THE INNER CITY NEWS

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“Mother” Joyner Celebrates 103 Years Young

By Lucy Gellman

Mary Etta Atkinson Joyner held the phone in one hand, tracing the contours of her sister’s voice in the other. On the line, 95-year-old Virginia Griffen wished her many happy returns, a refrain that has never gotten old in 103 years of hearing it. Between them, there were nearly 200 years of history, criss-crossing the country from North Carolina to New Haven, from Newhall and Huntington Streets to downtown and back.

“My baby sister!” she announced with a warm edge to her voice. Her eyes fluttered behind a pair of black shades. “My baby sister.”

Saturday, five generations of siblings, cousins, children and grandchildren crowded into Joyner’s Newhall Street home to celebrate her 103 years on this earth, including over nine decades in New Haven. A fierce and formidable matriarch, Hillhouse High School graduate and part of the family that founded Pitts Chapel, “Mother” Atkinson Joyner is now an integral part of the city’s story, from its houses of worship to the four children and five grandchildren she saw through its schools.

“I don’t feel my age at all,” she said Saturday, from where she sat on a plush leather recliner, greeting a steady stream of well-wishers who crouched down beside her. The Bible Network hummed in the background, alternating between song and sermon. “God blessed me with good brains.”

The story of Joyner, after whom a nearby corner was named in 2022, is one that captures a living piece of New Haven history. Born in Greenville, North Carolina to Bishop Austin Atkinson and Lethia Johnson Atkinson, Joyner came to New Haven when she was just a little girl, part of a 22-family group that migrated North to start Pitts Chapel.

In February 1934, she was there to see the church open its doors at 126 Dixwell Ave., in part of what was then becoming a self-sustaining Black business district (it has since moved to Brewster Street). As the eldest of nine kids, Joyner learned to cook for her family before she was ten, a skill she later passed on to her sisters, children and grandchildren. In the thick of the Great Depression, she was deputized to collect firewood, for which she would make trips downtown with an empty baby carriage.

“Things were hard,” she remembered. “I didn’t come up with the luxuries of life, but I had a strong foundation. I always tried to treat people nice, the way I wanted to be treated.”

When she wasn’t taking care of her siblings, she made time for her education, attending Troup School and later James Hillhouse High School at the same time as peace activist Al Marder and Judge Constance Baker Motley (she and Motley both graduated in the class of 1939). Not long after, she began to build a family of her own, a devoted mother to her children

Gloria, Diana, Malcolm and Richard. (Her husbands, the late Alfred Lee Hazard and Malcolm Joyner, have both passed).

Anchored by the church, Joyner dedicated herself not only to her own children, but children in the neighborhood, always ready to lend a hand or drum up resources and a home-cooked meal. At home in Newhallville, she became somewhat famous for keeping the neighborhood clean and tidy.

“It was not a fast life, not a wild life,” she said Saturday. She didn’t drink. She’d never attended a school dance. She didn’t see a movie in a theater until she was an adult. Instead, she dedicated herself to service, an extension of her faith that seemed inexhaustible.

She remained a fixture at Pitts Chapel, bringing names that ranged from Mahalia Jackson to The Staple Singers to Sam Cooke as she became an in-house financial secretary and gospel promoter (in a New Haven Register article from 2021, she remembered having Cooke in her home).

All the while, she made her children, and New Haven’s children, her official business. In the early 1960s, Joyner served as the president of the PTA at Troup School— the first Black woman to do so, said her eldest daughter, Gloria Miller. She checked in on kids in the neighborhood, making sure that they had what they needed, and helping fill in the gaps when they didn’t.

When her daughter Diana died tragically in a car accident, she welcomed five grandchildren into her home, and raised them as her kids. Sharon Dolphin, one of those children, now lives with her full time. Saturday, she buzzed between the kitchen, the living room and the yard, making sure everyone had enough to eat.

In preparation for the festivities, she had been cooking for two days, crowd-sized portions of greens, string beans, chicken,

and sweet potatoes that made the house smell like Thanksgiving.

“This is beautiful,” Dolphin said, looking around at family members who had flown and drove in from Ohio, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. Growing up with her grandmother—who was always and is still “mom” to her—“we never lacked anything,” she said. There was always plenty to eat at home, and Joyner taught Dolphin her way around the kitchen as she got older.

While “we were raised the old-fashioned way”—church camp, church on Sundays, vacation Bible school at Pitts Chapel and prayers that she still does without fail each morning—she and her siblings had fun, with sleeping bag races down the stairs, frequent family trips down South and enough laughter to go around. In Dolphin, Joyner also instilled a love for food and family that was evident Saturday, with foil-wrapped plates that made their way through the room for people on their way out.

Caring for her now feels like the most natural way to say thank you, she added. When Joyner called her seven years ago, asking for help after a fall took her eyesight, Dolphin returned from where she was living in North Carolina without a second thought. “She did it for me, so I said, I’ve got to take care of her,” she said. Her grandmother is still sharp as a tack, she added: “If she hadn’t lost her sight,” she’d still be taking the bus across town for community events.

“She’s been a mother to so many,” chimed in her cousin Geneva Carr Walters. After moving to New Haven in 1946, Walters remembered how often Joyner would take care of her, from batches of her homemade ice cream to making sure she felt spiritually at home. Saturday, she had come to thank her for being “a mother to me,” dressed up in white-and-purple polka dots and a matching pillbox hat for the occasion.

Alder Troy Streater, a cousin who grew up in Pitts Chapel, called the birthday a blessing. When he won a special election for Newhallville alder last January, Joyner was one of the first people he wanted to tell, he said. “We can’t stop thanking God for her being here,” he said.

As a gentle drizzle fell outside, the party continued beneath a white tent, where gold balloon letters spelled out the number 1-03 and bobbed against the bright fabric. A few great-great-grandchildren ran up the wooden back steps, on their way to wish a happy birthday. Giggles drifted from the wide mouth of the tent, where no one seemed to mind a little rain.

Taking in a rare moment of quiet, Joyner’s great-granddaughter, Angel Dolphin, remembered how special it had been to grow up with her great-grandmother closeby, in roles that ranged from de facto historian to faith leader to neighborhood mother to faithful travel companion.

“It feels good” to celebrate 103, she said. “She’s the glue to our family.”

Cousin Sean Hardy and Joyner.

"Mother" Mary Etta Atkinson Joyner. Lucy Gellman Photo.

Gloria Miller, Joyner's eldest daughter.

Cross Classmates Remember “Evy”

by MAYA MCFADDEN

Cherry blossoms and rays of sunshine came to life and mind as Wilbur Cross students gathered to honor their late classmate, 15-year-old Evyana Devine Vidro. Close friends and peers at the East Rock comprehensive high school at 181 Mitchell Dr. met up on Friday to decorate the school’s courtyard with reminders of Vidro, a Cross sophomore who passed away on Feb. 8 due to a medical condition.

Cross’s Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) and science educator Michael Sang have been working with Principal Matt Brown and Vidro’s family to purchase and dedicate memorial benches, a white dogwood tree, and flowers in honor of Vidro’s memory.

Her close friends reminisced on the good times they had with Vidro since first meeting her at Cross their freshmen year. Memories of her love for the Mexican-American artist Selena, reading, and the color pink were left as reminders on painted rocks by current juniors Liliana Jimenez, Haylie MacHoll, and Ren Melgar.

While the trio of Vidro’s close friends painted rocks with their finger prints and cherry blossoms, they talked about Vidro’s sense of humor that kept them smiling throughout the school day. She was a “ray of sunshine,” Jimenez said, as she painted a rock shades of yellow. Board of Education student representative John Carlos Serana Musser arranged the meetup of Cross students Friday alongside Vidro’s friends. He emphasized the importance of remembering the life of a fellow Cross “Governor” and of dispelling the stereotype that New Haven students lack compassion.

“We are creative. We care for members of our community. Cross is not just made up of students who vandalize elevators and bathrooms,” he said.

In Sang’s third-floor classroom, 18 students gathered to paint rocks to decorate the courtyard’s newly planted tree. East

Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Smith also joined Friday’s after-school gathering.

“She was so funny,” Jimenez told Smith as they each painted rocks. Jimenez, MacHoll, and Melgar went on to tell Smith about the first time they met Vidro, who they often referred to as “Evy.”

Much like they often saw their friend doing, the trio attempted to bring out their inner artists Friday as they each painted a half-dozen rocks in Evy’s memory.

Jimenez said she showed up to Friday’s rock-painting memorial to spread awareness about her friend, who some of her classmates did not know as well. “She left a difference. She made all of our lives so much better. I want people to know that,” she said.

While Jimenez remembered a time she had fallen down a Cross stairwell with Evy and they laughed through the embarrassment, MacHoll and Melgar remembered Evy’s daily preparedness. They described Evy having “Walmart in her bag” and at all times offering them menstrual products, perfume, or deodorant.

Jimenez said Evy’s love for reading inspired her and continues to. The two would read together and talk about the books afterwards. “Now when I read books, I pretend to talk to Evy about the book after because that’s just what I’m used to,” Jimenez said.

Evy, the trio of friends added, had big dreams to one day pursue a career in the medical field. She was extremely studious since her freshmen year, they added.

“She was not like everybody else. Her smile and the way she would jump around when she was excited was just out of the ordinary,” Jimenez recalled.

After painting rocks and leaving them to dry with a clear protective coat, some of group joined in the school’s courtyard to plant pink mums around the school’s new memorial benches and tree.

In addition to a bench and plaque specifically dedicated to Evy, Cross also installed a bench with a plaque reading “In loving memory of all forever Governors.”

Connecticut Health Foundation launches advisory committee for statewide blueprint on maternal health equity, focused on Black patients HARTFORD,

Conn. (Oct. 1, 2024) –

The Connecticut Health Foundation has convened an advisory committee to help inform the creation of a blueprint for maternal health equity in Connecticut, focused on Black patients. The advisory committee includes those with lived experience, decision-makers, and those working in the field. The foundation added maternal health equity as a focus area in 2024, in recognition of the deep inequities in maternal health outcomes and significant momentum to make change that already exists in the state. The advisory committee and blueprint are intended to bring together those already working on maternal health eq-

uity issues and develop recommendations for a path forward for organizations and agencies across the state. This work is facilitated by the Yale Global Health Leadership Initiative (GHLI) and the Yale Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC).

Black people in Connecticut experience inequities in maternal health outcomes. They face higher rates of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity than other racial groups, mirroring national trends in which Black women are at highest risk. Black women in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. These disparities are rooted in

structural racism and lead to variations in quality of care and overall maternal health experiences throughout the entire journey to parenthood.

The advisory committee will provide guidance and expertise to ensure the blueprint reflects the needs of the maternal health landscape in Connecticut.

Members’ insights, personal experience, and feedback will guide the development of the blueprint. The blueprint is expected to be completed in 2025 and is intended to serve as a roadmap to guide equitable policies in Connecticut.

“Our hope is that the diverse voices and experiences involved in creating a maternal health blueprint will help to paint a

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comprehensive picture of what is needed to achieve more equitable outcomes,” said Tiffany Donelson, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation. “Our vision is for Connecticut to be a state where all pregnant people of color have the opportunity to have a healthy pregnancy, birth, and start to parenthood, and we are thrilled to work with this dynamic and knowledgeable advisory committee to understand what is needed to make this vision a reality.”

"The launch of this advisory committee and the development of a statewide blueprint for maternal health equity come at a crucial time for Connecticut,”

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Cross students and Alder Caroline Smith paint rocks for memorial garden.

... for close friend Evyana Devine Vidro, at a new memorial at Wilbur Cross.

Yale, City Launch A Quantum Leap

by PAUL BASS

A mystery letter “Q” lapel pin whispered a dream about New Haven’s future at a groundbreaking Monday afternoon for a project that will transform Yale’s campus at the border of the East Rock neighborhood.

