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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Caribbean Heritage Fest Dances Its Way Downtown Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

Drums sang out over the Upper New Haven Green, slow and steady until they suddenly stopped, and only their echo hung in the air. Gammy Moses leaned into the microphone, his eyes scanning the growing crowd in front of him. He dipped into a stripped-down cover of​​ The Abyssinians “Satta Massagana” and watched as dozens of attendees mouthed along to the words.

“Ladies and gentleman, anywhere you go in the world you’ll find two parts of our culture,” he said of the Afro-Caribbean rhythms he was about to play. “You’ll find storytelling and you’ll find drumming. Storytelling is how traditions pass from one generation to the next, and the drum is the heartbeat.”

That heartbeat flowed through the eighth annual New Haven Caribbean Heritage Festival, moved back to the New Haven Green for the first time in several years.

After a triumphant return in Goffe Street Park last June, the festival made its way downtown in partnership with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and the Shubert Theatre. It is held each year in June as part of National Caribbean American Heritage Month. This year, hundreds of attendees came out, some from as far as Atlanta, New Jersey, and Brooklyn.

Since its beginnings almost a decade ago—the festival went on hiatus in 2020, because of Covid-19—the event has grown to celebrate and feature performances, food, and information from Jamaica, Dominica, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago among others. In the past two years, it has also gained two new cultural allies: Arts & Ideas Executive Director Shelley Quiala, who called it a pleasure to be involved, and Shubert Theatre Executive Director Anthony McDonald. McDonald, the child of Jamaican immigrants, is also a proud member of the Jamaican American Connection.

For organizers Karaine “Kay” SmithHolness and Shermaine Edmonds, the festival is consistently a chance to convene community and remind people of Connecticut’s rich and evolving Caribbean and West Indian populations.

“I’m having a ball,” said Edmonds, who was born in Dominica and moved to the U.S. when she was 16. “It’s just great to be in downtown New Haven. I think there’s a lot of New Havenites that don’t identify right away that they are of Caribbean descent, so when we do things like this, it draws them out. We’re here, but we’re in separate areas, so we don’t meet everyone all the time.”

“It’s different, and it’s great,” chimed in Smith-Holness, the founder and president of New Haven’s Jamaican American Connection and the owner of Hair’s Kay Salon on Ashmun Street. “I think we have gotten more visibility. We’re seen.”

Lucy Gellman Photos: A performer from the Braata Folk Singers. Gammy Moses kicks off the eighth annual Caribbean Heritage Festival, the first on the Green in years.

Everywhere a person looked, there was his head at the thought. “Anybody know Her mother, Paula Rice, recalled growsomething to do, eat, peruse, and dance if you have a good mango the best part of ing up in a house that was always full along to. On Temple Street, the smells of the mango is what?” he said. of Jamaican music, spinning on an oldjerk chicken, curried goat, oxtail and still“The seed!” attendees cheered back. school record player that her father loved. warm beef patties drifted over to vendor Moments later, they were dancing to the It was he who would dance to the sound tents with homemade skincare products, folk songs “Mango” and “Coconut” as of the Caribbean, she said—so it may run jewelry, and clothing that flapped in the Moses’ voice sailed over the Grass, and in the family. Sunday, she filmed Kynsummer breeze. As the sun rose higher kept going on to Temple Street. dal’s performances for him to watch later. overhead, some attendees juggled ice Performances were just getting started.

After growing up in Bridgeport, Paula cold bottles of water, containers of pea- There for her seventh festival, 13-year- Rice met Smith-Holness decades ago, nut punch and sweet, milky cups of Grape old dancer Kyndal Rice took the stage to when Hair’s Kay was still on Fitch and Nuts ice cream that were still frosty on the the first notes of “Mama Will Provide,” Blake Streets in the city’s Westville neighoutside. a song from the musical Once On This borhood. The two became fast friends, Others didn’t seem to mind the heat: at Island that celebrates the culture and she said, and have remained close since. a truck for T.O.P. That BBQ, owner Dar- oral tradition of the Antilles. Dressed in So when Smith-Holness became a foundryl Pervis served up platter after platter brightly printed blues and yellows, she ing member of the festival, Rice was exof homemade barbecue, pairing chicken glided onto the stage, her feet rarely on cited to attend. She still has a picture of wings, ribs, cheeseburgers and chili dogs the ground.

Kyndal as a young child, dressed in a tiny with mac and cheese and slaw. It seemed To Alex Newell’s muscled voice, she dance outfit at just five or six years old. like there was a new customer at the win- let the music take over, dancing out the “I just enjoy watching her share her dow almost every time he turned around. promise that nature would catch her if she talents,” she said as Kyndal rejoined her So too at fell. Her shoulders flexed, undulated, and family and watched Hood Hula’s DiaOn stage, Moses kicked off celebrations flew joyfully forward. She jumped into mond Tree take the stage. “When you get with praise for his native Dominica, a the air, and landed on the balls of her feet to use creativity to share part of your culCaribbean island known for its lush, em- and her toes. She extended her arms to ture, it’s really special.” erald green and mountainous landscape their full wingspan, feeling out the warm On Temple Street, Hartford resident and sweeping natural beauty. In a back- air around her as she cut through it. She and professional sweet tooth Katurah Anand-forth with the audience, he switched later returned to the stage for a second drews handed out frozen treats from her between deep, meditative drumming, Ca- performance, slowing time itself down as ice cream truck Kravings, painted deep ribbean folk songs and his own spoken she danced. purple and strung with a Jamaican flag word poetry.

A rising freshman at Sacred Heart in honor of her grandmother. Years ago, When he introduced the first folk Academy, Kyndal later said that the num- Andrews saw a truck for sale on Craigsong—I want a penny to buy/Mango ripe/ ber was a tribute to—and celebration of— slist and bought it with a cold, delicious Mango sweet, he sang—he recalled see- her heritage as a proud young Jamaican small business dream in mind. Now, she’s ing videos circulating around the web of American. Now based in Bridgeport, her known for her favors, which range from seedless mangoes. maternal grandparents are Jamaican im- peaches and cream to strawberry shortHe smiled at the audience and shook migrants. cake. She described the Grape Nuts ice

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cream as a mix between rum raisin and the beloved breakfast cereal.

Growing up in Hartford, Andrews said, she was always proud of her Jamaican heritage. As she handed out popsicles, prepackaged sherbert and cups of ice cream, she praised the festival for bringing awareness to all aspects of Caribbean culture, from food to dance and vocal performance. When she saw the call for vendors earlier this year, she said she was excited to hop on board.

Back on stage, Shenell Edmonds, Tasha Peltier and six-year-old Ava Cooke modeled fashions from Dominica, the stage ablaze in brightly printed fabric as they turned it into a runway. Smiling at the crowd, Peltier pulled the skirt of her dress to its full width, showing off the blooming blue, pink and orange flowers, and lush green fronds on the fabric.

Beside her, Ava rocked a dress in red and yellow gingham, pendants swinging from her neck with each small step. On one, the geometric flag of Dominica caught in the light.

Looking straight at a tent for the Jamaican American Connection, she struck a pose, her small hands resting squarely on her hips. The audience cheer-screamed in approval. While the look is usually worn with black shoes with a heel, explained a backing track, she went with tiny pink high-tops that seemed just right for the occasion.

As cultural ambassadors of Dominica, Edmonds and Peltier later said they see fashion shows as part of the work they do to spread cultural awareness of the country. It is in their blood: Edmonds grew up in New Haven and Hamden (she is the daughter of Shermaine Edmonds) and Peltier was born in Dominica, and has built a career advocating for the island and its residents. Earlier this year, she was crowned as its first and only female “Calypso monarch.”

“Being in America, culture is what makes us different, and it’s also what brings us together,” Edmonds said.

Those words, like Moses’ drum heartbeat, seemed to define the day. Back on the sidewalk taking it all in, Dr. Camelia Lawrence said she was excited to be at the festival, and to see it thriving downtown.

A breast surgeon with Hartford Healthcare, Lawrence grew up on Long Island, and moved to New Haven in 2005. She has been part of the Jamaican American Connection for years, through which she became close with Smith-Holness (the two met at an American Friends of Jamaica gala in New York, she said).

Earlier this year, she and a number of JAC members, along with artists and designers from the community, were featured in a Women’s History Month exhibition at Creative Arts Workshop.

For her, she said, the festival is a chance for New Haven’s Caribbean community to gather and celebrate the enduring traCon’t on page 09

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

21 Cop Cadets Graduate With “Respect” Charge

by MAYA MCFADDEN New Haven Independent

When Maxine Wright discovered her youngest son was afraid of cops, she decided to change that — by becoming a New Haven police officer.

Wright is now ready to walk a beat, after she and 20 fellow members of police academy Class XXV graduated Wednesday at a ceremony attended by city and state officials, family members, and others in the police department.

The swearing in of the new 21 graduates Wednesday afternoon took place at Woolsey Hall. It came a few hours after new Police Chief Karl Jacobson was sworn in to the new role leading the department.

Speakers included Lt. Jason Rentkowicz, Jacobson, Mayor Justin Elicker, Police Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro, and Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin, the keynoter.

They each reminded the class of the challenges that come with being a police officer and their duty to take up those challenges with confidence and humility.

Officers received their academy diplomas and had their badges pinned on by their loved ones.

Lt. Rentkowicz, who oversees the police academy, congratulated the officers for “prevailing” through tests of physical, mental, and academic toughness for the past seven months.

The 34-week class session started Dec. 1. Rentkowicz said the new officers were trained in Connecticut law, ethics, deesca-

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTOS

New officers at Wednesday’s police academy graduation.

The new officers are: Stephen Blake, 30, Trevor Brown, 23, Kyle Cogliati, 25, Jacob D’Ascanio, 28, Jake Dobosz, 27, David Colan, 47, Clara Hill, 32, Brian Kay, 24, Michael Limauro, 28, Jamie Lytle, 27, Daniel McLawrence, 39, Jaymie Morales, 28, Alan Nevells Jr., 34, Christopher Nguyen, 26, Jurgen Reci, 25, Baltazar Rivera, 41, Heriberto Rodriguez, 26, Hector Rosado, 55, Stacey Villone, 35, Isiah Whiting, 30, and Maxine Wright, 41.

lation, marksmanship, cultural awareness, and mental health. They will be tested daily on these topics while on patrol, Rentkowicz reminded them.

Chief Jacobson told the department that his priority is to get more officers in New Haven and to train them effectively to execute community policing. (The department is down approximately 70 officers.)

He told the new officers that the “most important thing is how you treat the community members.” He tasked them with treating every citizen they encounter as if

they were their wife, brother, or daughter just as he does, he said.

“This community is a part of your own,” he said.

He promised the city that he will hold his officers accountable for bringing “hope, love, and care” to every community encounter.

He recalled being on a walking beat at the start of his career in 2007 and challenging himself daily to do his job with hope, love, and care. He developed lasting community relationships in the process:

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Some of the New Haveners Jacobson first met on his walking beat as a rookie testified in support of him becoming the city’s next permanent police chief at a Board of Alders confirmation hearing.

“That was the proudest moment of my career,” Jacobson said of the testimony at the hearing. “It wasn’t how many people I arrested, or how many guns I got off the streets. It’s about how many people you help.”

Elicker told the graduates that they are joining the force in the “shadow of a very terrible thing” referring to the recent Richard “Randy” Cox incident.

He thanked the officers for stepping up to the job and reminded them to treat all New Haven residents with dignity.

Wright said she realized all of her four kids, but mostly her youngest son, had “negative misconceptions of the police,” and she wanted to change that. She joined the force to prove to them that police officers, like their mother, can do good.

“I wanted them to know we are here to protect,” she said.

Ribeiro recalled talking to the graduates at the start of their academy training and learning that they wanted to be police officers to help the community, create positive impacts on residents, help people, and change the narrative of how police are viewed.

