jim Brown Dies at 87

Voted pro football’s greatest player of the 20th century, Brown earned induction into the Hall of Fame in 1971. But football wasn’t the only sport in which he excelled.

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia

Jim Brown, the superstar Cleveland Browns running back who quit football at the very height of his hall-of-fame career, has died at 87.

Perhaps the greatest running back ever, Brown quit football to pursue an acting career at 30. From 1957 to 1965, the perennial all-pro helped lead a Cleveland Browns ground game that won an NFL championship in 1964.

Voted pro football’s greatest player of the 20th century, Brown earned induction into the Hall of Fame in 1971. But football wasn’t the only sport in which he excelled. He played basketball, track, and lacrosse at high levels.

He was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1984.But football is where he chiefly left his mark.

Notably, in 1965, Cleveland Brown’s owner, Art Modell, issued an ultimatum to the superstar, telling him that if he continued filming the hit movie, “The Dirty Dozen,” which was delayed because of technical problems, Brown would face fines for reporting late to training camp.

Ever independent, Brown defied Modell and called a press conference to announce his retirement from football.

Brown also didn’t hesitate to speak out on issues affecting African Americans and openly supported the civil rights movement.

He started and helmed the Negro Industrial and Economic Union to create jobs for Black people in Ohio.

The organization also helped secure loans for Black businesses.

Brown also formed a coalition to denounce the federal government’s role in stripping boxing legend Muhammad Ali of his title because Ali refused to fight in the Vietnam War.

Brown’s popularity grew, and he cemented himself into film lore, becoming the first Black man to have onscreen sexual relations with a white woman, Raquel Welch, in the film “100 Rifles.”

Brown was born on St. Simons Island, off the southern coast of Georgia, where he had a difficult childhood, according to biography.com.

Brown was only two weeks old when his father abandoned the family; Brown’s mother left him alone after she took a job in New York as a maid.

While living with his grandmother, Brown’s mother sent for him when he was 8.

During his senior year at New York’s Manhasset High School, Brown played

running back and recorded a mind-boggling 14.9 yards per carry, more than good enough to earn him a spot at Syracuse University.

In college, Brown dominated the competition on the football field and the basketball court.

He also ran track and was a talented lacrosse player, according to biography.com.

Brown earned national attention as a running back for his strong, explosive play. In the final regular-season game of his senior year, Brown capped off his college career by rushing for 197 yards, scoring six touchdowns, and kicking seven extra points.

In 1957, the Cleveland Browns selected Brown as the sixth overall pick in the National Football League draft.

“Brown wasted little time adjusting to the new competition, leading the league in rushing yards with 942 on his way to capturing the league’s Rookie of the Year hon-

ors,” his biographers wrote.

“Over the next seven seasons, Brown became the standard-bearer for all NFL running backs,” Brown’s biographers continued.

At a time when defenses were geared toward stopping the ground game, Brown bulldozed his way past the opposition, posting remarkable season totals: 1,527 yards (1958), 1,329 (1959), 1,257 (1960), 1,408 (1961), 1,863 (1963), 1,446 (1964), and 1,544 (1965).

His only “down” year came in 1962, when Brown rushed for 996 yards. It was the one season in his brilliant but brief football career where he failed to lead the league in yards.

In 1964, Brown steered Cleveland to the NFL championship, where the club routed Baltimore 27-0 to win the title. In the game, Brown ran for 114 yards.

“But Brown saw a life for himself outside

of football, and before the start of the 1966 season, he stunned the sports world by announcing his retirement,” the biographers wrote, noting that Brown earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Brown appeared in over 30 films, including The Dirty Dozen (1967) and 100 Rifles (1969). His later credits include parts in Mars Attacks! (1996) and Any Given Sunday (1999), in which he played a football coach. “The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is deeply sadden about the passing Jim Brown who was one of Black America’s enduring heroes on the football field and in the terrain of the Civil Rights Movement as a gallant freedom fighter for justice and equality,” NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. stated. “We acknowledge and salute the outstanding contributions of Jim Brown that have made our world a better place for all of humanity.”

Task Force Recommends Breast Cancer Screening Should Begin at Age 40

By Stacy M. Brown

According to a new draft recommendation statement, the US Preventive Services Task Force proposes that women with an average risk for breast cancer begin screening at age 40 to reduce their risk of death.

