INNER-CITY NEWS

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Miss Kentucky, Elle Smith, Becomes 3rdFocus Black Woman in a RowNAACP to Win MissConvention USA Competition Financial Justice a Key at 2016 New Haven, Bridgeport

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Leigh Busby Makes The Walls Sing

Color Struck?

Widely Undercounted

Snow in July?

Paid Family LeaveUS ON FOLLOW 1

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Dwight Neighbors Resolve To Take Leadership On Making Community Safer

by Maya McFadden

New Haven Independent

“We are the cavalry,” Dwight neighbors decided at a community meeting called to address safety concerns.

Wednesday night’s meeting was held at Amistad Academy Middle School on Edgewood Avenue. It was organized by The Community Builders (TCB), the nonprofit landlord of the neighborhood’s sprawling Kensington Square development.

The meeting included a panel discussion with four leaders who work in Dwight focusing their work on violence prevention and community engagement: Ice the Beef President Chaz Carmon, The Connection Program Director Deborah DeJarnette, Dwight Community Management Team member and Civilian Review Board secretary Rick Crouse, and Dwight Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers. Project Longevity Manager Stacy Spell moderated.

TCB Development Project Manager Kristin Anderson spearheaded organizing the event after hearing some of the 215 TCB tenants concerns about neighborhood safety. TCB sought out leaders in the neighborhood to share with residents about what opportunities the neighborhood currently has to offer to keep youth and families engaged and what they hope to see improved.

Over pizza and refreshments, 40 neighbors spent an hour and half exploring what a safe and thriving Dwight looks like to them. Anderson said Wednesday’s meeting is the first of a series for the neighborhood to “​ come together to build a safer community.”

Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez, Asst. Chief Karl Jacobson, and Dwight

and District Manager Lt. Ryan Przybylski participated as well.

Dominguez reported that the city is seeing an uptick in homicides: 25 so far in 2021 compared to 20 in 2020. Last year saw 105 nonfatal shootings in town’ 99 have been recorded so far in 2021.

To tackle the increasing violence, Jacobson said, the department is returning to walking beats and ​“relying on all cops and not just the district manager” to build trust with residents.

Przybylski provided neighbors with an update on crime and safety stats specific to Dwight. He reported that of the total city homicides, four have occurred in the Dwight area, as have 11 non fatal shootings.

Crime incidents have been “​ way down” in November compared to October, Przybylski said. In November the neighborhood had two reported robberies, a homicide on Thanksgiving, six burglaries, and six auto thefts.

Przybylski said there is less violence in Dwight recently than neighborhoods like the Hill and Whalley/Edgewood/Beaver Hills (WEB).

Audience members spoke of a need for social services on the weekends, a community center, neighborhood basketball leagues, and affordable youth programs.

Dwight neighbor Marvin Conner suggested a neighborhood security system like a block watch, so the neighborhood can “​ do it ourselves” rather than ​“depend on these other people to come in.”

Conner shared that he served prison time for committing crimes in the streets of Dwight as a youth. “​ I was taking care of my family,” he said. “​ We got to take care of our own and help keep these kids

Panelist Deborah DeJarnette and Chaz Carmon.

from shooting. Give them what they need, clothes, food, jobs so they don’t have to end up with them [police].”

Conner said he now collects clothes and donates them to families on several Dwight corners.

Delisa Carney, owner of Advance Childcare Center at 65 Kensington St., said she intentionally opened her operation in that spirit of neighbors addressing challenges in the neighborhood.

She encouraged residents to not “​ hide in your houses” but rather to invest and improve the neighborhood.

“If you want to fix the problem come out of your doors,” she said.

She receives help with keeping the center safe from her neighbors, whom she described as the “​ real leaders.”

“These guys out here hold me down.

They’re security. They buy your kids

Christmas gifts, make Thanksgiving donations, all of it. Whatever I need for the kids,” Carney said.

When asked about what builds a thriving community, the panelist mentioned a​ “village” mentality, neighborhood cohesion, engaged neighbors, community gardens, and housing for those with mental illnesses, substance abuse addictions, and the re-entry population.

“We need to bring back that these are all of our children and our neighborhoods,” Carmon said.

“If people have jobs and kids have opportunities, I think that the community ends up being healthy,” Walker-Myers said. “​ What we see in our neighborhood are simply just the symptoms of poverty.”

The final question of the night: ​“What would a safe and thriving Dwight look like to you?”

Neighbors’ responses included: children in parks, positive interactions with police, youth programming, dirt-bike showcases, financial support, more male mentors for youth, and more love.

“Let’s not just talk about it. Let’s be about it,” Spell said. “​ We are the cavalry.

We cannot wait for someone to dig us out this situation.”

The panelists ended the evening meeting with highlights of neighborhood happenings that residents may not be aware of.

Walker-Myers said she is working with a team to purchase underutilized properties to keep slumlords out the community and help residents become homeowners or renters. Carmon reported that the YMCA currently has openings for youth rec programming.

Challengers Sweep Teacher Union Election

by MAYA MCFADDEN New Haven Independent

A 31-member slate of challengers promising a new day for educators toppled the teachers union’s 15-year incumbent president along with the rest of his team.

That was the result Tuesday after mailedin ballots were counted at the Chapel Street headquarters of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.

The final tally showed Metropolitan Business Academy teacher Leslie Blatteau defeating incumbent President David Cicarella, according to both Blatteau and Cicarella.

The union barred the press from observing the count and did not release final official results Tuesday evening.

Blatteau’s “Fighting for Our Future” slate of challengers won all 31 executive board seats they sought in the election.

In the campaign, the challengers argued that the union needs to change course, both with fresh faces and new ideas, in-

cluding how to go about organizing at the grassroots. They promised increased twoway communications with teachers at all levels and partnerships with other unions.

The agreed on five “core commitments” that included negotiating a stronger contract, improving the working conditions in schools, honoring and strengthening union bylaws, engaging and supporting union members, and building coalitions in the community. “When we organize, we win!” declared Engineering & Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) history teacher Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, who won the race for executive board vice-president for middle schools.

She and others said they were proud of the “clean” and “positive” campaign they ran.

Cicarella had sought reelection to a sixth term in office with a slate of 24 school staffers, two-thirds of whom ran for reelection with a promise to continue bringing decades of experience to union

decision-making during uncertain times.

He declined comment Tuesday night beyond confirming the result. In his tenure, Cicarella made national news by working with the then — Superintendent Reggie Mayo, Mayor John DeStefano, and national teachers union President Randi Weingarten on a teacher evaluation plan that made it more possible for failing teachers to be fired but focused more on supporting teachers first to succeed in the classroom.

The current union vice-president, Pat DeLucia, who ran unopposed on Cicarella’s slate, was reelected Tuesday.

Blatteau said she is looking forward to working with all union members, including those who ran on Cicarella’s slate.

“We have things to learn. And we have ideas,” she said.

The slate’s campaign manager, Nataliya Braginsky, said the slate intends to reach out to people in particular to participate in union subcommittees that the union in

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MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Victorious teachers slate members Slate members Stephen Siena, Mia Comulada Breuler, Leslie Blatteau, Kirsten Hopes-McFadden, Rachael Parrott, and campaign manager Nataliya Braginsky outside teachers union hall Tuesday evening after ballots weere counted.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Gov Issues Covid Call To Arms At Pearl Harbor Ceremony

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven Independent

Calling on Americans to stand “arm in arm to fight an invisible enemy,” Gov. Ned Lamont commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks by urging a new Greatest Generation to step up for their country in the fight against Covid.

Lamont offered that call to arms Tuesday during a wreath-laying ceremony in Pearl Harbor Memorial Park at the corner of East Street and Forbes Avenue on Long Wharf in the shadow of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, better known as the “Q Bridge.”

Flanked by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Mayor Justin Elicker, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti, and a half-dozen uniformed members of the Connecticut National Guard, Lamont led a press conference and helped lay a red-white-blue-and-green wreath at the base of the city’s Pearl Harbor memorial.

The city and state officials held the event Tuesday morning in honor of the 80th anniversary of the surprise Japanese air attack of a U.S. naval base in Hawaii that killed more than 2,400 Americans and pushed the country into World War II. Eighteen Connecticut residents, includ-

Connecticut National Guard Major General Francis J. Evon, Jr., Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz, and Gov. Lamont at Tuesday's wreath-laying ceremony.

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ing Army Air Force Private and New Havener George Smith, were among those who died that day.

“We take time to honor the lives, the service, and the sacrifice” of not just the 2,400 Americans killed at Pearl Harbor, but also of the 16 million who fought for this country during World War II, Bysiewicz said. “We salute the military heroes of World War II.” Elicker used his times at the mic to urge Americans to confront the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen over 780,000 Americans die so far, with a similar sense of unity and shared national purpose that led to so many enlisting to fight in World War II. “Today, we’re facing an incredible crisis again,” Elicker said. “As we reflect on the individuals in the past who have given their lives for the nation to protect the greater good,” we should also celebrate those like the medical professionals who put themselves in harm’s way early on in the pandemic by continuing to go to work even as the novel coronavirus made landfall.

“We saw a mobilization on a scale never seen before or since on behalf of a common cause,” New Haven State Sen. and Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney. said about this country’s entry into World

War II after Pearl Harbor.

“Too rarely do we see that now. Too frequently we see polarization that makes dialogue almost impossible.”

And Lamont singled out nurses who have continued to work at the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic as “our Greatest Generation” who have carried on those publicly minded values that “make America great.”

After the ceremony had concluded, reporters pressed Lamont on the current surge in new Covid infections — and on the pending landfall of a new more contagious variant, Omicron.

“Be cautious, be careful, get the booster, and watch out for big crowds,” Lamont said about his advice at this current moment. He said he is not currently contemplating any new statewide mandates or restrictions, even as Covid cases rise.

“I’m not interested in mandates,” he said.

He said the state is, however, working on a new “digital health card” that would allow people who are vaccinated to show digitized proof of their vaccination status to store owners and restaurant owners who may choose to require that before entry.

“That’s something being asked for,” he said about a digital health card. “I’d like to be able to have that soon.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Pediatrician Offers Parting Advice, Looks To Next Act After School Board Term

by Paul Bass

New Haven Independent

Tamiko Jackson-McArthur has advice for the people replacing her on New Haven’s Board of Education: Take a deep breath, and remember the children.

Serving on New Haven’s school board can be “every emotionally draining and can tap into emotions that you don’t use every day,” she put it in an interview Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program. “You see people doing things that are not in the kids’ best interest.”

“Try and leave the outside influences and political influences off the table and out of the room.”

McArthur-Jackson, a New Haven pediatrician raising kids who attend the public schools, is completing the last month of a four-year term. Mayor Justin Elicker replaced McArthur-Jackson and another board member who sometimes raised questions about administration policy, Larry Conaway, with two new appointees for the term beginning Jan. 1.

Paul Bass Photo Tamiko Jackson-McArthur at WNHH FM.

The past four years have been stormy on the school board, with extended, sometimes accusation-filled, conflicts over

who should serve as superintendent, how to deal with racial prejudice, and how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

McArthur-Jackson, who played a vocal role in those debates, said she has “no regrets.” She is proud of having led efforts to enact a new district equity policy, a “restorative justice” approach that has dramatically decreased the number of suspensions, a gender affirming policy, a revisiting of school resource officer policy, and the renaming of the former Columbus Columbus Family Academy to Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME).

Most recently she oversaw a new policy to support families whose children “opt out” of high-stakes standardized tests, ensuring they remain in school and receive their education.

That issue — the reliance on standardized tests —has concerned McArthurJackson for years. Her own children opt out. She often writes letters to parents of her pediatrician practice patients to support opting out. She argued that schools

devote too much time teaching to standardized tests, with health impacts on the kids from the pressure, taking time away from more productive instruction.

The opt-out policy is just a start in addressing that problem, she said. She would like to see school districts like New Haven’s resist state mandates that tie millions of dollars in classroom aid to ensuring that 95 percent of students take the tests, for instance.

McArthur-Jackson said she plans to continue advocating publicly on that, and other, education issues — such as the need to improve remote learning beyond the pandemic so that, say, students confined to home while they recover from surgery can obtain more than two hours a day of instruction.

“I’m not going anywhere. My kids are still in the school system,” McArthurJackson said.

She also is launching a nonprofit called Virginia’s Heart to address short and longterm housing needs of mothers in crisis.

Paid Family Leave Program Gets Underway; Backers Celebrate At Claire’s

by Paul Bass

New Haven Independent

State leaders converged on an appropriate spot Wednesday to celebrate the first day in which workers can sign up for benefits under Connecticut’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave Program: Claire’s Corner Copia.

Then they joined a crowd outside the restaurant’s College Street entrance for a press conference marking the fact that Wednesday was the first day that workers can contact the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority to sign up for up to $780 a week (depending on their salaries) in benefits to cover up to 12 weeks of wages lost while caring “for their own health, a newborn child, or a sick family member.”

(Visit here or call 877−499−8606 to submit an application.)

The law creating the program passed in 2019; the State Senate made it “Senate Bill #1” to reflect that it was the Democrats’ top priority, State Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney noted. It’s the eighth state paid family and medical leave law in the nation.

“Our state is leading the way with the best paid family leave law,” declared Bysiewicz (pictured). Workers are eligible if they need leave to care for their “own serious health condition,” including pregnancy or serving as an organ donor; for a family member; for bonding with a new child entering a home through “birth adoption, or foster care”; for reasons arising from family violence or “issues arising from a parent, child, or spouse’s military deployment”; or for a “family member injured” during active military service.

Already 500 people had made contact to submit applications within the first

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New Haven/Hamden State Rep. Robyn Porter, who led the effort to pass the bill in the House: “I believe in [keeping] promises.”

morning hours Wednesday, reported Andrea Barton Reeves, CEO of the agency established to oversee the program, the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority. She reported the authority has $300 million in a trust fund for the program, a total expected to reach $410 million by the end of January, money that comes from employees’ paychecks. An actuarial study found that that’s plenty of money to keep the fund solvent for at least five years, even if the program receives higher-thanexpected demand, Reeves said.