She challenged the graduates to live up to those promises.

In the keynote speech, Griffin told the officers that “no person is above the law.”

He charged the class with igniting a spark in the next generation of New Haven police officers through their actions on the job.

He compared the strategy of community policing to the road signs that read, “Drive like your kids live here.”

“Police the community like your family lives there,” he said.

Officer Clara Hill, 32, received the physical fitness award along with her diploma Wednesday.

Hill’s interest in becoming a police officer stemmed from Black Lives Matter protests in 2017 and more recently. “I felt a push to make a difference in policing,” she said.

She added that her goal during patrol is to get to know entire communities.

A brief video presentation showed families snippets of the academy and the officers jumping fences, going on long neighborhood runs, practicing take downs, being tased, and completing target practice.

Additional awards were given to Officers Heriberto Rodriguez for academic achievement, Kyle Cogliati for firearms top shot, and to Christopher Nguyen for leadership.

Class leader Trevor Brown thanked his classmates for inspiring him throughout the academy. He recognized Officer Hector Rosado, who at 55 years old could complete workouts before many others; and Wright who completed the academy’s late nights while raising four children.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Housing HOPE Emerges For Homeless Families

by MAYA MCFADDEN New Haven Independent

When Bobbie Cheri McDonald was a struggling single mother of two facing homelessness, a local housing program helped save her family — on two separate occasions, seven years apart.

McDonald joined a crowd at a ribboncutting ceremony Saturday for the opening of the New H.O.P.E (Higher Opportunities, Purpose, and Expectations) Housing Program — a revamped version of the Stepping Stones housing program that first helped McDonald to get back on her feet 17 years ago.

New HOPE, like the former Stepping Stones program, is run by Christian Community Action, Inc. (CCA) in partnership with the housing authority.

CCA’s New HOPE Program is a “moving to work program” at 660 Winchester Ave. the former Ivy Street School, which was later transformed into CCA’s Stepping Stone Transitional Housing Program in 1998 until 2018.

CCA Executive Director Rev. Bonita Grubbs thanked the program’s donors, staff, volunteers, board members, and the community for helping her to reintroduce the supportive housing program to the many New Haven families facing homelessness.

In an opening prayer, she expressed the hope that “God’s peace, power, preservation, prosperity will be with us.”

Stepping Stones closed amid a shift in priorities among funders who were no longer as focused on case management and other on-site help for families seeking to establish long-term housing. CCA managed to find new funding to support retooling and reopening the program with that same mission.

The new program the will help to provide unsheltered heads of households with case management, an employment specialist, financial training, and a family coach, CCA Board President Lynette E. Johnson said.

“Today activates a unique housing program that will help families and future generations to come,” she added.

Each of the 18 apartments at the reopened faciltiies is stocked with donations of new ice trays, measuring cups, pots and pans, and dish soap.

Some apartments overlook the building’s courtyard and playground, which will soon be revamped to honor the late Yale clinical scientist Kathy Carroll, who worked closely with CCA and made significant strides to improve substance abuse treatment.

The apartments will come fully furnished for families, with utilities included.

Amour Propre Fund provided donations of the furniture and household goods.

While providing a tour to the community, CCA Director of Housing Services Shellina Toure said, “The only thing a family will need is their clothes.”

Former Stepping Stones residents Cher-

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New Hope team cuts ribbon. Bobbie Cheri McDonald at opening event. yl Mason and McDonald shared their testimonies at the Saturday celebration.

McDonald, a New Haven native, first heard of CCA’s program through a family member who was enrolled in the program while she was a child.

In September of 2005, McDonald was evicted from her first apartment and lost her job and car all in one day. At the time she was 20 years old and a single mother of two daughters.

She applied to become part of Stepping Stones and was approved soon after.

“CCA gave me stability so that I could get back into school, time to find another job and a new apartment,” she said.

For six years, McDonald found stability on her own. Then in 2012 she experienced homelessness again. “This time was very tough,” she said. “I had a bachelor’s degree and I tried so hard to be stable, but I didn’t yet understand how to secure my independence.”

In October 2012 she was accepted into CCA’s Hillside Family Shelter to “once again put the pieces of my life back together.”

In December 2012 she found an apartment and worked two jobs to get it. In 2016 she went back to school to get her master’s degree in social work.

McDonald said she has now secured her master’s degree, her oldest daughter is in her second year of college, and her second daughter just graduated high school.

In 2021 she got married, became a homeowner, and recently had a third daughter.

“So many years I was enslaved in my mind, stuck in a cycle of bad habits and self sabotage,” she said. “In putting Jesus first and center of everything, I found me.

I found my freedom. I found the strength to need to break free.”

While in the program, families will strive to reach financial goals and person-

alized benchmarks every three months.

Families are expected to remain in the program for 24 – 36 months, then advance to live on their own.

Toure added that the program’s main goals are to help families to increase their income to eventually be self-sufficient.

Each home is provided with a work area and desk, which philanthropist Lindy Lee Gold insisted families be given.

Two floors of the building are made up of apartments, while the first floor will house staff offices, a library, community room, and computer lab.

Also housed in the 660 Winchester Ave. building will be a branch of the Little Scientists youth program, which has provided early childhood, elementary, and middle school hands-on science education since being founded in 1995.

Gold is the president of the Amour Propre Fund, which secured and donated the funds to renovate and furnish all 18 apartments in the building.

Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz thanked the project’s champions including Grubbs, Gold, and Karen DuBois-Walton.

“If you want to make something happen, you should ask busy women,” Bysiewicz said.

The CCA collaboration with Housing Authority of New Haven/Elm City Communities allows for 18 approved families to be given federal Section 8 rental vouchers tied to the apartments at 660 Winchester. The program vouchers will cost $280,000 total a year.

Families will pay 30 percent of their annual income while in the program.

The one-bedroom apartments allow for single or coupled parents to live with one child under 3 years old. Two- and three-bedroom apartments allow one to four children.

DuBois-Walton said the program will

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allow struggling families to go from “surviving to thriving.”

So far more than 30 applications have been submitted for the program. Of those, 11 are currently being looked over by Elm City Communities. Bysiewicz said the revived housing program will help the state to continue to address its affordable housing crisis. She highlighted strides like the new state minimum wage of $14 per hour as of July 1 and a one-time child tax rebate of $250 per child.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal described the opening of the program as “undefeatable hope.”

He compared New Hope’s commitment to rebuilding the community to the “restoring and rebuilding of lives” that he witnessed less than 24 hours before the ceremony while visiting Kyiv, Ukraine.

He awarded CCA with a certificate of federal recognition at the Saturday celebration.

“It’s a new day, new dawn, new hope,” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said.

Mayor Justin Elicker said he looks forward to the program offering families with affordable and “loving” homes that are also beautiful inside.

Newhallville Alder Devin AvshalomSmith agreed with Elicker and said he looks forward to the apartments providing families with a sense of pride and belonging.

He added that he hopes the New Hope program will give the city inspiration to bring more resources to the neighborhood.

“This will bring some new hope to Newhallville,” he said.

Community members celebrated the ribbon-cutting Saturday with cake, home cooked food, popsicles, and tours of the apartments.

Contributing Writers David Asbery / Tanisha Asbery Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

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Paul Bass www.newhavenindependent.org

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

NuSpiral, New Haven Artists Transform Front Street Underpass

by Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

Sun Queen leaned in close to the underpass, her right elbow just inches from the concrete. Carefully, she dipped her brush into a cup of pink paint, and lifted it to a butterfly’s black and white wings. The insect began to transform before her, the color glowing in the sunlight. With each stroke, she could feel her shoulders, arms and back start to relax. She breathed in and out methodically.

It’s one of the ways the NuSpiral Collective is centering social justice through public art this summer, as members Isaac Bloodworth, Joy Meikle, Ala OchumareHarris and MiAsia Harris embark on two new mural projects in Fair Haven.

On a recent Saturday, Queen was one of a handful of New Haveners to join the collective for a community paint day on Front Street, where a new mural is going in close to Middletown Avenue.

Both projects are meant to enliven old, pedestrian unfriendly underpasses run by the Connecticut Department of Transportation in the neighborhood. The first, from lead artist Demeree “D.” Douglas and apprentice Alana Ladson, sits at Front ​​ Street and Middletown Avenue, where an underpass is now covered in bright, vivid color and signs of the natural world. A second, from lead artist Carlos Perez and apprentice Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez, is slated to go in on Grand Avenue by Hamilton Street this month.

On the community paint day, Meikle, Bloodworth and artist Aly Maderson Quinlog ran logistics at a tent by the Quinnipiac River while artists directed the painting beneath the underpass. In addition to the two Fair Haven murals, the collective also funded an underpass mural that Candyce “Marsh” John and Jesse Wolf completed earlier this summer on Upper Whalley Avenue.

“It’s honestly unreal,” Douglas said, a cup of purple paint balanced in one hand.

“This is iconic. A Black woman stopped here earlier this week and said, ‘I have never seen a Black woman do a mural.

You don’t recognize how huge this is.’

That touched my heart … this is the beauty that can come out of this experience.”

The three-mural project began earlier this year, after NuSpiral secured funding from the IKEA U.S. Community Foundation, which granted $100,000 to the collective through the city’s Department of Arts, Culture & Tourism (read more about that here and here). At the time, members of the collective put out a call asking artists “What does liberation look like to you?” For Douglas, it meant a young Black girl looking to an older version of herself, and seeing that she had become an astronaut.

In the design, the two are rendered against a red brick wall, looking at each other with an air of adoration and reverence that vibrates from the concrete. As she crouches down, the astronaut holds a

gold crown gingerly between her spacegrade, Polyurethane-coated gloves. The girl places her hands squarely on her hips and turns her head, ready to receive it.

As barbecues and birthday parties unfolded at Quinnipiac River Park nearby, Fair Haveners and friends of NuSpiral gathered at the underpass to paint, taking in the large, blooming flowers, swooping birds and duet of regal Black women at the center of the mural. At the lower left hand corner of the underpass, young friends Jenzen Garcia and Harielys Mendez worked together on a red rectangle, carefully laying down a second coat. Both live in the neighborhood, and had come out to help after they saw the crew roll up to paint.

“It’s fun,” Jenzen said, wiping a film of sweat that had formed on his brow. Just a few paces down the wall from them, Madison resident Maureen Lopes celebrated her 73rd birthday by filling in a large, blooming fuchsia flower on a thick green stem. A member of the New Haven Friends Meeting just across the river, Lopes said she’d heard about the project from members of the Fair Haven Community Management Team, at which she is a frequent and vocal member.

On the other side of the wall, Beaver Hills resident Joan Hilliard found a purple daisy, and began filling in a remaining trio of white petals at its base. A leading member of Friends of Beaver Pond Park, Hilliard first saw a notice about the community paint day online, and figured that she would see what it was all about. She

only realized that Bloodworth—who she has known for decades through his mother, the pediatric nephrologist Sherene Mason—was one of the organizers after arriving at the mural site.

She was tickled by the coincidence, she said. Born and raised in New York— where some artists have elevated graffiti from street practice to fine art—she said

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she was also grateful to see the beautification efforts reaching across the city. Each week, she walks into Beaver Pond Park with the intention of making it that much more welcoming for her neighbors. With its three-part project, NuSpiral has taken a similar approach, very deliberately reaching beyond downtown, where murals bloom from the Ninth Square and Pitkin

Plaza all the way to Temple Street.

“I love to have a mural in an area,” she said as cars zoomed past on Middletown Avenue, some slowing down as they rounded the corner onto Front Street and rolled down their windows to take in the mural. “It just brings life to an area.”