It is a change from the 2016 recommendation, in which the task force recommended that biennial mammograms (breast x-rays) begin at age 50 and that the decision for women to screen in their 40s “should be an screening at age 40 or earlier. However, they should adhere to the monitoring procedures recommended by their physicians.

The USPSTF, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help steer doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans, proposed an update to its breast cancer screening recommendations on Tuesday, May 9.

It is a change from the 2016 recommendation, in which the task force recommended that biennial mammograms (breast x-rays) begin at age 50 and that the decision for women to screen in their 40s “should be an individual one.”

Some organizations, including the American Cancer Society, have recommended that women begin mammograms in their forties.

USPSTF Vice Chair Dr. Wanda Nicholson, senior associate dean, and professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, told CNN, “Our new task force recommendation recommends that women begin breast cancer screening with mammography at age 40 and continue screening every other year until age 74.”

The task force announced it would share a draft evidence review and draft modeling report along with the non-final recommendation on their website for public comments until June 5.

The proposed recommendation is for all individuals assigned female at birth, including cisgender women, trans men, and nonbinary individuals, to be at ordinary risk for breast cancer.

According to Nicholson, women with dense breasts and a family history of cancer typically fall into this category, but not women whose family history contains breast cancer or genetic mutations, such as mutations on the BRCA gene, as they are regarded as being at high risk. The revisions would not apply to those with an increased risk of breast cancer who may have already been advised to undergo

Black women reportedly have the highest incidence of breast cancer-related deaths in America.

Nicholson stated that the revised recommendation “will save more lives among all women.”

This is especially significant for Black women, who have a 40% higher risk of breast cancer-related death.

According to the JAMA Network Open, the breast cancer death rate among women in their 40s was 27 per 100,000 personyears for Black women, compared to 15 per 100,000 for white women and 11 per 100,000 for American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander women.

As a result, researchers recommended that Black women begin screening at an earlier age, 42, as opposed to 50.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - March 15, 2023 - March 21, 2023

CURTAIN CALL

Stamford’s Award-winning Theatre

From a 4-year-old orphan to an international award-winning actress

Our 33rd Season!

The inspiring story of Thuso Nokwanda Mbedu

by Ben Ebuka, Face2FaceAfrica.com

OPEN AUDITIONS

Growing up in the early 1990s, Thuso Mbedu never dreamt of being an entertainment figure. At a very young age, she wanted to be a dermatologist, but after taking a dramatic arts class in the 10th grade, she became interested in acting.

Her acting career has earned her fame and fortune locally and internationally, rising to become one of the most sought after actresses from South Africa. At 27, she was named in the 2018 Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 List, and one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African Magazine.

Born on July 8, 1991, at the Midlands Medical Center in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, to a Zulu mother and Xhosa and Sotho father, she never enjoyed the care of her parents who died when she was barely four years old. She was raised by her grandmother, a very strict school principal in school and at home. Her name reflected the multicultural tribes of her parents – Thuso is a Sotho name,

June 5 & 6 Sterling

Thuso Mbedu. Photo -IOL

Seeking singers for this September production. Roles include Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Vee, The Drifters, The Shirelles and more Full details at: Curtaincallinc.com/auditions or write: info@curtaincallinc.com

‘Black Reel Awards’ (Outstanding Actress – TV Movie / Limited Series), the ‘Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards’ (Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthropology Series or Television Movie), the ‘Gotham Awards’ (Outstanding Performance in New Series), the ‘Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards’ (TV Breakout Star), and the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ (Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie), all for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 TV series ‘The Underground RailShe won the ‘TV Breakout Star’ award from the Hollywood Critics Association TV and won the ‘Outstanding Performance in New Series’ award from the Gotham

In 2022, Mbedu was nominated for the ‘Independent Spirit Awards (Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series), for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 television series ‘The Underground Railroad.’ She won the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ for ‘Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie’ for her role ‘Cora Ran-

rior unit protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 17 – 19th century. She played ‘Nawi’, a zealous recruit in the

In her keynote speech at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit, Thuso Mbedu tearfully spoke of how she overcame the loss of her dear parents, grandmother, and aunt. But her role in Amanda Lane’s ‘IS’THUNZI’ gradually renewed her hope in life.