Wednesday’s event was held at Claire’s because Claire’s owner Claire Criscuolo already offers her employees paid family and medical leave. The point is that the new program will make it easier for employers like Criscuolo to do right by their workers.

“This is a wonderful day for families and small businesses like me that try to do the right thing,” Criscuolo (pictured) said at the event. “It’s difficult to pay people to stay at home.”

“Covid-19 crisis struck and showed all

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of us just how critical this policy is to workers and their families,” noted Janée Woods Weber (pictured), executive director of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).

State Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe , who chairs the Paid Leave Authority board, said the program launched on time — and under budget: only $14 million out of $50 million appropriated to administer the ramp-up phase needed to be spent.

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Train Station Doubles As Vax Pop-Up THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

by COURTNEY LUCIANA New Haven Independent

Lois Ricketts just had to cross the street from her home across from the train station to receive her Covid-19 booster shot Monday morning.

Ricketts was among 13 people who made it over to Union Station Monday morning to make use of the pop-up clinic that has opened up there.

The site offers a choice of which brand of booster to take; Ricketts chose Pfizer.

She said she hopes her shot inspires other people in her community to get their vaccinations and boosters.

“Covid is serious. It’s killing people. And we need to be more mindful of people’s well-being and their mortality,” Ricketts said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.

That’s all.”

Griffin Hospital has been running the vaccination clinic on the second floor at Union Station every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Griffin CEO Patrick Charmel said that the idea is to meet people right where they are.

Charmel said vaccination sites at transportation sites like the train station and airports are becoming a big hit.

“Maybe three or four weeks ago, the numbers of Covid were lighter, but now people are becoming more motivated to get their shot as they see the infection rate go up,” Charmel said. “Over the last two weeks, there’s been an 80 percent increase in hospitalizations. That’s not because of Omi-

COURTNEY LUCIANA PHOTO Lois Ricketts get her booster. cron. That’s because of the Delta variant that’s still with us.

Charmel said that 91 percent of hospital beds in New Haven County are full today.

That means there are only 200 beds left to be filled.

“We need folks to go out and protect themselves by getting vaccinated and their booster shots,” Charmel said. “When they

do so, they’re not only protecting themselves and the community, but also preserving our capacity to take care of sick people.

David Reyes, the state public health department’s outreach director, said that the average number of daily boosters at this site has been 20 people.

Reyes, a former Hill alder and a lifelong New Havener, said he has more of an un-

An Albright Family Christmas GERALD and SELINA ALBRIGHT

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derstanding of what’s holding back some people from receiving their dose “Blacks and Hispanics, they’re not coming out. Those are my people that need to get educated and tackle this hesitancy. People are scared,” Reyes said. “We can’t ignore history right? We need to do better in educating our folks that this is OK, it’s safe, and you’re not only saving your life — but your family and friends’ lives too.”

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said that the clinic being located at Union Station isn’t just a matter of safety but a matter of equity.

“At walk-in clinics, you don’t need any documentation. You don’t need insurance.

Vaccinations are free,” Bysiewicz said.

“Our message today is to keep your family and friends safe. Keep our essential workers safe. Stop the Covid variants by getting everyone vaccinated and boosted.”

One client, Joel Ettinger, said other factors like availability played a huge role in deciding where to get the booster shot.

Ettinger drove to the station from Orange because his local pharmacies were either out of stock or didn’t have the personnel to administer shots.

He found the station’s mobile clinic online.

“It’s so upsetting” that some people aren’t getting vaccinated, Ettinger said. “It’s not really like it’s that much of a request.

We’ve had vaccinations for less lethal things. Especially, when we were kids, we had a bunch of vaccinations. I just view this as the same thing. Why wouldn’t I want to

be protected against what is fair to say is a modern-day plague?”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and state and city officials held a press conference at Union Station Monday to spread the word about the vax pop-ups.

Mayor Justin Elicker announced 63.24 percent of New Haveners over 5 years old have been fully vaccinated.

“We still have a lot more work to do,” Elicker said. “Especially with Omicron and the increase across the state and region, please get vaccinated and get your boosters. That’s what today is about.”

The Union Station clinic is set to operate until Dec. 29.

Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani noted that 70 to 80 percent of people hospitalized statewide are unvaccinated.

“If you’re on the fence about it, this is your moment to protect yourselves and family,” Juthani said. “The immunity that you get from a booster starts immediately.

Juthani said there’s still a lot to learn about Omicron. She said so far, it has been a mild disease .

“That is welcomed news,” Juthani said.

“If we convert this disease into something where you cuddle up in a blanket, if you’re vaccinated, and stay home for a few days then get better — that is a success of the vaccines that kept you out of the hospital and kept you alive.”

Track Stars Snag College Tickets THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

by MAYA MCFADDEN New Haven Independent

This time next year, two Hillhouse track stars will retire their blue Academics uniforms to graduate to shades of green as collegiate student athletes.

Dozens of community members Saturday celebrated the news that Hillhouse seniors Olivia O’Connor and Gary Moore Jr. have accepted offers to attend Dartmouth College and Baylor University next fall.

The signing-day ceremony Saturday at the Hillhouse field house celebrated O’Connor and Moore as record-breaking track and field throwers and stellar students.

The ceremony highlighted the long and difficult journeys each scholar athlete undertook.

Hillhouse Assistant Coach Darrell Brown said Saturday’s was his first signing event for track and field throwers rather than runners.

Moore and O’Connor were described as “true athletes” for not only breaking school, state, and national records, but for academic achievement.

They each placed in Hillhouse’s senior top ten rankings for their academic standings. O’Connor will be her class valedictorian and ranked number one. Moore ranks number nine in a graduating class of more than 100 students.

Brown added that true athletes like Moore and O’Connor excel in academics, sports, and character.

The lineup of speakers was kept short as the full house seated in the hallway of the field house waited on the edge of their seats to hear the athletes’ decisions.

Attendees ranged from Hillhouse alumni and families to teammates, classmates, and teachers.

Damien “Coach Country,” coach of the Bloomfield-based ThrowHawks Field Club , recalled several stories of working with both athletes over the past year.

He recalled getting Moore to try new throwing events like discus and hammer.

He would occasionally refer to Moore as “Fortnite Gary” because in between drills, Moore would play video games.

Moore “doesn’t rely on being an athlete” when practicing. Larkins highlighted a “strong,” “explosive,” and “sponge-like” work ethic that makes Moore successful.

Larkins described O’Connor as an “Ivy League kid” who has always put her focus on being a student.

When O’Connor first joined the Throwhawks, Larkins recalled her telling him, “I never thought I’d be good at sports, so I made school my sport.”

O’Connor’s classroom work ethic translated to the track and more specifically the throwing circle, Larkins said. She is a “fighter” who pushed herself to new limits.

Larkins said because O’Connor is used to test taking, she performs well under pressure during track meets without being nervous. “The pressure of constant education is far beyond throwing,” he said.

O’Connor now serves as an assistant coach for the Hillhouse youth team.

Scholar to Athlete During Saturday’s ceremony, O’Connor agreed that “track didn’t come so easy” for her. With the help of Hillhouse head track coaches Gary Moore Sr. and Michele Moore, Brown, and Larkin she broke personal and state records in throwing.

She recalled having to move a lot and living in hotels during her freshman year.

During the hard times her coaches sup-

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Student athletes Olivia O'Connor and Gary Moore Jr.

ported her like a family. “At that time, I was in dying need of a father figure in my life,” she said. Coach Gary Moore stepped into that role for her.

During her first year of high school, she asked her mom if she could quit the track team soon after joining. Luckily, her mom told her, “Just stick with it.”

She described Larkins as an uncle figure, Coach Michele Moore as a second mom, and Brown as the big brother she’d never had.

Despite not being sure if she would stick with throwing beyond high school, O’Connor practiced everyday and in 20-degree weather with Coach Country.

Her advice to younger athletes: “Don’t wait to start working hard.” She also encouraged them to put the time in to improving before the next meet or practice.

This year O’Connor is taking four advanced placement (AP) courses and a full-credit college class while maintaining her throwing career on the Hillhouse team.

She thanked her mother for pushing her and for driving her to Bloomfield for throwing practices and to away meets.

With the goal of becoming a teacher and continuing her throwing career, O’Connor committed to the New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College.

Michele Moore said she chose to name him after his father despite hesitation from her husband. “When I hear the name ‘Gary Moore,’ that’s a strong name,” she said.

Michele shared about watching Gary Jr. grow up and him going from sweet to slightly sour as he aged and became more competitive. In eighth grade, she recalled, he “lost his mind for a few months.”

Ribbons Cut On New Downtown Hot Dog, Vegan Smoothie Shops

By Paul Bass Photo

New Haven Independent

A pair of downtown ribbon-cuttings reflected how swiftly vegan tastes have entered the cultural mainstream, at least in New Haven.

The two ribbon-cuttings, organized by landlord Yale University Properties, took place back to back mid-day Wednesday.

The vegan bowls and beverages were no surprise at the first location, Pedals Smoothie & Juice Bar near Yorkside Pizza and Toad’s Place on York Street.

Healthful foods are the point at the shop, the second location Katie-Hughes Nelson and Patrick Nelson have opened in New Haven. (The first one opened at 999 State St. They also have a Durham shop.)

The menu features “​ healthy, plant-based smoothies, cold-pressed juices, signature

acai bowls, and more, such as their housemade peanut butter, almond butter, and hazelnut-chocolate spread.”

Eco-consciousness is on the menu, too: from the use of homemade nutmilk and fair-trade sourcing, to returnable and refundable glass juice bars that get reused.

The vegan offering was more of a surprise at the second location to open formally around the corner Wednesday at the hut in the Broadway parking lot island: Bulldog Hotdogs.

Most of the offerings are not vegan, of course. They are variations on Hummel’s Hot Dogs with ​“curated toppings” like sauteed mushrooms, crumbled bleu cheese, and macaroni & cheese. The menu also includes chicken tenders, French fries, and onion rings.

Then there’s the “ ​ Beyond” brand hot

dogs.

“A lot of students are vegan,” noted Moe Gad, the serial restaurateur who launched the hot dog shop. Gad also operates Tomatillo on Broadway and Villa Lulu and Pacifico on College Street.

Gad was asked how he chose between the two leading vegan faux-meat brands, Impossible and Beyond. Beyond is ​“more popular and more familiar” in the marketplace, he said.

New Haven Deputy Economic Development Director Steve Fontana happens to be a vegetarian, so he ordered up one of the Beyond dogs after Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting.

Meanwhile, back at Pedals, Hughes-Nelson (pictured) offered an up-close look at the magic that produces one of her trademark smoothie offerings, the Bunny Hop.

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Steve Fontana samples the vegan option at newly opened Bulldog Hotdogs.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

2 Eli Whitney Students Arrested Over Gun Violence Threats

State Trooper Dawn Pagan: Still "looking at the full scope of the content and the motivation of that kind of a post.”

by NORA GRACE-FLOOD New Haven Independent

Two 14-year-old boys at Eli Whitney Technical High — allegedly seeking to provoke a day off from school — were arrested Tuesday after State Police identified them as the individuals behind two separate threats of gun violence spread via Instagram that led to lockdowns Monday and Tuesday.

Unlike with the out-of-state teen found responsible for threats in New Haven this week, “What you’re seeing here is typical,” said state police spokesperson Brian Foley. He described the incidents as students “trying to get the day off.”

“Unfortunately,” he said, “it has severe consequences.”

Both students have been suspended for the maximum ten-day period pending expulsion from Eli Whitney.

Foley made the remarks at a press conference held Tuesday evening outside the school building, where Dr. Ellen Solek, the superintendent of the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System and State Trooper Dawn Pagan answered questions regarding the incidents.

Pagan said that both individuals will attend New Haven Juvenile court Wednesday morning on charges of threatening in the first degree and breach of peace in the second degree.

One student, whose threats included racial epithets, was also charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the third degree.

The latter Instagram message, which was discovered Tuesday morning and believed to have been uploaded while the student was physically on campus, Pagan noted, also included language suggesting the person who posted the threat was a target of bullying.

“Not only do we conduct our investigation, but part of that is looking at the full scope of the content and the motivation of that kind of a post,” Pagan said.

Solek thanked the state police, governor’s office, and State Department of Education for their assistance in quickly identifying the two students responsible.

“There will be opportunities to discover other students and their involvement as

Dr. Ellen Solek, the superintendent of the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.

well,” she added, proposing that those two individuals may not have acted alone.

Pagan agreed with Foley’s assessment, that Eli Whitney’s threats were representative of a national trend in which students have been taking to social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat and posting violent threats to get out of school.

Foley elaborated: “Whenever there’s a school shooting in the country that receives a lot of attention we expect these threats to occur in the days and weeks after … Law enforcement handles them as real threats when they get them.”

He said that state troopers will be present at the school Wednesday “to make students know they’re safe.”

In addition to one student resource officer, Eli Whitney High has four guidance counselors, one school psychologist and one social worker on staff for 668 students, according to Principal Carlos Aldave.

During homeroom on Tuesday, students filled out an electronic form declaring whether or not they would like to be matched with a social support.

Aldave said he did not know yet how many people asked for professional assistance. After a recent protest at the high school over sexual assault allegations, a total of 30 students said “yes” on the survey, he said. Eight counselors were subsequently dispatched to the school.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

At Cafe Nine, Leigh Busby Makes The Walls Sing

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

On one canvas, a man clasped his hands in supplication, his fingers soft and large as they covered his chin. Across the room, an iPad portrait of Biggie Smalls looked out at patrons with wide, wet eyes. Another showed a woman with a cigar hanging from her lips. The strains of Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata” coasted over Cafe Nine, wrapping themselves around the works.

The artist behind those portraits stood at the lip of the stage, busy photographing his own exhibition opening. For those who know the photographer Leigh Busby, it came as no surprise.

The sharp eye behind Fly On Da Wall Photography, Busby is a New Haven multimedia artist known for his moving, incisive portraits of daily life across the city, from weekly salsa nights in the Ninth Square to protest marches, Sunday sermons and performances at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Friday, he opened a solo show of photographs, paintings, and iPad portraits at Cafe Nine downtown. It will be up until at least the end of December.