As Hilliard spoke, Fair Havener Christel Manning peered out from where her van was parked across the street, and examined the progress the group had made in just a few hours. A resident of Front Street, Manning spends time tidying a small stretch of the underpass where grass and weeds run wild. Saturday, she had finished mowing when a new row of purple and pink flowers appeared, blooming as they spread across the wall. She jogged across the street to get a better look.

Ladson spotted her, and came over with an invitation to paint. In just minutes, Manning had a styrofoam cup of green paint in one hand and a brush in the other. She kept her pruning gloves on as she filled in an undulating, bright block of green grass beneath the central panel. As she worked, she said she was excited to see the design go up in the neighborhood, which she has called home for years. It’s never the same, she added: when she’d driven by on Friday, Douglas was in a scissor lift.

Fighting the heat, painters continued to roll in, some with their friends and family members. A poet, founding member of Black Lives Matter New Haven and the founder of Black Girls Are Sunshine, Sun Queen praised the community paint day as creating community when the city—and the world—seemed completely turned on its head.

A single week in late June had left her reeling from both the news of Richard “Randy” Cox’s paralysis at the hands of the New Haven Police Department and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

She was exhausted, she said. And in that moment, she was choosing joy as a way to keep going.

“I have to remind myself that there’s room for all the emotions,” she said.

“People don’t understand how important healing is. The stroke and the brush and how you hold it. Like yes, I’m painting, but I’m also releasing. That’s the thing with the world being on fire. I feel like more of us are able to center what joy means for us.”

She recalled a recent conversation with a member of Black Lives Matter Houston, who had reminded her that “radical rest is part of the movement.” For her, the sentiment resonated. Without it, she cannot do the organizing and mutual aid work that is also part of her life as an artist-activist.

“This is just the beginning,” she said, and it seemed that she was talking about Roe and New Haven’s reckoning with police brutality all at once. “So much more is gonna happen after this. This is the time Con’t on page 18

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Hundreds March For “Justice For Randy”

by THOMAS BREEN, MAYA MCFADDEN and PAUL BASS

Dixwell and downtown streets filled with cries for justice Friday afternoon as marchers sought to turn the tragedy of a New Havener paralyzed by police into a spur for structural change in how law enforcement deals with Black citizens.

The state and local NAACP organized the march along with Richard “Randy” Cox’s family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

The crowd gathered outside the Stetson branch library on Dixwell Avenue before the march.

“We will change policies, we will change the behavior of the police department, not only in New Haven, but around the world!” Pastor John Lewis declared in an opening prayer before the assembled. “Let this be the beginning of change!”

Then the group marched through Dixwell and downtown streets to the police station, filling the air with call-and-response chants. ” No justice …” ” … no peace!”

“No racist …” “… police!”

“If I say: I think my neck is broke …” ” … don’t take that as a joke!”

“Black lives matter!”

“Randy Cox’s life matters!”

March leaders included state NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile and civil-rights attorney Michael Jefferson, a member of the legal team.

Tamika Mallory, a co-founder of the National Women’s March and of a social justice group called Until Freedom, addressed the crowd at a pause in the march on Broadway. She tied Cox’s case to those of Breonna Taylor and Freddie Gray (“who died from the exact same rough ride”) among others victimized by police officers.

“We are dying all over this nation. Don’t let anybody tell you it is isolated. It is coordinated,” Mallory said. “Only we are responsible for fighting the power!”

It was the latest development in the unfolding Cox case, which began on June 19, when police arrested the 36-year-old New Havener on weapons charges without incident at a Lilac Street block party.

En route to the police station, the driver of a prisoner conveyance van slammed on the brakes; Cox crashed his head against a wall of the van and injured his neck and spine. Rather than wait for a medical crew to attend to Cox’s crumpled and paralyzed body, officers at the police lock-up accused Cox of lying, demanded he stand up, pulled him out of the van, placed him in a wheelchair, then dragged him across the floor into a cell.

Cox remains in the hospital, unable to move or talk, as his case has sparked nationwide outrage. The department has placed five officers on administrative leave while the state police investigate

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Marchers head down Broadway toward the police station.

their actions in the incident. The department has also upgraded its policies and department-wide training on “active bystandership” and deescalation in hopes of avoiding a similar future incident. Cox’s legal team met with Connecticut’s U.S. attorney Friday to request a federal probe.

The mayor and the police chief attended Friday’s march to “listen” and “engage with participants and the family.”

The marchers took Broadway to Elm Street, made a right onto State Street, and walked down to Union Avenue to the police station, arriving just before 6:30 p.m.

At that point, several speakers — including Attorneys Crump and Jefferson, Mallory, and members of Cox’s family — addressed the crowd.

Crump told the crowd that Cox was “watching live right now” from his hospital bed. He invited them to help lift his spirits by chanting, “Justice for Randy Cox!” Which they did with gusto.

“We will never stop fighting for you,” Crump told Cox, via the crowd.

Crump read from a text message sent by a pastor at the hospital with Cox at the time. He said that Cox was “nodding and crying, and wants to say, ‘Thank you to everybody for the love and the support.’ ” Mallory spoke again, and issued a double caution to the crowd: Don’t give in to calls for remaining “peaceful.” And don’t give in to temptations to act out in ways that will work against the movement.

“We are nonviolent. But we are not peaceful,” she said. “We are not calm. We are outraged. We are angry. We will raise hell as long as we need to. But we will be nonviolent, so the world can see the thugs have badges, and they’re inside of buildings like this one!”

New Haven civil-rights attorney Michael Jefferson told the crowd that the Cox case reflects how, for Black people, “we are

policed differently” and “our lives are devalued.”

“The dominant culture does not care about the general welfare of Black people in this country,” Jefferson said, as he contrasted the 90 bullets that Akron, Ohio police officers fired as they killed a Black man named Jayland Walker with the arrest in Eastern Kentucky of a white man who had just shot to death three police officers.

Jefferson accused the country of sending billions of dollars to support “Nazis in the Ukraine” while spending “no money stopping the Nazis in this country, in law enforcement.” He accused the New Haven police department of keeping “Nazis and white supremacists on the force.” And he criticized the mayor for being backed primarily by a small number of majoritywhite wards in the city, and for nominating and supporting a now-retired former acting police chief who defended the “Thin Blue Line” movement.

Cox’s brother Jerry “Jeff” Brown traveled from Florida to be with his family and attend the rally. He fired up the crowd with a critique of the city announcing new policies in response to what happened to his brother.

Instead, he argued, the city needs to focus on holding cops responsible for misconduct.

“We don’t want no more rules. We don’t want no more procedures. What we want is some goddamned accountability!” he declared. (Click here to read about one case of an officer cleared of wrongdoing in a controversial incident after which he was promoted; and here to read about how the supervisor in charge of Randy Cox’s mishandling in the lock-up was disciplined after two years prior for misconduct on the night that a prisoner committed suicide at the detention center.)

Cox’s sister Latoya Boomer agreed. “Getting [the officers involved] fired and ar-

6

rested is my agenda,” she told the crowd.

“We definitely want them gone. That’s my goal.”

The rally ended at around 7 p.m. A fleet of school buses sent by the city came by to ferry protesters from the police headquarters back to where the march had started outside Stetson Library.

Brother and sister Cortez Legrant, 17, and Jaelin Roberts, 21, joined the march in support of Randy Cox, who is Legrant’s uncle.

Roberts said she has grown up seeing Cox all over New Haven. She described him as reserved, quiet, passionate about the people he loves, honest, and respectable.

When she heard Cox was hospitalized as a result of being in police custody, she said, she was in disbelief.

“I’ve heard about so many incidents about so many things that just aren’t right, but to know that it’s happened to someone I cared about, it was hurtful,” she said.

Before the kick-off to the march, Legrant and Roberts sat beside each other outside the Stetson Library with a sign reading, “I can’t move. Justice for Randy.”

Roberts said she hopes the march and community support will serve as a wakeup call.

“I would like to see justice for him and other people who may have gone unnoticed or unheard,” she said.

Legrant’s relationship with his uncle throughout his life has been rooted in their common love for football.

Legrant currently plays football at Sun Prairie East High School in Wisconsin. He described his uncle as his biggest supporter for his football career. Cox could often be found attending Legrant’s games, or the two would go to local games together.

When Cox was injured, Legrant was getting ready for a football game and received the call from his mother.

“I didn’t know it would happen to someone I know,” he said.

Legrant visited his uncle at the hospital on July 4. He said Cox couldn’t do anything but cry. “It was really tough seeing him,” he recalled.

Because Cox can’t speak, Legrant spent his visit talking to his uncle about football.

Legrant said he hopes that his uncle heals quickly and that the incident will result in all police departments having better arrest and transportation procedures to prevent similar cases in the future.

Dixwell residents Doreen Hutchinson and Louise Pierce (pictured above) turned out for Friday’s march in matching T‑shirts that others wore as well. The shirts featured a black-and-white image of Randy Cox beneath the words, “Help I Can’t Move!”

Hutchinson, who teaches kindergarten at Wexler Grant school, said she knows Cox’s family well from her work in the public school system. “A real nice person,” she said about Cox. How did watching the police video of Cox’s injury and mistreatment make her feel?

“That could have been my son. That could have been anybody,” she said.

“Something has to change.”

Pierce said she was upstairs at the Q House’s new senior center earlier in the day when she found out about the march.

Why did she come down and decide to join in?

“To support the family,” she said. “To see what kind of change” will come from this. “They’re getting away with murder,” she said about the too-many times she has watched and read and heard about officers seriously injuring Black suspects.

She said she watched the police body cam video from Cox’s case once and only once. She couldn’t bring herself to watch it again.

“I think change is gonna come this time,” she said. Because this time, “it’s on TV.” Mimi (pictured above; she declined to give her last name), an emergency room worker, traveled from her home in Waterbury to attend Friday’s march.

“I’m almost embarrassed to say we are Americans” when thinking about how the police handled Randy Cox, she said.

“No one deserves to be treated this way.

There’s no way these cops should get away with it. There has to be justice.”

Another local public school teacher, Dee Marshall (pictured at right above), said she turned out to Friday’s march to help educate her students and all young people in this city on the importance of “medical Miranda” rights, and on getting an officer’s badge number if a police officer mistreats them.

“I can’t watch the whole thing,” she said when asked about the police body cam video showing Cox’s injury and mishandling by cops. “I’ve taught so many of these kids.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

American Ideals, Hypocrisy Brought To Life At Frederick Douglass “Essential Texts” Reading

by THOMAS BREEN Clifton Graves Jr.‘s voice boomed throughout the cavernous, marble-enclosed library — his eyes locked with the audience’s, his right hand raised in admonition, his words traveling 170 years from past to present.

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” he asked. “I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

Graves, a longtime local attorney and the city’s probate court judge, uttered those words — and temporarily, rhetorically, transformed into 19th-century abolitionist, author and orator Frederick Douglass — on Tuesday afternoon in the second floor gallery space of Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library downtown.

He joined a handful of other local readers — including Erik Clemons, Babz Rawls-Ivy, Dee Marshall, Trina Lucky, Charles Warner Jr., Tubyez Cropper, Meghan Bierne, and George Miles — before a 50-person audience for what has quickly become an annual Independence Day-adjacent tradition at the Beinecke.

That is: a public reading of Douglass’s July 5, 1852 oration, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” alongside that of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.

The selection of “essential texts of our nation” — as Beinecke Director of Community Engagement Michael Morand put it at the top of the program — that were read aloud in full or in part expanded to include a 1780s-era petition from a group of enslaved New Haveners to the Connecticut General Assembly, the introduction to the 1825 autobiography of fugitive slave and New Havener William Grimes, and the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments from 1848.

Original copies of all of these documents (except for the 1780s petition) sit within the Beinecke’s collection and are available for public viewing, to Yalies and non-Yalies alike.

Read aloud side by side by side with one another on Tuesday, they transported listeners to the very core of this country’s past and present, illuminating the ideals on which this nation was founded and the hypocrisy with which so much of its history has unfurled.

