INNER-CITY NEWS

New Haven Reads Paints A Love Letter To Literacy

By Lucy Gellman

The figure lies on their belly, legs kicked up behind them as they dive into a book. Maybe it’s a copy of Ada Twist, Scientist or Mae Among The Stars or The Boy Who Met A Whale: the cover is hidden, so a viewer can imagine infinite titles. Around them, universes start to take shape: an astronaut reaches out their hand, an explorer balances on a raft and grips a huge telescope, a tiny scientist swirls a mixture around a beaker until it glows red.

A small cloud floats overhead, outlined in the same neon pink as the young reader. Sharing The Joy and Power of Reading, reads a block of text to the side, written in towering, bright letters that animate the street.

Those words accompany a new mural at New Haven Reads’ 45 Bristol St. home, where the late Christine Alexander launched the organization over two decades ago. A collaboration with RiseUP for Arts and the artist Candyce “Marsh” John, it celebrates the power, delight and potential of reading at a time when the city is still working to solve a literacy crisis, and has enlisted the organization as a partner on that work.

Saturday, NHR staff, students and tutors gathered with Marsh to inaugurate the mural, which looks out onto Ashmun Street and Scantlebury Park in the city’s Dixwell neighborhood.

“This mural was, like, a really important project for me, because it was one of my bigger projects in New Haven,” Marsh said Saturday, greeting attendees with a peace sign from two raised fingers. “My roots are here. And so for me, it felt like I was kind of giving back to my community, the place that helped build me up, that made me believe in myself, all of those kind of things. So it was really nice.”

The mural has long been on New Haven Reads’ wish list, said longtime Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn. For years, neighbors, parents, and tutors would tell her that they had no idea what was inside the building, which boasted white brick walls and powder-blue trim, until they found themselves among the cozily packed shelves and dedicated students. It was then, inevitably, that they fell in love with the organization, and began to champion its work just as staff, volunteer tutors, students and alumni have for years. Bristol Street also holds a special place in NHR history: it was the first of five sites that are currently open for weekly tutoring (the others are 5 Science Park, 85 Willow St., Fair Haven School and Bishop Woods School), and has also been home to Christine Alexander Cornersince 2018. Over 21 years, hundreds of tutors and thousands of kids have passed through its doors.

“We also wanted to share our exuberance about reading, the joy and power of reading,” Levinsohn continued. Normally, New Haven Reads does quiet work: its thousands of hours building better readers go on without much fanfare, despite the vital role that literacy plays in personal and professional milestones. So after

securing the funds to cover the mural— Levinsohn said that the money comes out of the organization’s general operating budget—NHR turned to its summer students to ask what they would like to see on the outside of the building. There were dozens of responses, many of which Marsh has worked to incorporate into the finished mural. One student proposed “a dinosaur with pink whiskers,” Levinsohn recalled to a smattering of gentle laughs. Another wanted to see dragon slayers. Another still suggested a celebration of nature, from flowers to the sun and moon above.

In almost every survey, students focused on how happy they were while working with their tutors, a response so universal that it felt like a refrain. It was for that reason that staff decided that the final work had to include a nod to the “Joy and Power of Reading,” to emphasize and center both takeaways at the same time.

The rest was up to Marsh, a self-taught artist whose murals now enliven schools, public gathering spaces, state buildings, New Haven underpasses, and the Hamden Youth Services Bureau among other sites. Saturday, the artist recalled dreaming up a design in her apartment (which is also her workspace), with student feedback forms fanned out all around her. It helps that she can identify with students at New Haven Reads: she struggled with reading as a kid, and credits the help she got outside of school with helping her become the bookworm she is today. The graphic novels she picked up informed the art she makes today.

As she worked, she could imagine a young person reading, a book splayed open in front of them. As they read, whole universes came to life. The resulting designs—a superhero, astronaut, explorer, newly minted college graduate, scuba diver and young Black scientist—are all meant to represent the worlds that reading can open, without a person ever having to

leave the room where they are reading. The mural’s vibrant colors, meanwhile, are intended to breathe life into the neighborhood, where cars zoom by on Ashmun Street.

“I feel like I made my grandma proud,” she said (her grandmother, the late Ella Nora Price, passed away in 2013). “She loved pouring back into the community, and everything like that, so I feel like this is my opportunity to do the same in a different way. So I’m really grateful.”

In October, she began to paint, enlisting the help of artist Amber Cohens when she needed an assistant. As the two painted, they split the wall into a number of vignettes, each meant to represent a different literary adventure. In the upper left, for instance, a superhero charges forward, a voluminous mess of curls around her head like a sort of contemporary halo. Her arms spread out, muscles visible as her mouth parts and her eyes widen with a curious, excited glint.

Just to her right, an astronaut reaches out with one hand, as if to touch the viewer standing in front of her. The galaxy stretches out behind her, cut off by a ribbon of blue paint. Beneath the bubble, a graduate lifts a diploma triumphantly in the air.

“It’s just a place that we could be,” Marsh said Saturday, shivering from a December cold as she stood in front of the mural.

It was, unexpectedly, also a sort of homecoming for Cohens. Long before she was part of RiseUP’s creative leadership program, she was a tutor for New Haven Reads. She got to know the organization during her time at Albertus Magnus College, where she studied English and visual arts. For four semesters, she spent her Monday and Wednesday afternoons on Bristol Street, absorbed in books with her young charges. She went on to work as an art teacher at multiple schools, including Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy Middle School.