Officials at the event broke symbolic ground on the first lab and classroom building of a 600,000 square-foot “Upper Science Hill” expansion on Whitney Avenue. The new geothermal-powered complex to rise on surface lots there — almost the size of the Yale Bowl — marks Yale’s quest to catch up with the likes of Stanford and MIT to compete in groundbreaking science and engineering research.

“One … two … three … build it!” Gov. Ned Lamont called out as he, the mayor and Yale’s new president joined other officials in lifting shovels-ful of dirt where crews will now dig four to six stories into the ground to start constructing the complex.

The mystery “Q” pins on the lapels of other key players in the crowd did not stand for Quinnipiac University or for the Q Anon conspiracy. It did represent a grand vision uniting three powerful institutions — Yale, University of Connecticut (UConn) and the state of Connecticut — in a mission to build the future local economy on pioneering research on next-generation computing aimed at transforming health

care, the military, the insurance industry, genomic research, artificial intelligence … basically how we do work throughout society.

The “Q” lapel pin had an “I” slashed through it. It stands for Yale’s Quantum Institute, which connects quantum researchers worldwide. UConn, Yale and the state are seeking a $160 million 10year National Science Foundation grant

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through the institute to jump-start quantum research in the city and throughout Connecticut — much of it to occur in the now ground-broken Upper Science Hill complex.

In remarks before the shovel-lifting, Gov. Lamont spoke of returning to an era when “we had more patents than people” in Connecticut, when (Yale grads) Eli Whitney and Samuel Morse and David Bushnell

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

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

Date: Monday, September 16, 2024

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invented the machines that changed the world.

“We slowed down as a state” in innovation, Lamont noted. He called the Science Hill project “an essential part of what we’ve got to do to move forward. We’ve got to play to our strengths.”

Mayor Justin Elicker predicted that quantum science and tech represents the “next step in New Haven’s growth,” build-

ing on the bioscience and life-science companies that are filling all those new officer towers sprouting up around town. He acknowledged that (like most of us gathered for the event) he doesn’t have a fine-grain understanding yet of what all that “quantum” stuff really means.

One person who does understand it is UConn President Radenka Marić, who sported one of the Q lapel buttons at the event. She said quantum mechanics will enable researchers to develop machines and apps that work faster than they do now and can solve much bigger problems, based on a deeper understanding of the ability to manipulate the complex behavior of subatomic particles.”

“The computers are not going to look anything like today’s computers,” Marić said. “They are going to process data in milliseconds what takes now years to process. …

“Think of the defense sector. With quantum-enhanced laser, you can repair materials without ever taking them offline. … “

New Yale President Maurie McInnis spoke at the event of how the electrified geothermal-energy plant already under construction on the site will help the university meet its goals of generating net-zero carbon emissions by 2035 and reaching complete zero-carbon status by 2050. She also said the project’s design will open the campus more to the community.

Our needs may change over time but one thing that doesn’t have to change is the comfort of being at home. The Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders, or CHCPE, helps people 65+ get the care they need right at home. Services can include housekeeping, personal care, home-delivered meals, and more.

PAUL BASS PHOTOS

Notice the "Q" lapel: Yale Associate VP Rich Jacob, at center, at Monday's Upper Science Hill groundbreaking with new Yale prez Maurie McInnis and Gov. Ned Lamont.

October 08, 2024

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

Dreamer Organizer Ties In Climate

‘Black Reel Awards’ (Outstanding Actress

wood Critics Association TV Awards’ (Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthropology Series or Television Movie), the ‘Gotham Awards’ (Outstanding Performance in New

watersrand in South Africa in 2013, where she studied Physical Theatre and Performing Arts Management. Earlier in 2012, she took a summer course at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Career

by PAUL BASS

Tabitha Sookdeo has a new job helping undocumented young people stay settled here — and addressing the conditions that lead some others to come here.

tion TV Awards’ (TV Breakout Star), and the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ (Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie), all for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 TV series ‘The Underground Railroad.’

Her acting career began in 2014 when she played a minor role of ‘Nosisa’ in the popular South African Soap Opera ‘Isibaya’ from Mzansi Magic. In 2015, she played a guest role as ‘Kheti’ in the Second Season of the SABC 2 youth drama series ‘Snake Park.’

To her, the two issues, immigration reform and climate change, are related.

She got her first starring role in the teen drama television series ‘IS’THUNZI’ from Mzansi Magic where she played ‘Winnie.’ Her international debut was in ‘The Underground Railroad’ an American fantasy historical drama series based on the novel ‘The Underground Railroad’ written by Colson Whitehead.

“It’s all connected,” Sookdeo said during a conversation Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” about the job she began this month as executive director of Connecticut Students for a Dream (C4D).

“People are being displaced because of climate change. How do we ensure that people who are being displaced by climate change are not doubly displaced? What does it look like in our host communities to make sure that we have robust climate adaptation plans?”

In 2022, she starred in her first film ‘The Woman King’ an epic historical drama about Agosie, where an entire female warrior unit protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 17 – 19th century. She played ‘Nawi’, a zealous recruit in the military unit.

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

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

Sookdeo, a 30-year-old emerging New Haven make-things-happen civic leader, was a “dreamer,” a young person born abroad and brought to the U.S. in childhood by her parents. She spent her teen years in Jacksonville, Fla., after living first in Guyana and then in St. Maarten. She advocated for undocumented immigrants, including in her last job as director of community engagement for New Haven’s Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS). She became involved in New Haven’s Dwight neighborhood civic groups, too (as well as the Rotary Club).

C4D works on behalf of an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 undocumented

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

young people and their families in the state. It has successfully advocated for expanding HUSKY (Medicaid) coverage for dreamers up to age 15. Sookdeo said the group will lobby now to adjust the state’s fiscal guardrails formula in part to support expanding the coverage further. It will join similar groups nationwide in organizing against a renewed push to have the DREAM Act declared unconstitutional; and to eliminate provisions in proposed Congressional immigration reform legislation that empowers state or local cops to act as ICE agents and limit due process rights.

She won the ‘TV Breakout Star’ award from the Hollywood Critics Association TV and won the ‘Outstanding Performance in New Series’ award from the Gotham Awards.

In 2022, Mbedu was nominated for the ‘Independent Spirit Awards (Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series), for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 television series ‘The Underground Railroad.’ She won the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ for ‘Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie’ for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in ‘The Underground Railroad.’ In her keynote speech at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit, Thuso Mbedu tearfully spoke of how she overcame the loss of her dear parents, grandmother, and aunt. But her role in Amanda Lane’s ‘IS’THUNZI’ gradually renewed her hope in life.

Sookdeo said she hears from young people involved in C4D that they’re also interested in addressing climate change. She was already on the same page: At IRIS, she worked with Urban Resources Initiative (URI), where she previously interned, on an effort to hire 50 refugee children as “tree ambassadors” through a federal grant. Now, in addition to her full-time C4D job, Sookdeo is finishing up a joint Vermont/Yale law and environmental management program. Her goal for putting those degrees to work: “to empower displaced people” with a climate-change focus.

“You might not hear immigrants talking about it, who are getting to the United States, but they might be describing climate change,” Sookdeo observed. “They might be saying the land is no longer arable. The rain is not falling like it used to, or the rain is falling too much, and crops are being completely killed. We’re hearing a lot of these types of stories.”

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

PAUL BASS PHOTO Tabitha Sookdeo at WNHH FM: "It's all connected."

Zines Conjure Camaraderie At The Ely Center

By Elena Unger

When Elio Wentzel was a child, they would make small, handmade books with their mother. They would spend hours selecting photos to print, writing captions, and carefully lacing the binding with a ribbon. Now, over a decade later, they are helping run zine workshops at New Haven’s Ely Center of Contemporary Art.

“I made a lot of zines through high school and coming into college,” Wentzel said. “I'm really passionate about making books and distributing work that way.”

Sunday, zines took center stage at the Ely Center, during the Ely Center of Contemporary Art’s (ECoCA) first photobook mini fair, a celebration of photobooks, zines, artists’ books and the creatives behind them. Amidst multiple artist talks, demonstrations and book signings, zines remained the star of the show.

A zine is a limited edition, self-published booklet that is usually handmade or photocopied. They can be used to share ideas that traverse the worlds of politics, history, art, and culture, explained Amartya De, a former artist in residence at the Ely Center.

De met Wentzel through a mutual friend, and the two quickly bonded over photography. Before long, they launched a shared mission to reopen Trumbull College’s darkroom at Yale. When the Ely Center staff asked De to run a zine workshop at the photobook mini fair, he knew just who to reach out to for help.

The photobook mini fair included a series of talks by photographers about upcoming books. While the talks took place in the back room of the art center, lit only by the sunlight that filtered through the half-shaded windows, the zine-making workshop was up and

running in the center’s foyer.

De and Wentzel sat at a folding plastic table as patrons trickled in. Collage materials — including pictures from around New Haven, vintage copies of Life Magazine, and old newspapers— were splayed across the table’s surface, and the friends invited fair attendees to collage, chat, and engage with the zine as a legitimate artistic medium.

“These are, like, as valuable as any book in some ways,” De said, a zine folded between his palms.

Working as a photographer, De was immediately attracted to the subculture of photography zines, which he was initially exposed to in an art class. He produced his first zine just over a month ago, printing 100 copies, which he is slowly passing out to friends, community members, and even strangers.

De was able to fund the project thanks to El Rincón de Papel, a New Haven based collaborative for BIPOC creatives experimenting with paperbased forms. The group, helmed by artist Daniel “silencio” Ramirez, offers subsidized art supplies and printing, as well as community zine fairs and workshops.

De expressed earnest gratitude for the grant he got from ERP, as printing is a key part of the zine process.

“Distribution is important. Because I think like the moment you make one zine, it's just like a maquette or a dummy for the future potential,” said De. “That's what differentiates it from an art object.”

In order to provide distribution potential to fair attendees, De and Wentzel had three printers stationed on a low wooden table against the gallery wall. After folding their zine, and collaging the pages, patrons had the chance to scan, copy, and print 50 copies of their work to distribute.

Sophia DeLuca, a Yale Global Health Fellow who discovered the Ely Center’s photobook fair while riding her bike down Trumbull Street, couldn’t help but stop by the zine-making table.

“I have been wanting to be more creative and tap into that part of my life, because it doesn’t always come out in school,” she shared.

She took a seat beside Wentzel, eagerly flipping through a 1968 copy of Life Magazine.

As the afternoon crept on, the table became increasingly crowded with people eager to cut magazine scraps and assemble something meaningful to them. Photobook fair attendees that had gathered in the back room of the art center for various artist talks eventually wandered into the foyer, intrigued by the display before them.

For Wentzel, leading the workshop was an opportunity to share the sense of community and camaraderie that zines evoke.

In their senior year of high school, Wentzel created a zine titled Queer Love Stories, containing the interviews and portraits of nearly 20 community members regarding aspects of their experiences with romance and identity in Port Townsend, Washington.

The experience opened their eyes to the power zines have to platform and illuminate forgotten stories. They also fell in love with the tactile experience of production.

“I find a lot of joy in how folding works, and how different layers of collage can come out, especially because most of the paper that you find in magazines is double sided,” said Wentzel. “You might cut out something on one side, not knowing what's on the other, and then find something that pops out to you that you want to bring together."

Wentzel and De showing off their collage materials. Elena Unger Photos.

Sophia DeLuca.

String Quartet Makes “Untold Stories” Sing

Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

At first, the instruments could have been mistaken for a fall wind, moaning gently as it blew through Fair Haven Library. Cello hummed, whisper-soft and low to the ground. Violin wailed a response. Beside it, viola trembled and dipped, in a slow, cautious dance with each other that was just beginning.