“These texts are at once timely and timeless,” Morand said. “They show that words matter, that ideas matter, that ideals matter, that actions matter. … We hope these living documents are resources to use, remember, learn, and contribute, individually and collectively, to the ongoing building of a more perfect union.”

Cropper, a New Haven native and Amistad High School graduate who also works at the Beinecke, agreed with Morand that a close reading of these documents serves as a powerful counter to what Gore Vidal

Local readers at the Beinecke on Tuesday: George Miles, Charles Warner Jr., Babz Rawls-Ivy, Dee Marshall, Trina Lucky ...

once dubbed “the United States of Amnesia.”

“Let the words that you heard today, let them change this [country] into the United States of Acknowledgment,” he said. “The United States of Learning.

The United States of Caring. The United States of Prosperity.”

After the nearly two-hour reading had concluded, Graves reflected on how Douglass’s 1852 speech about the state-sanctioned harm faced by Black Americans and the 1848 Seneca Falls declaration about the deprivation of women’s liberty resonate today in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd and the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“We still have a ways to go,” he said.

“The Very Ring-Bolt In The Chain Of Your Yet Undeveloped Destiny” So. What did these century-spanning texts say? And how did they speak to one another when read aloud one after the other on Tuesday?

To this listener, a number of political and rhetorical motifs returned again and again over the course of the event.

For one, they all contrasted an allegiance to universal political and philosophical principles with historical events and grievances specific to the time and place in which they were written.

The Declaration of Independence’s “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal” is followed by a castigation of King George III for “cutting off our trade with all parts of the world” and for “imposing taxes on us without our consent.”

Douglass’s 1852 oration’s heralding of the 4th of July as “the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny” stands alongside a detailed critique of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

“We hold these truths to be self-evidenct that all men and women are created equal,” the Seneca Falls declaration be-

Beinecke community engagement staffers Michael Morand and Tubyez Cropper, with one of 20 extant "Dunlap broadsides" of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.

gins, before lambasting the then-current state of American political life that deprived women of the right to vote and that “compelled her to submit to laws in the formation of which she had no voice.”

The documents also underscored just how much the various authors’ appeals to an American conception of freedom were grounded in what Cropper, reading from an introduction written by Yale historian David Blight for the 1780s petition, described as an Enlightenment-era conception of natural rights as well as a religious commitment to moral inclusion.

“Gentlemen, is this to be right and justice? Is this a free country? No, it’s

8

murder,” Cropper read from the 1780s petition by enslaved New Haveners, followed soon by “We that can live, pray let us live.”

And Douglass, speaking about the 72 crimes that the State of Virginia listed as punishable by death if committed by a Black man, said: “What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? …

When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!”

And they all pointed time and time again to how the reality of American history has failed its founding liberatory ideals, and must be changed through diligence, commitment, courage, and a clear-sighted understanding of what has come before.

“I would in my will, leave my skin a legacy to the government, desiring that it might be taken off and made into parchment, and then bind the constitution of glorious happy and free America,” Grimes wrote in his 1825 autobiography.

“Let the skin of an American slave bind the charter of American Liberty.”

And at Seneca Falls: “Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, — in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States.”

And in Douglass’s 1852 speech in Rochester, N.Y.: To the American slave, “your celebration of the 4th of July] is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.”

On Tuesday, the final reader of the afternoon, Trina Lucky, concluded Douglass’s speech with the following words: “Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain.”

Hearing those words Tuesday afternoon, this reporter couldn’t help but think of still another luminary of Black American literary and political thought.

A man whose words were not included in Tuesday’s reading lineup inside the Beinecke, but whose portrait photograph is posted outside of the building, in between those of Langston Hughes, Margaret Bonds, Marian Anderson, and Richard Wright.

“I love America more than any other country in the world,” James Baldwin wrote in 1955, “and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022 Con’t from page 02

Heritage

ditions that connect them to each other, and to a long cultural history. Sometimes, she said, she finds that “we’re all in different silos,” unaware of what colleagues and cultural partners are doing to amplify Caribbean and West Indian voices in New Haven and Connecticut. Her words echoed the festival’s slogan: “Water Divides Us. Culture Connects Us.” “It’s an opportunity for us to come together and embrace the richness of the culture,” she said. “It’s a partnership. I often say we are stronger together.”

Music flowed from the stage to where she was standing, and she turned her head to listen for a moment. On the grass, Diamond Tree led an impromptu hula circle as a DJ blasted music. The Braata Folk Singers waited in the wings, prepared to transport the audience with their voices alone. At a nearby tent, Christine BartlettJosie and her husband Lance fielded questions about Saint Lucia, from which she hails. A long dress swayed from its place on the tent pole behind her, the wind making its long red skirt flutter for a moment.

In a staging area just beyond the tents, Hamden Academy of Dance & Music owner Lia Davila buzzed between students, making sure four groups of dancers were ready to perform their soca routines.

Born and raised in New Haven, Davila has been dancing since she enrolled in gymnastics at Jackie Robinson Middle School, and a teacher told her that she might like dance instead. From classes at Dee Dee’s Dance and Fitness Center to Morris Brown University, she never stopped dancing.

When she finished college, she returned to New Haven and started a studio. She added a “multicultural dance” class in honor of her husband, who hails from the U.S. Virgin Islands. It covers both Afro-Caribbean style—like soca, which originates in Trinidad and Tobago—and American traditions like jazz. Her goal, she said, is to empower students through dance. Almost every year, a group from the studio travels to the Virgin Islands for cross-cultural exchange.

As young dancers turned the sun-soaked grass into the stage, the audience seemed to grow by two dozen, parents sitting on the grass and standing in between tents.

Dancers sailed through numbers, finishing in a game of “follow the leader”—set to music, and without any words at all— that had Davila Christine Bartlett-Josie join her students as they crouched, shimmied, extended their arms and hands, and made backbends look easy. Back at her tend, Bartlett-Josie nodded along to the music.

“I think it’s really important,” she said of the festival, with which she has been involved for years. “It’s about connecting people, and it’s also about realizing that people have come before you. That you do belong here.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

In New Sudanese Pop-Up, A Refugee's Story Of Home

by Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

Azhar Ahmed came to the U.S. with recipes from home in one hand, and a dream of fighting for social justice in the other.

Now, she is bridging the two with a lesson in Sudanese culture, taught through its cuisine.

A Sudanese refugee who fled to Egypt and then to the U.S., Ahmed is a chef at Sanctuary Kitchen and the brain behind Kandaka, a new Sudanese food pop-up that she hopes to grow into a brick-andmortar cafe in New Haven. The name, derived from the Nubi language she and her parents grew up speaking, is shorthand for both a Nubian female monarch and the women who marched in the Sudanese revolution of 2019.

While she was raised in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum, Ahmed describes herself as a daughter of the Nuba mountains, where her parents were born. With her husband Fouad and children Kutti and Lames, she recently celebrated her seventh anniversary in Connecticut, to which she first arrived in late June 2015. Prior to that time, she spent a decade as a law student, teacher and refugee in Egypt.

“Here in New Haven, we have Sudanese communities, but other communities, Americans or other cultures—they don’t know about us,” she said in a recent interview at Sanctuary Kitchen’s 109 Legion Ave. hub, as refugee chefs stopped cooking operations for a lunch break. “I thought the food would be a good idea.

The people, they can know us and I can share my culture.”

Ahmed’s culinary journey began decades ago in Khartoum, a bustling city where the White and Blue Nile Rivers come together. The fifth of seven children and the only girl, she grew up watching both of her parents cook, from handpressed, golden brown phyllo dough and fresh fish to warm flatbread. In the family’s kitchen, she studied her mother’s skill as she fried tilapia caught in the Nile, layered coconut and peanut basta with a sugared syrup, and rolled out chickpea and black-eyed pea ta’amiya, a North African take on falafel with shorter, elongated patties.

For years, her late father Kumi also ran a bakery attached to their home, selling fresh bread to their neighbors. Every time she smells a fragrant disc of Homa Assadi’s naan rising in the oven at Sanctuary Kitchen, it brings her back to the warm, comforting scent bread filling their house. In 2021, his memory inspired her to start Kumi’s Dream, an initiative with the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen to provide fresh, nourishing and completely free Sudanese meals to people experiencing hunger and food insecurity.

And yet, Ahmed’s plan was never cooking. As a child and later as a young adult, she dreamed of studying and practicing law. “I never showed them [my par-

ents] my skills in the kitchen,” she said, because she knew that the odds were stacked against her as a woman in the country. Ahmed was still young during Omar al-Bashir’s rise to political power, a 30-year tenure that sought to tightly control and roll back women’s rights across the country.

“Even though I was curious to watch my mom, I didn’t want to spend my childhood in the kitchen,” she said. “I preferred to be outside.”

Then in the early 2000s, she left the country, fleeing the violence of the Second Sudanese Civil War. During her years as a refugee in Egypt, she pursued and finished a bachelor’s degree in law at Cairo University, and worked as a teacher in Egypt. She planned to continue her studies in law in the U.S., she said. But when she, Fouad and Lames arrived in Connecticut in 2015—just over a year before Donald Trump became president, and instituted a ban on majority-Muslim countries including hers—she discovered that the language barrier was a problem.

Ahmed speaks Arabic and Nubi, but had limited English at the time. As Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) helped resettle her family, she began to explore other avenues for work. After Trump became president in 2017, she also took a role in speaking out against new limits on refugees, taking her message to both the streets and the stage.

In 2018, she began working with Sanctuary Kitchen, a then-nascent arm of CitySeed that provides a pathway to employment for refugee chefs (she also became a mom a second time over to her son, Kutti). She fell in love with the work, which entailed making food from both her own cultural background and learning recipes from other refugee chefs. For her, Sanctuary Kitchen became a family of women, bound not just by their culinary craft but their stories of migration.

“We share everything here in the kitchen,” she said. “If you are sad, or if you have something bothering you, you will find the support. I feel like we are like one family. We support each other.”

“I saw how you can communicate a message by the food,” she continued.

“That’s why I just want to bring the Sudanese cuisine here. The people can know more about Sudan, more about me.”

That realization—that the culinary arts can start a wider dialogue—was the launchpad for Kandaka. Prior to her work with Sanctuary Kitchen, Ahmed didn’t know that Mauritius was a country. She associated Afghanistan with the Taliban and extreme violence against women, she said. Now, she knows Chef Parvine Toorawa’s history, which she can recite between bites of Mauritian date chutney and mango salad. When she thinks of Afghanistan, her mind jumps to how Assadi gently mixes milk into her dough for naan to make it rich and tender, and sprinkles Nigella seeds on top. A recent Wednes-

photos by Lucy Gellman

Azhar Ahmed

day found Ahmed herself hunched over a large bowl of hummus, summoning the flavors of Syria as she worked.

In Kandaka, “each recipe tells a story,” she said. When she makes Rousse Samak—corn-fried tilapia with tomatostudded rice—she thinks of her childhood, when heavy rains would flood the streets and she and her siblings had to wade through parts of the city, joking about eating the small creatures that suddenly swam among them. Each time she prepares carefully layered basta, she remembers the first time she tried the treat, the syrup still fresh and hot in her mouth as night fell outside, and her mother urged her to let it cool until morning (she found the recipe years later, from a fellow Sudanese refugee in New Haven).

Her falafel is made with dill and cardamom, the way she ate it growing up. In her Koshary, a popular Egyptian street food with pasta, rice, beans, garlic, tomato and vinegar, she pays tribute to the years she spent in Cairo with her family. She’s also constantly rolling out new dishes, like her savory lentils and an eggplant and peanut salad (Salata Aswad) that she tests with Sanctuary Kitchen’s weekly menus. She said she is also grateful for the Food Business Accelerator from CitySeed and Collab, from which she graduated earlier this year.