“This is my first solo show in so long, and it feels good,” he said, zipping his jacket all the way up to keep out a wintry November night. “This year … it’s really been a blessing.”

The show represents a year and a half in which the artist has, by what he calls the grace of God, flourished after a long struggle. He doesn’t take any of it for granted.

Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Busby came to the U.S. in 1972. He lived in Hackensack, New Jersey for years, then moved to New Haven in 2013. It was around that time that he deepened his practice, first in iPad painting and acrylic portraiture and later in photography. After winning a design contest at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, he enrolled in classes at Gateway Community College.

He started doing professional photography roughly three years ago, nurtured in part by I Love New Haven co-founder Chris Randall. No event was ever too small to hold his attention: he gave the same level of care to tiny performances, rubystreaked sunsets and friends’ impromptu photo shoots as he did to rallies and marches that drew hundreds. An insomniac, he loved shooting the illuminated Q Bridge from Chapel Street at night. It was a subject he could count on, even at three in the morning.

In the months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S., it wasn’t uncommon to see him around the city, testing out aperture and shutter speeds at tree lightings, memorial marches, and on walks around different neighborhoods. Then Busby got sick, with what started as a neurological event and lasted for months. After struggling to walk, the artist spent days in the hospital.

Starting to cry, he recalled thinking that he was close to death. When he came home, he needed a cane, and often held onto the walls, booths, and tables as he moved.

His wife Darlitha, who goes by Dot, be-

Leigh Busby’s work will be on view at Cafe Nine, 250 State St., through the end of the year. For more information about the venue, visit its website. came a constant physical and emotional roads of East Rock Park. A few weeks after support. He remembered a day when she that, he could walk again. He was grateful took him outside, “inch by inch,” to take a for the new lease on life, he said—and easingle photograph of the Q Bridge. Soon, ger to get back to photography. he was walking with a cane on the closed As the parallel pandemics of Covid-19

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and entrenched racism emerged last summer, he was there to document both. His work is a living time capsule of that moment, from the removal of a monument to Christopher Columbus in Wooster Square to rallies against citywide gun violence to an impromptu meeting between City Wide Youth Coalition and Mayor Justin Elicker on his front lawn.

“I feel this is my home,” he said. “I don’t know the street names, but I know how to get around. I didn’t think I was going to be comfortable any place else but Hackensack, but here I am.”

Last summer, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas hired him as an official photographer, and “oh my God, it’s been hallelujah since then,” he said. The National Endowment for the Humanities licensed his photo of New Haven’s William Lanson sculpture, which was unveiled last September. Yale University brought him on to shoot some of their drama performances.

The City of New Haven worked with him on a campaign to spread vaccine literacy among both adults and teens.

It was around that time that he met Paul Mayer, who owns Cafe Nine and has held exhibitions at the spot before. Last summer, Busby said, the city still seemed quieter than usual. He came by the venue, which reopened in April of this year, and asked if he could photograph the shows for free. Mayer said yes, and soon Busby was sending him photos. The two clicked.

Mayer couldn’t remember the last time he had hosted an exhibition in the space.

“He had this energy,” Mayer said Friday.

“Like this vibe that I connected to. And then I saw his work and it was fantastic.”

The show feels natural in the intimate music box of a venue, as if it has always belonged there. Up a set of stairs and beyond a heavy door on Crown Street, a mix of photographs, iPad paintings, and acrylicon-canvas compositions line the exposed brick walls. Busby said that he was excited to showcase the selection because he is often known for his photography, but loves all of the mediums in which he works.

Close to the stage, three portraits bring a viewer right in. In one, a man looks out beyond the canvas, the skin sagging around his eyes. His pupils are piercing. He is pensive, hands lifted in prayer or perhaps request. There is a kind of gentle largesse to them, so that his fingers become the focal point of the painting. Beside him, Busby has rendered a close up of a woman’s face, a beaded headpiece glowing above her eyes. A woman’s sleek, slender shoulders glint from a frame beside the bar.

On the opposite wall, his painting Spent hits a viewer with a sense of total, fullbody exhaustion, particularly after the last 19 months of a pandemic that is still ongoing. On the rectangular canvas, a figure leans forward over her knees, her legs spread wide. Viewers can feel the bonedeep fatigue in her body, from the neat part just behind her forehead to the shallow U her back and shoulders make as they sag.

She is in good company: a portrait of a horse in profile is installed just to the right,

as if it is looking at the woman with one wide, expectant eye. The image comes from work that Busby has done with a farm rescue program that doubles as a sanctuary for the horses.

There are also some well-loved pieces, waiting for a second or third close look.

In one photograph, Busby has frozen the moment in June 2020 at which a crane, operated by conservator Francis Miller, fastened supports around a statue of Christopher Columbus and began to lift him from his base. He is sailing through the air, pulled slowly to a resting place out of public view.

Viewers see Columbus through the trees, dangling over the backs and heads of hundreds of people who have gathered below.

It’s different from photos of the same event in news coverage, many of which captured the moment from up close. This scene, rendered in greyscale, captures the statue’s fall from grace as a public spectacle.

At an opening Friday, the musician Thabisa swayed from side to side, relaxed as bandmates Pete Greco and Sam Oliver held it down on guitar and cajon behind her. She flowed from Miriam Makeba to a series of original songs, steady on the mic for almost two hours. As she sang, dozens trickled through the doors, drawn to the artwork and often looking for Busby himself.

“It’s a beautiful Friday!” Thabisa said as attendees nibbled on vegan burgers and polenta cakes from Firehouse 12. “It’s cold outside but it’s nice and warm in here.”

Busby stood at the stage, dancing at the hips and shoulders between shots on his Fuji X T3. Decades after turning to music as a source of comfort, he still seemed totally enthralled by it. Friday night, he recalled listening to Otis Redding’s “Sitting On The Dock of the Bay” as a child in Trinidad, while eating dumplings and letting the sun skirt over his face. From that moment, “I was alone all the time, and music kept me company,” he said.

Friday, he listened closely, stopping only to check in with Dot at a back table or greet friends, many of whom have become his subjects. He let his camera guide him around the room, pausing to chat with Randall and Teresa Joseph, artist Raheem Nelson, filmmaker Scott Amore and a team from Arts & Ideas that had rolled in. He greeted Josephine Ankrah, an artist who also dances salsa when there are lessons on Orange Street.

When he stepped out for an interview, admirers found him at a hi-top table outside, trying to stay warm as the temperature plummeted, and downtown revelers remembered that it was November in New England. On her way out the door, longtime fan and Westvillian Caprice Taylor Mendez told him she was especially drawn in by a portrait of a woman, her sleek and open back captured from behind. Busby was calling her an African Princess, he told her.

“That is magical,” she said. “It was hard not to stare.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Heart Savers:

My Time with the Bod Squad

by LARY BLOOM

It was to be my final morning at the old brownstone at the corner of Sherman Avenue and Chapel Street.

The building I had driven to every Monday, Wednesday and Friday over a three-month period is where hearts are invigorated, pounds are shed, turnip recipes distributed, where people who’ve recently been petrified learn to laugh about life again.

This past Friday, the exercise space on third floor was filled to capacity — five of us heart patients working hard on our bodies, breathing heavily but happy to be breathing at all.

The location itself provides spiritual uplift. The tall ceilings, “cathedral” in the authentic sense, marked the upper limits of the Plymouth Congregational Church, built in 1831.

Much later the edifice was sold to a Jewish congregation, Keser Israel, and lately has been, literally, at the heart of YaleNew Haven’s cardiac post-op recovery program.

Of the patients going through the hourlong physical workout, I had been through the least invasive of the surgeries.

Fellow patients, having suffered full-on heart attacks, could tell more terrifying tales of their time under the knife.

One told us that when she awoke from the heavy anesthesia, she looked with astonishment at the recovery room wall and, in her first moment of consciousness and relief, could see right through the plaster to the world beyond. It’s that kind of experience.

I, on the other hand, had gone through a “minimally invasive procedure.”

In July, I had become one of the legions of men and women in Greater New Haven and far-flung places who have trusted the YNHH team with this 21st Century advancement, referred to by the acronym, TAVR In my case, surgeons drove the new valve, with cells from a cow, through my groin and up an artery all the way to my faulty aortic mechanism. In short, a lifesaving adventure.

Now I was finishing the second half of that adventure. It had been both a difficult and enlightening one. Difficult because the bar and stakes were high.

The group that supervised us included a physical therapist, Skyler Ocetnik, who was part of a local team of athletes who won this fall’s Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Championship in Baltimore and will compete next month in Miami for a $25,000 first prize.

I feared he might have little sympathy for a fellow of modest physical capacities, as I had checked my resume and found no listing of CrossFit triumphs. Of course, it’s true that three decades ago I ran the 10-mile Guilford road race and was quite pleased with myself until, in the final stretch, a group of walkers passed me.

I know at this point you’re wondering what makes the Yale Rehabilitation/Occupational building different than a typical gym.

Well, for one, there is close attention from an expert team of registered nurses – including Jana, Sierra and Jenn – who measure each patient’s vital signs during the sessions.

The nutritionist, Nowen, asks patients to make lists of everything they eat over several days, and is gentle in her admonishments. She wouldn’t think of blurting out, “You blithering idiot. If you don’t stop gorging on saturated fat, sugar and sodium this very day, you’ll fall into a coma a week from next Tuesday!”

Instead, she makes quiet suggestions for a more balanced and yet satisfying way to consider what we put in our mouths, dishing out recipes that seem influenced by the Mediterranean diet. (Although missing the broiled turkey testicles I once tried in Jerusalem. How could I not? It would have been like passing on the pickle soup in New Britain’s “Little Poland.”)

As for Skyler and the team of nurses, they jack up the physical challenge over time, and constantly remark, “You can do it.”

And you can do these aerobic machines and resistance training (mostly weights) while the sound system plays, by request from the patients, the Beatles, Carole King, the Stones, Dylan, Johnny Cash, and the Grateful Dead. We pedaled to the beat, grateful that we were not yet dead.

On that Friday, I was the only one set to “graduate” from the program, requiring in all 36 sessions. The others were still in their initial weeks.

It just so happened, too, that this was the final day for Skyler, too. This CrossFit champ had accepted a position in private industry, and would begin the following Monday, without so much as a day off

between gigs.

In our final moments together, I told him of my own plan. I said, “I just rejoined the gym I belonged to before the pandemic, mActivity, in East Rock. But, Skyler, tell me, is it enough to just join, or do I actually have to go there?”

He thought about it for a minute, consulted with the nurses, and reported that it was the general consensus of the group that going to gym would be more helpful to the soul and the flesh than plunking down on the sofa and watching dismal cable news.

Every session, we received handout sheets of bullet points about heart health, including recipes and an anatomy chart.

These pages didn’t read much like bodice-ripping novels, but are useful.

One of them was on stress reduction.

Seizing on this one day as I was going nowhere fast on the treadmill, Jana and I had the idea the training could be expanded to feature the message, “Don’t Take the Bait,” counsel on how to keep your ticker working while putting up with relatives whose political opinions nauseate you.

Maybe that’s not possible. Though the advice given at the rehab center is wise, there are limits to practical solutions in our often heartbreaking society.

To end on a positive note: Though the old brownstone hosts a gym you don’t really want to belong to, it’s so valuable when and if you need it.

As I collected my stuff for the last time, the team gave me my final score: I was exiting the programs nearly 10 pounds lighter, but had gained power (my hand gripping strength had increased by nearly 50 percent), my body mass index measure improved, and my blood pressure levels finally fell into the normal range. The team also gave me a thank-you note. Me! Leaving left a bittersweet feeling, as

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Stacey Abrams Governor Run Provides a Jolt for the 2022 Midterms Kemp has received praise across the political spectrum. In 2019, she launched Fair Count and Fair Fight Action to encourage voter participation in elections and educate voters about elections and their voting rights.

The PAC brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications.

“Voter suppression, particularly of voters of color and young voters, is a scourge our country faces in states across the nation,” Abrams noted on her website.

She said Georgia’s 2018 elections “shone a bright light on the issue with elections that were rife with mismanagement, irregularities, unbelievably long lines and more, exposing both recent and also decades-long actions and inactions by the state to thwart the right to vote.”

“Fair Fight Action was founded to organize collective efforts to expose, mitigate, and reverse voter suppression. We engage in voter mobilization and education activities and advocate for progressive issues,” Abrams continued.

Fair Fight PAC has initiated programs to support voter protection programs at state

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

In an announcement that has provided a jolt to the 2022 midterm elections, Stacey Abrams said she’s running for governor of the Peach State.

The race, which could mean a second dual between Abrams and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, promises to catapult Democrats into the position of favorites.

A Democrat and noted voting rights advocate, Abrams lost to Kemp by just over one percentage point in their controversial 2018 battle.

Her activism helped Democrats claim the majority in the U.S. Senate when Georgia Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the January 2021 runoff election.

“I’m running because opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by zip code, background, or access to power,” Abrams declared.

“That’s the job of the governor – to fight for one Georgia, our Georgia,” Abrams exclaimed. “And now, it is time to get the job done.”

Abrams’s work since her 2018 loss to

parties around the country and is engaging in partnerships to support and elect provoting rights progressive leaders.

After serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader, in 2018, Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history.

She broke the glass ceiling as the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States and as the first Black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union.

“It’s a very humbling experience to know that if I win this election, I would have achieved something that Black women as far back as Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm has fought about, not necessarily the same job, but transforming how we think about leadership in America and physically claiming that mantle of leadership and holding it signals that anything is possible, and we can re-define what leadership looks like and who we can lift up,” Abrams said in a 2018 interview with the Black Press of America.

Schizophrenia is Becoming a Black Disease, Here’s Why…

by Sherry Christiansen, BlackDoctor.org

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric condition, considered a psychotic thought disorder. Its symptoms involve a person’s emotions, behavior, attention, perception, and judgment. A psychotic disorder is one that involves hallucinations (i.e., a sensual perception such as seeing or hearing something that does not exist in a person’s external environment).