In between each note was a story—of migration, of hardship in two countries, of holding on to one’s culture and of finding family hundreds of miles from home. Music Haven brought that sound—and the hundreds of narratives that it contained— to the Fair Haven Branch Library Saturday, in a Hispanic Heritage Month concert that doubled as the first installment of “Voices: Untold Stories.” The series amplifies New Haven’s immigrant and refugee voices alongside work by the Haven String Quartet. As it began Saturday, it was a stunning reminder that people must embrace their shared humanity, because they are nothing without it.

The Haven String Quartet includes violinists Yaira Matyakubova and Patrick Doane, cellist Philip Boulanger, and violist Linda Numagami. Doane, a longtime teaching artist at Music Haven, and Numagami, who has most recently played with the Fort Worth and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, are its newest members.

“Voices: Untold Stories” is the brainchild of violinist Matyakubova, a longtime teaching artist at Music Haven and artistic director of the Haven String Quartet (HSQ). Since 2017, her work has centered immigrant and refugee voices through the organization’s “Music Bridge” program, which teaches string music to newcomers to the U.S. For her, it’s personal: she came to the U.S. as an immigrant from Uzbekistan in the 1980s, and has tried to make the path a little easier for all those who follow.

“When something starts as an idea, it’s sort of vulnerable and strange and it doesn’t always survive,” she said, shouting out Executive Director Milda Torres McClain and the International Association of New Haven for supporting her vision. “These are stories of immigration, stories of starting over.”

They are also stories, in the midst of rising racism and xenophobia in the country, of recognizing the deep humanity that lives in all people, no matter where they come from or what their journey to New Haven has looked like. While she can already envision stories from Sudan, Congo, Iraq and Afghanistan—countries from which many of her students hail— she’s interested in narratives from across the globe.

Saturday, that sense of welcome permeated the concert, from its first breath to a final round of applause. As string quartet members started with selections from Puerto Rican composer Luis Gustavo

Prado, strings filled the children’s section of the library, winding their way around snugly packed shelves and down aisles of books. Towards the back of the room, they found their way around a Hispanic Heritage Month display, complete with titles like Alma Semilla from New Haven author Nohra Bernal.

A faithful collaborator with the organization, Prado wrote his “Suite de Canto y Danza en Forma de Variaciones” with Music Haven teachers and students in mind.

Four years later, the work has become a sort of Music Haven staple, with sections that are sometimes played as stand-alone pieces, and sometimes played as one long, flowing journey through music history.

Saturday, his “Danza Puertorriqueña” kicked off the set, transforming the library back into a nineteenth-century San Juan for just a moment. A beat, and the crisp, sizzling notes to his “Salsita Pizzicata” swirled the street-facing windows, pressing up against the panes. By the time musicians reached his “Juracan,” they were bridging oceans through the notes, bows flying as they played.

“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed an attendee who had wandered in the library earlier that day, and gravitated toward the music. His eyes sparkled when musicians said they were saving the remainder of his work for the end of the show.

That excitement remained as student Eliana Ortiz rose from her seat to play Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah,” a song that is as omnipresent as it is so elementally human.

As she raised her violin to her chin, Ortiz let herself lean into the sound, buoyed by a backing track that bloomed beneath her. She worked her bow back and forth, and conjured something soft and gentle as she played.

Around the room, attendees seemed

to take note. One pulled her daughter in close, burying her face in her hair. Another found a pint-sized chair in the third row, and slipped into it as if they were coming late to Carnegie Hall. Even the smallest of attendees looked spellbound. All of them, it seemed, had tapped into a sense of solidarity, as if being in the library had opened a portal, and a few dozen listeners had eagerly stepped through.

Eliana Ortiz. During applause after her piece, Matyakubova pointed out that classes were just resuming at Music Haven after the summer break, meaning that she had taught herself Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" during the summer months.

It was fitting, then, that labor organizer, budding musician and Music Haven mom Fatima Rojas, who hails from Mexico, kicked the storytelling part of the series.

Pulling up a chair after Prado’s rousing “Juracan,” she turned the clock back to the 1970s, when she was just “una rata de ciudad” growing up in Puebla, a city in Central Mexico known for its bright pottery and soaring cathedrals.

The oldest of three daughters, Rojas grew up with two parents who struggled to make ends meet, she remembered—but she didn’t realize it as a child. Instead, she and her friends made the city their playground, curious about its parks and greenspaces. Her mom, who had grown up in Puebla, brought the girls with her to find food, entered raffles for gifts like bicycles, and sold quilts to make money, close with a woman who made memelas and gorditas in the same building and would feed the girls while their mom worked.

That life, she realized as she got older, wasn’t sustainable. When Rojas met her now-husband, Luis Santiago, the two opened a small cell phone shop in Puebla hoping that business would sustain them.

bleeding. By then, her fingers had gone numb, and “I was not even thinking or feeling it.”

“That was the first shock,” she added. “And then when I came here,” the city continued to surprise her—not in a way that always lived up to its promise of welcome and sanctuary.

When Rojas arrived in New Haven, it was March, after a snowstorm that had left the city bone-chillingly cold. She remembered walking through the city’s Hill neighborhood in a denim jacket that wasn’t nearly warm enough. Her ears stung in pain from the cold. The public bus didn’t show up. Everything seemed spread out and somehow more precarious than it had before, when she had known Puebla like the back of her hand.

Instead, the shop was broken into multiple times, with thefts that included phones that the two were fixing. “We got into a huge debt,” she remembered. “We had to shut down and go into the streets to be able to sell the phones. And it was rough!” Without a shop, the two were barely able to support themselves. They sold at a flea market Rojas likened to the one on Ella Grasso Boulevard, where vendors pack in beside each other and compete to sell their wares. They struggled to make money. In 2002, her husband immigrated to the U.S. Two years later, she followed.

“Being an immigrant myself, I realize that to move to another country, you’re not thinking that, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be an immigrant!’ Matyakubova said. “You’re thinking ‘Oh, those dreams! I want to capture those dreams!’ And then when you come to this country, there is this whole period of complete isolation and starting over. What was that like for you?”

Rojas nodded slowly, knowingly. When she made the choice to immigrate in 2004, it was immediately harder than she thought it would be. First, her visa was denied. Then, she thought that crossing would only take one day. It ultimately took four, on a grueling journey with other families through the desert.

After a life surrounded by friends and family, it was a shock to her system.

“You are not a human being anymore, you are a number that has a dollar sign,” she said. She remembered walking through the desert all night, covered in a black plastic garbage bag that trapped the stifling heat. During the day, she and fellow migrants would find a place to hide, making temporary shelter from whatever they could.

At one point, she remembered looking down at her hands, and realizing they were

When she finally made it to a grocery store, she was also struck by the juxtaposition of excess and scarcity. There were 17 kinds of breakfast cereal, and yet no one who would speak Spanish to help her out. “It was so far away from my culture, it was so far away from my food, it was so far away from my language, from my color of skin—it was so far away from everything.”

Around her, that contrast was omnipresent. Rojas worked long hours and made under the federal minimum wage, told there was no recourse for immigrants like her. After injuring herself on the job, she became active in organizing around immigrant and worker rights. She remembered the first time she heard the word “exploitation,” and realized it was what had been happening to her.

“I came to love this community” through that fight, she said. “The dehumanization, it was evident to me. It was [the idea] that we come here as labor, as cheap labor, and are not appreciated. Like, ‘you need to be in the shadows, be in the shade.’ Come, work, cállate and go on with your life. And I said, ‘Hell no! We have a lot of creativity. We have a lot of love. We have a lot to offer to this community.”

During those years, she also became a mother to her two daughters, Ambar and Jade Santiago Rojas. With fellow immigrants, she joined the fight for the Elm City ID Card, which passed under Mayor John DeStefano in 2007. She continued fighting for rights, from fair worker compensation to unionization.

Two decades later, she understands the notion of chosen family, from members of the Semilla Collective like Javier Villatoro and Elizabeth Gonzalez to fellow organizers (and housemates) Joe Foran and Enedelia Cruz to McClain and the teaching artists at Music Haven. When she talks to members of her family who are still in Puebla, they ask her when she is coming back.

Her answer is that there is still so much to do in the fight for immigration reform—and that she has another family in New Haven now, too.

Yaira Matyakubova and Fatima Rojas. Bottom, from left

New Haven Legal Aid Turns 60

by Laura Glesby

Rev. William Barber had a message for dozens of legal aid staffers and supporters: After 60 years of serving New Haven, don’t “rest your case” against poverty.

Barber, the co-chair of the revived national Poor People’s Campaign and a professor at Yale, was the keynote speaker at a gala for New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA), an event that filled the beachside venue at Anthony’s Ocean View on Wednesday night.

The legal aid organization one of the first in the country is celebrating its 60th year of operations this year. It was founded in 1964 with a mission inspired by the contemporary Civil Rights Movement to provide free civil legal services to low-income clients.

Now, NHLAA provides legal representation to tenants facing eviction, students facing expulsion, domestic violence survivors seeking restraining orders, and immigrants facing deportation, among other clients.

In addition to representing individual clients, the organization works to change policy through both community organizing and legal challenges (to city lead poisoning metrics, for instance, or landlord rules against criminal records).

“Being able to last for 60 years takes lots of people” and lots of hard work, reflected NHLAA Director Alexis Smith. “It feels so special that we’ve been such a solid part of the community for so long,” said Deputy Director Elizabeth Rosenthal.

Elizabeth Rosenthal: "We try to celebrate the wins as much as we can."

The legal aid staff witness the effects of poverty and family violence on a daily basis, while fighting court cases that often face long odds. Bearing that weight, Rosenthal said, “we try to celebrate the wins as much as we can.” Including on Wednesday.

Ahead of the gala, one of six fundraisers this year celebrating NHLAA’s 60th anniversary, Rosenthal asked her colleagues to share excerpts of the thank-you notes they’ve received over the years. The quotes were displayed, anonymously, on screens around the room.

“I want to thank you from my heart and let your group know how much I appreciate everything you have done. A huge weight was lifted from my shoulders,” wrote one client.

At the center of the evening was a speech from Rev. Barber, who wove Biblical references and history lessons into remarks that touched on Medicaid expansion, the abolitionist movement at Yale, and the anti-Haitian hatred flooding the city of Springfield, Ohio.

The heart of his message was that poverty should be treated like an epidemic.

“Eight hundred people are dying per day from poverty,” he said, echoing data from

the Poor People’s Campaign. But compared to public health crises like Covid-19 or vaping, “you hardly hear a damn thing” about poverty.

“Poverty is a structural reality, not just a product of individual people’s failings,” he said.

Barber heralded the legal aid staffers for fighting on behalf of people in poverty.

“You created a feat,” he said of the 60year anniversary. “You all are better than Moses he did 40 years,” he joked.

In a nod to the staff working behind the

scenes, he soon added, “The prophets of the Bible were God’s paralegals.”

After garnering two standing ovations from the crowd, Barber remained to sign copies of his book White Poverty.

Both Smith and Rosenthal said that they hope to focus more energy on advocating for anti-poverty policies on a larger scale, on top of fighting for clients one by one.

“We want to be able to last for 60 more years,” Smith said, “but we don’t want to be needed.”

LAURA GLESBY PHOTO Keynote speaker Rev. Barber: "Poverty is a structural reality."

LAURA GLESBY PHOTO Keynote speaker Rev. Barber: "Poverty is a structural reality."

Elizabeth Rosenthal: "We try to celebrate the wins as much as we can."

Brennan-Rogers Teachers: “Show Me The Money!”

by JABEZ CHOI

When Brennan-Rogers sixth-grade teacher Charlene Neal-Palmer graduated from the AFL-CIO Labor Leadership Academy and saw U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, she walked right up to him. Before she could even give him her name, she said, “Brennan-Rogers needs money.”