So when she learned that New Haven Reads was hiring an assistant education director, she applied, interviewed, and got the job within about 72 hours—all while still working on the mural. It feels like exactly where she’s supposed to be, she said: Where The Wild Things Are and If You Give A Mouse A Cookie remain some of her favorite books today (along with age-appropriate fiction, especially psychological thrillers). It’s a kind of sweet full-circle moment.

“I’m grateful to return back home,” she said. She added that she sees it as an homage to her grandmother, who taught at Conte West Hills Magnet School for four decades.

“We always like to have that personal connection to the communities that we work in and the art that we do, because we believe that public art is more than just art,” said RiseUP Executive Director Matt Conway. “It’s what it can do for a community, what it does for artists, the opportunities it opens up for people.”

The New Haven independent

Amanda Brown Photo.

New Haven Reads Education Director Hayley Herrington, the artist March (a.k.a. Candyce John) and NHR Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Some of New Haven Reads' students accompanied Marsh and NHR staff and tutors for the unveiling.

The Past Is Present, & So Is Mike Morand

by JABEZ CHOI

From “Dr. Ann E. Garrett Robinson Way” to the Blue Moon Chapel mural

to the Q House centennial’s many celebrations, New Haven history is everywhere and should be accessible to everyone.

For the past eight months, Mike Morand has been working to make that public history ideal a reality – in his official-but-unpaid role as city historian..

On Monday, he sat down with the Independent for an interview about his first eight months on the job– filled with historical celebrations and unveilings and tours and looked to what the next year could have in store for New Haven history.

Nearby, included among the items in his office on the bottom floor of Yale’s Beinecke library, was the original charter of New Haven, enclosed in a box.

The charter is a part of the library’s collection, but Morand emphasized that one can find well-preserved history in just about any part of the city.

“One insight I’ve had is that our town has more historic records, archives, historic architecture, cemeteries, community memory organizations per capita in a very compact place than just about anywhere else,” Morand said. “New Haven’s history is inexhaustible, so there’ll be plenty of material.”

He pointed to the various historical centers, museums, and organizations that include historians and boost public memory like the New Haven Museum, Yale’s Beinecke Library archive, Southern Connecticut State University’s (SCSU) archive, and the Dixwell Congregational Church, to name a few.

Morand’s ongoing question, and his mission for the upcoming year, is how to democratize and streamline New Haven’s historical archives and resources.

For example, Morand pointed to the fact that the papers of former New Haven mayors are currently scattered across SCSU, New Haven Museum, and Yale libraries. Looking ahead to the future, he would want researchers and civilians alike to know where to find these papers in a streamlined fashion.

Morand’s interest in history started at a young age. He was born in Covington,

Kentucky, and was raised in Cincinnati, where his father would take him around to historical sites. But his visits to the local cemeteries, being surrounded by histories of people before him, struck a chord with Morand. Later, when he moved to New Haven to attend Yale, he quickly found the Grove Street Cemetery, and became interested in New Haven’s history. After he graduated in 1987, he attended the Yale Divinity School, where he would graduate 1993. As a graduate student, he served on the Board of Alders and stayed heavily involved with New Haven local politics. He currently works as the Beinecke’s director for community engagement.

Morand’s goal of making local history accessible is in line with the word he kept

repeating during Monday’s interview: “connection.” One method Morand has used to connect to a larger audience has been his interactions with the media, such as through newspapers, local news broadcasts, and radio shows.

According to Morand, the job of city historian has been conducted in a variety of different ways. He quoted former City Historian Richard Hegel’s description of the role as “responding to people’s questions.” And in its current iteration, Morand has interpreted Hegel’s words as talking to the media and attending public-facing events, in hopes of reaching people who are “not the normal regular library or museum” goer.

In the end, he wants to make people un-

derstand that they, too, are part of a larger history.

He recalled a time when he walked into the studio at WPLR and a producer approached him, saying that he did not look like a “historian.” Instead, the producer said he looked like he was going to a rock concert.

“And I said, ‘What do you mean? What does a historian look like?’ Everybody’s got a historian, right? That’s what I’m really excited about,” Morand said.

With the holidays around the corner, Morand described this time of year as a brief period when people gather with their families and discover their own histories. Those family histories, when crafted together, form a local history. History, to

Morand, isn’t necessarily defined by a museum artifact, locked behind an encasement in an archive. Instead, it might be a “VHS tape” or “Aunt Jane’s papers.” “What I think is really great is reminding folks that history is everywhere. History is not just in a museum or in the center of the town, but history is all around,” he said.

Morand is serving a five-year term through 2028. He said that next year, local histories line up perfectly: Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria, Albertus Magnus College, and the Yale School of Drama will see their 100-year anniversaries, alongside the 150-year anniversary of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, as well as the 50-year anniversary of Claire’s Corner Copia.

“One of the things that makes New Haven so distinctive is that it is a place where we’ve got some really delicious history,” Morand said. “So we can eat our way through history.”

And in the past year, Morand has been able to attend numerous celebrations of the city’s history, including corner renamings and mural unveilings and the opening of the season at Fort Nathan Hale. All around him, he has said, is a celebration of history.