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

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Construction

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

NOTICE

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Contact: Tom Dunay

Phone: 860- 243-2300

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

LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury (HACD) is seeking sealed bids for the following Project:

Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

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

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

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

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks

NOTICIA

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300

Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

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

AA/EOE-MF

Union Company seeks:

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

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

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

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

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

State of Connecticut

Office of Policy and Management

Roof Replacement at Wooster Manor. Bid Opening date is June 15, 2023 at 11:00 am at the Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Road, Danbury, CT 06811. All bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. A pre-bid walk thru will be held on June 1, 2023 at 9:30 am at 36 West Wooster Street, Danbury, CT. Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed on-line and purchased from Advanced Reprographic’s website. Visit www.advancedrepro.net, select access our planroom here, select all public jobs and select “Danbury HA –Roof Replacement at Wooster Manor beginning on May 26, 2023. 5% Bid Security and 100% Performance/Payment Bonds are required. Bidders will note requirements of minimum wage rates, nondiscrimination/equal opportunity rules (Executive Order 11246) and related provisions in the General Conditions. No bid shall be withdrawn for ninety (90) days. Complete bidding requirements are noted in the Contract Documents. This project is federally assisted. Therefore, bidders must comply with the following requirements: Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968; Equal Opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246; Non-Discrimination provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Labor Standards provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts and Contract Work Hours Standards Act; prevailing wage determinations as issued by the United States Department of Labor; and all applicable provisions under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. HACD is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Section 3 businesses are encouraged to participate.

Accountant

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

Junior Accountant. Performs accounting tasks and other related duties of a financial nature in the Business Office of the Wallingford Electric Division. Applicants must have 6 years of accounting experience with some accounting classes; or in lieu of thereof, a B.S. in accounting or an equivalent combination of experience and training. Wages: $27.47 to $34.36 hourly, plus an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, medical insurance, life insurance, paid sick and vacation time. Applications may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, or emailed to: wlfdhr@ wallingfordct.gov by the closing date of May 30, 2023. Phone: (203)294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

PROPERTY FOR SALE (SEALED BIDS)

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

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Fiscal/ Administrative Officer position Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 230419&R2=1308AR&R3=001

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport is accepting sealed bids for the property listed below.

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

Parcel ID 30/ 606/ 19// | Vacant Multi-Family – 26 Adams St (0.11 Acres) |Minimum Bid: $134,000.00

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

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Property is a three-family home located in the East End of Bridgeport. Built in 1920, has 6 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 12 rooms in total. Living area 3,449 sq. ft. RBB zone. Lot is rectangular in shape with dimensions totaling 4,791.6 square ft. or .11 Acre. House is being sold AS IS.

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

DRIVER CDL CLASS A

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

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

Full Time – All Shifts Top Pay-Full Benefits

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

Sealed bids for the property will be accepted until 4:00 P.M., Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at the Authority’s Procurement Office, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. At 4:15 P.M., Wednesday, May 31, 2023, all bids received shall be opened in public and the amount of each bid announced and recorded. Submissions must be marked “Sealed Bid” for Parcel ID 30/ 606/ 19// 26 Adams Street On the outside of the envelope should be the Buyer’s name, and contact information.

Each bid must be accompanied by a bid deposit of five percent (5%) of the amount of the bid. A bid deposit may take the form of cashier’s check payable to the Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport. The deposit of the bidder to whom the award is made will be held until sale of the property is closed; if that bidder refuses at any time to close the sale, the deposit will be forfeited to the Authority. The deposits of other bidders will be returned after closing to the highest responsible bidder.

NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR BID HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY

NOTICE

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

Request for Proposal (RFP)

Indefinite Quantities Contract (IQC) for Vacant Unit Turnover Agency Wide

Solicitation Number: 243-MD-23-S

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Ductless Split Units Preventative Maintenance and Repair Services

IFB No. B23002

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

SCOPE:

The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury hereby issues this Invitation for Bid to provide preventative maintenance and repair services.

BID SUBMITTAL RETURN:

Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811

Envelope Must be Marked: IFB No.B23002, Ductless Split Maintenance

SUBMITTAL DEADLINE

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

June 12, 2023 at 10:30am (EST)

NOTICIA

CONTACT PERSON FOR IFB DOCUMENT:

Devin Marra, Director of Financial Operations, T#203-744-2500 x1410

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

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT

State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently seeking construction services from qualified General Contractors that desire to enter into an agreement for Indefinite Quantities Contract (IQC) for Vacant Unit Turnover Agency Wide. A solicitation package will be available on May 24, 2023. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunitites.org. Proposals shall be mailed, or hand delivered to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Director of Procurement, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. This RFP will remain open until further notice.

WALLINGFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY

E-Mail: dmarra@hacdct.org

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

[Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond]

WANTED TRUCK DRIVER

Truck Driver with clean CDL license

Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com

PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE

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

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Principal Labor Relations Specialist. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 230417&R2=6342MP&R3=001

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

POLICE OFFICER

City of Bristol

Waiting List Opening Announcement

The Wallingford Housing Authority will accept 150 pre-applications through a computer-generated lottery for the HCV- Section 8 Waiting List for a limited preference specifically for the Mainstream Voucher Program from May 22, 2023, at 9:00AM EST through May 25, 2023, at 11:59PM EST.

The purpose of the Mainstream Voucher Program is to provide rental assistance for non-elderly (18-61), low-income families with at least one verifiably disabled family member. The program also encourages those with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other segregated settings, at serious risk of institutionalization, homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless to apply.

2022 Income Limit: Total household income cannot exceed the annual income limit for each household size:

Invitation for Bids Agency Wide HVAC Services

NEW HAVEN 242-258 Fairmont Ave

$70,915 - $86,200/yr.

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

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

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

360 Management Group, Co. is currently seeking bids for agency wide HVAC services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from 360 Management Group’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on

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

Monday, May 22, 2023 at 3:00PM.

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

THE GLENDOWER GROUP, INC. Request for Proposals Development Consultant

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Required testing, registration info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Pre-Applications will be available online beginning May 22nd, 2023 at 9:00AM ET until May 25th, 2023 at 11:59PM ET. To access the form, please visit the following website:

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

https://www.pha-web.com/portals/onlineApplication/1181

DEADLINE: 05-04-23 EOE

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

You will need names, social security numbers, birthdates, and income information for every household member who will be listed on the application. Please be advised that you must meet the preference qualifications above, and cannot submit more than one pre-application for the same household or it will be disqualified.

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

The Glendower Group, Inc. is currently seeking proposals for a development consultant. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway

beginning on Monday, May 22, 2023 at 3:00PM.

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

WANTED LABORER

Laborer

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

Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com

PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE

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

Town

Assistant Building Official $39.80 hourly

of Bloomfield DRIVER

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

Paper applications will not be available. Additionally, pre-applications will not be accepted before May 22, 2023. The online pre-application form can be accessed by using any personal computer, laptop, smart phone, or tablet. Applicants are encouraged to visit a local library for computer access to submit a pre-application.

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

The Wallingford Public library is located at 200 North Main Street and offers free computer access. They can be reached at 203-265-6754. For other towns, please contact your local library, as their restrictions due to COVID-19 may be different.

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

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

If you require a reasonable accommodation, please notify the office and you will be advised on how to proceed with your request. Should you need assistance, appointments will be available and scheduled upon request.

The Wallingford Housing Authority does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability or familial status.

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

NOTICE

Invitation for Bids

Town of Bloomfield

Patrol Police Officer

CONSTRUCTION

ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR REPLACEMENT OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS

NEW HAVEN, CT

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Microsoft Licensing or Equal to their Product

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for Microsoft licensing or equal to their product. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, May 8, 2023 at 3:00PM.

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

Administrative Assistant, Grade Level 13.$55,478 35 hours per week.

NOTICIA

$37.93 hourly ($78,885 annually) – full time, benefited Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until position is filled

Town of Bloomfield Finance Director

STATE PROJECT NO.: 92-682

RFP # 2023-04-1553

LEGAL NOTICE: The City of New Haven is seeking to engage the services of a Consulting Engineering firm to provide Construction Engineering & Inspection (CE&I) Services for the following transportation project: Full replacement of two (2) signalized intersections in the West River area of New Haven, CT. This project involves installing traffic signal equipment and provide communications to the City’s centralized traffic signal system (ATMS).

The Consulting Engineering firm selected shall provide inspection services for the construction of contract plans, site/civil/traffic engineering services, survey, and prepare construction documents and reports per the State’s MSAT construction guidelines.