The National Institute of Mental Health discovered in the 1960s that Blacks had a 65% higher likeliness of having schizophrenia than Caucasians. Information from a 24-year review of literature from past clinical research studies showed Blacks are diagnosed with psychotic disorders—such as schizophrenia—at a rate of 3 to 4 times higher than Caucasians. These statistics infer that schizophrenia has been evolving into a Black mental health issue… but why?

The History of Schizophrenia and Blacks Johnathan Metzl, M.D., PhD., cultural historian and psychiatrist at Vanderbilt University, wrote a book titled, “Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease.” The book describes underlying cultural influences that led to the misdiagnosis of Black males in the 1960s.

A primary institution in Metzl’s book was Ionia State Hospital, considered one of the most notable mental asylums in the country.

The hospital opened its doors in 1885 with the name “Michigan Asylum for In-

sane Criminals.” Patients committed to the hospital were insane convicts from prisons, criminal sexual psychopaths, mentally ill felons, and those transferred from other mental institutions having homicidal tendencies. Because the hospital also treats those who have no criminal history, the facility eventually changed its name to Ionia State Hospital.

In time, a new patient demographic began emerging at Ionia State Hospital; by the mid-1960s, a disproportionate number of Black men diagnosed with schizophrenia were among its growing population. Metzl explained in his book that after he received authorization to examine the old patient records from the hospital, he discovered many Black men were diagnosed with schizophrenia because of their symptoms and their connections with the civil rights movement.

Many of the Black men were admitted to Ionia because of crimes they committed, which included anything from armed robbery to arrests after involvement in civil rights protests during the 1960s. The Detroit civil rights protests were among the largest (i.e., the Detroit March to Freedom), and most violent, destructive riots in U.S. history.

Documentation inpatient records included entries describing Blacks with schizophrenia as dangerous threats to other patients, staff, and society, had these patients not been institutionalized. Chart entries also included descriptions of patients’ paranoia toward police or hospital staff. This is not to say that the medical professionals who diagnosed and treated the men with schizo-

phrenia purposely dolled out punishments.

Many of the mental health professionals truly wanted to help these patients once they were admitted to the asylum. The problem was far more encompassing.

How the DSM Influenced Diagnoses in Black Males Dr. Metzl discovered an important clue about the growing number of misdiagnosed black males in Detroit who were being labeled with schizophrenia. When he examined the changing language in the primary tool used for diagnosing mental conditions—called the DSM II—he saw more of the big picture.

The Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) had changed the description of a person with schizophre-

10

nia from one exhibiting a calm demeanor (such as described in patients who were middle-class housewives), to a person exhibiting “masculinized belligerence.” Specific language in the DSM-II now stated, “The patient’s attitude is frequently hostile and aggressive and his behavior tends to be consistent with his delusions.” Dr. Metzl found many of the entries in patient charts at Ionia mimicked the DSM II language, particularly when using words such as “aggression” and “hostility,” used to describe schizophrenia in Black patients during the civil rights era.

But, the language in the DSM-II and the subsequent link between insanity and the civil rights movement, was not limited to institutionalized patients. Dr. Metzl also discovered trends in the culture at large.

He explains in his book that the stigma describing schizophrenia as a hostile and violent disorder was found in medical journals, newspapers, magazines, films, and more. He even describes a pharmaceutical advertisement for anti-psychotic medications depicting images of an angry, hostile Black male.

Schizophrenia Diagnos is Blacks Today To diagnose schizophrenia, clinicians must first rule out other potential causes of symptoms. In a recent, 2019 Science News article, Michael Gara, Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School stated, “There has been a tendency for clinicians to overemphasize the relevance of psychotic symptoms and overlook symptoms of major depression in Blacks compared with other racial or ethnic groups.

A 2019 study looked at nearly 600 Blacks and 1,058 Caucasians.

This study concluded that clinicians diagnosing mental health disorders put more emphasis on the psychotic symptoms than on depression or mania when assessing minority groups (even when the symptoms were very similar to those exhibited in Caucasians who were not diagnosed with schizophrenia. This study suggests a racial bias in diagnosing schizophrenia in Blacks.

Consequences of Misdiagnoses in Blacks Misdiagnoses of schizophrenia can result in severe consequences for patients who may actually have major depression with psychotic features or psychotic disorders; the treatment is very different for these two disorders. Misdiagnosis can result in consequences such as: Not receiving proper medication Risking worsening of the underlying symptoms Risk of suicide (from untreated depression) Serious side effects from antipsychotic medications (for schizophrenia) A Word From Black Doctor.org If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, or are scheduled for an upcoming mental health assessment, you may consider letting the diagnostician know that some researchers suggest screening for major depression when evaluating Black patients for schizophrenia.

Credit: Christina Sutton-Goubourn

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Black Is Brilliant: De Beers Showcases Designers De Beers Group’s #BlackisBrilliant Partnership Showcases the Power of Black Designers and Gives Back to Communities in Africa

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent When actress Sarah Paulson wore the “floating” oval and round 18-carat gold Botswana diamond earrings at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards in September, it brought the brightest of smiles from Jamaican-born fine jewelry designer Mateo.

But most important, sporting the modern-art-inspired bling benefited two African Charities – One Girl Can and African Women Rising.

Giving back is the goal of the #BlackisBrilliant – a partnership between the De Beers Group and RAD Red Carpet Advocacy – to bring together exceptional Black jewelry designers with top celebrity stylists.

“Our mission here is to amplify Black creative talent and give younger people coming into our industry some very visible symbols of success,” stated Sally Morrison, the director of public relations for Natural Diamonds at De Beers Group.

“It’s [evident] that it’s hard for any independent designer to get their work on the Red Carpet,” Morrison remarked.

“So, we felt that by partnering extraordinary designers with high profile stylists, we would create a two-way conversation to help the designers create jewelry with a particular Red-Carpet moment (and client) in mind. We’re trying to game the system a little bit.”

For Mateo, the world-famous and selftaught designer whose collection earned selection by the Smithsonian Museum for featuring and selling at the African American Museum of Art and Culture, partici-

Jameel Mohammed (left) is an Artist and Jewelry Designer born and raised in Chicago, IL. Mateo is a Jewelry designer born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica

pating in the #BlackisBrilliant campaign is all about helping Africans who need it most.

“I normally ignore everything, but when [De Beers] kept writing, I said ‘let me respond’ because De Beers is synonymous with diamonds,” Mateo told NNPA Newswire.

“Once they mentioned Botswana, that was it,” he exclaimed.

“You can trace the diamond to helping women in Botswana, and that’s the main reason I joined. We can trace it going back into the villages, communities, and building schools. I’m doing this because it’s helping Black women and Africa

where we’ve exploited all these natural resources.”

Through pairings like that with Mateo, De Beers has produced meaningful opportunities for Black designers to create jewelry to showcase on the red carpet, featuring ethically sourced Botswana diamonds.

With each pairing, the company said a donation goes to the charity of the designer’s choice that furthers Black excellence, extending the program’s impact beyond those involved.

Morrison said the overall goal of the partnership is to help level the playing field within the jewelry industry by providing deserved exposure to Black designers.

It’s all part of De Beers’ Building Forever commitment to “accelerating equal opportunity and ensuring that every diamond they discover creates a lasting positive impact.”

The partnership officially launched at the 2021 Met Gala by New York-based fine jewelry designer Jameel Mohammed of Khiry, collaborating with stylists Wayman and Micah to create an opulent suite of jewelry worn by Kiki Layne, titled ‘Black Power International.’

“The name came from my recognition that what undergirded the possibility for this collection was a legacy of contribution from Black folks worldwide, including me, Wayman and Micah, Kiki Layne, and the Botswanans who produced the

fabulous diamonds,” Mohammed stated.

“It’s a beacon to the broader diaspora and world that there is power in our shared histories and huge possibility in our future collaboration,” Mohammed continued.

With the partnerships, the campaign creates “powerful visual moments that will give immediate impetus to the designers,” Morrison exclaimed.

“But well beyond that, as the designers have been working with the stylists over the course of the project, they are building deeper, longer-term relationships, which hopefully will mean ongoing sustainable support in the stylist community for these incredible brands,” she said.

“It’s about intentionally building a creative community where the stylists are aware of new jewelry possibilities, and hopefully, the designers will have more possibilities for their work.”

De Beers Group produces natural diamonds and recovers diamonds in Botswana, Canada, Namibia, and South Africa.

“We are absolutely committed to sustainable practices are we are proud to be a leader in the industry,” Morrison insisted.

“Our sustainability framework is called ‘Building Forever,’ and as part of that, we have many a number of commitments including increased diversity and inclusion throughout our value chain,” she continued.

“This project is one discrete piece of that. Watch this space. There will be many more exciting pieces to come that will be revealed as we move through the year.”

Sisters’ Journey December Survivor of the Month – Shirley A. Lawrence My name is Shirley A. Lawrence. August 2019, at age 56, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I found my lump while doing a regular self-exam around July 25, 2019. Although the lump was bigger than what I normally feel, I thought it was another cyst. I didn’t freak out because my regular mammogram was scheduled for July 30, 2019. When I received the report, it confirmed the different size lump.

I went back a couple of days later for a biopsy and then received the call on a Saturday afternoon while I was driving alone, “Your test came back positive for breast cancer.” I just went numb. I asked the doctor was she sure. “Could it possibly be a mistake?” Her response was yes, she was sure! No, it was not a mistake. As my brain slowly seeped into numbness, I pulled my car over on the side of the road.

My first thought was how was I going to look after my mom who has Alzheimer’s?

A few minutes later the Holy Spirit came upon me so quickly and said you have a choice – to worry about your mom who’s

end of January, the lump had disappeared.

GOD was doing his thing. I still had to have the surgery though to make sure it was gone and didn’t metastasize. I was blessed to have a choice to make and I opted for a lumpectomy followed by six straight weeks of radiation.

My emotions were all over the place.

I never missed one appointment and by the grace of GOD, I worked full-time the whole time. Eileen Williams-Esdaile invited me to my first Sisters’ Journey meeting. What a blessing! I walked in scared and unsure, not knowing fully what to expect. It turned out to be a group of extraordinary phenomenal women who were survivors and real supporters.

Then I saw Dawn White-Bracey, a high school friend and now President of Sisters’ Journey, who is continuing her mother’s legacy. This helped my nerves to calm down. I listened to a group of extraordinarily strong women survivors share parts of their journey. Whether it was 30 years or three months, they all

fully protected by God or concentrate on how you’re going to fight for your life.

Imagine this. I was always passing out self-breast exam shower hangers at cookouts, baby showers, etc. After about a month with GOD by my side, my son John and daughter Aishah and I walked into the hardest meeting/chapter of my life. My mind was zoning in and out trying to comprehend mentally at a snail’s pace, “You have triple negative breast cancer,” which is one of the most aggressive breast cancers among African-American women. I thank GOD every day for my children, because the questions I didn’t know to ask, they asked, and what I couldn’t remember, they remembered.

There are not enough words in me that can explain entirely the walk/sickness that I endured. My treatment plan was several months of chemotherapy, which had to be stopped abruptly because I developed a blood clot in my leg. This in turn meant I had to schedule my surgery sooner; however, by the time I went for surgery at the

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assured me I would get through this, and promised to be there for me. I left with phone numbers and contact information and love that gave me the strength to start my walk to fight for my life. Thank you, Sisters’ Journey.

I also want to thank my Smilow team that was put together specifically for my treatment – my breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Anees Chagpar; my oncologist, Dr Erin Hofstatter; Christine Tordonoto, RN; Lynnanne Selezan, RN; Susan Beno, LCSW; Gineesha Abraham, APRN; and my family & friends that were able to come – John, Aishah, Kashonda, Markeese, Necye, Karissa; my best friends Dorothea Jaynes (DeeDee), Stephanie Petaway-Hickson, Mrs. Diane Petaway; my Immanuel Baptist Church family; my prayer partner and sister in Christ, Pamela Y. Campbell; Father Elko and the parishioners at St.Martins de Porres; and Shirley Warren-Moore (RIP).

CANCER FREE! I AM A CONQUEROR!

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Con’t from page

Track Stars

She said he had a tough summer before high school with focusing academically and figuring out “what kind of man he wanted to be.”

Michele, who is science teacher at Hillhouse, joked about how she was disappointed that her son got a B in her class.

During Covid, Gary Jr. began taking ownership of his academics and training.

He would arrange a schedule to practice in the field house or make daily workouts on his own. Some began as early as 4 a.m.

Gary Sr. told the crowd a story of when his son had competed at a Hartford track meet at 7 years old. He said days before Gary Jr. had just beaten many of the same Hartford competitors at a meet in New York.

During a 400-meter race to qualify for the a tournament, Gary Jr. began jogging and told his parents after that he “didn’t feel like running today.”

After the meet his parents took him to an outdoor track in New Britan for a hard lesson that “there’s no ‘feel likes’ in our family,” Gary Sr. said.

Gary Jr. had to do eight 200-meter repeats.

Gary Sr. reflected on his son’s improvements since then. He described him as “dedicated to being great” in school, sports, and beyond. “He’s everything I would’ve liked to accomplish in my athletic career,” Gary Sr. said.

Athlete to Scholar Before announcing his decision Gary Jr. also reflected on a track career that began at 2 years old. He sat in front of five college acceptances offering him track scholarships.

Gary recalled asking his dad once to quit track and being told no.

He said it wasn’t until high school that track began to challenge him mentally and physically. He recalled pushing through torn hip ligaments, bigger competition, and academic struggles.

His sophomore year he got straight As for the first time, and never looked back.

He thanked his parents for their financial sacrifices, driving long distances, and tough words that kept him motivated.

His advice to young athletes: “You will only get out as much as you put in.” And “if you think you’re going to be a national champion and miss weekend practices, you’re sadly mistaken.”

Gary Moore Jr. committed to becoming a Baylor Bear next fall on a full scholarship.