She clarified quickly: “The whole NHPS needs money.”

Neal-Palmer recounted that moment at a Monday morning rally outside the Wilmot Road elementary school where some 30 educators and local labor allies called on the state to increase school funding. It was an overcast, chilly morning, an hour before students would trickle into the building from their school buses.

The Brennan-Rogers demonstration was one of three Monday morning rallies outside New Haven schools: the other two were held at Metropolitan Business Academy and Fair Haven School. Read about the latter, which also featured city officials in attendance, and more about why educators are protesting here. Similar public education-funding demonstrations occurred across the state.

The message from Brennan-Rogers educators was clear there has not been a more urgent time for increased funding, with Monday also being the deadline for school systems across the country to contractually obligate funds from the third round of federal pandemic school aid (known as ESSER III).

According to the New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT), if that money isn’t obligated, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) is at risk of losing some of its $127 million due to the end of ESSER funds, money that was spent for expanded student programming and staff support during the pandemic. For Brennan-Rogers students, that meant activities like “academically based” weekend field trips and access to technological services.

The rallies were organized by labor coalition Connecticut for All. They kickstart a campaign to urge New Haven’s Board of Education to adopt a resolution called “Fund Our Schools,” which calls for the Board of Ed to support federal passage of the “Keep Our Promise to America’s Children and Teachers Act” (PACT). The passage of PACT would expand funding for Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), both of which provide financial aid to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families.

As pandemic relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) run out, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools coalition intends to plan more local actions concurrently with Connecticut for All, including one in Hartford.

“With these funds set to expire, the future feels uncertain,” NHFT Vice President Jenny Graves said. “Our schools are

still in crisis.”

“We believe that it shouldn’t take a pandemic to ensure that the federal government invests more in our schools and communities,” Neal-Palmer said, referring to ESSER funds. “Our students need the funding. More importantly, they need to have access to all the things that other children have.”

Behind Neal-Palmer, fellow educators stood on the steps to the front entrance of the school. Many held signs reading:

“FUND OUR SCHOOLS,” “EVERY CHILD DESERVES FULLY STAFFED SCHOOLS,” and “NEWHAVEN SCHOOLS THRIVE WITH FULL-TIME LIBRARIANS,” among others. Standing beside the educators stood representatives from the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors, Connecticut for All, and the NHFT. West Hills Alder Honda Smith also joined the teachers towards the end of the rally.

The group advocated for increased wages, better contracts for substitute teachers and cafeteria workers, and for the district to stop privatizing work for custodians. The issue of staffing, though, came up at numerous points during the rally as not only a problem pervasive in NHPS, but especially prevalent at Brennan-Rogers. In 2023, NHPS administrators recommended that seventh and eighth grade students at the school transfer to other city public schools due to vacancies in core teaching positions.

Brennan-Rogers Principal Kimberly Daniley specified on Monday the school’s needs in staffing identifying science educators, behavioral interventionists, and especially substitute teachers to aid teachers when they need breaks. Daniley also noted that increased partnerships with community organizations would help, citing Common Ground, the Boy Scouts, and

Clifford Beers as potential groups she’d welcome to the school.

She emphasized that the school still appreciates the support the district has shown them. In August, the Board of Education allocated $170,185.57 to repair the school’s playground.

Alongside staff shortages, student enrollment proves to be an ongoing issue at Brennan-Rogers. According to first grade teacher Janita Frost, the school currently has one class per grade. Frost has been teaching at Brennan-Rogers for over 10 years and has seen the staff and student population dwindle. Currently, Frost is teaching 23 first graders, just four students shy of the 27 maximum. In previous years, Frost remembered teaching class sizes as low as sixteen, which she noted was still not ideal but definitely “manageable.”

“We deal with a lot of kids who deal with trauma. Some kids haven’t slept much the night before. So some of the day is spent taking care of those kids,” Frost said. “We have to be parents, teachers, therapists.” Without the ESSER funds, Frost said that it will be like “swimming up a river upstream with our students against the current.”

Connecticut for All Director Norma Martinez-HoSang placed the blame of a suffering state budget for education on the “billionaires and corporations that don’t pay their fair share of taxes.” MartinezHoSang pointed to Connecticut’s large rainy day fund, which currently sits at $4.1 billion and she thinks could be used to support public education.

“If our leaders have the courage to tax the very, very wealthy who are making money while our communities are suffering, while our students are suffering,” Martinez-HoSang said. “And we are done.”

With NHPS’ 2024 – 25 budget deficit, the district has faced pressure from the city and the Board of Alders to consolidate a number of schools within the district. Twelve of these schools have “problematic” systems, reaching an “end to a useful life” and requiring “major capital investments to repair or replace building infrastructure,” according to a report conducted by Svigals and Partners in January. The report identified a surplus of 3,300 seats at the K 8 level, and schools like Brennan Rogers had the lowest enrollment in the district last year. This year, the school has 210 students, with 40 staff to oversee them.

“There has been nothing said to me,” Daniley said, in response to concerns about the school’s potential consolidation. “We’re moving forward and hope that we will continue to have a great future.”

The rally ended with the instructors marching inside the school building, donned with their signs and morning coffee. In line a TikTok trend, the teachers crouched over and held their hands up, rubbing their fingers together as if holding imaginary dollar bills.

“Show me the money!” they shouted.

Charlene Neal-Palmer: "Brennan-Rogers needs money."

JABEZ CHOI PHOTO Rally outside Brennan-Rogers calls for more state funding for public schools.

Principal Kimberly Daniley (right) and interim principal Tahisha Porter (left).

3 Year Renewal OK’d For Temporary Tweed Trailers

by THOMAS BREEN

Temporary office, ticketing, and passenger-waiting trailers can stay for another three years on Tweed’s New Haven side as the regional airport works to build up a new terminal in East Haven by 2027.

Three City Plan Commission members took that unanimous vote last Wednesday during a special online meeting of the local land-use body. They voted to grant a 36-month extension to an existing Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance (FDPO) variance “to permit non-floodproofed temporary modular trailers below the Base Flood Elevation” at 51 South End Rd., Uriah Street, South End Road, Morris Causeway, 191 Burr St., and a handful of other addresses that comprise Tweed New Haven Airport.

The variance granted with a number of city staff-approved conditions allows the airport’s private operator, Avports, to keep in place five mobile trailer buildings and five anchored trailer buildings that have been in place on the Morris Cove airport’s New Haven side since 2021. Those temporary buildings provide waiting space for airline passengers, storage space for mechanical equipment, and office space for the budget airline Avelo.

As Avports-hired attorney Joe Williams explained last Wednesday, the airport operators needed an extension for a variance that the City Plan Commission approved for these very same trailers back in September 2021. That original variance came with a term of three years, and therefore is set to expire.

The September 2021 approval also came right as the budget airline Avelo made New Haven its East Coast hub and kicked off what would become three years of expansion, adding more than two dozen direct flights from New Haven – and enticing a second airline, Breeze, to come in and try to compete for Tweed airplane customers.

“This is a renewal only. It’s not a new application. We’re not proposing to change anything” about the location or use or number of trailers currently in place, Williams said about last Wednesday’s application. “It’s rather just to simply continue doing what we’re doing now.”

This three-year extension, he continued, should allow the airport operators enough time to pull all the necessary permits and actually build a planned new larger terminal on the East Haven side of the property.

“The new east terminal project is tak-

ing a little longer than we had hoped,” Williams said. So Avports needs these temporary structures in place for a few more years “as the process plays out.”

Since that initial September 2021 variance approval for these trailers, Avports spokesperson Andrew King said, the airport operators came to a 43-year lease and expansion deal with the public airport authority. The federal government also completed its Environmental Assessment (EA) of the airport expansion plans, and, as of December 2023, granted a Finding of No Significant Impact for the estimated $165 million project.

King said Avports is now working with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to “move things forward” for relevant permit applications for the East Haven terminal.

He said they expect to submit the DEEP applications this fall, and “get all the way through” that permitting process by late summer 2025. After that will come more permit applications and reviews with FEMA and the Town of East Haven.

King said the airport operators hope to begin construction on the new East Haven terminal by the fall of 2025, and complete construction by the spring or summer of 2027.

“We are full throttle to move this

forward so that [these trailers] are temporary and we can meet that three-year expectation,” King said.

The commission then spent roughly two hours hearing from members of the public concerned about how these trailers might fare amid the threat of increased flooding, among other concerns.

“There’s a lot of concern” about “toxic” runoff from these trailers into Morris Creek, East Haven resident Dana Walker said. “I don’t think this commission actually understands chemical data.”

Another East Havener, Patrick Rowland, argued that the trailers shouldn’t be called temporary if they stay for the duration of another three-year variance.

“Six years is no longer temporary,” he said. He criticized the commissioners for turning down two “intervenor” requests earlier in the night, by himself and fellow East Havener Lorena Venegas, who both urged the commission to reject the variance. “I really think you guys have completely missed the boat on all of this,” he said.

After the public testimony section of the meeting, City Plan Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand pressed the Avports team on the timeline for the East Haven terminal project.

“This project has not moved as quickly as applicants have hoped,” he

said Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, associate dean of Health Equity Research and director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) at Yale School of Medicine as well as the Advisory Committee chair. “By bringing together a diverse group of experts and individuals with lived experiences, we aim to develop comprehensive strategies that ensure all birthing people have the opportunity for a healthy pregnancy, birth, and start to parenthood, with the elimination of associated preventable mortality and morbidity. By prioritizing inclusive and effective strategies, we acknowledge and actively combat the role of racism in health outcomes. This blueprint will not only highlight the existing challenges but also pave the way for sustainable and equitable solutions."

The advisory committee will meet approximately monthly into 2025 to guide the development of the blueprint. Additional stakeholder engagement forums will foster broader awareness of and feedback on the blueprint as it takes shape. The blueprint development process, including synthesis of evidence, facilitation of meetings, and creation of the blueprint itself, will be facilitated by Yale ERIC and GHLI.

noted. If Avports isn’t able to build the new terminal on the East Haven side by 2027 as currently planned, then they might come back before the commission for another variance extension which, if granted, would mean that the trailers could be in place for a total of nine years instead of the originally envisioned three. And can they really be called “temporary” structures if they’re in place for nine years?

King assured Marchand that, with Avports, “you have an applicant that is very determined to get through this project, and very determined to get through in a timely manner.”

He said Avports is already working with “all of the relevant agencies, and building out our expected timelines based on our work with those agencies.”

The past three-year timeline played out before Avports could “start on any of the work” with the FAA, DOT, and DEEP, he said, given that it first had to prioritize the airport authority agreement and then the environmental assessment. Now, he said, “is a very different time” than three years ago.

“ While it is impossible to say exactly what will happen” over the next three years, he repeated, Avports is “very determined,” is working closely with the relevant regulatory agencies, and is basing its current timeline for the new terminal of of its work with those agencies.

"Persistent inequities in maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women, are both unacceptable - and fixable. I am grateful for the advisory committee's charge to identify and address root causes of maternal health disparities. By working together, our state can serve as an exemplar of how to translate knowledge into systems-level change, to improve the health of all mothers and babies," said Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, dean of Yale School of Public Health.

“Designing this blueprint is an essential step forward to reduce the instances of low birth weight and perinatal mortality affecting Black and Hispanic women in our state and throughout the nation,” said Nancy J. Brown, MD, dean of Yale School of Medicine. "We need a rigorous process to look at all the contributing factors in order to create real-world solutions to reduce this serious burden."

For more information, please contact Gaby Molina at gaby@cthealth.org or 860-724-1580 x 133

About the Connecticut Health Foundation

The Connecticut Health Foundation is the state’s largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving health outcomes for people of color. Since its creation in 1999, the foundation has awarded more than $78 million to nonprofit organizations and public entities to

At Tweed for Avelo's first flight to Puerto Rico, last November.