But while local histories can include light pleasantries, an engagement with history, according to Morand, also requires a stark and honest reckoning with the past. In August, he and now-deceased Beaver Hills Alder Tom Ficklin proposed before the Board of Alders a resolution to issue a formal apology for the city’s actions preventing the founding of a local Black college in 1831. Morand also helped curate the New Haven Museum’s exhibit “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery.”

He recalled leading a tour for a group of visitors and one participant emailing him after, expressing her gratitude for the exhibit. She said that she was thankful to have experienced and relived some of the traumas at the exhibit in community and in conversation with other people.

“It’s a way of dealing with disconnection, loneliness, and those kinds of things, and it can also be a place where you end up talking to other people,” Morand said. “The answer … is you have to do history if you want to have a better future.”

New Haven independent

JABEZ CHOI PHOTO Morand with New Haven's original charter: "History is everywhere."

Teen Homicide Victim Laid To Rest

by LISA REISMAN

Friends wore shirts that read Forever 16 with a photo of Uzziah Shell. Ushers handed out tissues to grieving classmates. Mothers wrapped their arms tightly around their kids. A portrait of Uzziah holding a sign reading “I’m Thankful For” and adorned with colored Post-Its smiled from the altar.

That was the scene on Saturday at Life-Giving Water Church on Howard Avenue, where a packed house of friends, family, and city leaders gathered to celebrate the life of Shell, the 16-year-old Riverside Academy student who was shot and killed on Goffe Street late last month.

Saturday’s funeral took place roughly three weeks after Shell’s homicide on Nov. 22, and just four days after his friend and Riverside Academy classmate, 17-year-old Daily Jackson, was shot dead in Newhallville leaving police concerned about potential acts of retaliation among feuding youth crews in town.

He was a jokester, Uzziah’s older sister Aniqua Booker said about her late brother on Saturday. He loved chasing his younger siblings around the house, riding dirt bikes, and listening to music. He was a participant in the Youth@Work program, where he painted fire hydrants, and the LEAP program. He was “a bright and promising young man known for his kindness and enthusiasm.”

She talked about his favorite meal, “seafood and cheeseburger,” his infectious smile, and his eye for fashion particularly Time A Tell clothing on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden, where he was a regular. In a text to his mother in late October, Uzziah wrote

about a diamond-studded sweat suit he had seen there. Owner Josh McCown gifted his mother the custom suit. “That’s what he’s going home in,” Booker said.

Booker appealed to the young people to “do what Uzziah was unable to, make sure you guys graduate, please make sure it is a priority in your lives and just push through.”

Pastor William Mathis drew lessons from Uzziah in the Book of Isaiah. “It wasn’t until Uzziah died that Isaiah was released into his greatness,” he said, with echoes of Ventresca Carter’s stirring rendition of the gospel hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” still in the air. “Let this experience lead you to something greater. Choose to move forward and not backward.”

“Remember, Uzziah did not become king until he was 16 years old,” he went on. “I think it’s right for us to be mad, to be frustrated, to be outraged, that we are funeralizing a 16-year-old boy, but I come to tell you in addition that he has become king.”

He pointed at the casket. “This is only the shell,” he said. “If you came here looking for Uzziah, just look around, look at the person next to you, at the person behind you. That’s Uzziah. How we choose to engage is how strong King Uzziah will be.”

Fittingly, perhaps, the service closed with a letter from one of Uzziah’s younger sisters. Booker, his older sister, read it aloud. “I came up to say that my brother Uzziah was one of the best big brothers you could ever have,” she read, as a sob escaped from the congregation. “Uzziah wanted to give us the world and didn’t have time to, and that sums up the type of person he was.”

Clyburn Statement on President Biden Providing Clemency and Pardons for Individuals Convicted of Non-Violent Crimes

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC06) released the following statement on President Joe Biden providing clemency for nearly 1,500 individuals in home confinement and pardons for 39 individuals convicted of non-violent crimes. "I applaud President Biden for pardoning 39 people with non-violent convictions and commuting even more," said Congressman James E. Clyburn. "This grant of clemency and restoration of rights is a significant step forward. Many people of color and moderate means have been disproportionately burdened by systemic injustices and clemency is a potent tool in the President’s toolbox to remedy some faults in our legal system. We have a leader in President

Biden who is committed to tackling these injustices and has done that work in earnest.”

In November, Congressman Clyburn co-led a letter alongside Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) to President Biden urging him to use his executive clemency power in the final months of his presidency to reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration. In their letter to President Biden, the lawmakers praised the President’s efforts to create a fair and just criminal legal system by pardoning 11 people convicted of simple marijuana possession.

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The late Uzziah Shell, as shown in a photo shared by family members at Saturday's funeral.

The New Haven independent

Congressman James E. Clyburn

Grand’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Xmas

by ALLAN APPEL

Christmas wreathes and solar-powered holiday lights are coming to Grand Avenue, as a neighborhood crew worked early Friday morning to brighten up the busy business corridor as part of a neighborhood-wide cleanup effort.

Just as the sun rose and before kids and their families began to arrive at school, Erick Gonzalez, the manager of the Grand Avenue Special Services District (GASSD), supervised the installation of bands of light on the bare trees in front of the Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (F.A.M.E. School), the dual-language kindergarten-through-eighth grade school on the northeast corner of Grand and Blatchley.