The Saturday celebration ended with a reminder from Brown to the crowd of young athletes that they too can get to where O’Connor and Moore Jr. sat Saturday.

O’Connor and Moore Jr. celebrated with dozens of photos with friends, family, and mentors

Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Landmark Case

Challenging Roe V. Wade

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent As the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that may change the constitutional guarantee to legal abortion, Black women rallied outside on First Street to demand Reproductive Justice.

“Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks is unconstitutional and endangers the lives and restricts the rights of all women and pregnant people. If the high court uses this case to strike down Roe v.

Wade, it will make official what’s already in practice in most counties across this country: safe, legal abortion is too often an inaccessible right – most especially for Black women and women of color,” In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda Vice President of Communications Racine TuckerHamilton, said in a statement.

The justices began hearing oral arguments on Wednesday, December 1, on a Mississippi law that prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

That provision stands in opposition to Roe v. Wade, and it’s among several laws implemented recently in states around the country.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

blocked the law earlier, noting that it violated Roe v. Wade and Supreme Court precedent.

Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.

“As Black women, we know the barriers to accessing reproductive health care already cause delays in obtaining abortion care or even deny Black women access to abortion at all. Every abortion restriction disparately impacts communities of color, who already have less access to health care and suffer poor health outcomes due to racism,” Tucker-Hamilton remarked.

“For nearly five decades under Roe, Black women have been fighting to make our right to abortion accessible. But Roe is the floor — not the ceiling. And that floor is about to be pulled out from under us,” she continued.

“We cannot settle for the court to just uphold Roe; we demand real justice – the human right to control our own bodily autonomy. We demand Reproductive Justice.”

Frederick Isasi, the executive director of Families USA, called the Mississippi case – known as Dobbs v. Jackson – unconstitutional and an orchestrated attack on the ability of women to make their own decisions about their health and their reproductive freedom.

“By asking the Supreme Court to gut or

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even overturn Roe v Wade, it will deny women abortion services and fundamentally jeopardize the lives and health of women in the state,” Isasi asserted.

“As with other abortion cases, this one would disproportionately impact women of color, and low-income women should the court decide to uphold the law – the very same women bearing the brunt of COVID-19’s worst impacts and our nation’s devastating maternal mortality crisis. This assault on their health and wellbeing is anti-democratic, anti-American and harkens back to a time when women were not allowed to own their lives and their destinies.”

Isasi continued: “For years, a clear majority of people in this country have supported abortion access. The myopic zealotry by a minority, many of whom are driven by religious beliefs, to impose their will on that majority flies in the face of the bedrock democratic principles of separation of church and state. If the court follows their lead, those justices will erode the rights guaranteed by our Constitution, and the United States will join the ranks of countries where religious orthodoxy masquerades as the democratic rule of law.”

The landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade deci-

sion guaranteed a woman’s right to obtain an abortion nationwide, using a trimester approach.

For the first trimester of pregnancy, the court said the abortion decision should be left to the woman and her physician; for the second trimester, a state could regulate the abortion procedure in ways reasonably related to the woman’s health; for the final trimester, after fetal viability, the state could promote its “important and legitimate interest in potential life” and ban abortion except when necessary for the woman’s life or health.

“We call on Congress to uphold the Constitution and pass laws that will protect our right to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion and birth control,” Tucker-Hamilton insisted.

“We demand an end to funding restrictions for all reproductive health care. We demand that decisions about Black women’s health be made by Black women — not by politicians, judges, or a racist system that inflicts harm upon our families and us at every turn.

“As Black women, we will continue the fight to ensure that every pregnant person has the resources to make decisions about their own body without government interference. We will not stop until Reproductive Justice is the law of the land in every state.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

OP-ED:

FCC Should Adopt Rule Change Empowering Minority-Owned Media Businesses

By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association Whenever I have had the responsibility during the past six decades to weigh in on a vital civil rights issue on behalf of Black America and other communities of color throughout the United States, I have not hesitated to speak out. Now is the time to publicly address the urgent issue of equal access, diversity, equity, and inclusion of Black-owned media in our nation’s communications industry.

In this era of the global digitalization of media and other high technological innovations in the communications industry, Black-owned and other minority-owned media cannot afford to be denied access to the rapidly evolving industry innovations.

The issue today is that Black-owned radio stations and other minority-owned media businesses should be permitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to compete fairly and equitably with large television and cable stations that geotarget audiences across America.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has a strategic alliance with the National Organization of BlackOwned Broadcasters (NABOB) and with the Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC). We are all working together to ensure that the FCC will approve a rulemaking change that will enable minority-owned radio stations to engage in geotargeting of content to their audiences. This change is necessary because the FCC’s antiquated rules, written

forty years ago, don’t give radio stations the chance to compete in the current media environment.

The FCC has as its mission to regulate “interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.” The proposed rulemaking change will substantially increase the access to geotargeting by minority-owned radio stations and other minority-owned businesses that is so vital and effective in today’s global and national media marketplace.

This is another crucial national civil rights issue. This is an issue of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Last month I wrote to the FCC to stress this point. I

emphasized, “I have spent much of my career as a civil rights leader focused on ensuring that technological developments like the one at issue in this proceeding, lift all of America, and not just some of us. Too often, I have seen the benefits of technological development accrue to the privileged, with little or no benefit to disadvantaged communities, including some with which I work on a daily basis.”

I concluded in the letter to the FCC: “Geotargeting technology would give minority-owned broadcasters an enhanced ability to compete with the larger station groups…The technology would enable them to better serve their communities with localized content. In addition, for those broadcasters that choose to use

this technology, since it is voluntary, they can give minority-owned businesses an affordable outlet for their messages. In short, I now believe that this technology is beneficial to minority communities, including radio broadcasters, small businesses, and the public they serve.”

We recall that President Joe Biden announced, “On my first day in office, I signed Executive Order 13985 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government), which established that affirmatively advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of our Government.”

We commend the Biden-Harris Admin-

studies show that avoiding overly processed and high-fat foods can be good for you.

Adding berries, tomatoes, and other brightly colored foods are also a good bet.

Supplements can be helpful, especially when you’re having a hard time eating.

However, make sure to check in with your doctor because not every supplement is

recommended for people with prostate cancer.

5.Physical Activity Will Be Recommended There are many benefits to being physically active. Apart from helping you maintain a healthy weight, exercise results in a good night’s sleep, better mental health, and a healthier body.

Depending on your treatment, it might not always be easy to exercise but it’s good to ask your doctor what they recommend for keeping active.

6. You’ll Need A Plan For The Side Effects Of Your Treatments The treatments for prostate cancer can have a variety of side effects including nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite, loss of sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, and pain. Not only should you ask your doctor how to deal with them but you also need to talk to your partner or close friends so they know what to expect.

7. You Should Have A Surgery Recovery Plan Generally, surgery is reserved for people who have late-stage prostate cancer but

istration thus far in its first year striving to move the nation forward on equity and diversity matters even during the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the epidemic of partisan politicization of issues and supporting public policies that will improve and enhance the quality for life of all Americans. On this issue of media reform, we hope and resolutely call for the FCC in 2022 to be aligned fully with the official stated commitments of the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure fairness, equity and diversity.

The proposed FCC rulemaking change is also supported overwhelmingly by all of the major national civil rights organizations including the NAACP, National Urban League, National Action Network, National Council of Negro Women, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Congress of Black Women, Hispanic Federation, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, U.S Black Chambers, and many more.

The time for the FCC to act and to approve the proposed rulemaking change submitted is now because it will help to empower all minority-owned radio and other media businesses.

Millions of Americans, particularly from underserved communities, deserve and have a fundamental civil right to have access and to be included.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr, is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and Executive Producer/Host of The Chavis Chronicles (TCC) on PBS Television Stations across the nation. He can be reached at dr.bchavis@nnpa.org.

Day 1: Just Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

by Karen Heslop, BlackDoctor.org

As you might expect, prostate cancer refers to a specific growth that affects the prostate. While it starts in that organ, that doesn’t mean it will stay there if left untreated. The good news is that prostate cancer usually develops fairly slowly and so there is time to catch it before it spreads. Your treatment plan will depend on what the tests show about the type of cancer you have and the stage it has reached. However, there are a few changes you’ll need to anticipate after your diagnosis.

1. You Typically Need A Specialist Even if you were diagnosed by an oncologist, many doctors recommend that you visit one that specializes in prostate cancer. That’s because doctors who narrow their focus to one condition are more likely to be aware of emerging treatment options as well as common issues that affect people who are dealing with that particular condition. When you’re looking for a specialist, it’s good to start with recommendations from trusted friends or

family. The doctor you’re currently seeing might also be helpful.

2. Expect More Tests After your diagnosis, your doctor will still need to determine the best course of action for treatment. That typically means carrying out blood tests, computer tomography (CT) scans, ultrasounds, and MRIs. Biopsies and bone scans may also be necessary if the doctor suspects that the tumors have spread. To prepare for these, always ask your doctor about any future tests during visits.

3. You’ll Need To Quit Smoking Smoking has been linked to different types of cancer to varying degrees. It also affects your immune and circulatory systems. While you’re fighting prostate cancer, it’s essential that your body is at its healthiest.

If you’re having trouble walking away from the cigarettes, talk to your doctor about helpful options.

4. Your Nutrition Will Be Important While there’s no specific diet for people who are dealing with prostate cancer,

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there can be a few exceptions.

To be on the safe side, it helps to have a plan in place if your doctor makes that call. You’ll likely need someone to help you to get home, take care of you while you recover, and bring you to the followup visit.

8. You’ll Have To Remain Vigilant Unfortunately, getting treated for prostate cancer doesn’t mean it can’t recur or that you can’t get another form of cancer. That means you’ll likely be asked to undergo scheduled assessments throughout your life.

It’s a good idea to ask your doctor what other illnesses you’re more likely to develop and the signs to look out for.

It’s true that Black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than other ethnicities, however, since it progresses relatively slowly, it can be treated effectively. The important thing is making sure that you talk honestly with your doctor. You should always know what to expect and the next steps in your treatment plan.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

It’s amazing how good health insurance can make you feel.

Especially when you find it at a lower cost.

This is Access Health CT. Confident, protected, at ease… a few words that describe what it feels like to have quality health insurance coverage. And while we’re at it, let’s add the word smart — because new federal and state programs (the American Rescue Plan Act and the Covered Connecticut Program) can significantly reduce the cost of your monthly premiums. Where can you get this feeling? Only through Access Health CT. Online and in person, we can help you find a plan that’s right for you.

Get started at accesshealthCT.com.

For coverage starting January 1, 2022 enroll by December 15, 2021.

For coverage starting February 1, 2022, enroll between December 16, 2021 and January 15, 2022.

AHCT-38896-OE9-print-InnerCityNews-925x105-english_f.indd 1

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10/28/21 9:59 AM

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Healthy Aging:

by Carter Higgins, BDO Special Contributor

Frankie Beverly at 75: “I Was Called To Do This”

Over 50 years ago, Frankie Beverly never envisioned that he would still be singing today, let alone be as popular as he and Maze have become. His raspy voice belted out chart-popping melodies like “Happy Feelings,” “Southern Girl,” “Joy & Pain,” and of course we can’t forget, “We Are One.” Born Howard Beverly, the 75-year-old Beverly started out singing gospel music in church as a schoolboy in Philadelphia.

As time went on he formed and sang with a number of groups. When he was in his early 20’s, his group at the time, Frankie Beverly & The Butlers, went through a reorganization period and formed a new group known as Raw Soul.

It was during this time in 1970 that the “Philly Soul” sound was really starting to get noticed. It was Motown-influenced acts such as The Delfonics and The Stylistics and writers and producers such as future Hall of Famers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff climbing Billboard’s R&B charts. Unfortunately, for the young “Frankie” Beverly, the City of Brotherly Love wasn’t showing much affection to his band, the very raw Raw Soul. Having recorded some independently produced singles that went nowhere, Beverly boldly decided to pack up the band and head to the then-freewheeling San Francisco.

Raw Soul thrived in the multicultural Bay Area.

Music lover Michael Burton first encountered the band in the East Bay, at a 1973 Contra Costa College performance.

At the time, the band’s lineup was Beverly, drummer Joe Provost, bassist Robin Duhe, guitarist Wuane Thomas, and percussionists McKinley “Bug” Williams and Roame Lowry. “It was a mixed crowd: black, white, and some Spanish,”

it’s not me up there, that’s a blessing.”

ON HIS FAVORITE SONGS: “‘Happy Feelings’ and ‘We Are One’ really define who MAZE is. ‘We Are One’ describes how we really feel in our heart as a group and as a family.”

ON BEING AROUND SO LONG: “I thought we were good enough to make music, but never did we think it would be like this. We thank God for all of this.”

“Longevity is a gift. I think I was called to do this. This isn’t something that I myself can do. I think I was in a position where God placed this gift in my lap.

I can write and I do have talent, but the thing that keeps our music relevant–that’s all God.” “I try to stay out of messes and stay healthy. I really do take pride in what I’ve been given and do the best I can in that.”

Burton recalled of the audience. “Frankie played all his own music. He could either sing Top 40 or stay Raw Soul, and he chose to sing Frankie Beverly. He didn’t veer from his commitment.”

The group also caught the attention of a sister-in-law to Marvin Gaye. Gaye began featuring them as an opening act at his shows. It was also Marvin Gaye who convinced Beverly to change the band’s name to Maze.

“For the next [few] months, we kicked names in the butt,” Burton said. “We go back to Marvin and say, ‘How about Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly’? We did a name check and found out there was a band already called Maze. Marvin said, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of that.’ From my understanding, we bought the name. It’s been Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly ever since.”

Maze’s touring success boggles the

mind. The band hasn’t had a studio album to promote since 1993, but they sing and play to sold-out shows in city after city, year after year.

“The way this is working is just mindboggling in what has happened to me,” Beverly shared when asked about Maze’s longevity. “It’s a good thing too because I was raised to be humbled by my gifts and all. From parents, to good people around me, so I understand it from that point that

ON WHAT KEEPS HIM HEALTHY: “I’ve never had any cancer or anything like that. I’ve had some throat problems, but as an artist, it happens. But even being hoarse doesn’t stop you. We work so much, being hoarse comes with the territory, but my voice is trained to deal with it. Also, I try to eat right, and workout, but most importantly I try to live right.