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

The Town of East Haven is currently seeking to fill the position of Administrative Assistant in the Planning and Zoning Department. Qualified candidates must possess a high school diploma or equivalent and an additional year of specialized training such as business school or equivalent and 5 years of experience in a role requiring independent judgment and initiative. Must be computer literate and possess a class 3 Connecticut driver’s license. Candidates’ bilingual in Spanish are encouraged to apply. The town offers an excellent benefit package. Please send cover letter, resume with references to Ed Sabatino, Assistant Director of Administration and Management, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT 06512. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

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

The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Maintenance

NEW HAVEN

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

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

Portland

Police Officer full-time

Go to www.portlandct.org for details

Firms responding to this request should be of adequate size and sufficiently staffed to perform the assignment described above. The Consulting Engineering firm will be evaluated and selected based on technical competence, the capacity and capability to perform the work within the time allotted, past record of performance, and knowledge of Federal, State, and Municipal procedures.

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) sub-consultant goal will be no less than zero percent (0%) of the original agreement value.

The selected firm must meet all Municipal, State, and Federal affirmative action and equal employment practices.

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

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

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

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

**An Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer**

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids

Hotels/Temporary and Emergency Housing

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for hotels/temporary and emergency housing. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing. cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

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

Monday, May 22, 2023 at 3:00PM.

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

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

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

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

APPLY NOW!

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

A letter of interest, together with general information on the firm and proposed subconsultants, the firm's brochure, current Federal Form SF330, firm’s experience, and resumes of key personnel shall be addressed to: The Bureau of Purchases – 200 Orange Street, New Haven, CT, 06510. Additionally, all interested firms must submit a detailed statement including the organizational structure under which the firm proposes to conduct business. Personnel in charge of this project will be required to possess and maintain a valid Connecticut Professional Engineer's License. Sealed responses will be accepted by the Bureau of Purchases, via the Bonfire portal until 11:00 A.M., local time, on, June 13, 2023 at which time they will be opened and read aloud. Solicitation forms, project plans, and specs are available online at https://newhavenct. bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=login

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

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

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

State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY Plumbing Services

IFB No. B23003

SCOPE:

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury hereby issues this Invitation for Bid from a professional, qualified, licensed plumbing company.

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

PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL RETURN:

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

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Fiscal/Administrative Officer. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 230309&R2=1308AR&R3=001

Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 Envelope Must be Marked: IFB No. B23003, Plumbing Services

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

AA/EEO EMPLOYER

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

SUBMITTAL DEADLINE

June 12th, 2023 at 11:00am (EST)

IFB DOCUMENTATION: Go to: www.hacdct.org

“Bidding Opportunities”

[Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond]

Full time experienced welder for Structural/Miscellaneous metals- email resume to jillherbert@gwfabrication.com

‘Smile’ Set for Stage Debut at Dallas Black Dance Theatre

By Raven Jordan Dallas Weekly Magazine

Ahead of Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s Spring Celebration, alum McKinley Willis has choreographed an original performance set to debut in May.

The performance, titled “Smile,” is a ballet filled with whim, wonder, suspense, and unpredictability. Willis gave a preview of the performance for donors at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre studios on April 21. It’s Willis’ first mainstage production for the company.

Willis, a Dallas native and Booker T. Washington grad, began her time at Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 2015.

The pieces came together while she was working on her dance studies in school five years ago, and the pieces took on the theme of smiling and clowns. She also gravitated toward songs about smiling.

“Specifically, Nat King Cole's "Smile," I did an exercise in class one day and my colleagues and I really enjoyed the exercise, and I revived it at one point a couple of years ago,” Willis said. “So, as I started

collecting music, I was like, "What if I did a dance where all the music was titled smile?'”

Twelve dancers are featured in the performance displaying a wide range of emotions and love as clowns in the span of 30 minutes. Willis says the clown idea came from seeing friends who were actors and reflections on a clowning class she took.

"I was very fascinated with the organization of clowning, like there's a formula to manipulate," she says. "So, what if I use the principles of clowning in the dance? Then from there, it kind of evolved."

This will make Willis the third Dallas Black Dance Academy former student to have come back and choreograph a performance for the dance company.

Artistic Director Melissa Turner, who was also one of Willis’ former instructors at the academy, has seen her dance journey from the early stages.

“She represents being a woman in art, a Black woman in art, and I’ve seen her choreographing journey from the humble beginnings of the Dallas Black Dance McKinley Willis

Academy performances to the studio performances,” Turner told the audience. “McKinley was so kind to put her professional feet forward. She sent in a proposal and said, “I’m interested in choreographing a work,” which I appreciate her taking the same steps and same channels as anyone else.”