“She’s my family here—” she said, pointing to where Cruz sat with her kids. She looked around the room, gesturing to other members of her New Haven family. She gestured to Matyakubova, to McClain, to kids and parents around the room. “So I have now another family, and I try to explain that.”

That family keeps her going, she added. Currently, Rojas is part of the statewide coalition pushing for expansion of Connecticut Medicaid (also known as HUSKY) to all children and families, regardless of immigration status or age. Starting in July of this year (after initial legislation was passed in 2021), the state expanded HUSKY coverage to kids and young adults under 15, as well as pregnant people. But the fight for universal healthcare access continues.

“My philosophy is to literally be on the streets with our people,” Rojas said. “To get the hearts of our community together, but then to be able to have the guts to stand up to go to places to fight for human rights. Because it’s not just about immigrant rights. It’s about human rights.”

Instruments in hand, musicians summoned that sentiment in song moments later, as Ortiz collected reflections from the audience and placed them on a whiteboard. Among clouds of words—Sueños, memory, home, cállate—musicians selected shadow, tractor, and love, taking a beat before beginning to play.

Slowly, they conjured that slice of Rojas’ world, putting to music that which often remains abstract and in the shadows. As the notes spilled forth, musicians spoke in a jubilant, curious, sometimes uncertain language of gesture, with fleeting glances that contained whole conversations.

Leaning forward, Numagami suggested a note, then another, her eyes wide. Across a half-circle, Matyakubova obliged, bringing something new and sharp into the piece. In another universe, they were slowly walking towards each other, hesitant but still moving. A cold wind was blowing. As cello and violin entered the fray, they touched, and began a strange waltz.

Slowly, pinpricks of light appeared between the instruments, and it was possible to hear a way forward. Viola broke through with a kind of jazz-flecked burble, and a listener could feel the whole song lift.

So too as musicians chose the words It’s rough, family, and strength, locking eyes for just a moment before they began. This time, the strings came in one on top of the other, as if they were one huge instrument, trying to tune itself. Violin and cello split, peeling themselves from each other as they chased each other in a frantic, breathy circle. Viola shuddered. A second violin shrieked. And then they evened themselves out, and found a way forward. “We need to regain our humanity,” Rojas had said minutes earlier, and the words echoed through the space. “We need to claim our humanity."

1 Week Later, Rally Protests Police Shooting

by Nathaniel Rosenberg

A week to the hour after a fatal confrontation between police and 36-year-old New Havener Jebrell Conley, protesters gathered at the car wash where the shooting took place to criticize law enforcement for how they handled last Thursday’s attempted arrest, and to describe Conley as more than just his criminal record.

Roughly 50 people gathered for that protest Thursday afternoon at around 5 p.m. at the Splash Car Wash at 2 Boston Post Rd., just over the New Haven border in West Haven.

That’s where, on Sept. 19, Conley appeared to fire first at and was then shot and killed by New Haven Violent Crime Task Force officers trying to serve an arrest warrant stemming from a July robbery during which Conley and others allegedly hit and shot a man in Hamden as they stole his drugs and money.

Three of the 11 police officers including two city cops shot at Conley during last week’s fatal encounter. The state Office of the Inspector General and state police are investigating the case.

At the rally which included a march to Conley’s childhood home in the Hill and then to New Haven police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. protesters demanded that the three officers who shot Conley be fired. They also called for the release of all body camera footage and radio transmissions documenting the shooting, and for the abolition of the Violent Crime Task Force that sought to carry out the arrest.

Multiple speakers on Thursday questioned why police chose to carry out the arrest in a public place, instead of through Conley’s probation officer or at his residence. They called out what they saw as a lack of effort to de-escalate the situation before the shooting.

“The police could have chosen a nonviolent alternative if their true intention was to serve a warrant, but they chose violence,” said Kerry Ellington, an organizer of Thursday’s protest. “Nothing justifies the police killing Jebrell, nothing justifies their recklessness and the violence that they engineered last week.” Nigel Harris, another protester, said he saw Conley’s death as one of many examples nationwide of police treating Black people as “disposable.”

In a follow-up phone interview, Police Chief Karl Jacobson said that attempts were made to reach Conley at his home and through his probation officer before the arrest and that he had gone into hiding, possibly after being tipped off on his indictment. He explained that police officers’ urgency to arrest Conley came from a desire to protect the witnesses and victims of the July 3 robbery in Hamden that Conley allegedly carried out. Jacobson has also pointed out that Conley was a long-time member of the Grape Street Crips who spent much of his adult life in and out of prison, including a five-year sentence following a 2016 federal drug conviction.

Jacobson told the Independent that officers initially found Conley outside his car, which was a safer place to arrest him than if he had been inside the car. However, Conley retreated to inside his car and apparently retrieved his gun a stolen firearm with an extended magazine when officers tried to arrest him. The police chief also said that the full body camera footage which will be released after the state inspector general finishes their investigation would provide a clearer picture of police acting appropriately.

Meanwhile, the rally crowd on Thursday also featured more than a dozen family members of Conley’s, who used the gathering as an opportunity to mourn a loved one and try to highlight the man he was beyond his difficult upbringing and criminal history.

Ashley Daniels, a cousin of Conley’s, said that throughout her childhood which included a stint in foster care he made sure to always check on her, regardless of what was going on in his life.

“Jebrell is someone who worked extremely hard to rebuild his image,” Daniels said. “I just wish people could have seen and respected the gentleman, the great father, the great cousin, the loyal person that he was.” Paris Battle, another attendee, and the aunt of Conley’s kids, said that he had been “like a brother” to her for more than 20 years and that he was a good father to his two children.

“His kids are out here with pins on [mourning him], and they’re young. They got futures. They deserve to have their father with them,” Battle said.

NATHANIEL ROSENBERG PHOTOS Protest organizer Kerry Ellington: “The police could have chosen a nonviolent alternative."

Conley's cousins Tamara Flint, Ronisha Moore, and Maya Harris, at Thursday's protest.

Ashley Daniels: Conley was also a "great father" and cousin.

Connecticut’s ‘FinTech Hub’ Adds Second Innovation Bank

by Doug Hardy

The state’s financial technology hub appears to be growing fast in Fairfield County following the passage of the Innovation Banking Charter law as part of an omnibus legislation package during two days of special sessions in late June.

Numisma Bank, which officially moved its headquarters to Greenwich this week, recently became the first uninsured banking entity to be granted a master account with the Fed, thus gaining equal access to the Federal Reserve’s financial services network with companies like Visa or Mastercard.

Numisma is a “currency reserve bank,” which means it specializes in moving large amounts of cash for big entities, both private and public, domestically and internationally. It is the second “innovation” bank to move into Connecticut over the past year and its arrival was announced Tuesday during a news conference at its headquarters in Greenwich.

The first innovation bank to come to Connecticut in anticipation of the new law was Banking Circle US, which was chartered in July 2023 and is based in Stamford. Gov. Ned Lamont announced its arrival in January.

HARTFORD, CT

– A bill to spur growth in the FinTech industry was part of the omnibus legislation passed by both the Senate and House during special sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. Keep reading

The legislation was designed to spur growth in the FinTech sector of Connecticut’s banking industry, and it appears to be working. Banking Circle US was the first new bank chartered in Connecticut in nearly nine years.

The last bank to receive a charter in the state before Banking Circle US was the Voya Institutional Trust Company, which launched in Windsor in September 2014.

Banking Circle US is focused on the transaction sector. According to its website, Banking Circle’s goal is to “establish proprietary access to all of the world’s major currencies on one platform and create a financial ecosystem that cuts out the time and cost of cross-border payments, enabling a new way for banks, financial institutions, payment service providers (“PSPs”), marketplaces, and corporates to manage their financial needs.”

Under the new law, innovation banks are eligible to gain licensure in Connecticut and engage in banking practices despite not being insured by the FDIC. The companies addressed by the legislation don’t need FDIC insurance, because they aren’t offering retail bank-

ing services, such as checking and savings accounts, and holding onto people’s money.

The Banking Department’s website says “an uninsured bank has all of the powers of and is subject to the requirements and limitations applicable to an FDIC insured bank, except an uninsured bank cannot accept retail deposits and does not need to comply with community reinvestment laws.”

Lamont celebrated the company’s arrival during Tuesday’s news conference along with other state officials including commissioners Daniel O’Keefe of the Department of Economic and Community Development, and Jorge Perez of the Banking Department.

“Fintech innovators realize that Connecticut offers a competitive landscape for their companies to grow and thrive in our state,” Lamont said in a release following the news conference. “I am excited to welcome Numisma Bank to Connecticut’s business community. This launch represents another step forward for Connecticut as a leader in financial services, showcasing the state’s ability to foster a supportive business environment that attracts cutting-edge companies like Numisma Bank.”

Perez welcomed the Numisma as the newest Connecticut-chartered bank.

“Connecticut’s innovations bank charter provides the necessary regulatory framework and guardrails while allowing the flexibility for companies to innovate in the FinTech space. We wish Numisma success in its new home,”

Perez said.

O’Keefe said Numisma’s choice to establish its global operations in Connecticut is proof that the state is offering an exceptional value proposition for FinTech innovators.

“We possess a winning combination of skilled workforce, a supportive business environment, and an innovative culture that attracts market disruptors, leading to new job opportunities and economic growth,” O’Keefe said.

Tyagi, CEO and co-founder of Numisma Bank, chose Connecticut over nearby New York, which has a similar law in its statutes.

“I’d like to thank Governor Lamont and Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez for their support,” Tyagi said. “The decision to charter the bank in Connecticut was influenced by the state’s businessfriendly climate and access to a deep talent pool. The Connecticut Depart-

ment of Banking has been a key partner in supporting Numisma Bank’s vision. We share its commitment to providing essential services in the global banking industry and are happy the department remains dedicated to offering comprehensive regulatory oversight while fostering an environment where innovative financial services can thrive.”

According to the release from the governor’s office, Numisma Bank focuses exclusively on, is the only U.S. bank dedicated exclusively to, the distribution of U.S. dollar and foreign currency banknotes, a critical service that ensures the flow of physical currency for central banks and international financial institutions.

“In recent years, many traditional U.S. banks have exited this complex, lowmargin business due to increased regulatory demands as well as an overall decline in cash usage,” the release said.

“Numisma is described as being positioned to fill that gap by providing essential services to both the Federal Reserve and global monetary systems to ensure resilience in key markets. The company’s cutting-edge, fully cloud-based financial infrastructure is designed to support the purchase and sale of physical banknotes on an international scale. With no retail customers or involvement in loans or investments, Numisma Bank focuses solely on delivering efficient and secure transactions for central banks and financial institutions globally.”

Numisma Bank’s leadership team includes former senior executives from top global financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and White & Case.

Washington Commanders host t-shirt competition for HBCU Night

By Ariyana Griffin AFRO Staff Writer agriffin@afro.com

The Washington Commanders are calling all artists to show their artistic creativity and participate in their t-shirt design competition for their 4th annual HBCUthemed game.

Those interested must submit their application by the Sept. 29 deadline. The winner’s design will be part of group ticketing packages and will be featured during their HBCU Game Night on Dec. 1, when they play against the Tennessee Titans.

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Designs must incorporate HBCU culture and aspects of the Washington Commanders

For more information on the application, visit Commanders.com.

L to R: State Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez, state Sen. Patrica Billie Miller, co-chair of the Banking Committee, Gov. Ned Lamont, Numisma Founder & CEO Vivek Tyagi, Randy Quarles, chair of The Cynosure Group, DECD Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe, AdvanceCT President and CEO John Bourdeaux, and Numisma Bank Chief Administrative Officer Matthew Hurlock. At the Numisma Bank ribbon-cutting ceremony in Greenwich on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Credit: Contributed photo / Connecticut Banking Department

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How to take action and help protect older adults from scams

Anyone can be a victim of scams. They happen when scammers go after individuals of all ages, using tactics like phone calls, emails and messages to reel in unsuspecting victims to get to their money and personal information.