Climbing up the ladders and threading the branches of the trees in front of the sidewalk-level classroom windows were Angel and Armondo Villa. They are two of five members of the same family who comprise the Fair Haven Landscaping Company.

The Villas were the successful responders to GASSD’s request for proposal for a company to do street cleaning, graffiti and broken glass removal, leaf raking, and some general maintenance, to help GASS Dtake the business district to a new level of safety and cleanliness and, this season, holiday cheer.

Over the years there have been other crews doing this job since GASSD was organized in 2009, but the Villa family business five cousins and other relatives operating out of the family home nearby on Peck Street is the first local business who are also local residents to be doing so.

And that has, by the accounts of several long-time neighbors and activists, made a very significant difference in both the quality and consistency of the service provided.

“It’s our community. We’re customers in these same stores,” said Armondo, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, who has lived and raised a family in Fair Haven over the last 27 years. He currently has kids attending the John S. Martinez School on James Street.

He and his crew are usually up by 5 a.m. They fortify themselves with hot chocolate or coffee that they buy from one of the nearby Grand Avenue businesses, most frequently the early-morning-open bakeries like La Tapit a or Apicella, and their two hours of cleaning rounds, five days a week, begins to roll at 6 a.m. every morning.

And, significantly, they often begin in front of the neighborhood’s schools for a very specific reason, said Gonzalez, who has been the lead manager at GASSD for the last year.

“It’s important,” said Gonzalez, who went to the F.A.M.E. school himself 25 years ago when it was known as the Columbus Family Academy, “that the kids see that someone is doing something about all this.”

Last season's leaves used to accumulate around the school; no longer.

By all this he meant the broken glass, litter, cigarette butts, needles, and nips as well as unwanted personal behaviors like drug use, public urination, and vagrancy. To that end an important focus of GASSD is to work with the police, parks and traffic, public works and other city departments and nonprofit agencies to get stuff done more expeditiously.

New brighter lights have been installed by the city, said Gonzalez, and a major grant will result in the beginning of a repaving and general redo of the streetscape all along Grand with better transportation infrastructure, including better bus stops and crosswalks and perhaps even a roundabout at Grand and Ferry, a badly congested intersection at the heart of the business district.

Gonzalez and city staffers approach people doing drugs or are vagrant in front of local stores and try to connect them with services. Many of these people, Gonzalez was at pains to point out, are not Fair Haveners and may be attracted to the avenue because of its past reputation And that reputation or branding of Fair Haven is also slated to change as part of the marketing agenda GASSD is building on the work of the Villa family, whose efforts are changing immediate visual impressions for not only business owners and residents, but also people in transit moving through the district.

A special services district is established by law in the city’s ordinances to permit business and property owners in commercial stretches to come together and by a majority vote agree to tax themselves to create revenue. Those funds are used to purchase services that augment what the city is doing to clean, secure, and market the business districts.

GASSD is the city’s fourth such district, after the business zones on Whalley Avenue, Chapel West, and the Town Green.

On Friday morning as Armondo and An-

gel were mounting the lights, the three other members of their crew were driving the GASSD’s small Toyota Tacoma truck up and down the avenue in a choreographed double sweep, which they learned from their training shadowing the Town Green’s “ambassadors” maintaining the business district downtown.

The Villas begin Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday mornings at 6 a.m. at Grand and Ferry and move west. They cover both sides of the street, and first remove only bulk trash and other large items. They drive in this first pass as far as the Mill River District on the avenue, about as far as where Grand begins to curves at Murphy Drive just before the bridge.

Then, on the return, the focus becomes picking up the cigarette butts, the nips, needles, any small littered items along the same route. Then they do the same double sweep heading east from Grand and Ferry to the Quinnipiac River Bridge and then back. All told, Gonzalez estimates the crew picks up eight to 12 large 30-gallon bags of trash every morning.

As we were talking in the chill morning air, a mom and her little kid were dropped off from by a black car in front of the school. They weren’t going to F.A.M.E. but to the little daycare directly across the street. Immediately Gonzalez pointed out how the child noticed the light band that Angel Villa had wound around one of the trees and he began to tug on the hem of his mother’s jacket so she might notice. “If you change the environment, the atmosphere, make the place clean and healthy and the kids and parents that drop them off see it,” he said, “that sends a strong message for the kids.”

Future plans for the GASSD include building on the work of the Villa family with a campaign to be launched in January next year called “Grand Haven/Clean Haven/Fair Haven.” It’s going to include pamphlets (currently being created at the Wilbur Cross High School print shop) and signs to be placed in the windows of businesses along the corridor.

That will be followed by intensive door knocking on individual residences to emphasize how important it is to maintain this new standard that seems to be evolving, and the kind of cultural change that attends to it.

Further on in the year, Gonzalez said, GASSD will be working to market Fair Haven as a destination to experience the culture, cuisine, and styles of the home countries of the increasingly wide range of immigrants Mexican, Peruvian, Dominican, Guatemalan, and, lately from the countries of the Middle East who are making Fair Haven their new home. Gonzalez said he also likes the idea of flags of these countries, or pennants representing the countries, hanging from the Grand Avenue’s lamp posts, along with the American flag.

Expect the continuing work of the Villa family to be a key part of all this.