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Currently, Kandaka operates only as a pop-up, which allows Ahmed the flexibility to experiment with menu items without the overwhelming cost of overhead. In June, she was able to beta test some of the recipes with a sold out, pick-up-only debut at Sanctuary Kitchen, serving a white bean salad called fasuliya, cardamomscented, perfectly crisped falafel, tilapia and tomato rice. She praised Toorawa for jumping in as a second pair of hands on the day of, helping her meet higher demand than she had expected.

She plans to host another pop-up in late August or September, she said. This month, she and her family are returning to Khartoum for six weeks, for a long overdue trip to reconnect with family. “It’s not safe,” she said, but it will allow her husband to see his family for the first time in 24 years. Ahmed said she hopes to see her brothers, many of whom still live in Sudan.

Eventually, she wants to open Kandaka as a brick-and-mortar storefront in New Haven where people can come, share a meal, and learn about both Sudanese history and culture and about each other. She also hopes to fold in the work she began last year with Kumi’s Dream, providing extra meals to New Haveners experiencing hunger and food insecurity.

The name, meanwhile, will never

change. Each time she hears the word Kandaka, she said, it reminds her of her own strength and the strength of the women around her.

“In my tribe, they respect the woman,” she said. “The woman, she has a power, she has her own voice, she can lead everything. Most of my tribe, the women, they can decide what they do for themselves— there is no man in control of them. I get the name from the past.”

Cara Santino, food entrepreneurship program manager at CitySeed, said they are excited to see how the pop-up continues to grow. In June, they watched as Kandaka soared with an inaugural pop-up. With Azhar, they have pictured something that is ultimately more like the Westville cafe Pistachio, which Syrian immigrant and artist Mohamad Hafez founded in August 2020. They added that “this is the goal” of programs like CitySeed Incubates, which works to better connect early stage food businesses, budding culinary entrepreneurs, CitySeed’s Farmers Markets, and Sanctuary Kitchen.

“She’s very warm and welcoming, and she just loves feeding people,” Santino said. “I love love love working with really strong women who show their care through food, and I​​‘m just excited to see where this journey takes Azhar.”

“The world is crazy right now,” they added. “It’s always been, and it’s never been a fair country for immigrants. To see her thrive has been incredible. I’m just so excited to see what the next pop-up brings.”

The next pop-up is planned for August or September 2022. For updates, visit Sanctuary Cara Santino, food entrepreneurship program manager at CitySeed, said they are excited to see how the pop-up continues to grow. In June, they watched as Kandaka soared with an inaugural pop-up. With Azhar, they have pictured something that is ultimately more like the Westville cafe Pistachio, which Syrian immigrant and artist Mohamad Hafez founded in August 2020. They added that “this is the goal” of programs like CitySeed Incubates, which works to better connect early stage food businesses, budding culinary entrepreneurs, CitySeed’s Farmers Markets, and Sanctuary Kitchen.

“She’s very warm and welcoming, and she just loves feeding people,” Santino said. “I love love love working with really strong women who show their care through food, and I​​‘m just excited to see where this journey takes Azhar.”

“The world is crazy right now,” they added. “It’s always been, and it’s never been a fair country for immigrants. To see her thrive has been incredible. I’m just so excited to see what the next pop-up brings.”

The next pop-up is planned for August or September 2022. For updates, visit Sanctuary https://sanctuary-kitchen.square.site/

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

One of the Nation’s Oldest Black-Owned Bookstores is Closing After 40 Years

BlackBusiness.com Eso Won Books, one of the oldest and most popular Black-owned independent bookstores in Los Angeles, California founded by co-owners James Fugate and Tom Hamilton in the 1980s, has announced that it will be closing its physical store at the end of the year.

“We’ve been working at it a long time and at some point, I think people reach that point where that daily grind of coming into the store, even though we’re open a small amount of time, you want to end that,” Fugate told the Los Angeles Times.

Since the late 1980s, Eso Won Books has dedicated itself as a hub for the Black community to celebrate its culture through written works. They are known to

house a wide array of books on anything related to Black history, even those that are rare to find.

The bookstore notably saw an increase in sales during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. They were also selected as PW’s Bookstore of the Year in 2021.

Fugate and Hamilton, who are now 67 and 68 years old, struggled to keep up with the surge of orders and eventually decided to retire from the physical store.

Even though the Los Angeles storefront will be closed by the end of the year, they said the online store will remain open to accept orders. The duo also encourages the community to continue supporting other Black-owned bookstores.

For more information about Eso Won Books and/or to order online, visit EsoWonBookstore.com

11

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Monkeypox and the Vaccine

coming weeks.

More than 750,000 additional doses will be made available over the summer, and another 500,000 doses will be released through the fall.

The U.S. expects to release 1.6 million doses of Jynneos vaccine this year, officials note.

by Jessica Daniels, BlackDoctor.org

The United States is deploying an enhanced nationwide vaccination strategy to counter the continuing spread of monkeypox, federal public health officials announced at a White House briefing on Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is rapidly expanding access to hundreds of thousands of doses of the Jynneos vaccine, targeted to smallpox and its viral cousin monkeypox. Vaccine doses will be used to protect those Americans deemed to be at higher risk of contracting the virus, according to federal officials. But how do you know if you should get the vaccine?

Here are the people whom the CDC recommends receive the Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox:

How is monkeypox being monitored?

People who have had sexual contact with an infected person Right now, those at the highest risk include anyone who’s had close physical contact or sexual contact with a person with a known case of monkeypox.

Also at high risk are gay and bisexual men who “have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading,” the CDC said in a statement.

Healthcare workers If you are a health care provider in the U.S. that has come in contact with patients with confirmed or probable cases of monkeypox, you should get the Jynneous vaccine.

The CDC also urges clinicians to keep a close eye out for patients who have rashes or lesions that look like monkeypox, especially those who have recently traveled to Central or West Africa or certain parts of Europe where monkeypox has been detected.

Up to now, officials have recommended vaccination only for those detected through contact tracing for potential monkeypox exposure, Walensky said at the Tuesday briefing.

That strategy has been largely driven by vaccine shortages, according to Walensky.

However, “now we are recommending that vaccines be provided to both people with known monkeypox exposures who are contacted by public health, and also to those people who’ve been recently exposed to monkeypox that may not be identi-

fied through cases of investigation and contact tracing,” Walensky said.

When should you get vaccinated?

“Vaccination after exposure or using vaccines for ‘post-exposure prophylaxis’ is meant to reduce your risk of becoming infected with the virus and then becoming sick,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky explained at the briefing. “Vaccination should occur within two weeks of a possible exposure, and the sooner you can get vaccinated after the exposure, the bet-

ter.”

There have been 306 U.S. monkeypox cases reported so far in 27 states and the District of Columbia, according to the CDC’s most updated figures.

Worldwide there are more than 4,700 confirmed cases in 49 countries, Walensky says.

“The good news is on this outbreak, we have had no deaths so far, thanks in large part to vaccines, to tests, to treatments, and to the effectiveness of our health care system,” said Dr. Ash-

12

ish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator.

How are doses of the vaccine being administered?

Doses of the Jynneos vaccine will be distributed to areas with the highest transmission and need, using a tiered allocation system, according to officials.

The federal government is making 56,000 doses of the vaccine available immediately, and another 240,000 doses will be made available in the

The ongoing global monkeypox outbreak also has prompted the CDC to activate an emergency command center for monitoring and coordinating response to the burgeoning epidemic.

The CDC’s Emergency Operation Center has more than 300 staff who work with local, national and international partners to counter urgent public health challenges.

While data suggest that gay and bisexual men make up a high number of monkeypox cases, anyone can get it from close physical contact with an infected person. At least five U.S. women have contracted monkeypox so far, the CDC says.

Late last week, New York City became the first U.S. city to start offering the monkeypox vaccine to those at high risk for the disease.

Demand grew so high that the city had to restrict vaccinations to those with appointments. The city had 1,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, and is working with the CDC to get more.

Despite all this activity, White House officials took pains Tuesday to remind people that monkeypox is a wellknown pathogen.

“The most important point to start with is reminding folks that this is not a novel virus,” Jha says. “Unlike COVID of two years ago, monkeypox is a virus that’s been around forever. We’ve known about it for at least 60-some-odd years, and we have spent years studying and treating monkeypox in endemic nations.”

The United States itself has had outbreaks in 2003 and 2019, Jha notes Getting tested for monkeypox Testing capacity for monkeypox also is being expanded nationwide, according to health officials. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started shipping tests to five commercial laboratory companies across the nation, to make sure that testing is available in every community, the experts at the White House briefing said.

If you experience new rashes or are concerned about monkeypox, contact your healthcare provider.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Benefits of Participating in Clinical Trials for Diverse Patients for clinical studies for many reasons.

They may have a desire to improve medical care for future generations, connection to a certain disease or illness, whether through personal experience or through friends or family, or have a personal interest in science. There are research studies that match every interests.

Volunteering for a clinical study is a personal choice. You have no obligation to do so, and participation is not right for everyone. After enrolling in a study, you may leave at any time and for any reason.

Researchers conduct clinical trials to determine the safety and effectiveness of new therapies. Mayo Clinic is committed to encouraging and promoting research to develop new treatments and some of those clinical trials have led to new or improved treatments for many conditions.

Mayo Clinic also recognizes the importance of not only sharing information about new advances in medicine and research with all members of the community, but also including communities in the research process as partners and advisers.

Mayo Clinic supports community-engaged research projects, education and training, and the reduction of disease burden in minority or underrepresented communities. Staff also provides consultative

The Jacksonville Free Press

A clinical trial is a type of clinical research. Clinical research is a process to find new and better ways to understand, detect, control, and treat health conditions. Through clinical studies, which involve people who volunteer to participate in them, researchers can better understand how to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases or conditions. Mayo Clinic conducts medical research with the goal of helping patients live longer, healthier lives.

When you visit your doctor, they diagnose and treat your current illness or condition. During clinical studies, researchers are trying to gather new knowledge that will help them improve medical care for people in the future.

Volunteers are an integral part of the research process. Researchers need volunteers for a broad range of clinical studies as it supports meaningful research to identify and address health disparities and to help ensure Mayo Clinic patients reflect the diversity of our communities.

People with a particular disease as well as healthy people both can play a role in contributing to medical advances. Without volunteers, clinical studies simply would not be possible. People volunteer

14

support and guidance for researchers conducting research with multicultural communities.

Mayo Clinic staff in the Office of Health Disparities Research located in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota support meaningful research to identify and address health disparities and to help ensure Mayo Clinic patients reflect the diversity of our communities.

There are many ways to participate in clinical research at Mayo Clinic. Three common ways are by volunteering to be in a study as mentioned above, by giving permission to have your medical record reviewed for research purposes, and by allowing your blood or tissue samples to be studied. For more information on clinical trials please visit https://www.mayo. edu/research/clinical-trials.

Envision yourself working for a global leader in an industry fueled by innovation and growth. Mayo Clinic has opportunities for you. Join us at Florida’s No. 1 hospital by visiting https://jobs.mayoclinic.org/. For more information on health care topics please visit Mayo Clinic Jacksonville at mayoclinic.org.

This article first appeared in The Jacksonville Free Press.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

Comcast Pushing Program Offering Free Internet Service for Millions of Households

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent After the White House announced a plan to expand access to affordable high-speed internet for millions of Americans, particularly low-income families, it didn’t take long for Comcast to ensure its customers took advantage.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), created under the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, has allowed Comcast to offer free and discounted internet service to customers in its Beltway Region – Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and parts of Delaware, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

The program provides $30 per month toward the cost of internet or mobile service to eligible low-income households.

Maryland has agreed to provide an additional $15 per month.

“The impact means for eligible households, there’s no reason anyone should have to pay for internet service,” said Misty Allen, the vice president of government affairs for Comcast’s Beltway Region.