Older adults are often key targets and it is important to stay alert to common scams and financial abuse signs that can help protect older loved ones from becoming a victim.

Know the signs of a scam

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Scammers have grown very convincing. They often can impersonate companies or organizations and make you believe the urgency or need behind their attempts. If you encounter the following signs, you’re likely dealing with a scammer.

1. Urgent demands to take action, send money and personal information requests. An imposter may demand quick action, claim that you will lose money, and push for access to your personal account information, passwords or confirmation codes. Remember: neither banks nor the government will threaten you or demand money to protect your accounts. If you receive a call from your bank that you are unsure about, hang up and call the number on the back of your credit or debit card.

2. New relationships that take an interest in their money. Financial abuse often happens from persons known to the victim, like a caretaker or a new acquaintance. Be wary of any new friends approaching you with investment “opportunities” or who take an interest in your financial information.

3. Unexpected contact from “loved ones.” Scammers can use artificial intelligence (AI) to replicate familiar voices, posing as friends or family. They’ll call you on the phone sounding like a loved one in danger and demanding that you send money. Hang up and contact your loved one directly to confirm it’s really them.

4. Unusual financial activity. Scammers could be accessing your account if you see withdrawals or changes to your accounts, such as new authorized users or missed bill payments. Also, be sure to keep your

checkbook safe and keep an eye on check activity. Automate all the payments you can and discuss who are trusted contacts to support money decisions if you ever need help.

5. Changes in ownership and responsibility. If you notice changes to wills, power of attorneys or any other financial plans, it could be a sign of financial abuse. Take action to avoid scams

You and your loved ones don’t have to be victims. These steps can help reduce the chance of falling for a scam:

• Ignore and block calls and messages

from numbers you don’t recognize and don’t trust caller ID alone. When in doubt, hang up and contact the company, bank or loved one directly to ask if there is a problem.

• Throw away unsolicited mail and be careful with suspicious emails or messages on social media. Don’t answer questions about personal finances.

• Keep your personal information, account details and passwords safe so you don’t give scammers access to your money and identity.

• Be cautious when using checks. Digi-

tal payment methods or your bank’s online bill payment feature can help you get money to your intended recipient while eliminating paper checks that can be stolen and altered.

• Enable online alerts to be aware of large purchases. You can act quickly if you see fraudulent charges.

• Shred bank statements, receipts, unused checks and credit cards before throwing them away.

If you’re an older adult, have conversations with trusted family members about how they can support your money needs as you age, which can help protect you from being exposed to fraud and financial exploitation. For those with older loved ones, start the conversation now and use digital tools to help alert you to possible scams.

Remember that financial scams can happen to anyone. If you feel you’ve been scammed, contact your bank to verify recent transactions to ensure there is no unusual activity on your account. Don’t feel embarrassed if you become a victim, share your experience with friends and family and ask for help.

You can learn more about ways to detect financial abuse and to protect loved ones at chase.com/financialabuse.

+++ For informational/educational purposes only: Views and strategies described may not be appropriate for everyone and are not intended as specific advice/recommendation for any individual. Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but JPMorgan Chase & Co. or its affiliates and/or subsidiaries do not warrant its completeness or accuracy.

Meet the exciting lineup of speakers, honorees, and more for the 2024 BlackStars Experience this November in NYC

by Pheby Mahoney, Face2FaceAfrica.com

The Action-packed event- which includes a full day Summit and Awards will take place in New York City on November 6-9, 2024.

The action-packed event- which includes a full day summit and awards will take place in New York City on November 6-9, 2024.

PanaGenius, the authoritative voice of the modern Black Diaspora, has unveiled the details for its highly anticipated annual summit and awards program, the BlackStars Experience. Set to take place from November 6-8, 2024, in New York City, the event is poised to be one of the largest cross-sector gatherings of Black leaders, innovators, and allies.

The 2024 BlackStars Experience will feature an expanded format, offering three days of impactful learning, networking, and inspiration. With over 2,000 professionals, industry leaders, and allies expected to attend, the event will provide an unparalleled opportunity

for attendees to engage with trailblazers and thought leaders from across various sectors, all while celebrating Black excellence.

What to Expect at BlackStars 2024:

Summit & Expo: This year’s summit will be a transformative experience, featuring main stage sessions, breakout discussions, and an expo hall. Attendees will gain invaluable insights on topics such as leadership in the modern workforce, tech and innovation, the future of work, wealth and legacy planning, and the role of allies in advancing DEI. The expo will provide networking opportunities and access to recruiters from companies such as Verizon, Morgan Stanley, TEKSystems, Henry Schein, and more. View summit agenda and speakers here.

Awards Gala: The BlackStars Awards Gala will be an unforgettable night of culture, celebration, and excellence.

Honoring the 2024 BlackStars and allies who are driving innovation and transformation across industries, this prestigious event will highlight the profound impact of Black leadership and talent. Learn

more about the 2024 honorees here. Notable speakers and honorees include Abdon Atangana, world’s highest ranking mathematician, Rose Kirk, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer at Verizon, Roger G. Arrieux Jr., East Region Market Leader at Deloitte, Quita Highsmith, VP and Chief Diversity Officer at Genentech, J. Ofori Agboka, VP of People eXperience & Technology at Amazon, and more.

The 2024 BlackStars Experience is sponsored by Morgan Stanley, Verizon, Genentech, TEKsystems, Amazon, Henry Schein, McDonalds, Citibank, Per Scholas, Atlanta Life, Capemay Properties, and more.

PanaGenius invites you to join this extraordinary celebration of culture, talent, and innovation. The 2024 BlackStars Experience is your chance to connect with recruiters, network with top leaders, and gain insights that will elevate your career or business to new heights of success.

For more information and registration details, visit BlackStarsExperience.com.

Father and daughter shopping online in living room

Mali: reflecting on the West African nation’s history, legacy and future as it celebrates 64 years of independence

by Kweku Sampson, Face2FaceAfrica.com

In 1960, 18 African nations gained independence from colonial rule, marking what came to be known as the “Year of Africa.”

Among the newly sovereign states was Mali, which declared its independence from France under the leadership of President Modibo Keita, a staunch Pan-Africanist. Keita’s vision for Mali and the continent was deeply aligned with the goals of African unity, which he pursued alongside Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah and Guinea’s President Ahmed Sékou Touré. Together, they formed the Ghana-GuineaMali Union, signaling the West African region’s commitment to cooperation and solidarity.

These early efforts at Pan-Africanism paved the way for the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, a pivotal moment in Africa’s political history. The OAU, founded in Addis Ababa with 33 member states, sought to promote unity, economic development and the eradication of colonialism and white-minority rule.

However, the post-independence period soon revealed the complexities of building new nations. Political divisions emerged, not only within newly independent states but also between African governments. Some leaders sought a definitive break from European influence and the growing dominance of the United States, while

others preferred to maintain ties with their former colonial rulers and Washington. This ideological split soon gave rise to political instability across the continent, with military coups becoming a frequent occurrence in countries like Ghana, Mali and Guinea. The early optimism of independence began to erode as external interference from Western powers compounded domestic challenges. The assassination of Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961, orchestrated with the involvement of Belgian and American interests, served as a stark reminder of the enduring grip of imperialism on Africa.

Mali, like many of its West African neighbors, continues to face significant security challenges. Transitional President Assimi Goita, who assumed power after a military coup in 2020, addressed the nation on September 21, during the country’s 64th Independence Day celebrations. Goita acknowledged Mali’s complex security situation, especially in light of a deadly attack by rebel forces just days earlier at an Air Force base near the capital, Bamako. The attack, claimed by the Islamist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM), resulted in the deaths of 77 people and injured 256 others.

JNIM, which has waged an insurgency against the Malian government for more than a decade, rose to prominence after the collapse of Libya in 2011, when the NATO-backed removal of Muammar Gaddafi created a power vacuum in North and West Africa. Since then, extremist groups have spread throughout the Sahel, exploiting weak governance and regional instability. In response, the United States and France have increased their military presence in the region under the guise of counterterrorism efforts, deploying troops through AFRICOM and Operation Barkhane. However, the presence of foreign forces

has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Since 2020, a series of military coups across West Africa, including in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, have led to demands for the withdrawal of Western troops. These governments argue that foreign intervention has only worsened the region’s security crisis. Goita, in his Independence Day speech, emphasized that Mali’s security forces have made significant strides in reclaiming territories from rebel groups. He also announced the severing of diplomatic ties with Ukraine, accusing the country of supporting insurgents in Mali.

The shifting dynamics in West Africa have also drawn new geopolitical players into the region. Russian military advisors, including members of the Wagner Group, now rebranded as the Africa Corps, have been working with governments in Mali and other Sahel countries to strengthen security and combat rebel forces. This growing relationship between African nations and Russia has alarmed Western powers, particularly the United States and France, which view it as a challenge to their influence in the region.

As Mali and its neighbors navigate the complexities of sovereignty, security and international alliances, the continent’s post-colonial legacy continues to shape its political landscape. President Goita’s call for unity and self-reliance reflects a broader desire among African nations to assert their independence in an increasingly multipolar world.

[Photo credit: www.blackagendareport.com]

The history behind the Salaga Slave Market In Ghana

by Michael Hammond, Face2FaceAfrica.com

Areport from Cambridge University Press reveals that Salaga was one of the leading slave markets in West Africa during the 1880s.

The story of the enslaved people—their origins, who brought them to Salaga, who purchased them, and their fate—can be reconstructed from accounts by a wide range of travelers, both Black and white, including officials, soldiers, merchants, and missionaries of various nationalities, African and European.

On the eve of European colonization, which eventually ended the internal slave trade, these accounts allow us to glimpse the scale and mechanisms of the trade, as well as the diverse attitudes towards slavery in pre-colonial Africa.

Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Hon. Andrew Egyapa Mercer, remarked that the commissioning of the Salaga Slave Market and Heritage Site is more than a commemoration of the past; it is an acknowledgment of the significant role slavery played in shaping the world today. He made these remarks at the com-

missioning of the site on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Salaga, located in the Savannah Region.

The site, an 18th-century slave market, was a key location where enslaved people were transported to the coast for export during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade era. It also served as an outpost for the movement of slaves along the Trans-Saharan routes.

In his speech, Hon. Mercer emphasized the importance of honoring the memory of ancestors by continuing the fight against discrimination and oppression, while celebrating the resilience of the African spirit and fostering cooperation among the global African family.

“Let us seize this opportunity to promote tourism in the Savannah Region and across Ghana,” he urged. “Highlighting unique heritage sites like the Salaga Slave Market and Slave Wells not only boosts our economy but also fosters cross-cultural understanding between communities, both locally and internationally.”

Hon. Mercer extended heartfelt appreciation to His Royal Highness, the Kpembe Wura, the District Chief Executive, and all stakeholders involved in the renovation

and commissioning of the project.

The ceremony, held in Salaga to launch the 2024 Emancipation Day Celebration, was attended by esteemed dignitaries, including the Lepowura, representing the Kpembewura, the Municipal Chief Executive, the Board Chairman of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Seth Adjei Baah, the local Member of Parliament, and Directors of various agencies in the Savannah Region.

In his address, the CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Akwasi Agyeman, emphasized the significance of the Salaga Slave Market and Wells to the nation’s heritage tourism offerings. He stressed the need for Ghanaians to acknowledge the past while working toward a future of healing and unity. Mr. Agyeman expressed his gratitude for the collaborative efforts that led to the restoration and preservation of these historical sites, highlighting GTA’s commitment to sustainable tourism and cultural heritage.