The New Haven independent

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO Erick Gonzalez, with Angel and Armondo Villa: Bright lights, clean city.

Crew uses solar bands as there's no external access to electricity all along Grand Avenue

El Hibaro is the barbershop where Gonzalez went as a little kid. Its owner, Severino Burgos, is one of the anchoring business men on the board of the GASSD

Mayor Taps Yale Fundraiser, NHPS Parent For School Board

by MAYA MCFADDEN

The New Haven independent

Mayor Justin Elicker has selected a Yale fundraising coordinator and father of two New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students to be the next member of the Board of Education.

According to Friday’s publication of the agenda for Monday’s next Board of Alders meeting, Elicker has picked Daniel Juárez to replace Yesenia Rivera on the school board.

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Juárez’s selection comes less than a week after Rivera — who has spent the past five years on the Board of Education, including the last four as president — publicly announced that she would not be returning to the school board upon the expiration of her term at the end of December.

Juárez’s proposed appointment now heads to the Board of Alders for review. If he is approved, he would serve on the Board of Education through Dec. 31, 2028.

According to Juárez’s Board of Education application, he lives in Beaver Hills, and holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish from Bethel University and a master’s degree in vocal performance from the Yale School of Music.

Juárez currently works as a program coordinator in the corporate strategy and engagement office for Yale Ventures, a Yale division that “seeks to foster and accelerate a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem” among Yale faculty and students.

Juárez wrote in his resume that, in his current job, he provides “advanced analysis and support for fundraising directors and gift officers in all aspects of prospect management, including drafting written materials, performing research projects, and planning and staffing special events for a fundraising program serving Yale’s most generous alumni and friends.”

Reached for comment on Friday, Elicker told the Independent, “Daniel will be a great addition to the board. He’s been involved in the past as a member of the

City Wide Parent Team, is the father of two New Haven Public School students and shows a true interest in making the best decisions for our kids.”

In his application, Juárez wrote that he has two sons who are currently NHPS students, and he has 12 years of navigating the public school district. He wrote that, as a parent, he believes he would be able to advocate for students and families.

He also wrote that he’s served on “school PTOs, SPMTs, and district-level committees in the NHPSsystem. I am aware of some of the challenges school staff, teachers, school administrators, and the Superintendent of Schools and district staff contend with in their efforts to serve our city’s students.”

Juárez continued, “Third, I believe in

public education and I believe New Haven has the resources to can create a high-achieving school district that will better serve its students. I am convinced that the key to the success of NHPS will be collaboration and communication. When the BOE and Superintendent set measurable goals for improvement, work together collegially and collaboratively to honestly evaluate the progress toward those goals, and adjust its plans based on those honest evaluations, I believe our schools will improve and our students will benefit.”

If confirmed, Juárez would be one of seven voting members on the Board of Education, alongside the mayor, four mayoral appointees, and two elected members.

YALE WEBSITE School board nominee Daniel Juárez: "I believe that as a parent, I would be able to advocate for students and families."

Remembering Sandy Hook 12 Years Later

by Brian Scott-Smith

Connecticut lawmakers joined survivors and family members of gun violence victims Thursday at the nation’s Capitol to mark the 12th anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

The incident, which took place on Dec. 14, 2012, was perpetrated by a 20-year-old man who killed his mother at home before going to Sandy Hook Elementary where he then killed 20 first graders and six educators.

Thursday’s event followed the annual vigil held Wednesday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington to honor the American victims and survivors of gun violence since December 2012.

The event coincided with an announcement by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong of a new multi-state partnership including Connecticut and the AGs of 16 other states to hold “irresponsible firearms industry members accountable for their devastating impact on gun violence through civil enforcement of state laws.”

The coalition is the first of its kind, according to Tong’s office.

“We are launching a groundbreaking multistate campaign to step up our enforcement and harness the power of our civil statutes to hold bad actors in the firearms industry accountable for dangerous misconduct,” Tong said in a statement. “I’m committed to using every ounce of my authority to keep Connecticut families safe.”

The states joining the coalition share the goal of targeting firearms manufacturers, distributors, and sellers for enforcement when their business practices result in unlawful sales, gun trafficking, and other outcomes that put lives at risk.

US Sen. Chris Murphy, who has been a vocal advocate for gun safety since the Sandy Hook shootings, delivered remarks on the US Senate floor Thursday and also spoke at the earlier press event.

“ This is always a heavy day, but a very important day. I want to thank the team that puts this week together,” Murphy said.

“But really, I want to thank all of the mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who are standing up here who have found a way to both deal and process with this immense grief that none of us who serve in elected positions can ever understand and do it.”

Murphy said it was hard for those affected to think any progress has been made,

not only through the grief of their own losses but recently with the electoral loss and comments that had been made by both the President Elect and the Vice President Elect about gun violence and shootings in the nation.

But he said progress has been made.

“Just over two years ago, we, for the first time, all of us collectively broke 30 years of inaction in Congress. And we passed the first significant anti-gun violence bill in 30 years in this Congress, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, right? Now that was a victory to celebrate on that day, but it wouldn’t have mattered,” Murphy said.

“If the promise we made didn’t come true. We shouldn’t be shy about celebrating that

since we passed the bipartisan safer communities act, gun murders have fallen by 20 percent in this country.”

During the press event, each Connecticut lawmaker recommitted themselves to honoring the memories of those lost and to continue the fight to bring about gun safety reform.