“In Baltimore, eligible households can get $30 applied through the federal government, and the state of Maryland is providing an additional $15, so that’s up to

$45 each month,” Allen remarked.

“So, when you talk about impact, we know that there are three major barriers to internet subscription. One is relevancy, where people ask, ‘why do I need internet service when I have a phone?’

“Do I have the skills? Maybe I don’t have a computer. The third is affordability. This takes affordability off the table because internet service effectively can be free for Maryland residents.”

According to a release from Comcast, Customers who qualify also can apply ACP credits to any tier of Xfinity Internet, including Internet Essentials or Xfinity Mobile.

Comcast and its community partners in the Beltway Region – including Montgomery Housing Partnership, The Green Beret Project, and The Senior Zone – are hosting ACP awareness events throughout the summer where residents can learn about eligibility, benefits, and how to sign up.

The ACP program should help households of color where government officials provided statistics that show Latino Americans are 15% less likely to have high-speed internet than their white peers, while Black families are 9% less likely.

Additionally, about 35% of all people living on Tribal lands lack access to broadband services.

The Biden-Harris administration esti-

mated that 48 million households qualify for the ACP, accounting for about 40% of all households in the U.S. Qualifying households either earn below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level or have a member who receives other government benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income.

“The success of the program is highly depended upon people being aware that’s it available,” Allen stated.

“We are emailing our customers, running television commercials, and doing everything we can as providers, but we’re working with community leaders, elected officials, and nonprofits.

“We’re getting that information out to them and asking them to help us spread the word. We are working with the Y’s, the Boys & Girls Clubs, Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Fight Back, and the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition has a hotline to help people who call in looking for resources. “ Allen continued: “We are working the social fabric of these communities to help get the word out because these are the folks doing it every day to help their communities.”

For more information or to sign up for the ACP program, visit www.Xfinity.com/ ACP.

16

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

COMMENTARY:

The Plan for Transforming Public Safety and Policing in the U.S

.By Ben Jealous, President of People For the American Way Communities all across the country are facing public safety crises.

Crime is rising in ways that leave many people feeling unsafe. At the same time, police violence and killings of unarmed civilians demonstrate that pouring more money into more-of-the-same policing is not the answer.

Here’s some good news. There is a new road map for public officials who are eager for solutions. And there is a growing network of mayors and other officials who are ready to do what it takes.

“All Safe: Transforming Public Safety” is a game plan for transformative change.

This massive policy blueprint just published by People For the American Way is grounded in real-world data and the expertise of local elected officials, law enforcement experts, clergy, and other community activists.

There are two truths about authoritarian policing. They do not contradict each other. In fact, they point us toward the possibility of building coalitions that are broad enough to make change happen.

One truth is that Black Americans, Native Americans, and other people of color pay a disproportionate price. Black Americans are more than twice as likely as white people to be shot and killed by police officers. Racial profiling is experienced by communities of color throughout the U.S. A second truth is that people of color are not the only victims of authoritarian

policing. As with so many other issues, Black and Brown communities are the canaries in a much larger American coal mine. White people make up the secondlargest group in our prisons, disproportionately low-income white men, and they make up a majority of people killed by police each year.

Four years before George Floyd died under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a white man named Tony Timpa called Dallas police to ask for help during a mental health crisis. He was handcuffed and zip-tied and killed by an officer who pressed his knee into Timpa’s back for 14 minutes while Timpa cried, “You’re gonna kill me!”

Every community is put at risk by systems that resist accountability for those who abuse their power.

Every community is put at risk by a police culture that promotes and tolerates an aggressive “warrior” mentality among law enforcement officers.

Those problems are compounded by communities’ over-reliance on police.

Over the decades, we have added additional burdens to police officers that distract them from their primary purpose.

That leaves all of us underserved and less safe.

Transforming public safety requires policy change in four major areas: restructuring public safety systems to ensure communities’ underlying safety and social needs are met; holding unfit officers responsible and accountable for their actions; removing unfit officers, particularly those with a demonstrated history of violence, aggression, or other misconduct from police departments; and recruiting well-trained public safety personnel committed to serving and protecting their communities.

One transformative public safety plan is currently moving forward in Ithaca, New York. It will replace the current po-

lice department with a new public safety department that will include armed officers and unarmed crisis intervention specialists. It would allow police officers to be more focused and effective while minimizing the chances that police-civilian interactions will spiral unnecessarily into violence.

The “All Safe” roadmap for transforming public safety demolishes the false narrative often promoted by police unions and their political allies to resist change and accountability. They claim that public safety reform is incompatible with effective crime fighting. In reality, the opposite is true.

The system of authoritarian policing that we have inherited from our past is not aligned with our national ideals of equality and justice for all. It is a threat to our people, our communities, and even our democracy. And it is not working to keep us safe.

Making America safer and more just requires a commitment to address root causes of criminal activity and violence, including unjust laws, discriminatory enforcement, and insufficient effective investments in individual and community wellbeing. And it requires a lasting transformation in the U.S. public safety system, including mechanisms to hold officers accountable for excessive use of force.

We know what kind of change is necessary. Let’s make it happen.

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

The post COMMENTARY: The Plan for Transforming Public Safety and Policing in the U.S. first appeared on Post News Group. This article originally appeared in Post News Group.

R. Kelly is Sentenced

to 30 Years in Prison

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor One of the most successful R&B singers over the last three decades, Robert Kelly, was sentenced to thirty years in prison on June 29 in Chicago.

Kelly was sentenced to three decades behind bars for racketeering and sex trafficking. Testimony at trial included a sexual relationship he had with a 15-yearold when he started his career in his midtwenties.

The prosecution of the singer received new energy after the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” aired on Lifetime TV to high ratings. An earlier effort to prosecute ended in an acquittal.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Kelly, 55, to 20 years. R. Kelly’s defense team asked for 10 years or fewer.

The judge in the case, Ann Donnelly, added another ten years to the sentencing guidelines and sentenced Kelly to 30 years.

Kelly’s defense team referenced that R. Kelly was the victim of sexual violence as a child at the hands of a family member and a neighbor. Judge Donnelly said she considered Kelly’s traumatic childhood experience as a factor but not an excuse.

“It may explain, at least in part, what led to your behavior. It most surely is not an excuse,” Judge Donnelly said in court.

Judge Donnelly said that the case against Kelly was, “not about sex. It’s about violence and cruelty and control. You had a system in place that lured young people into your orbit — and then you took over their lives.”

Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said she would appeal the sentence.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered. She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

Akron Authorities Release Disturbing BodyCam of Shooting of Black DoorDash Driver

By Stacy Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent

Authorities on Sunday released disturbing bodycam footage of Jayland Walker, an unarmed Black DoorDash delivery driver with no criminal record shot dozens of times by Akron Police Officers.

The lawyer for the 25-year-old’s family called it an execution, telling media members that police fired 90 shots, hitting the young man “60 to 80 times.”

As the video rolls, several officers are seen approaching Walker’s vehicle with their guns drawn. Police Chief Stephen Mylett claimed Walker had a ski mask on and reached toward his waist during a foot chase and turned toward pursuing police officers.

He claimed that’s when officers opened fire. Mylett said a weapon was found in

Walker’s car, but it wasn’t clear if it was discharged.

Jayland Walker

He admitted that Walker didn’t exit the car with a gun.

While handcuffed and bleeding profusely from his wounds, Mylett claimed officers attempted to provide lifesaving help for Walker.

The eight officers directly involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave.

“It was difficult to watch, and shocking,” Mylett stated. “I’m not going to pass judgment.: The chief and Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan commended Walker’s family for calling for peaceful demonstrations.

“The video is heartbreaking, it’s hard to take in,” Horrigan said.

17

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the FBI field office in Akron issued joint statements noting that they were “closely monitoring and reviewing the circumstances.”

“The FBI continues to coordinate with state and local partners to provide resources and specialized skills,” officials wrote in the statement. “If the evidence reveals potential violations of federal criminal statutes, the Justice Department will take appropriate action.”

In attempt to quell tensions, Horrigan announced the cancelation of Akron’s Fourth of July Festival.

Walker’s family attorney Bobby DiCello called for a federal investigation.

“The is brutal,” DiCello asserted. “It’s going to stir up some passion. It’s going to make people uneasy.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022 Con’t from page 05

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to organize, mobilize. We’re out here dying from this lack of resources, and we have to save ourselves. So I’m taking all the time I can to rest.”

Stopping to watch her paint, Carlos Perez took in her all-white outfit, crisp and clean in a landscape of wet paint and smudged dropcloths. “You’re brave,” he said.

“Of course I’m brave,” she said. Her eyes remained focused on the butterfly’s wings. “I’m a Black woman.”

Down the wall from her, Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School grad CJ Perez agreed that there was something peaceful about the day. Art runs in his family: his dad is the artist Carlos Perez, who will be painting the second Fair Haven mural and brought his whole family out with him Saturday. The younger Perez said he thinks of public art as not only calming, but a way to give back to a community that has nurtured him for decades.

“I have a lot of fun here,” he said. “Art is something that means a lot to me and my family. It helps me feel good about what I accomplish and it gives me confidence in myself.”

As they entered the final hour of the community paint day, both Douglas and Ladson said that they hope to continue growing their visual footprint across the city. Both have spent hundreds of hours beneath the underpass painting as the mural nears completion. Both are also artists who place community at the center of their work.

Douglas has used her craft to uplift other Black women in the arts, and Ladson uses her work as vehicle to talk about feminism, intentional community building, and Black women who are the authors and protaginists of their own stories.

“I’ve never painted a mural before and I wanted to get the hang of it,” Ladson said.

“We just have so many places in New Haven that need beautification.”

Ochumare, a founding member of Black Lives Matter New Haven who is also an artist, youth organizer and member of NuSpiral, said that the paint day represented so many of her hopes for the project. When NuSpiral began, the four members of the collective placed anti-racism and cultural equity at the forefront of the work they were doing. Several months, city contracts, and negotiations with the Connecticut Department of Transportation later, they can see it coming to fruition.

“It’s amazing,” Ochumare said. When she saw Douglas’ design, “I was like, ‘You had me at the crown.’ It’s really exciting to see these different perspectives on liberation.”

NuSpiral’s third and final mural of the season, from lead artist Carlos Perez and apprentice Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez, is slated to go in on Grand Avenue by Hamilton Street this month. A community paint day is scheduled for July 23 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; RSVP here.

THE INNER-CITYNEWS NEWS July - July , 2022 - July02, 19,2016 2022 INNER-CITY 27,132016 - August

Construction

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valWe offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits id drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621Contact: Tom Dunay VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE 1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Phone: 860- 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom this develAffiatrmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to applyapartments Drug Free Workforce opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven.

Maximum income limitations apAffirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer ply. 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 reGarrity Asphalt Incduring seeks: CT Fence quest by calling HOMEReclaiming, INC at 203-562-4663 those hours.Large Completed pre- Company looking for an individual for our Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing PVC Fence Production Shop. Experience preferred but will applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northtrain the right person. Must be familiar with carpentry hand Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits & 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 poContact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 sition. Duties include building fence panels, posts, gates and Email: rick.touMust have a valid CT driver’s license & be able to obtain signant@garrityasphalt.com VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDESmore.

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Affirmative Action/deEqual Opportunity HOME INC, en nombre la Columbus House y Employer de la New Haven Housing Authority, está AA/EOE-MF 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 Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipjulio,Must 2016have hastaacuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes ment.

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ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Invitation for Bids

Temporary Emergency Relocation

Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids for temporary emergency relocation.

A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, June 27, 2022 at 3:00PM.