The Lepowura, Bore-enasa, speaking on behalf of the Kpembewura, pledged the support of the Traditional Authority to help preserve the site.

UNCF Unveils 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report Highlighting the Unmatched Contributions and Urgent Funding Needs of HBCUs

New report reveals $16.5 billion in economic impact and calls for immediate action to secure the future of America's Black higher education institutions

WASHINGTON, DC Today, UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, proudly unveiled its 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report. The report, Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs, commissioned by UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (FDPRI), is a comprehensive, datadriven analysis highlighting the substantial contributions the nation’s 101 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) make to their students, local communities and the nation at large. HBCUs have long been pillars of educational excellence and economic engines, driving prosperity in their communities and across the nation. Despite these contributions, chronic underfunding threatens their ability to sustain this impact. Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs, underscores the urgent need for equitable and sustainable funding to ensure HBCUs can continue their vital role in promoting social mobility and economic growth and calls on the public to advocate for these essential institutions.

“As UNCF observes its 80th anniversary, one of the highlights of our yearlong celebration is the release of the sequel to our groundbreaking 2017 report. This report reaffirms what we have always known about the resilience of HBCUs: despite a deadly pandemic, social unrest caused by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the economic uncertainties of the past seven years, HBCUs continue to do more with less—not only in preparing the next generation of leaders but also in contribut-

ing to our nation's economic impact,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO, UNCF.

“At this critical moment, with a crucial election on the horizon, we all must immediately actualize our commitment to these cornerstone institutions.”

Key findings in the 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report include:

• HBCUs generate $16.5 billion in direct economic impact nationally.

• If they were a company, the nation’s HBCUs would place in the top 50 of the

nation’s Fortune 500 companies in job creation.

• Collectively, 136,048 jobs exist because of HBCUs.

• On average, for each job created on campus, 1.5 off-campus jobs exist because of spending related to the institution.

• HBCUs are far more accessible to students and more successful at moving students from the bottom 40% of a country's income distribution to the top 60%, signaling social mobility.

• The 51,269 HBCU graduates in the class

of 2021 can expect work-life earnings of $146 billion, 57% ($53 billion) more than the $93 billion they could expect without their degrees or certificates.

The 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report is a continuation of the landmark 2017 study, HBCUs Make America Strong: The Positive Economic Impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which showed that HBCUs' economic benefits extend beyond the students they educate.

In addition to the comprehensive report, a website has been launched where users can

explore state-specific data and insights for individual HCBUs. This resource allows users to explore the localized impact, emphasizing the critical role HBCUs play in communities across the nation.

“Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs represents the latest chapter in a longitudinal research initiative by UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute.

By leveraging robust methodology and extensive data, we highlight how HBCUs continue to be critical drivers of economic growth and social mobility,” said Dr. Nadrea R. Njoku, assistant vice president, of Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, UNCF.

“This report not only underscores the substantial economic benefits generated by HBCUs but also contextualizes the broader challenges they have faced over the past three years, including the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threats of violence that have been levied against many of these institutions.”

“Now more than ever, we must recognize the indispensable role HBCUs play in shaping not just the future of their students but the future of our nation. This report is not just a call to awareness but a call to action," said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president, of public policy and government affairs, at UNCF. “As we move forward, it is imperative that we leverage this data to galvanize our communities and demand the necessary support from our policymakers by voting for HBCUs. We urge every sup-

Public Notice

NOTICE

The Manchester Housing Authority will accept pre-applications for the Federal Public Housing and State Congregate Program.

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

The MHA will accept lottery applications from elderly (62+) or disabled applicants on 9:00 am September 30th, 2024 through 2:00 pm October 4th, 2024. Interested parties may apply at: https://www.pha-web.com/portals/onlineApplication/1703 or https://manchesterha.org/ waitlist.aspx

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Invitation for Bids Executive Firm Search

If needed, printed applications are available at 24 Bluefield Drive Manchester, CT 06040 and may be returned by mail, fax, or drop box to the same address.

Important Information

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

NOTICIA

The Housing Authority of the Town of Manchester will use a Random-Draw Lottery System to select pre-applications for placement on the waiting list. The date and time of your application will not impact the selection or placement on the waiting list. Those chosen in the lottery will be notified by mail no later than November 1, 2024. All disqualified or remaining pre-applications not selected for the lottery will be discarded with no further notice. Therefore, if you do not receive a letter by November 15, 2024, your pre-application was not drawn.

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

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

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Budget Analyst Trainee (Leadership Associate (Confidential))

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking the services of an Executive Search Firm to identify qualified candidates for senior level positions. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on

Monday, September 23, 2024, at 3:00PM.

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Invitation for BIDS

Agency Wide Plumbing Services & Preventative Maintenance

If you require reasonable accommodation regarding the application process, please notify the office and you will be advised on how to proceed with the request.

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

Listing: Dispatch Manager

Extremely fast paced petroleum company needs a full time (which includes on call and weekend coverage) detail oriented experiencedDispatch Manager. A strong logistics background and a minimum of Three years managerial experience required. Send resume to: HR Manager, P.O. Box 388, Guilford, CT. 06437. Email: HRDEPT@eastriverenergy.com

NEW HAVEN

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

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 240726&R2=5989VR&R3=001

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

360 Management Group, Co. Is currently seeking bids for Agency Wide Plumbing Services & Preventative Maintenance. A complete copy of the requirements may be obtained from 360 Management Group’s vendor Collaboration Portal. https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, September 23, 2024, at 3:00 PM.

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Invitation for Bids SNOW REMOVAL SERVICES

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

Truck Driver with clean CDL license

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

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

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 3:00PM.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (WT), the construction manager, is currently accepting bids for ConnCAT Place on Dixwell – Phase 1A for the following bid packages: 04A – Masonry, 05B – Misc. Metals, 06A – Millwork, 07A – Roofing, 07B – Exterior Façade, 08A – Storefront, 08B – Doors, Frames, Hardware, 08C – Operable Partitions, Coiling Door, 09A – Carpentry, 09B – Flooring, 09C – Tile, 09D – Painting, 09E – Acoustical Ceilings, 10A – Bathroom Partitions, Accessories, 10B – Signage, 11A – Kitchen Equipment, 12A – Window Treatments, 21A – Fire Suppression, 22A – Plumbing, 23A – Mechanical, HVAC, TAB, Controls, 26A – Electrical, Fire Alarm, Security, 27A – Communications, AV, 32A – Landscaping, 32B – Site Improvements for the new ~70,000 SF two-story ConnCAT headquarters which will contain teaching spaces, kitchen, offices, and daycare/early childhood facility. Interested firms may obtain a bid package and instructions to bid by emailing 020822@whiting-turner.com.

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

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.

Prevailing Wage | Tax-Exempt | CHRO and City of New Haven Subcontracting Requirements will apply | Section 3 HUD

Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE

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

ELECTRIC UTILITY

SUBSTATION AND MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

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

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

Bids wills be accepted at The Lab at ConnCORP located at 496 Newhall Street, Hamden, CT 06517, no later than 10AM on 10/11/24. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. WT and the Owner reserve the right to amend this invitation to bid, reject bids, waive minor irregularities in the bid, and award the contract to the proposer that is deemed to be the best interest of the Owner, ConnCORP. WT is an EEO/AA; Disadvantaged, Small, Minority and Women Business Enterprises are encouraged to bid.

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

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

The Town of Wallingford, CT is offering an excellent career opportunity for a strong leader to supervise and manage the substation electrical operations and maintenance department of the Town’s Electric Division. Applicants should possess 5 years of progressively responsible supervisory or management experience in substation operations, plus a bachelor's degree in engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-foryear basis. Must possess or be able to obtain and maintain ESOP-100 Switching and Tagging qualifications within six months. Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut Driver’s License. Annual Salary: $116,798 to $145,998, plus on-call pay when assigned. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of October 17, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/ government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

NOTICE

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory training on equipment we operate.

Location: Bloomfield CT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

Finance Director

Salary

Range

-

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

LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Contact: Tom Dunay Phone: 860- 243-2300

Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

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

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

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300

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

Portland

Police Officer

NOTICIA

Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES

DISPONIBLES

Union Company seeks:

Go to www.portlandct.org for details

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

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

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

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

Construction

NEW HAVEN

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

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

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

WANTED TRUCK DRIVER

Truck Driver with clean CDL license

Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE

The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury (HACD) is seeking sealed bids for the following Project: State Moderate Rental Apartments -Electrical Panel and Service Replacement. Bid Opening date is October 16, 2024 at 11:00 am at the Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Road, Danbury, CT 06811. All bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. A pre-bid walk through will be held on October 2, 2024 at 10:00 am at 17-19 Mill Ridge Road, Danbury, CT. Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed on-line and purchased from Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed online and purchased from the DigiPrint’s website. Visit https://www.digiprintplanroom.com/jobs/public and select Danbury State Moderate Rental Apartments -Electrical Panel and Service Replacement beginning on September 16 , 2024. A 5% Bid Security and 100% Performance/Payment Bonds are required. Bidders will note requirements of minimum wage rates, nondiscrimination/equal opportunity rules (Executive Order 11246) and related provisions in the General Conditions. No bid shall be withdrawn for ninety (90) days. Complete bidding requirements are noted in the Contract Documents. This project is federally assisted. Therefore, bidders must comply with the following requirements: Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968; Equal Opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246; Non-Discrimination provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Labor Standards provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts and Contract Work Hours Standards Act; prevailing wage determinations as issued by the Department of Labor; and all applicable provisions under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. HACD is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Section 3 businesses are encouraged to participate.

Devin Marra, Acting Executive Director

ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Senior Sales Representative Wanted

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

Advertising and the cultivation of existing and new advertising clients is key to the growth and continued success of The Inner-City News. The paper is delivered weekly to businesses, schools, shopping outlets and wherever newspapers can be found. This is a remote sales position.

Work closely with the Publisher and editor to create a successful sales strategy.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Performs skilled work in the repair, maintenance and calibration of all electrical and electronic equipment pertaining to the wastewater treatment plant in the Town of Wallingford. Applicants should possess a H.S. or trade school diploma and 2 years of related college education or specialized maintenance training and 4 years of experience in the repair and maintenance of electrical and electronic equipment; or a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or related field plus 1 year of experience. Must possess a valid Connecticut Driver's License. Hourly rate: $32.24 to $36.79. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of October 1, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct. gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

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

Must be a self-starter and highly motivated.

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.

Potential local

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.

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

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

Builds relationships with customers and coworkers and has strong interpersonal skills. An associate or bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related major is a plus but not required. At least [number] years of sales representative experience is preferred. Interested candidates should apply to John Thomas, JThomas@penfieldcomm.com

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

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

The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications to participate in the examination for the position of Secretary II, Grade Level 10-$24.29/hour, 37.5 hours per week, 12-month position. Qualified candidates must possess a High School Diploma or equivalent and a minimum of 2 years secretarial experience. Candidates must have experience with Google Suites, Microsoft Word and Excel. Prior experience in a school system or related work with children preferred. The application is available online at https://www.townofeasthavenct. org/civil-service-commission/pages/job-notices-and-tests or from the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven and must be returned by October 11, 2024. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Andrea M. Liquori

Chief Examiner

Civil Service Commission

250 Main Street

East Haven CT 06512

(203)468-3375

SMALL AND MINORITY SUBCONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY–

NOTICE

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Town of Bloomfield

Salary Range:

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

Columbus House, New Haven, CT SOLICITATION OF SBE/MBE SUBCONTRACTORS: Enterprise Builders, Inc. (EBI) seeks certified SBE/MBE Subcontractors and suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applicable sections of work for the following construction project: COLUMBUS HOUSE 592. Project consists of the demolition of an existing one-story building and the construction of a new three-story 29,155 sf building with 79 housing units. Subcontractor Bid Due Date and Time: 3:00 pm on Friday, October 25, 2024 via email to bids@enterbuilders.com. A Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting for Building Demolition Contractors will be held on-site at 592 Ella T Grasso Blvd in New Haven, CT on Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 10:00 am. Please confirm your attendance by emailing bids@enterbuilders.com by 5:00PM on Tuesday 10/08/2024. Starting on Friday 10/4/24, Electronic bid documents can be obtained at no charge by contacting the EBI Estimating Department at (860)466-5188 or via email at bids@enterbuilders.com. Project is Tax Exempt and Residential Prevailing Wage Rates are required. Section 3 Businesses are encouraged to apply. EBI is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Minority/Women’s Business Enterprises are encouraged to apply. This contract is subject to State Set-Aside and contract compliance requirements.