Survivors and victims’ family members told their personal stories of loss from a mother from Arizona whose son was killed by an unintentional gunshot at a friend’s sleepover to a women from Mexico who told the story of how her young son was killed in Mexico by guns that had been illegally brought into her country from the US.

Newtown High School student Cali Taylor talks about growing up with the fear of an armed intruder entering her school on Thursday in Washington, DC, during a news conference marking the 12th anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Credit: Screengrab / Sen. Blumenthal's Facebook page Cali Taylor, who was four at the time of the of the Sandy Hook shootings, told the story of how her mother, a second-grade teacher at Sandy Hook, managed to walk out of the school on the day of the shooting with her students. But she added, “Make no mistake, their lives were changed forever.”

Taylor recalled as she went through school life she was always afraid that someone was going to climb in through a window and harm her.

“ Lockdown drills and school not being a place of safety is all my generation’s ever known,” she said “This is not the way it should be. We have the power to change this for our future generations and should pour our energy into making not only schools but our communities safe places free from gun violence. I want to live in a society that places a higher value on children than guns. I stand with other students from Newtown and beyond to urge Congress to make passing lifesaving gun bills a priority so that guns are no longer the number one killer of children and teens in America.

.

“ In these 12 years, a whole new generation has come of age. The young people who were at Sandy Hook, four years old, are able to vote. They are going to make a difference. A whole new generation is there to fight gun violence,” Blumenthal said.

Republicans Announce Committee Leadership Assignments for Upcoming Session

by Jamil Ragland

Republican leaders in the House and Senate announced the ranking member assignments for the joint committees in the Connecticut General Assembly for the upcoming legislative session.

The new session will see two new committees, according to news releases and staffers. House Speaker Matt Ritter announced last week that the Government Administration and Elections Committee was to remain, but some of its duties will move into a new Government Oversight Committee. Staffers said the GAE may see a name change as well, but that would be decided during negotiations of the joint rules.

In a release, Ritter’s office said the change will allow Rep. Matt

Blumenthal to continue his focus on improving access to voting and modernizing the state’s election policies, while Rep. Lucy Dathan, who has experience as an auditor and CFO, will bring relevant knowledge and expertise to the new oversight committee.

However, it’s not yet clear that all of the legislative caucuses are on board with those changes. While the House Republican caucus has named a ranking member for the new Government Oversight committee, there was no mention of a Senate counterpart in the list provided to CTNewsJunkie.

The other new committee will be a select committee on special education. Neither the House nor Senate Republicans has named ranking members for the new select committee on special education.

US Sen. Richard Blumenthal concluded the event

File photo: House Speaker Matt Ritter addresses the chamber on the last night of the 2023 session Credit: Hugh McQuaid / File Photo / CTNewsJunkie

The New Haven independent

Steel Drums Play In The Holiday Season

Lucy Gellman

Patricia Daniel stood at her bass drum, letting the beginning of "Black Cake & Sorrel" wash over her. In the back row, Michael Gittens and Lawrence Downs laid down a heartbeat, the percussion so consistent it could have gone right through the floorboards. She leaned forward, watching conductor Kenneth Joseph’s hands glide through the air. Then on a downbeat, she joined in, hitting the drum with a sharp, succinct stroke that took flight.

Saturday, musicians conjured the holiday spirit—and a rich tradition of resistance—at the Dixwell Community Q House, as the St. Luke's Steel Band celebrated its 25th year in existence and the Q House's 100th anniversary on Dixwell Avenue. In a season when joy has sometimes felt hard-fought and harder-won, band members harnessed the power, resonance and history of steel pan to turn a Dixwell gymnasium into a bright and merry concert hall.

The band will perform once more on Saturday, in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra's Holiday Extravaganza, and again next month in an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day concert with Music Haven. More information is available here.

"It's amazing, when you think about steel pan," said director Kenneth Joseph, who has played steel pan since the 1990s and directed the band at St. Luke's since 2010. "At the end of the day for us, having the instrument is the bridge between humanity."

That bridge begins and ends with the instrument itself. Steel pan—like the barril in bomba, or the atabaque in capoeira—is an instrument bound to resistance, whose very sound is a call to push back against the long violence of colonialism. In the first half of the twentieth century, the instrument grew out of an oppressive colonial government in Trinidad and Tobago, where free, formerly enslaved Black people were largely limited in what percussion instruments they could play.

In the 1930s—three decades before formal independence from the British crown—people began using the concave metal bases of oil drums to create percussive sound. What began out of necessity stuck: steel pans are now a widely used and celebrated art form across the globe, including the renowned annual Panorama in nearby Brooklyn.

In New Haven, the band has brought that joyful sound to Whalley Avenue since 1999, when musician and composer Debby Teason founded the group (Teason still conducts the church’s liturgical band). At the time, a steel band had just played at the church, and parishioners—many of whom hail from the West Indies—were so excited that they pushed for a band. When Rev. Victor Rogers acquired several used steel drums through a gift to the church, he reached out to Teason, who was teaching steel pan at Neighborhood Music School.

“We had no idea what we were doing, but everybody loved it, and we slowly built a repertoire, ” Teason recalled in a

phone call Thursday. After a Christmas Eve calypso debut in 1999, demand for the band was so high that Teason had to hold three back-to-back rehearsals per week. Then citywide organizers started calling the church for performances.