There are moments throughout the performance where there are multiple situations going on at once where the focus intentionally isn’t in just one area or on specific dancers.

"I hope, first and foremost, that they [the audience] smile, I hope they laugh. I hope that they learn from it to enjoy life and not to take it so seriously," Willis says. "I think the way some of the clowns look, some of the ways the clown personalities are so relatable to human life, I hope they can relate to them and just see themselves through clowning."

The annual Dallas Black Dance Theatre Spring Celebration will take place at Wyly Theatre in the Arts District May 19 - 20.

Walgreens Eases Anxiety for Senior Shoppers with Monthly Seniors Day

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Today Walgreens

unveils The Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check[1], a quantitative study commissioned by the healthcare retailer, which surveyed over 1,000 senior adults 55 and older in the U.S. about their feelings on socializing after the pandemic. As society moves past the impacts of this pandemic, the reality for many of the nation’s 41+ million seniors is that they still feel concerned about getting sick[2].

The survey reveals that an estimated 17 million (42%) of seniors agreed they are less socially active now than they were before the pandemic. Additionally, an estimated 8.2 million (20%) of seniors feel lonelier now than before the pandemic. The research also reveals that seniors are missing activities they enjoyed pre-pandemic due to COVID-19 exposure anxiety, which is still prevalent in the senior community:

- 60% are worried about seeing friends regularly and attending family gatherings

- 36% miss going on vacation

- 28% miss going shopping or running errands

- 19% miss being connected to their local community

- 15% miss the independence of doing things for themselves, like shopping

This feeling of concern around socialization increases for the Black senior community 55 and older with nearly 4 in 10 (39%) of these seniors reporting feeling socially isolated, 13 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older. In addition, over 4 in 10 (43%) seniors in the Black community reported they are limiting what they do

and where they go in fear of catching COVID-19 –16 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older.

Inspiring Senior Confidence with Shopping Experiences, Savings and Support

When seniors think about their confidence in socializing, The Walgreens

COVID-19 Pulse Check found 70% of seniors are more confident socializing when the people they are around are vaccinated against COVID-19 and other viruses like flu, shingles and pneumonia.

To help create inclusive communities

and unlock the joy of aging, Walgreens Seniors Day fosters an accessible, safe and supported environment. Patients 55 and older and their caregivers can save 20% off eligible regular-priced merchandise on the first Tuesday of every month or online all week with code SENIOR20 at checkout (Sunday-Saturday of that week).

At checkout, Seniors should let a Walgreens team member know they are shopping with the Seniors Day discount for the savings to apply to their purchase.

Those with Medicare Advantage overthe-counter benefits are encouraged to ask team members how to take advantage of their benefit while in store.

Our pharmacy teams are trained to support the senior population through pharmacy services including, Save A Trip Refill,[3] 90-day prescription fills[4] and refill reminders[5] which are designed to make medication management easier, keeping them healthy and avoid hospitalization.

With the Majority of Seniors Feeling

More Confident in a Society with Immunizations and Testing, Building a Healthy Post-Pandemic World Where Everyone Feels Included is a Shared Responsibility No cost at-home COVID-19 tests are available with most insurance plans through May 11, 2023[6]. Limits apply to the number of tests covered per person per month. Walgreens brand at-home COVID-19 tests provide an affordable option and are available with a deeper discount on Senior Day. Walgreens pharmacy team members are available to help customers use their pharmacy benefits to get over-the-counter test kits through their insurance.

“As a trusted healthcare destination, we’re giving customers another testing option to stay ahead of COVID-19 with our Walgreens brand at-home COVID-19 test, broadening our assortment in stores and online,” said Luke Rauch, Walgreens chief merchandising officer and senior vice president. “In addition to tests, we offer an assortment of Walgreens brand products that offer a great everyday value and are designed to meet our consumers’ needs.”

To help further protect this senior community more at risk from, and concerned about, COVID-19, shingles and pneumonia, Walgreens pharmacy team members are available during Seniors Days and every day to make getting vaccinated simple. This includes the recently approved

choreographed her first performance for Dallas Black Dance Theatre's upcoming Spring Celebration. Photo by Rayford Johnson

Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check finds Seniors are Less Socially Active Now than Before the Pandemic and Seeking Confidence in Socializing

The Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check Study is a quantitative survey of 1,048 adults 55 and older conducted February 17 – 18, 2023 using an online data collection methodology.