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

NOTICIA

Union Company seeks:

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

Construction

quired. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING BRISTOL HOUSING AUTHORITY

The Bristol Housing Authority will hold a Public Hearing on July 8, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. at Gaylord Towers, 55 Gaylord St., Bristol, CT. The purpose of this public hearing is to allow residents and the public an opportunity to comment on the proposal of BHA to develop an MTW Plan and apply for MTW (Moving to Work) Status in response to HUD’s invitation to applicants.

The Bristol Housing Authority proposes to apply for MTW Asset Building Cohort, Option #2. The intent of this Option is for BHA to provide credit reports to credit agencies for up to 24 months for public housing residents who choose to participate.

Written comments concerning the Housing Authority’s MTW Plan can be accepted through July 25, 2022. All written comments can be submitted by mail to Mitzy Rowe, CEO, Bristol Housing Authority, 164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT 06010 or e-mail to mrowe@bristolhousing.org with the subject “MTW Plan.”

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY STATE MODERATE RENTAL PROGRAM MR 19, 19A, 066, and 008 PUBLIC NOTICE

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V

242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 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 of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. New Haven, CT

Drug Free Workforce

Invitation to Bid:

nd State of Connecticut 2 Notice OPENING OF THE 2 AND 3 BEDROOM WAITING LISTS Office of Policy Effective July 1, 2022 the Seymour Housing Authority will open the 2 and 3 bedand Management room CT State Moderate Rental Waiting List for a period of 90 Days and it will be Old Saybrook, closed again on September 30, 2022 in accordance with its Tenant Selection and (4ofBuildings, 17 Units) The State of Connecticut, Office Continued Occupancy Policy. Apparently eligible applicants for these lists will be Policy and Management is recruiting Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project placed on the waiting list as a result of a random lottery of the pool of apparently for a Research Analyst. eligible applicant from the open period. The lottery drawing will be held on Friday, Further informationWood regarding the Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastNew Construction, Framed, November 4, 2022 at 2:00 P.M. in the Main Lobby of The Seymour Housing Auduties, eligibility requirements and located 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT 06483. There are existing apparin-place Concrete, Shingles, VinylatSiding, application instructions for this Asphaltthority, ently eligible families on our 2 and 3 bedroom list at the present time, and the pool positionPainting, are available at: 10 Specialties, Flooring, Division Appliances, Residential Casework, of applicants from the July, August and September 2022 open application period Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. https://www.jobapscloud.com/ would be placed at the bottom of the current waiting list.

CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

220512&R2=6855AR&R3=001

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

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.

Family must first meet the eligibility requirements to qualify for this program.

The State of Connecticut is an equal Maximum Bid Extended, Due Date: AugustIncome 5, 2016 and Base rents averaging $500 or 30% of income, whichever opportunity/affirmative action employer higher, and strongly encourages the Anticipated applications Start: is August 15,applies 2016 for this program. Applicants must demonstrate an ability to pay of women, minorities, and persons the base rent to pay utilities for the unit including oil heating, electricity, and waProject documents available via ftp link below: with disabilities. ter. Applicants for the 2 bedroom list must demonstrate an ability to occupy all 2

http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage bedrooms based on their household composition. Applicant for the 3 bedroom list

DRIVER CDL CLASS A

must demonstrate and ability to occupy all 3 bedrooms based on their household

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

Please be advised that these programs are not subsidized voucher HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & such Sectionas 3 Certified Businesses programs, Section 8. This program is for Low to Moderate Income State Company, 32 Progress Seymour,For CT 06483 Full Time –Haynes All Construction Shifts Top Public Ave, Housing. more information on Qualifications, please visit our website AA/EEO EMPLOYER at www. Seymourhousing.org or contact us at 203-888-4579.

Pay-Full Benefits

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

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

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

19

Applicants can be picked up from the Seymour Housing Authority at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 or requested at 203-888-4579. You may also obtain an application online at www. Seymourhousing.org.

INNER-CITY 27, 13 2016 - August THE INNER-CITYNEWS NEWS July - July , 2022 - July02, 19,2016 2022

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) NOTICE Fireside Apts. New Laundry Room Solicitation Number: 216-MD-22-S

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed forof Renovation UFAS Compliance Laundry Room Authority, at Fireside HOME INC, onbids behalf Columbusfor House and the New Haven Housing Apartments. package be and available on July 11, 2022. To at obtain a copy is acceptingSolicitation pre-applications forwill studio one-bedroom apartments this develof opment the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitationsplease apreference solicitation number title onfrom the subject line.

A pre-bid conference ply. Pre-applications will beand available 9AM TO 5PM beginning Mondaywill Ju;ybe held 655 Palisade Ave,when Bridgeport, CT pre-applications 06610 on July 27,(approximately 2022 @ 10:00 100) a.m. Atten25,at2016 and ending sufficient have dance mandatory, submitting for the project without attending conference beenis received at the offices aofbid HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon will rebe quest REJECTED. questions should beduring emailed onlyhours. to bids@parkcitycomby callingAdditional HOME INC at 203-562-4663 those Completed premunities.org no later than August 3, 2022 at 3:00 PM Answers to all the questions will applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. Seal bids will be received Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. until August 10, 2022 @ 10:00 a.m. at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

NOTICIA

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES RequestDE for Proposal (RFP)

Worker's Compensation Employer's Liability Insurance HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está Solicitation Number: 215-HR-22-S aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo The Housing the City of Bridgeport Park City Communities (PCC) ubicado en Authority la calle 109ofFrank Street, New Haven.d/b/a Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos is soliciting from independent brokers or qualified Martes to provide máximos. proposals Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09agents a.m.-5 who p.m. are comenzando 25 technical andhasta costcuando proposals forrecibido worker’s compensation/employer’s liability insurance julio, 2016 se han suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) from approved package be available 22, en las oficinasinsurance de HOMEcarriers.

INC. LasSolicitation pre-solicitudes serán will enviadas por correoona June petición 2022, to obtain a copy the solicitation you must send your request deberán to bids@parkcillamando a HOME INCof al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes remitirse tycommunities.org, pleaseINC reference solicitation number and title the subject line.. A a las oficinas de HOME en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, Newon Haven , CT 06510 pre-bid conference call will be held on July 6, 2022, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a proposal for without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than July 13, 2022 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. Proposals shall be mailed, or hand delivered by July 25, 2022 @ 3:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Chief Procurement Officer, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, or via e-mail to bids@parkcitycommunities.org. Late proposals will not be accepted.

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA

Payroll

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Payroll Clerk- Performs responsible office work in the processing of all general governPet under 40lb allowed.

Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 ment payrolls and maintain all payroll records.

The position requires a H.S. diploma or

G.E.D, plus 5 years of experience in responsible office work involving typing, accounting, bookkeeping, data entry and payroll processing. $27.22 to $32.68 hourly plus an CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s excellent benefi Apply: Department Town of Certificatefringe Program.

This ista package.

10 month program designed to assist in of the Human intellectualResources, formation of Candidates in response to45 theSouth Church’s Ministry needs.Wallingford, The cost is $125.

Classes startForms Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30Wallingford, Main Street, CT 06492. will be mailed upon 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. request from the Department of Elijah Human Resources maybe downloaded from the De(203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Davis, D.D. Pastor or of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster partment of Human Resources Web Page. The closing date will be the date that the 50th St. New Haven, CT application form/resume is received, or July 25, 2022, whichever occurs first. EOE

THE GLENDOWER INC. SEYMOUR HOUSINGGROUP, AUTHORITY Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, Augustfor 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Request Proposals Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs Replacement at the Construction Manager at Risk for St. Luke’s and Redevelopment Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

The Glendower Group, Inc. is currently seeking proposals for a ConA pre-bidManager conference heldSt.at Luke’s the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith struction at will Riskbefor Redevelopment.

A complete Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Ofcom/gateway fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. beginning on Monday, June 20, 2022 at 3:00PM. 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

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

DELIVERY PERSON

NEEDED Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

(203) 435-1387

Town of Bloomfield Administrative Clerk Salary $32.78 hourly

TREASURER/PAYROLL ADMINISTRATOR The City of Milford is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Treasurer/Payroll Administrator to handle receipts and disbursements and investment of cash in accordance with state statutes and city investment policy as well as oversee the preparation and maintenance of municipal payrolls. For details about qualifications and how to apply, email HRrecruit@milfordct.gov or go to www. ci.milford.ct.us/hr/pages/jobs.

WATER TREATMENT LEVEL I WATER TREATMENT PUMPING OPERATOR - The Town of Wallingford’s Water Division is seeking qualified candidates to maintain and operate the Town’s portable (drinking) water treatment plants, pumping stations, storage tanks, and ground well facilities. Must process a High School Diploma or G.E.D with one (1) year of demonstrated experience involving the operation or maintenance of equipment of the type predominant in water supply and treatment; or a technical high school diploma with a demonstrated career and technical education related to electronics technology, electrical, H.V.A.C or water supply and treatment activates and operations. A State of Connecticut Department of Public Health Class 1 or higher Water Treatment Plant Operator certification (WTP1) and a certification of achievement in water management from a State of Connecticut community college, college, or university, or ability to obtain both within (12) months from date of hire. Wages: $27.49 - $33.40 hourly, plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. Fax # 203-294-2084. The closing date will be the date the 50th application/resume is received, or July 26, 2022 whichever occurs first. EOE

Pre-employment drug testing.

AA/EOE. For Details go to www.bloomfieldct.org Invitation to Bid: The Housing Authority, City of Bristol is amending its 2022-2026 Agency Plan in com2nd Notice

Notice of Public Hearing

pliance with the HUD Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. A Public

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE Hearing will be held on September 2, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. at Gaylord Towers Community SENIOR ADMINITRATIVE Hall located at 55 Gaylord Street, Bristol, CT.

ASSISTANT

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings,Information 17 Units) is available for review and inspection at Housing Authority, City of Bristol, Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate 164 Jerome Ave.,Project Bristol, CT during regular business hours. Please call (860) 582-6313

Full-time position

for an appointment.

Newto Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastGo www.portlandct. in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding,Wanted - Full Time Category: org for details Help

Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. Regional Planner State of Connecticut This contract is subject to state set-aside The and South contract compliance requirements.

Office of Policy Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) is seeking to fill the and Management

Regional Planner position. Visit www.scrcog.org for the full position description, quali-

fications, and5, application requirements. Applications are to be submitted by noon on Bid Extended, Due Date: August 2016 The State of Connecticut, Friday, July 22, 2022.

Questions may be emailed to jobs@scrcog.org. SCRCOG is an Anticipated Office of Policy and Management is Start: August 15, 2016 Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. recruiting for a Leadership Associate Project documents available via ftp link below: (Confidential) Target class: Agency http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Labor Relations Specialists.

Payroll

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn application instructions for this of all Veteran,Payroll ClerkPerforms responsible HCC encourages the participation S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses office work in the processing of all general governposition Haynes are available at: Company, 32 Progress ment payrolls and maintain Construction Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 all payroll records. The position requires a H.S. diploma or

G.E.D, plus 5 years of experience in responsible office work involving typing, accounthttps://www.jobapscloud.com/AA/EEO EMPLOYER CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= ing, bookkeeping, data entry and payroll processing. $27.22 to $32.68 hourly plus an 220621&R2=5989VR&R3=001 excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of

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

20

Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or maybe downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. The closing date will be the date that the 50th application form/resume is received, or July 25, 2022, whichever occurs first. EOE

INNER-CITY 27,13 2016 - August THE INNER-CITYNEWS NEWS July - July , 2022 - July02, 19,2016 2022

NOTICE LAROSA GROUPS IS GROWING LaRosa Building Group LLC, a General Contractor is currently looking to add the VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE-toAPPLICATIONS AVAILABLE following full-time positions our Team:

Project Manager HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, Assistant Project Manager/Project Engineer is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develSuperintendent opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y LaRosa Earth Group LLC, a Site/Excavation Company is currently looking 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have to add the following full-time positions to our Team: been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOMEHeavy INC at Equipment 203-562-4663Operators during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returnedSkilled to HOMELaborers INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

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

NOTICIA

Salary will MACRI be commensurate experiencePRE-SOLICITUDES and best fit for theDISPONIBLES positions.