“That was never what we expected, but who could say no?” she said, crediting the late Ed Mapp for serving as both the band’s business manager and its sort of father figure (she was, of course, the mom).

“There were lots of adventures, lots of ending up in places that we didn’t expect. It was really fun and very difficult.”

When Joseph came to New Haven from earning a graduate degree in Illinois, Teason already knew to expect him, thanks to a tipoff from her colleague and pan player Liam Teague. As he got settled teaching music at Highville Charter School, it made sense to her that he would take over the band.

“I wanted somebody from the culture to be directing it,” she said. She remained in the group for several years, and then left when other parts of her life took over. To this day, “the opportunity to make that band and make that relationship with St. Luke’s Church is probably the thing in my life I am most grateful for, in terms of opportunities.”

For the last two and a half decades, it has grown into a multi-generational steel pan orchestra, with performances at Caribbean festivals, holiday concerts, cross-cultural collaborations and summer camps designed for young musicians who are just starting to learn. When the group gathers to rehearse each week, Joseph said, his biggest goal is still for musicians to enjoy the instrument and spend time understanding each other and their shared humanity through the music.

While he hails from Trinidad, he added, anyone can join the band: members include fellow immigrants from the West Indies and wider Caribbean, as well as lifelong New Haveners who are both white and Black.

Saturday, that understanding was on full display. Even before the band began to play, Logan Foreman took a moment to steady his nerves, hands hovering above his tenor pan. Raised in New Haven, Foreman started playing the pan when he was in fifth grade, and Joseph became a music teacher at Highville Charter School. Joseph taught his students the history, and invited them to become a part of the musical family at St. Luke's.

The rest was history, Foreman remembered. For years, he balanced steel pan practice with school and sports, sticking with pan because he loved the sound and the camaraderie. After a short time away from the group during college, he was thrilled—if also a little nervous—to return Saturday. "It's just great to be back," he said. It's doubly special this year: his cousins, Chase and Blake Adorno, are also members of the band. At 13, Blake is the youngest member.

Nearby, partners Lloyd and Patricia Daniel shared in the evening’s growing excitement. As immigrants from Antigua

and Barbuda—Patricia came first, in 1982, and then Lloyd followed a few years later—both have played in the group since its early days in 1999. For Patricia, it was a breath of fresh air: she grew up in an environment where women weren't allowed to play steel pan. So when she saw that the church was starting a band, she was one of the first people to add her name to a signup sheet.

"As I said, I'm glad to be doing it," she said. "I'll play until I can't do it anymore."

It was easy to see why. From where he stood among musicians, Joseph brought the group to attention, ushering in an undulating, buoyant take on "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." In the first two rows, the sound rang the gymnasium into being, as if the drums were bells, and the room a giant, collective set of lungs. From the first seats to the bleachers, a full house listened, a few people bobbing along.

Joseph never stood still for more than a moment, smiling at Foreman for a second before whirling around to direct the guitar pans and percussion section behind him. He swayed, and the notes seemed to bounce, their edges warm and tinkling. Somewhere on the left side, the bass pans waltzed over the ground, the sound floating as one drum box-stepped in time with another.

So too in “This Christmas,” played with a kind of sparkle that made it hard not to move to the sound. As tenor pan danced its way in, Joseph let his gaze travel between sections, cuing in musicians with a nod here, a sweep of his hand there. On the makeshift stage, they were deep in it, filling the room with cheer as they spun Donny Hathaway into percussion and steel. Blake Adorno, who had admitted he was nervous before the performance, beamed with the sound, swaying as his mallets came down and the At other moments, musicians slowed it down, the music becoming measured and steady enough to make the room feel more like church. In an arrangement of Buddy Greene's "Mary Did You Know," musicians shrugged off the too-saccharine, oversimplified schmaltz of the song for something genuinely reverent, the pans played with a touch so delicate it made them whisper. Minutes earlier, a version of “Give Love On Christmas Day” breathed a sort of momentary calm into the space, a stillness that was fleeting and delicious all the same.

"Tonight really illustrates what the Q House is all about," said Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, who helped get the renovated Q House over the finish line, and has more recently co-chaired a Q House Centennial Committee, during a short pause in the set. "This is for everyone across this city. We have to each one, reach one, teach one."

Nowhere was that enthusiasm clearer than in the band's final performance of the

Lucy Gellman Photos. Lisa Yarbor is pictured at the bass pan at the bottom.

The New Haven independent

Union Steps Up Contract Food Fight

by MAYA MCFADDEN

Amid contract negotiations, dozens of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) cafeteria staffers called on the school district to pay them livable wages so they can keep their own stomachs full as they work to feed students.

More than 60 members of Unite Here Local 217’s hospitality workers union, which represents NHPS food workers, turned out on Monday to the district’s regular Board of Education meeting held at John Martinez School.

Local 217 Secretary/Treasurer Joshua Stanley testified during the board meeting that contract negotiations for food service employees began in April of this year. The previous four-year contract expired at the end of June.

Stanley who also led a different group of Local 217 workers, at the Omni Hotel, on a strike earlier this year said that union members are struggling because their paychecks are covering less and less of their weekly bills, as the cost of living has increased.