Be kind and use what God has given me.”

While Maze never enjoyed the huge crossover success that some other artists got nor has he ever earned a Grammy, the band is still something like a phenomenon. The seven-piece group tours annually, having earned an undisputed reputation for delivering hypnotic performances that all but transform 10,000-seat auditoriums into intimate clubs. Fans continue to flock to shows, grateful for the opportunity to party again with Beverly, who still dresses in his signature, low-key white outfits that give him the appearance of a cool, hip R&B archangel.

Miss Kentucky, Elle Smith, Becomes 3rd Black Woman in a Row to Win Miss USA Competition

affiliate WHAS11 in October 2020 after graduating from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Political Science.

In her college years, she became the vice president of the University of Kentucky’s National Association of Black Journalists chapters and she was also a reporter and videographer for school publications. She loves traveling and she actually moved to different cities for internships and studies.

Smith, whose first pageant was when she won Miss Kentucky in May 2021, will go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant on December 12 in Eilat, Israel.

By BlackNews.com Smith has made history as yet another African American woman to win the 2021 Miss USA competition. The winners for the past three years have been Black women, and now Smith is set to compete in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant.

She bested 50 women from across the nation and won the crown in this year’s Miss USA pageant. She excelled during the swimsuit and evening gown competitions and has displayed outstanding performance on the question and answer portion in which she eloquently stated how businesses can be more environmentally conscious.

Smith, who has had a passion for writing since she was a child, started working as a local TV reporter at Louisville ABC

Learn more about the competition at MissUSA.com Follow Elle Smith on Instagram @OfficialElleSmith

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Playboy Names Cardi B as First-Ever Creative Director in Residence

Global music superstar and icon also to serve as Founding Creative Director of Playboy’s new creator-led platform CENTERFOLDFashion and Sexual Wellness Product Collaborations to Be Released creators and theirsorespective fan comin-class content production.

Playboy, the globally-recognized, freedoms.

I have many ideas already iconic lifestyle brand owned by lead“I also can’t think of a better creative –munities.

I can’t wait!” visionary to partner with us on the ing pleasure and leisure lifestyle comCardi B continued, “I’m also excited pany PLBY Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: launch of CENTERFOLD. CENTERto launch our new creator-led platform, FOLD will revolutionize the creator PLBY), announced today an expansive CENTERFOLD. Creators today decollaboration with multi-platinum mueconomy just as PLAYBOY magaserve to express themselves freely and zine shook up the publishing industry sic superstar, entrepreneur, and social unfiltered. They deserve to feel safe in activist Cardi B. nearly 70 years ago – and Cardi is the their creativity and sexuality. And they In her new role as Playboy’s first-ever perfect shepherd into this new era.” deserve to own their future. This is Playboy and Cardi B’s co-branded Creative Director in Residence, Cardi what CENTERFOLD is all about. For will provide artistic direction across merchandise collections will continue all those creators out there doing bold, to expand Playboy and PLBY Group’s co-branded fashion and sexual wellrevolutionary, truly culture-shifting ness merchandise collections, digital rapidly growing direct-to-consumer things, come join me.” fashion and sexual wellness businesses editorial, experiential activations and “Cardi B is a creative genius, and we around the world. more. are absolutely thrilled and honored to In addition, Cardi B will serve as CENTERFOLD – the new home for bring her immense talent and creative the world’s top creators to interact the Founding Creative Director and a vision to Playboy,” said Ben Kohn, directly with their fans, expand their founding member of Playboy’s upcomChief Executive Officer of PLBY ing creator-led platform, CENTERcommunities and build their own perGroup. sonal content and commerce businessFOLD. “Through her unapologetic commit“It is a dream come true to officially es – is expected to launch in December ment to free expression, her dedication 2021. join the Playboy family. I can’t believe to lifting artistic voices and her celeFrom music and fashion to art and this is real,” said Cardi B. bration of sex and body positivity, Caractivism to adult entertainment, CEN“For as long as I can remember, I’ve di is the embodiment of the Playboy TERFOLD will leverage Playboy’s felt connected to Playboy. It’s truly brand. I can’t wait to see what Cardi, decades-long experience sitting at the the original platform for uncensored and our team develop together with our intersection of culture and sex and be creativity and I’m inspired by its inmerchandise design, development and a lasting, safe home for the platform’s credible legacy of fighting for personal distribution capabilities and our best-

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

African Americans, Democrats Say They Still Support BLM Movement

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Following a recent poll that showed support for the Black Lives Matter Movement waning, conversations have commenced over the continued relevancy of the campaign.

Researchers conducted by the national polling site, Civiqs revealed that 44 percent of Americans support the Black Lives Matter Movement, while 43 percent said they oppose the campaign.

Approximately 11 percent of respondents reported that they neither support nor oppose the campaign, which began in 2012 in response to a jury’s decision to acquit George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

However, hidden in the details of the poll are subgroups that show the movement still enjoys the overall support of African Americans and Democrats.

Eighty-two percent of African Americans said they support the campaign, while just 7 percent oppose. While 60 percent of Hispanic/Latinos still support the Black Lives Matter Movement, 51 percent of white Americans oppose.

Just 3 percent of who identify as Republican support the movement, and 86 percent oppose. Democrat respondents support the campaign by an 86 percent to 4 percent margin.

The movement’s support appeared to peak in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd as global protests joined in the cry of Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned earlier this year following allegations she parlayed her part in the movement into a multi-million-dollar lifestyle that included purchasing several proper-

ties in various locations.

Shortly before Cullors’ resignation, the foundation released a 2020 Impact Report that claimed it had raised more than $90 million. Reportedly, 10 Black Lives Matter chapter leaders called for financial transparency and an independent investigation into spending funds. In addition, EBONY reported that the claims of “financial impropriety were a source

Study Shows Police Killings in U.S. Have Been Widely Undercounted

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor Police killings in the United States have been massively undercounted according to a study by the University of Washington. The study was published on September 27 in the Lancet, peer-reviewed medical journal.

Researchers compared data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) federal database alongside data from three groups tracking deaths in police custody and news reports. The study demonstrated the disproportionate impact of police killings on Black people in America.

Last summer, after the May 25, 2020 killing of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, there were protests in the streets around the U.S. The moment brought forward even more analysis over police violence. Over the last five years several high-profile killings of African Americans in the U.S. have been caught on camera and forced legislatures to re-evaluate policing policies.

The study in part read that, “across all races and states in the USA, we estimate 30,800 deaths from police violence between 1980 and 2018; this represents 17,100 more deaths than reported by the NVSS. Over this time period, the agestandardized mortality rate due to police violence was highest in non-Hispanic Black people, followed by Hispanic peo-

of constant concern for several parents whose children had been killed by police in controversial shootings.”

EBONY cited Tamika Palmer, whose daughter Breonna Taylor was killed by Louisville police as she slept in her home.

Samaria Rice, whose 12-year-old son Tamir, was killed on a playground by a Cleveland police officer.

Each has come out publicly and de-

Report Reveals Federal Prison Workers Committing the Most Heinous Crimes

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

ple of any race. This variation is further affected by the decedent’s sex and shows large discrepancies between states.”

Talks around details on language in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Congress ended in late September after a dispute between Republican Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) over what Scott defined as “defunding police.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told NNPA on September 30 that he has not given up on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and is looking for a way to revive the conversation and move the legislation

forward.

“I am not giving up and I’ve gone over it with my staff and asked: What are our options?” Sen. Booker told NNPA. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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

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nounced the Black Lives Matter foundation and accused the organization of raising money off the blood of their children.

Michael Brown Sr., whose son Michael was walking home from a store unarmed and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, called for Black Lives Matter to donate $20 million to non-profit organizations in Ferguson that are working to empower residents in exchange for the millions of dollars they raised in using his son’s name and image.

Cullors has countered that all the financial purchases she has made have come from her income, including a multi-year television deal with Warner Brothers, a book deal, speaking engagements, and consulting services.

Entertainer Tyrone Evans Clarke said during protests he participated in following Floyd’s murder, and he noticed many individuals willing to make sacrifices for the cause.

“It seems the U.S. doesn’t respect Black and Brown people’s lives,” Clarke stated.

“Cops were attacking peaceful protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets, and that didn’t help. On top of that, look how long it took to put Floyd’s murderer behind bars. It feels like there is a knee on our necks every day just by being Black,” he said.

Federal prisons are filled with those accused and convicted of crimes like drug smuggling, sexual abuse, and murder.

But a comprehensive new report revealed that those crimes also are associated with those who work in the prisons, including wardens.

The report published by the Associated Press revealed that over 100 federal prison workers had been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019, including a warden indicted for sexual abuse, an associate warden charged with murder, guards taking cash to smuggle drugs and weapons, and supervisors stealing property such as tires and tractors.

According to the report, the federal Bureau of Prisons has turned a blind eye to misconduct. The agency failed to suspend officers in some cases who have been arrested for crimes.

Two-thirds of the criminal cases against Justice Department personnel in recent years have involved federal prison workers, who account for less than one-third of the department’s workforce.

The report notes that of the 41 arrests in 2021, 28 were of Bureau of Prisons employees or contractors. The FBI had five.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives each had two.

Officials at the Department of Justice did not return messages left by NNPA Newswire.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the Justice Department said it “will not tolerate staff misconduct, particularly criminal misconduct.”

The news outlet reported that department officials said they are “committed to holding accountable any employee who abuses a position of trust, which we have demonstrated through federal criminal prosecutions and other means.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland has said his deputy, Lisa Monaco, regularly meets Bureau of Prisons officials to address issues plaguing the agency.

“Federal prison workers in nearly every job function have been charged with crimes,” the report stated.

“Those employees include a teacher who pleaded guilty in January to fudging an inmate’s high school equivalency and a chaplain who admitted taking at least $12,000 in bribes to smuggle Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction, as well as marijuana, tobacco, and cellphones, and leaving the items in a prison chapel cabinet for inmates to retrieve.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Phoenix Suns Owner Sarver Has Long History of Supporting Diversity and Inclusion

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

NEW ISSUE $800,000,000* State of Connecticut

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), which represents the Black Press of America, has embarked on a national series featuring NBA owners on the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Because of the Phoenix Suns and owner Robert Sarver’s significant outreach to the African American community, which occurred long before the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, the NNPA began the series with Sarver.

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Sarver first discovered his interest in basketball as a teenager.

His father, Jack Sarver, a native of Flint, MI, enjoyed a friendship with then-University of Arizona Athletic Director David H. Strack, who recruited a local high school coach named Fred Snowden.

Strack hired Snowden as the head coach of the university’s men’s basketball team, making him the first African American major college basketball head coach.

“Coach Snowden was an esteemed high school coach in the Detroit area, and my dad was from Flint. So, they had a bond,” Robert Sarver told NNPA Newswire.

“I had never really gone to games other than a few Suns games early in my life, but the coach said, ‘you have to get season tickets,’ and that’s when I really started watching basketball,” Sarver added.

Coach Snowden and the Sarver family not only enjoyed a working relationship but formed a close bond that connected beyond basketball.

The elder Sarver named Coach Snowden to the Board of Directors of Sarver’s American Savings and Loan.

Soon, the Sarvers and Snowdens enjoyed familial association.

Over time, Robert Sarver witnessed how different his life was from Snowden.

It began to dawn on Sarver that the 1972 hiring of Coach Snowden would represent a personal realization.

That would help him understand better the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion – even as the nation reckoned with the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement and the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sarver witnessed the blatant discrimination faced by Coach Snowden and his family, particularly during road trips.

“The early years were not easy at all,” Snowden’s daughter, Stacey Snowden, recalled in a recently published interview.

“There was not a lot of acceptance and racial tolerance and so forth at that time,” Stacey Snowden remembered.

“We lived under the constant threat of life with death threats and bomb threats all the time. That was difficult, but we persevered and got through it. My father knew that these are the types of things you have to endure as a pioneer. He got through it and created something really, really special in the Arizona basketball

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legacy.”

Sarver also recalled the racism Coach Snowden experienced.

He said the experience helped shape his views not just on basketball but something far more significant: fighting for justice and defying inequities.

“It was the first time seeing it firsthand. It was a real eye-opener,” Sarver declared.

For 17 years as owner of the Suns — and for decades beforehand — Sarver has pressed for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

His businesses have run without controversy, operating without complaints or rumors of discrimination.

Sarver serves as the Executive Chairman of Western Alliance Bancorporation, the largest financial institution headquartered in Arizona.

The bank remains one of the most active business lenders in Arizona.

He’s also the co-founder of Southwest Value Partners, a more than 30-year-old real estate investment fund.

Sarver served as a director of SkyWest Airlines and the Phoenix-based Meritage Corporation.

According to his biography, under Sarver’s leadership, the Suns and Phoenix Suns Charities have given over $25 million in donations to local non-profits and provided thousands of hours of community service work by players, coaches and employees.

Ten years ago, following a conversation surrounding dropout rates with Arne Duncan (Secretary of Education for the Obama administration), Sarver also spearheaded the “SunsCentral” initiative.

Through this initiative, the Suns organi-

zation “adopted” Central High School in Phoenix, which is an inner-city high school with a student body comprised of nearly 85% people of color. Over the last ten years, the SunsCentral initiative has provided over 200,000 hours of tutoring, and has dramatically improved the graduation rates of the neighborhood school.

A 1982 graduate of the University of Arizona, Sarver earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and, one year later, he became a certified public accountant.

When NBA players and owners agreed to become more inclusive and promised better diversity measures following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Sarver and the Suns led the way.

They transformed the team’s former home, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, into a voting site. The move occurred in response to repeated conversations within the Suns organization about racial inequality.

Led by African American head coach Monty Williams, the Suns provided the team’s personnel an open forum to discuss racism.

Sarver also agreed to provide days off to employees, encouraging them to serve as poll workers during the 2020 elections.