VALENTINA VIVIENDASwith DE ALQUILER Health plan; 401K; company- paid holidays in addition to paid time off.

LaRosa rmativeHouse Action/ Opportunity Employer HOME INC, enGroups nombreisdeanlaAffi Columbus y deEqual la New Haven Housing Authority, está who pre-solicitudes values diversity and encourages all qualifi aceptando para estudios y apartamentos deed unapplicants dormitorio to en apply. 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 INCseeking al 203-562-4663 duranteand esas self-motivated horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse FHIllamando Studio aisHOME actively an innovative full-time Landscape Architect to joindeour team.INC As aenlandscape architect, you are vital toHaven assisting project a las oficinas HOME 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New , CTthe 06510 .

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

team in creating plans and designs over a wide variety of project types. Strong candidates have strong organizational and planning skills and have experience in landscape architecture and urban design and planning. Candidates must be proficient in AutoCAD and be proficient with MS Office. Experience with 3d modeling is a plus.

Minimum Degree: Bachelor’s Degree in landscape architecture, urban design, or related field. Salary ranges from $72,800 to $104,000 yearly, commensurate with level of experience. Please apply at https://fhistudio.isolvedhire.com/jobs/ or send cover letter and resume to Bonnie Torres, 416 Asylum Street, Hartford, CT 06103. FHI Studio is 242-258 Fairmont Ave an EEO/AA /VEV/Disabled employer.

NEW HAVEN

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

new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 TheAllHousing Authority of the City of Bridgeport highways, near stopcation & shopping Request forbus Qualifi (RFQ) center

Development Partner for thecontact Revitalization Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties Maria @of860-985-8258 Greene Homes Development Solicitation Number: 214-EO-22-S

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s

Program.

This is of a 10the month program designed tod/b/a assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates TheCertificate Housing Authority City of Bridgeport Park City Communities (PCC) is in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30seeking Statements ofDeacon QualifiJoe cations interested and qualified real estate develop3:30 Contact: Chairman, J. Davis,from M.S., B.S. 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor ofSolicitation Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church Brewster ers(203) for the Redevelopment of C.F. Greene Homes. package will64be available July 5, CT 2022, to obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to St.on New Haven, bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-proposal conference will be held via conference call on July 22, 2022, @ 11:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than July invited by to theallHousing Authority the Town of Seymour 26,Sealed 2022 @bids 3:00are p.m.

Answers the questions will beofposted on PCC’s Website: until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, Proposals August 2,shall 2016 its office at 28delivered Smith Street, www.parkcitycommunities.org. be at mailed, or hand

by July 29,Seymour, 2022 @ 3:00 to Ms. Sanchez, Director of Procurement, 150 Highland CTPM, 06483 for Caroline Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Late proposals will not be accepted.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

A pre-bid conference willConstruction be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith

Seeking employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, StreettoSeymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20,operator 2016. and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Persondocuments available the Seymour Housing Authority OfnelBidding Department, P.O. Boxare 368, Cheshire,from CT06410. fice, 28 Smith CTOpportunity 06483 (203)Employer 888-4579.

AffiStreet, rmativeSeymour, Action/Equal M/F/V Drug Free Workforce

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

DRIVER CDL CLASS A

THE GLENDOWER GROUP, INC. Request for Proposals

Full Time – All Shifts Top Pay-Full Benefits EOE Please apply in person: 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Stratford, CT 06615

Construction Manager at Risk for St. Luke’s Redevelopment The Glendower Group, Inc. is currently seeking proposals for a Construction Manager at Risk for St. Luke’s Redevelopment. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

beginning on Monday, June 20, 2022 at 3:00PM.

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay.

Bids and Proposals Department has an immediate opening for

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

a Bid Coordinator. This full time position in a fast-paced office requires good computer and organizational skills, attention to detail, and multi-tasking. Knowledge of the petroleum industry required. Send resume to: Human Resource Dept., P O Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or by email to: HRdept@eastriverenergy.com

Town of Bloomfield Assistant Assessor Salary $41.82 hourly

Pre-employment drug testing.

AA/EOE. For Details go to www.bloomfieldct.org

********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

Yard Worker:

Large CT Fence Company is looking for individuals for our stock yard. We are looking for individuals with previous warehouse shipping, receiving and forklift experience. Must have a minimum of 3 years of material handling experience. Duties include: Loading & unloading trucks, Fulfilling orders for installation & retail counter sales, Maintaining a clean & organized environment, Managing inventory control & delivering fence panels & products. Qualifications: High School diploma or equivalent, Must be able to read/write English, demonstrate good to Bid: have the ability to lift 70 pounds. time management skills, able to readInvitation a tape measure, nd NoticeDOT Medical Card, and pass company Must have a valid CT Driver’s License,2Obtain physical and drug test. Class A CDL & Class B CDL license a plus. We are an AA/EOE company. Send resumes/inquiries to: pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com

Town of Bloomfield Administrative Analyst II (STEM)

Salary $41.82 hourly Pre-employment drug testing.

AA/EOE. For Details go to www.bloomfieldct.org

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) QSR STEEL Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project State of Connecticut CORPORATION Office of Policy and Management New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for an Agency Labor Relations Specialist and a Leadership Associate (Confidential).

Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application Electrical, and Fire are Protection.

Top pay for topMechanical, performers.

Health Plumbing instructions available at: Benefi ts, 401K, Vacation Pay.set-aside and contract compliance This contract is subject to state requirements. https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.

APPLY NOW!

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

asp?R1=220614&R2=5257MP&R3=001 and

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 asp?R1=220517&R2=5989VR&R3=001 Project documents available via ftpState link below: The of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage persons with disabilities.

Portland

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran,Ducci S/W/MBEElectrical & Section 3 Certified Businesses Inc. seeks experienced ESTIMATOR to handle mulContractors, Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, tiple large projectsCT in 06483 the field of Electrical Construction. Full-time position. 5+ years AA/EEO EMPLOYER experience in the following types of projects is preferred: Health care, Data centers, Educational, Industrial, Commercial, DOT, & Railroad. Electrical license E-2 or above preferred. Excellent compensation and benefits package. Send resume to Ducci Electrical Contractors, Inc. 74 Scott Swamp Rd. Farmington, CT 06032 or via email at Go to www.portlandct.org for details humanresources@duccielectrical.com.

An affirmative action equal opportunity employer. EOE/M/F/D/V.

Director of Public Works full-time

21

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

A Win for the Warriors, A Win for the Community

By Sarah Clemens, Makiah Hiley and Daisha Williams

The Golden State Warriors have proved yet again that they are winners and they showed their appreciation for the fans with the party of all parties.

More than 1 million fans reportedly came to the parade held by the Dubs on Monday in celebration of their win against the Boston Celtics on June 16 with a score of 103-90 in the sixth game of the series.

By 7 a.m., fans who had come from around the Bay Area on BART, Caans, bike, ferry as well as those who had traveled from as far away as the state of Washington, Ohio, Texas and Canada had lined both sides of the parade route, which ran along Market Street from Main to Eighth Street.

Before the parade began, the Warriors team members, coaches, owners and more were welcomed to a dais displaying all four of the team’s NBA Championship trophies from 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

The parade started a little after 11:20 a.m. as the day reached its high of 81 degrees. Despite the heat and crowding, the atmosphere was one of overwhelming joy.

Upon arrival at the event, you’d see diverse warrior fans with ages as low as 2 and as old as 72 all decked out in merch, full of excitement. At different spots, hot dogs, cold drinks, jello shots and merch were all being sold in scattered areas of the street and the scent of marijuana lingered in the air.

While waiting for the parade to start, you’d see clumps of fans hustling to get a

barriers, taking over Market Street despite the best efforts of police. But there were no security problems.

The Warriors have had a tough time recently and in their remarks several players have said that the lows have made this victory all the more sweet.

After losing the past two years, no one expected them to win this year’s championship especially since several wellknown players suffered injuries.

In the end, the ups and downs left everyone, both the players and the fans, in high spirits.

When asked about how winning the championship felt, especially after enduring so many injuries, Klay Thompson said, “Just going to breakfast after and seeing everyone in the neighborhood so excited…That’s what it’s about.” He continued, “It’s the small things in life that inspire you to keep going like taking a picture with an old lady or a kid.”

This sentiment, the feelings of love and joy, is what makes the Warriors such a special team, and part of what makes the Bay such a special place.

Other sources for this story include CBSNews, Kron4 News, USA Today and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Sarah Clemens, Makiah Hiley and Daisha Williams are Oakland School of the Arts students working as interns for the Post Newspaper Group.

The post A Win for the Warriors, A Win for the Community first appeared on Post News Group. This article originally appeared in Post News Group.

good view with a lot of fans even climbing to high ground like light poles and bus shelters.

Convertible cars holding politicians and other dignitaries including three Bay Area mayors: Libby Schaaf of Oakland, London Breed of San Francisco and Sam Liccardo of San Jose. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was also present as was Rep. Barbara Lee who came in after celebrating Juneteenth the day before in her home state of Texas.

But the crowd roared to life at the sighting Draymond Green, whose bus was the first on the parade route.

Fans screamed their admiration and from there, the hype was permanent.

From the open-roofed buses, players waved to fans and threw merchandise like glasses and shirts. Once you heard crowds of people shouting “MVP! MVP”, you knew that the star player, Stephen Curry, came down the street.

People went crazy as Curry graced the streets alongside his wife, Ayesha.

Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Gary Payton II frequently got off their buses to mingle with the crowd, taking selfies, glad-handing and in Payton’s case, dousing the crowd with a water cannon.

“You guys, Steph Curry is up there!” a girl excitedly told her friends, sometimes referred to as the greatest shooter in NBA history. Jerseys saying “Curry” were most common, but so were other blue and gold outfits, including a girl wearing a Warrior’s banner as a cape.

As the parade passed, fans breached the

Golden State Warriors Steph Curry and Draymond Green

LA Lakers Unite Scotty Pippen Jr. and Shaq’s Son, Shareef O’Neal for Their Summer League

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor The sons of two NBA Hall of Famers, Scotty Pippen and Shaquille O’Neal, will play together on the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league team.

Shareef O’Neal, 22, is the son of Shaquille O’Neal, 50. His father played in the NBA from 1992 to 2010.

Scotty Pippen, Jr., 21, is the son of six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen who played most of his career alongside Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls. Pippen played in the NBA from 1987 to 1999. Of the two sons, Pippen, Jr. is generally viewed as the better prospect as O’Neal has had to contend with some injuries.

On June 28, the LA Lakers summer league roster players started practice for the upcoming California Classic in San Francisco and NBA 2K23 in Las Vegas, according to ESPN. The two

sons of the superstars practiced at the Los Angeles Lakers training facility.

Whether they will make the team re-

mains an unanswered question — as it is for every prospect in such a hugely competitive professional sports league.

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“I would definitely say there’s a different type of camaraderie for guys whose dads played in the NBA,” said

Pippen Jr., 21, to reporters. Pippen Jr. was undrafted as he departed Vanderbilt. He signed a two-way contract with Los Angeles.

Although the pressure of being the son of a famous sports star could be an added issue for Pippen and O’Neal, pressure in general for prospects is already high. The percentage of college players that actually make it into the NBA is only 1.2 percent.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered.

She may be contacted at LBurke007@ gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke Shareef O’Neal (left), 22, is the son of Shaquille O’Neal, 50. His father played in the NBA from 1992 to 2010. Scotty Pippen, Jr., 21, is the son of six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen who played most of his career alongside

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July 13, 2022 - July 19, 2022

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