NOTICIA

$87,727 to $136,071 Deputy Finance Director/Controller Pre-employment drug testing. AA/EOE. For Details go to  www.bloomfieldct.org

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APARTMENTS AVAILABLE AT SPENCER VILLAGE I AND II IN MANCHESTER, CT www.demarcomc.com

Spencer Village LLC, though its Managing Agent, DeMarco Management Corporation are pleased to announce that applications are currently being accepted for the waiting list at Spencer Village I & II located at 151 Spencer Street in Manchester, CT.

Applications will be available beginning September 16, 2024 through September 30, 2024.

Eligibility for Admission: An applicant’s gross family income must be used to determine eligibility for admission. Per CGS Statute 8-115a, the admission limits for Spencer Village I & II shall be at or below 30% and not the exceed 50% of the AMI adjusted for family size. Only “elderly persons” are eligible. An “elderly person” means a person who is sixty-two years of age or older, or a person who has been certified by the Social Security Board as being totally disabled. [CGS sec. 8-113a]

Rent Determination: Residents must pay the greater amount of either the base rent or a percentage of their adjusted gross income. Current base rent is $500.00.

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

Listing: Technician Apprentice

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

Opening for a full time HVAC Technician Apprentice in our commercial department. Candidate must possess a technical school certificate in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, oil, propane and natural gas. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or email HRDept@eastriverenergy.com

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

PLUMBING MECHANICS NEEDED:

LBR Mechanical Corp is seeking plumbing mechanics. Must be experienced in all aspects of plumbing/heating, construction and roughing. 3+ years experience a must. Journeyman license a plus. Drivers license required.

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

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

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

Vacation Pay.

Construction

Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Affirmative

All persons interested in Spencer Village I and II may request an application either in person (or through a designated individual or agency) at the local site office located at 151 Spencer Street in Manchester, CT during posted office hours.

Applications can also be requested via email at compliance@demarcomc.com or by calling 860-951-3045

Applications can also be requested utilizing the AT&T relay service by dialing 711 Applications will be accepted by mail or in person at the:

Spencer Village I & II 151 Spencer Street Manchester, CT 06040

EFAX # 860-760-6221

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

Applications received before September 16th or after September 30th will not be accepted. Applicants are selected from the wait list in the order in which they were placed on the waiting list in order of random lottery Equal Housing Opportunities

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

PERSON F/T – The Housing Authority of the City of Bristol (BHA) is seeking seeking one (1) energetic individual who has experience maintaining residential properties. Skills include, but are not limited to, grounds maintenance, general upkeep of a residential building, painting, changing locks, and other general handyman maintenance repairs. Also landscaping and snow removal.

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

Pay: $19.02-$27.18 per hour. Benefits: Health, dental, vision and life insurance, Employee assistance program, Paid time off, Retirement plan, Tuition reimbursement

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT Monday through Friday; Overtime; Weekends as needed Education: High school or equivalent (Required) Experience: Maintenance 1 year (Required) License/Certification: Driver's License (Required)

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.

Send resume and references by Sept. 18, 2024 to mrowe@bristolhousing.org.

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.

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

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

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

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

Galasso Materials LLC, a quarry and paving contractor, has positions open for the upcoming construction season. We are seeking candidates for a variety of positions, including: Scalehouse Dispatcher/ Equipment Operators and Laborers. NO PHONE CALLS. Please email resume and cover letter to “Hiring Manager”, Galasso Materials LLC, PO Box 1776, East Granby CT 06026.

Galasso Materials is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

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

The history of Belmont, an upscale Black suburb in Maryland that was halted by White developers

by Francis Alkahbey, Face2FaceAfrica.com

In 1906, four Black businessmen – Charles Cuney, Michel Dumas, James Neill, and Alexander Sautterwhite – set their sights on creating an upscale Black suburb in Maryland. They subsequently launched the ambitious project by buying acres of land at a location close to the Washington, D.C. line, per What I’m Reading.

Unfortunately, their vision could not become a reality as White landowners fought tooth and nail to prevent the construction of the project. More than a century later, Maryland officials on Saturday unveiled a historical marker close to the area where Belmont was supposed to be situated. The unveiling ceremony was attended by descendants of the four Black businessmen.

“This marker states the facts of what happened in this location in Chevy Chase in 1906 when my third great-uncle along with three men Black men purchased land to create an affluent Black community and it was halted,” Satterwhite’s descendant, Felani Afrika Spivey, said.

“Without this marker, [Belmont] would be a rumor. It means a lot to me and my family for our legacy, and hopefully it helps us get reparations.”

Known as the “Belmont Syndicate,” the four Black businessmen purchased the land after they had a White man present himself as a straw buyer. They then went ahead to advertise their ambitious project in Black and white newspapers, per What I’m Reading.

page of The Washington

in 1906

local newspapers and also went as far as having authorities arrest the Belmont Syndicate. The four Black men had done nothing wrong but they were arrested.

“To establish a negro colony at Belmont, practically at our doors and beyond the restraint of the District police force, would mean the impairment of our property values, a constant menace to our peace and security, and the destruction of the happiness of our homes,” a resident told The Washington Times.

One of the individuals who opposed the project was a White supremacist and founder of the real estate firm, the Chevy Chase Land Company. The company was set up to develop all-White neighborhoods. Together with their affiliates, the company successfully managed to prevent the Belmont Syndicate from going ahead with their project.

“Despite threats of violence, at least 28 people bought lots. The development collapsed in 1909 when the Chevy Chase Land Company refused to release title,” the historical marker states. “Belmont exemplified the ambition of Washington’s early 20th-century Black community and foreshadowed the coming struggle over housing segregation.”

The ad also provided the cost and pay-

“Colored People Attention,” the headline for one of the ads stated. The ad also urged Black people to “buy an ideal suburban lot in the most beautiful and most rapidly improving section of Northwest Washington, Belmont Chevy Chase.”

ment plan, stating that the price for lots started from $400. “It is the only good subdivision in Washington where colored people are welcomed to buy, and it will be sold up completely in a very few days,” the ad stated. “This is your chance to have a

suburban home in the finest part of Washington – grasp it at once.”

And though over 20 people bought lots, the project was swiftly opposed by White landowners after they became aware. The White residents sent out threats through

“There’s an African proverb that says truth pressed to the ground will rise to the top. To be standing here with my cousins and my son is the most miraculous spiritual accomplishment in my life,” Artist Crudup, a descendant of one of the four Black businessmen, also said.

“This has always been an affluent area. We can all go forward from this.”

John Amos, Beloved ‘Good Times’ Star and Emmy-Nominated Actor, Dies at 84

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

John Amos, the Emmy-nominated actor and pioneering television star who brought to life some of the most beloved characters in entertainment history, died at 84. His son, K.C. Amos, confirmed in a statement that Amos passed away more than a month ago, on August 21, in Los Angeles of natural causes. The younger Amos didn’t say why he kept his father’s death under wraps for more than a month.

“It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” K.C. said. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.”

Amos’ acting career spanned over five decades, with his most iconic role being that of James Evans Sr., the no-nonsense, hard-working father on the groundbreaking CBS sitcom Good Times (1974–1979). The show, which was the first sitcom to center on an African American family, became a cultural touchstone, and Amos’ portrayal of James Evans Sr. made him a symbol of strength and dignity for countless viewers.

However, his time on the series was cut short after three seasons due to creative differences with the show’s producers. Amos famously clashed with the show’s direction, objecting to what he saw as the stereotypical portrayal of his on-screen son, J.J., played by Jimmie Walker.

“We had a number of differences,” Amos recalled in later interviews, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I felt too much emphasis was being put on J.J. in his chicken hat, saying ‘Dy-no-mite!’ every third page.” Amos’ insistence on portraying a more balanced, positive image of the Black family on television led to his departure from the show in 1976, when his character was written out in a dramatic two-part episode.

Born John Allen Amos Jr. on December 27, 1939, in Newark, New Jersey, Amos began his professional life with dreams of playing football. He played the sport at Colorado State University and had brief stints with teams like the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs. But after a series of injuries and cutbacks, Amos transitioned to entertainment, beginning his career as a writer and performer.

Amos got his first major acting break as Gordy Howard, the good-natured weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, appearing on the iconic series from 1970 to

1973. He would go on to write and perform sketches on The Leslie Uggams Show and later landed roles in various television series and films.

In 1977, Amos received an Emmy nomination for his powerful portrayal of the adult Kunta Kinte in the landmark ABC miniseries Roots, a role that solidified his

status as one of television’s most respected actors. Amos’ performance in Roots, one of the most watched and culturally significant TV events of all time, remains one of his most enduring achievements.

In addition to his success on television, Amos made his mark in films. He appeared in Melvin Van Peebles’ groundbreaking blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) and The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973). He was widely recognized for his role in Coming to America (1988), where he played Cleo McDowell, the owner of McDowell’s, a fast-food restaurant parody of McDonald’s. Amos reprised the role over three decades later in Coming to America 2 (2021).

His filmography also includes the Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby classic Let’s Do It Again (1975), The Beastmaster (1982), Die Hard 2 (1990), Ricochet (1991), Mac(1992), For Better or Worse (1995), The Players Club (1998), Night Trap (1993), and Because of Charley (2021).

Amos was also a familiar face on television throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, with recurring roles in shows like The West Wing as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Airas Will Smith’s stepfather. He appeared in The District, Men in Trees, All About the An-

dersons (as Anthony Anderson’s father), and the Netflix series The Ranch. Beyond acting, Amos had a passion for writing and performing in theater. In the 1990s, when he found it challenging to secure roles in Hollywood, he wrote and starred in the one-person play Halley’s Comet, about an 87-year-old man waiting in the woods for the comet’s arrival. He toured with the production for over 20 years, performing in cities across the United States and abroad.

In addition to his onscreen and stage accomplishments, Amos co-produced the documentary America’s Dad, which explored his life and career. He was also involved in Broadway, appearing in Carl Reiner’s Tough to Get Help production in 1972.

John Amos’ life and career were not without personal challenges. In recent years, he was embroiled in a public legal battle between his children, K.C. and Shannon, over accusations of elder abuse. This unfortunate chapter cast a shadow over his later years. However, his legacy as a beloved television father and one of Hollywood’s pioneering Black actors remains untarnished.

Both K.C. and Shannon, children from his first marriage to artist Noel “Noni” Mickelson and his ex-wife, actress Lillian Lehman, survive Amos.

The front

Times

showing the Belmont land and nearby houses. Credit: The Washington Times

John Allen Amos Jr

• Cremation (Choose to be cremated at Evergreen.)

• Columbarium in the Most Beautiful Cremation Garden

• Reserve your Niche in a secure location pre-need.

• Reserve a Niche for family and friends or purchase at-need to safely place your Loved One in the Columbarium.

• Burial Lots (infant, single, two-grave, or four-grave)

• Monuments & Markers (black, gray, or pink granite)

• Flower placement (single or multiple placement)

• All orders can be placed at the Evergreen office or the website.