The organization also partnered with the BYU Sports Business Club in Arizona and the Ballard Center for Social Impact to host a case competition to develop a diversity and inclusion plan for the Suns.

When asked to evaluate how some view the Suns’ organization as an example of an NBA team fully embracing DE&I, Sarver said the answer is simple.

“I think it’s in our DNA. I know it’s in my DNA from my upbringing with my parents and family and the thought process of trying to do the right thing,” Sarver responded.

19

“We’ve been very progressive even in the early days of my ownership – making sure of it in our hirings and work in the community,” Sarver continued.

“The culture of our organization, especially our players and employees, is committed to inclusion and social justice, even taking positions that may be adverse to our business and maybe a little controversial.”

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The Suns owner continued:

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“My dad had a saying that ‘you vote with your heart, not your wallet,’ and that stuck with me. I’m very proud of what the organization has done in the community over the past 18 years, and I think we’ve made a difference.”

Sarver also fully supported the NBA’s hiring of Oris Stuart as the league’s chief people and inclusion officer earlier this year.

Stuart leads the league’s combined Human Resources and Diversity and Inclusion groups and oversees diversity and inclusion strategies for the NBA. The hire should prove a tremendous boost to the league’s overall goal of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Sarver said.

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“I think [DE&I] is at the heart of who we should be as a society,” Sarver asserted.

“I’ve had the chance to see firsthand discrimination and the evils of it. I think it’s incumbent upon everyone to do the right thing, and often that means taking a position that may be a little uncomfortable for some. To me, it’s a way of life.

That’s what I try to do. It’s the roadmap that I’ve followed.”

*Preliminary, subject to change. **Before purchasing any Bonds, contact your tax advisor to determine any applicable federal, state and local tax consequences. These Bonds may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the Official Statement delivered in final form. Under no circumstances shall this announcement constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Bonds in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities law in any such jurisdiction. Bonds are subject to availability. The Bonds will only be sold by means of an Official Statement.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

New Symptoms of the Omicron Variant

by Dr. Phillip Gould, BlackDoctor.org

How easily does Omicron spread?

The Omicron variant likely will spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown. CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.

Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated are likely to occur. With other variants, like Delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.

What treatments work to fight Omicron?

Scientists are working to determine how well existing treatments for COVID-19 work. Based on the changed genetic make-up of Omicron, some treatments are likely to remain effective while others may be less effective.

Vaccines remain the best public health measure to protect people from COVID-19, slow transmission, and reduce the likelihood of new variants emerging. COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death.

The report continued:

“Garcia has pleaded not guilty.”

Will Omicron cause more severe illness?

Will vaccines work against Omicron?

Report Reveals “At the highest ranks, the warden of a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California, was arrested in September and indicted this month on charges he molested an inmate multiple times, scheduled times where he demanded she undress in front of him and amassed a slew of nude photos of her on his government-issued phone.

“Warden Ray Garcia, who was placed on administrative leave after the FBI raided his office in July, allegedly told the woman there was no point in reporting the sexual assault because he was ‘close friends’ with the person who would investigate the allegation and that the inmate wouldn’t be able to ‘ruin him.’

If you’re like most people it seems as though as soon as it looks like we’re going to get rid of COVID, a new variant pops up. Right now, the new Omicron variant is making headlines because it seems to be infecting more people at a faster rate. So what are the symptoms to look for and how can we fight it?

What We Know about Omicron

More data are needed to know if Omicron infections, and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated, cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants.

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Scientists are currently investigating Omicron, including how protected fully vaccinated people will be against infection, hospitalization, and death.

CDC recommends that everyone 5 years and older protect themselves from COVID-19 by getting fully vaccinated. CDC recommends that everyone ages 18 years and older should get a booster shot at least two months after their initial J&J/Janssen vaccine or six months after completing their primary COVID-19 vaccination series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

Masks offer protection against all variants. CDC continues to recommend wearing a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high community transmission, regardless of vaccination status. CDC provides advice about masks for people who want to learn more about what type of mask is right for them depending on their circumstances.

Can you get tested specifically for Omicron Tests can tell you if you are currently infected with COVID-19. Two types of tests are used to test for current infection: nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and antigen tests.

NAAT and antigen tests can only tell

you if you have a current infection.

Individuals can use the COVID-19 Viral Testing Tool to help determine what kind of test to seek. Additional tests would be needed to determine if your infection was caused by Omicron. Visit your state, tribal, local, or territorial health department’s website to look for the latest local information on testing.

Omnicron Symptoms Mild symptoms have also generally been observed in cases emerging outside southern Africa, said UCSF infectious diseases expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. “In a recent report from the European CDC, of the first 70 cases of omicron in Europe, 50% have no symptoms and 50% have very mild symptoms,” he explained. “In the U.S. cases so far, most have been very mild.”

Fatigue, headache and body aches, symptoms that are common with the flu, are being reported by patients who tested positive for omicron, ChinHong said. “Some of the symptoms are very subtle,” he said.

Other symptoms typical with strains such as delta were less prevalent in the

20

South Africa cases, including “no loss of taste or smell” and “less shortness of breath,” said Chin-Hong, referring to anecdotal reports on omicron cases from Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association.

What’s more, in the first glimpse of hospitalized patients with omicron emerging from South Africa, hospitalizations have not increased dramatically, Chin-Hong said.

“And those who have been admitted to the hospital have not been very ill,” he said. “Most have been in the general wards, not in the ICU, and most have not required oxygen. Admitted omicron patients have been hospitalized for a much shorter period than delta or previous other variants.”

Where has Omicron been Detected in the United States CDC is working with state and local public health officials to monitor the spread of Omicron. This map shows the states that have detected at least one case of COVID-19 illness caused by the Omicron variant. Omicron will be included in variant surveillance data on CDC’s COVID Data Tracker when it can be reliably estimated at a low frequency.

Garcia’s arrest came three months after a recycling technician at FCI Dublin was arrested on charges he coerced two inmates into sexual activity, the report noted.

Several other workers at the facility, where actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin spent time for their involvement in the college admissions bribery scandal, are under investigation, according to the Associated Press.

Monaco said after Garcia’s arrest that she was “taking a very serious look at these issues across the board” and insisted she had confidence in the bureau’s director, Michael Carvajal, months after senior administration officials weighed whether to oust him.

In August, the associate warden at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City was charged with killing her husband — a fellow federal prison worker — after police said she shot him in the face in their New Jersey home.

She has pleaded not guilty.

One-fifth of the BOP cases tracked by the news service involved crimes of a sexual nature, second only to cases involving smuggled contraband. All sexual activity between a prison worker and an inmate is illegal. In the most egregious cases, inmates say they were coerced through fear, intimidation, and threats of violence.

A correctional officer and drug treatment specialist at a Lexington, Kentucky prison medical center was charged in July with threatening to kill inmates or their families if they didn’t go along with sexual abuse.

A Victorville, California inmate said she “felt frozen and powerless with fear” when a guard threatened to send her to the “hole” unless she performed a sex act on him.

He pleaded guilty in 2019.

“Theft, fraud, and lying on paperwork after inmate deaths have also been issues,” the report stated.

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27,08 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December , 2021 - December 14, 2021 - August 02, 2016

Watershed Caretaker NOTICE

Patrols & performs general care & upkeep of the Town’s potable (drinking) water reservoirs, watershed lands and properties. Responds to emergency calls & performs scheduled VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE-(Contract APPLICATIONS overtime patrol work.

Hourly rate: $25.53 - $30.92 CurrentlyAVAILABLE Under Negotiations). Some knowledge of State of CT public health regulations relating to dams, water HOME on behalf of Columbus House and Newsimplifi Havened Housing Authority, supply andINC, watershed maintenance and the ability to the operate mechanical equipment is required.

Must possess for & maintain a valid State of CT Motor Vehicle is accepting pre-applications studio and one-bedroom apartments at thisLicense. develH.S. diploma or GED plus Frank 2 yrs. experience related Maximum fields such income as landscaping, grounds opment located at 108 Street, NewinHaven. limitations apmaintenance etc. The closing for applications/resumes is December 2021 or the ply. Pre-applications will bedate available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning 13, Monday Ju;y date receive 50th application whichever occurs first. Apply: Department of Human 25,we2016 andtheending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Resources, Town of South INC. Main Applications Street, Wallingford, 06492, Forms been received at Wallingford, the offices of45HOME will be CT mailied upon rewill be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or may be downquest by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. Phone: (203) 294-2080 Fax: applications (203) 294-2084.must EOE.be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third

Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

NOTICIA GROUP THE GLENDOWER

Publication Date:

Request for Qualifications

Project Architect for the Repositioning of Elm City Communities Scattered Sites Properties

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 comenzando The Glendower Group is currently seeking Proposals for ap.m. project architectMartes for the25 rejulio, 2016of hasta se han recibidoscattered suficientessites pre-solicitudes 100) positioning Elmcuando City Communities properties. (aproximadamente A complete copy of the requirement maydebeHOME obtained Collaboration Portal https:// en las oficinas INC.from Las Glendower’s pre-solicitudesVendor serán enviadas por correo a petición newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on deberán remitirse llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .

Monday, September 27, 2021 at 3:00PM.

Full Time, Benefits, Top Pay Apply:Pace, 1425 Honeyspot

Rd. Ext., Stratford, CT EOE

Town of Bloomfield

TO THE CITIZENS OF NEW HAVEN: The City of New Haven will initiate the funding application process for its 2022-2023 Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development Programs – utilizing US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership (HOME), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding.

This year the application process will occur online through the City’s Bonfire portal. To begin the process the city will be hosting a public informational meeting via Zoom on:

Assessor – Full Time

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 10:30am

$85,587 to $104,000

Links to the Zoom meeting specifics, as well as the applications for funding can be found on the City’s website at www.newhavenct.gov.

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

Attendance at the informational meeting is not mandatory but strongly encouraged. Meeting materials and links to application materials and funding criteria will be posted on the city website at www.newhavenct.gov

by December 9, 2021. Applications will be due Tuesday January 11, 2022 by 5:00pm EST. Applicants must be certified 501(c)3 agencies working in New Haven to apply for funding, but all interested individuals are welcome to attend the informational meeting.

Technical Assistance will be available to all applicants throughout the application process. If assistance is needed to access the online application or to attend the informational meeting please contact Mr. Ron Gizzi at conplanapp@newhavenct.gov

Town of Bloomfield

Assistant Assessor – Full Time

Justin Elicker, Mayor

$41.82 hourly

Pre-employment drug testing.

For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org Deadline: Applications will be accepted until position is filled.

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

NEW HAVEN

Listing: Commercial Driver

Full time Class A driver for petroleum deliveries for nights and weekends. Previous experience required. Competitive wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437. ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

to Bid: APPLY NOW!Invitation 2 Notice

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

nd

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December 4, 2021

NOTICE OF THE 2022-2023 CONSOLIDATED PLAN APPLICATION PROCESS

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until position is filled.

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

TOWN OF EAST HAVEN

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATOR Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Old Saybrook, CT GRANTS AND BUDGET COORDINATOR

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

highways, near bus !" #$%$&'$"())"*+$"*$%+",$(-".$$/$/ ! #$%$&'$"())"*+$"*$%+",$(-".$$/$/" !" !

MECHANIC TRACTOR TRAILER

stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 0$(-."*+$"1(2&%2"34"*+$"531"63-72"7-3,-(894-38"" 0$(-."*+$"1(2&%2"34"*+$"531"63-72"7-3,-(894-38"

(4 Buildings, 17 Units) TheWage Town of East Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Rate ProjectHaven seeks qualified candidates to fill 2 positions:

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

+(./2:3."*-(&.&.,"*3"%(87;2")&4$"(./"83-$" +(./2:3."*-(&.&.,"*3"%(87;2")&4$"(./"83-$ !" <./$-2*(./"=3;-"-3)$2"(./"-$273.2&1&)&*&$2" <./$-2*(./"=3;-"-3)$2"(./"-$273.2&1&)&*&$2"" !

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s (2"("531"63-72"2*;/$.*" (2"("531"63-72"2*;/$.*

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 $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30!" 63..$%*">&*+"3*+$-"2*;/$.*2"(./"2*(44" 63..$%*">&*+"3*+$-"2*;/$.*2"(./"2*(44"" !

3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. >+38"=3;?))"8$$*"3."%(87;2" >+38"=3;?))"8$$*"3."%(87;2 (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

!" @&2%3'$-"*+$"-$23;-%$2"('(&)(1)$" @&2%3'$-"*+$"-$23;-%$2"('(&)(1)$"" !

St. New Haven, CT *3"=3;"ABCD

Grants and Budget Coordinator: This is a highly responsible position involving the DPW Truck Driver New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, accurate record keepingSite-work, of Grants,CastLoCip and other special and Capital Funds for the in-place Concrete, AsphaltTown.

Shingles, VinyledSiding, Qualifi candidates should possess a Bachelor's Degree in business adminFull-time position istration or accounting or aCasework, minimum of five (5) years' experience in an accounting, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential municipal finance office or bookkeeping setting. Must have valid class 3 Connecticut Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

Driver's License. The salary for this position is $52,963/year, 35 hours per week and This contract is subject to state set-aside the andTown contract compliance requirements.

Go to www.portlandct. offers an excellent benefit package.

org for details

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY Sealed !"#$%"&'($C/8'($1/0206/1%7)8%(9$"#29%:;8!1,$8"/+'%21(%(91%'<0//'%,.+% bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour &-0/,'*"+('.&2(+&&-(3")(,(10//&1130%(30'0)&,$P)0C$"=1$%7**%($,0.0.2% until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016.,+-19"+('),*+*+45('""%15(,+-( at its office at 28 Smith Street, ,)&,1Q$0C/$'&"<&*1$'&"@)?/($:"7$B)0C$0C/$.,+-19"+('),*+*+45('""%15(,+-( ,)&,1Q$0C/$'&"<&*1$'&"@)?/($:"7$B)0C$0C/$ Q$0C/$'&"<&*1$'&"@)?/($:"7$B)0C$0C/$.,+-19"+('),*+*+45('""%15(,+-( '&/.+"%"42('"($0)10&(2"0)(-&1*)&-(/,)&&),$! '&/.+"%"42('"($0)10&(2"0)(-&1*)&-(/,)&&),$ Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the !

Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. %"22/A0$B)0C$*2$*?1)(()"2($A"72(/8"&$0"$?)(A7(($C"B$:"7$A*2$(0*&0$! %"22/A0$B)0C$*2$*?1)(()"2($A"72(/8"&$0"$?)(A7(($C"B$:"7$A*2$(0*&0$ !"#$%"&'($@)&07*88:,

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith !"#$%&'(%&)"*+&,+(-./&0(%&'"/%&1#&%2(&/2*34(5 Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. !"#$%#&'#"($)*(&+,$$EFGGH"DII:5JKL"MNOADP"3-"53163-72Q,3' !"#$%#&'#"($)*(&+,$$

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 !"#$$#% Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. &$'()*+$#$ !"#$%"&'($)($*$+,-,$./'*&01/20$"3$4*#"&$567*8$9''"&072)0:$51'8":/&$;&"<&*1,$=7>)8)*&:$*)?($*2?$(/&@)A/($*&/$*@*)8*#8/$ 7'"2$&/67/(0$0"$)2?)@)?7*8($B)0C$?)(*#)8)0)/(,$D..EDDF$0/8/'C"2/$271#/&$)($GHIIJ$HHKLMNOI,

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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

Information Administrator: This is a highly responsible position that Extended, Due Date: August 5,Technology 2016 Deadline to applyBid is 12/17/21 oversees the development, implementation and use of technology throughout the Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 town. Qualified candidates should possess a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science Project documents available via ftp link or a related fieldbelow: from an accredited college or university and five (5) years of progreshttp://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage sively responsible information technology experience including at least 4 years in a supervisory capacity, or an equivalent combination of training and qualifying experiSeeking qualified condidates to ence substituting on a year-for-year basis. Must have valid class 3 Connecticut Driver's Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com fill numerous vacancies to insalary for this position is $75,235/year, 35 hours per week (flex hours) HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran,License.

S/W/MBE &The Section 3 Certified Businesses clude, DeputyHaynes Assessor, Mechanic and theAve, Town offersCTan excellent benefit package.

Construction Company, 32 Progress Seymour, 06483

CITY OF MILFORD

Sewer Line, Public Health Nurse AA/EEO EMPLOYER Please send cover letter and resume to: Town of East Haven, Michelle Benivegna, Huand more. For information and man Resource Department, 250 Main Street, East Haven, CT 06512 or MBenivegna@ detailed application instructions, townofeasthavenct.org. Deadline December 17, 2021. The Town of East Haven is visit www.ci.milford.ct.us committed to building a work force of diverse individuals. Minorities, females, handiClick on SERVICES, JOBS and capped and veterans are encouraged to apply. The Town of East Haven is an equal JOB TITLE. opportunity employer.

21

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP COMPANY NOTICE Invitation for Bid

Snow Removal Services

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

360 Management Group Co. is currently seeking bids for snow removal services. A complete copy on of behalf the requirement mayHouse be obtained Management’s Vendor HOME INC, of Columbus and thefrom New 360 Haven Housing Authority, Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beis accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develginning onlocated at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apopment

ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y Monday, 25, 2021 at 3:00PM. 25, 2016 and ending when October 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.

Full time Class A driver for petroleum deliveries for nights and weekends. Previous experience required. Competitive wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

Listing: Commercial Driver NOTICIA

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

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 .

DELIVERY PERSON

NEEDED

Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

(203) 435-1387 QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

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

THE GLENDOWER GROUP

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

Request for Proposals Lender/Investor for Scattered Sites

City of Bristol

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

$69,017 - $83,893/yr.

Required testing,

beginning on Monday, December 6, 2021 at 3:00PM.

NEW HAVEN

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

Truck Driver -

All new apartments, appliances, carpet, close to to I-91 & I-95 Warehouse Associate has a new CT Class A CDL new License, a license operate forklifts, highways, near bus stop & shopping center lulls, excavators, and an up-to-date OSHA-10 Certification. Knowledge of electrical construction and materials is helpful. successful will deliver Pet under tools 40lb allowed.

Interested parties The contact Maria @candidate 860-985-8258 equipment and tools to various jobsite locations as required, and perform general warehouse functions (unloading common carrier trucks, UPS, checking in freight, CT. Unified Association is pleased to offer ahousekeeping Deacon’s tool repair,Deacon’s inventory control, and general of the warehouse facility and Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates yard.)

Hours: M-F 7am-4pm.

Competitive and benefi ts package.

Send in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost iscompensation $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. resume to Ducci Electrical Contractors, Inc. 74 Scott Swamp Rd. Farmington, CT (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster 06032 or via email at humanresources@duccielectrical.com.

St. New Haven, CT

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

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY 360 MANAGEMENT GROUP COMPANY 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 06483Invitation for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the for Bid Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Snow Removal Services

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

360 Management Group Co. is currently seeking bids for snow removal Street Seymour, CT atcopy 10:00ofam, Wednesday,may Julybe20,obtained 2016. from 360 services.

A complete theon requirement Management’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing. cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning Bidding documents are available from the Seymour HousingonAuthority Of-

fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Monday, December 6, 2021 at 3:00PM.

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

POLICE OFFICER

REQUEST FOR BIDS Sale of Surplus Rolling Stock New Haven, Connecticut

registration info, and apply New Haven Parking Authority Project #22-020 online: www.bristolct.gov Bids due December 21, 2021 at 3:00 P.M. Invitation to Bid: Bid Documents will be available beginning December 9, 2021 at no cost by emailing Fortunata DEADLINE: 10-29-21 2nd Notice Houde, Executive Secretary at fhoude@nhparking.com .

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

MECHANIC Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) TRACTORTaxTRAILER Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate ProjectDEPUTY FIRE CHIEF

Full Time, Benefits, Top Pay The Town of Wallingford is seeking qualified applicants for Deputy Fire Chief to perhighlyDemolition, responsibleSite-work, fire service administrative work. The position requires a high New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing,form Selective CastApply:Pace, 1425 Honeyspot school diploma or the equivalent, plus 10 years of progressively responsible career fire in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Rd. Ext., Stratford, CT EOE department experience including at least 4 years as an officer in a career fire department, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Residential Casework, or Appliances, any combination of experience and training which provides a demonstrated potential Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. for performing the duties of the class. Applicants must also possess Connecticut or NaDRIVER CLASS A and tional Registry certification as an (EMT) or higher, a valid State of Connecticut class D This contractCDL is subject to state set-aside contract compliance requirements.

Full Time – All Shifts Top driver's license, and certifications as a Fire Officer I and Fire Instructor I or higher from Pay-Full Benefits the Connecticut Fire Academy. Salary: $94,207 to $120,532 (effective January 1, 2022: BidinExtended, August 2016 annually plus an excellent fringe benefits package. Application EOE Please apply person: Due Date: $96,044 to 5, $122,882) 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Start: August Anticipated 15, 2016 forms may be obtained at the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, Stratford, CT 06615 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from

Project documents available via ftp link below: the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from the Town of Wallinghttp://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

Town of Bloomfield

ford Department of Human Resources Web Page. Phone: (203) 294-2080, Fax: (203) 294-2084. The closing date for applications or resumes is December 17, 2021. EOE FaxDirector or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com of Planning HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses and Economic Development Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER $98,980 to $152,780 (expected starting Full Time Class B driver for a fast paced petroleum company for days and weekends. pay maximum is mid-range) Previous experience required. Competitive wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: Pre-employment drug testing. For HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437. more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

Full Time

22

Listing: Commercial Driver

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December , 2021 - December 14, 2021 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27,082016 - August 02, 2016

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Listing: HVAC Technician

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory Fast paced Petroleum Company is hiring for a full time, CT training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT HVAC Technician. License required – S-10,S-2 or S-1. ApWe offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits plicant must have experience in oil, propane, natural gas and Contact: Tom Dunay VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE A/C. Competitive wage, 401(k), sign on bonus and benefits.

Send resume to: Attn: HR Manager, Confidential, PO Box 388, Phone: 860- 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Guilford,Authority, CT 06437.

Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develWomen & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative opment locatedAction/ at 108 Frank New Haven.

Maximum income**An limitations ap- Action/Equal Opportunity Employer** Affirmative EqualStreet, Opportunity Employer ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon reGarrity Asphalt Incduring seeks: CT Fence quest by calling HOMEReclaiming, INC at 203-562-4663 those hours.Large Completed pre- Company looking for an individual for our Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing PVC Fence Production Shop. Experience preferred but will applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northtrain the right person. Must be familiar with carpentry hand Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits & power tools and be able to read a CAD drawing and tape measure. Use of CNC Router machine a plus but not required, will train the right person. This is an in-shop production poContact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 sition. Duties include building fence panels, posts, gates and Email: rick.touMust have a valid CT driver’s license & be able to obtain signant@garrityasphalt.com VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDESmore.

DISPONIBLES a Drivers Medical Card. Must be able to pass a physical and Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply drug test. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com.

Affirmative Action/deEqual Opportunity HOME INC, en nombre la Columbus House y Employer de la New Haven Housing Authority, está AA/EOE-MF aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipjulio,Must 2016have hastaacuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes ment.

CDL License, clean driving record, capable of (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas porSeeking correo atopetición operating heavyde equipment; be willing to travel throughout the employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberánand remitirse Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits operator teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT personal 06510 . transportation and a valid drivers license reReliable

NOTICE

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

NOTICIA

Union Company seeks:

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

NEW HAVEN

Construction

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

LEGAL NOTICE INVITATION TO BID WELLINGTON AT MADISON MINORITY CONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY – Wellington at Madison, Madison, CT SOLICITATION OF SBE/MBE CONTRACTORS: Enterprise Builders, Inc., an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, seeks certified SBE/MBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applicable sections of work/equipment/ supplies for the following construction project: Wellington at Madison, Madison, CT. This project consist of new construction of 23 units spread across 4 buildings as well as a new clubhouse and renovations of 1 existing historic building consisting of 4 units.

Anticipated start date is 2023. Bid Date and Time: 12/15/2021 by 4:00PM. Electronic Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting the Estimating Department at Enterprise Builders at (860) 466-5188 or by email to jcaporiccio@enterbuilders.com. Project is Taxable and Prevailing Wage (Residential) applies. This project is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. EBI encourages the participation of certified SBE/MBE contractors. EBI is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

THE GLENDOWER GROUP, INC. Request for Proposals Construction Manager at Risk for the Redevelopment of Elm City Communities Scattered Sites Properties The Glendower Group, Inc. is currently seeking proposals for Construction Manager at Risk for the Redevelopment of Elm City Communities Scattered Sites Properties. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway

beginning on Monday, November 29, 2021 at 3:00PM.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V

242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

We all have

DREAMS.

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

Let Job Corps help you achieve yours.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

St. New Haven, CT

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour Now enrolling! until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 Tuition-free at its officecareer at 28training Smith Street, school programs Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk High Repairs anddiploma Replacement at the College credit opportunities Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility,Housing, 26 Smith Street Seymour. meals and medical care provided

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith For more information, visit jobcorps.gov or call (800) 733-JOBS [5627] Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

New Haven County - Jesselica Rodriguez – Rodriguez.Jesselica@JobCorps.org !"#$%&'(")*+,$*-+#".&/$*0(1,)2*3*4&//2*0(,,&"*5*Conner.Kelly@JobCorps.org Waterbury and Surrounding Areas – Abdul Shabazz – Shabazz.Abdul@JobCorps.org

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

Job Corps is a U.S. Department of Labor Equal Opportunity Employer Program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. TDD/TTY telephone number is (877) 889-5627.

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

Drug Free Workforce

Invitation to Bid:

WATER TREATMENT

nd State of Connecticut 2 Notice LEVEL I WATER TREATMENT PUMPING OPERATOR - The Town of Wallingford’s Office of Policy Water Division is seeking qualified candidates to maintain and operate the Town’s porand Management

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

table CT (drinking) water treatment plants, pumping stations, storage tanks, and ground Old Saybrook, well facilities. Must process a High School Diploma or G.E.D with one (1) year of (4 Buildings,demonstrated 17 Units) experience involving the operation or maintenance of equipment of the The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for an Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project type predominant in water supply and treatment; or a technical high school diploma Undersecretary - Office of Policy And Management for Finance, Strategic Decisions and Accountability.

with a demonstrated career and technical education related to electronics technology,

electrical, H.V.A.C or water supply and treatment activates and operations. A State of New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastConnecticut Department of Public Health Class 1 or higher Water Treatment Plant OpFurther information regarding the duties, in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Siding, eligibility requirements and application erator certifiVinyl cation (WTP1) and a certification of achievement in water management instructions are available at: Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Casework, from a State ofResidential Connecticut community college, college, or university, or ability to https://www.jobapscloud.com/ obtainand bothFire within (12) months from date of hire. Wages: $26.44 - $32.13 hourly (ConMechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Protection.

CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= Currently Under Negotiations), plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: This210921&R2=0450EX&R3=001 contract is subject to state set-aside tract and contract compliance requirements.

Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, WallThe State of Connecticut is an equal ingford, CT 06492. Fax # 203-294-2084. The closing date will be the date opportunity/affirmative action employer application/resume Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016is received, or December 20, 2021 whichever occurs first. and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, andAnticipated persons Start: August 15, 2016 with disabilities.

Construction

the 50th EOE

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage QSR STEEL CORPORATION Seeking dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, opFax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran,erator S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 and a valid drivers license required. To apply personal transportation Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders AA/EEO EMPLOYER please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, Top pay for top performers. Health P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay.

APPLY NOW!

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

23

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 08, 2021 - December 14, 2021

Hep C TESTING FOR ALL. Since anyone could have Hepatitis C, testing is essential—and easy. One test can lead to the treatment you may need. There is a cure!.

test. treat. cure.

For more information, please contact your doctor or visit: ct.gov/HepC 24