According to the NHPS job postings site, a food services general worker earns a starting wage of $21.52 per hour. The now-expired contract says that other Local 217-represented lead cooks earn between $25.06 and $27.99 an hour.

Local 217 has said that on average, its cafeteria workers make $18,060 per year.

At Monday’s meeting, union members joined each other in chants and most wore matching red Local 217 shirts. In testimony after testimony, those school cafeteria staffers urged the board to include livable wages in their next contract.

Testifiers reminded the board that food service staffers are critical to providing NHPS students with daily meals. 75 percent of those students come from from economically disadvantaged families, Stanley noted, and many rely on having consistent access to meals.

“What message does it send to our children when they see that workers at their schools, who may remind them of their own families, have only become poorer over the past few years?” Stanley asked. “What future does this imply for the children of economically disadvantaged families when they see these workers left behind? And what tolerance does it suggest that the schools leadership has growing inequality and rising poverty?”

Jasanea Hernandez has been a school district food staffer for the past 20

years. She urged NHPS leaders to prioritize settling their contract fairly because she and her colleagues “are not just employees but neighbors, friends, and family.”

A fair contract would support a district-wide message that NHPS values all of the people who serve its children daily and want to make sure they’re respected, she said.

“We share the same goals to see our children thrive in an environment that fosters growth, learning, and opportunity. However, to achieve that goal we need your support and understanding. The food service workers in New Haven are committed individuals who work tirelessly to ensure that every student has access to healthy and appetizing meals, yet we are facing challenges that can no longer be ignored,” Hernandez said.

“A fair contract will not only empower us as employees, but it will also send a powerful message to our children about the value of hard work and dedication.”

One staffer, Hailey, said that she’s worked at Ross Woodward School for 14 years, but lately she’s been working a total of three jobs to make ends meet. From Monday to Friday, Hailey said she works from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., all while having Lupus and oftentimes getting swollen legs on the job.

“I love my job feeding the kids. I know kids need full bellies to be able to focus in school. It makes me happy to do it with pride,” Hailey said. “But it’s very very hard. We need that contract please.”

Another staffer, Shelley, has worked for NHPS for the past nine years and is currently at King Robinson School. She said she loves her job because she knows the importance of a full stomach for a student’s ability to learn. She said she isn’t able to provide for her family in the same way, and that she struggles to pay her daughter’s Gateway Community College tuition.

District Spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent Monday evening that the district’s goal is to come out of the negotiation process with a “fair” contract.

Several testimonies later, after Board of Education President Yesenia Rivera had issued reminders for the group to remain orderly or else she would end the public comment portion of the meeting, Local 217 members left the John Martinez cafeteria where the board meeting was being held while chanting, “You want order, we want to eat!”

The New Haven independent

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTOS

Jasanea Hernandez (left): A fair contract will "send a powerful message to our children about the value of hard work and dedication."

Local 217's Josh Stanley: "What message does it send to our children?"

Local 217 in the house: "You want order, we want to eat!"

Local 217.

A Corner For Reverend Grubbs

Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

A longtime anti-poverty crusader and champion of mothers, children, and the right to safe and affordable housing is getting her due in a neighborhood that she helped nurture for three and a half decades—even if it's not over the finish line quite yet.

That crusader is Rev. Bonita Grubbs, who led Christian Community Action (CCA) for 35 years before her retirement last year. One year after stepping down, she is on track to have a corner renamed in her honor in the city's Hill neighborhood, at the southeast corner of Davenport Avenue and Ward Street. Last Thursday night, the New Haven Board of Alders' City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) committee voted favorably on the measure, which will now go back to the full Board of Alders for a vote.

It is expected to pass; Grubbs is deeply and universally beloved in the city and the state, where her footprint radiates from the Hill to Newhallville to Hartford and back.

"Reverend Grubbs has been the voice of hope and an instrument of good trouble," said Shellina Toure, director of housing and resident service at CCA. "No doubt through Reverend Grubbs' work, her staff, and programs, countless lives have been made better."

Grubbs, who grew up in Hartford and began her tenure at CCA in 1988, has made that advocacy and compassion a core part of her life and work in New Haven. After moving to the Elm City for her academic studies—she holds degrees from both the Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of Public Health—she chose to stay, steadily growing CCA's footprint in the community. On Davenport Avenue, she oversaw the growth and flourishing of the Hillside Family Shelter, which provides emergency housing to families that find themselves homeless, including mothers and children fleeing domestic violence.

The longer she stayed at CCA, the deeper her reach became. In 1993, Rev. Grubbs founded Mothers and Others for Justice, which has become a locomotive for grassroots change and advocacy in the city and the state. She expanded CCA's capacity for emergency food, housing, and utilities, adding the ARISE (Accessing Resources for Independence, Skill-Building and Employment) Center to the organization's work in 2015. Two years before her retirement in 2022, she cut the ribbon on the New H.O.P.E (Higher Opportunities, Purpose, and Expectations) transitional housing program, a collaboration with the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH).

As she led, she brought her expertise in health and housing—and making good trouble—to everything she did. She pushed for dialogue and action over partisan politics and agendas. She summoned beauty in the midst of traumatic and transitional life moments, from public art in the Hill to a playground at New

H.O.P.E., erected in memory of the late Kathy Carroll. She championed interfaith bridge-building and spoke passionately on behalf of fellow community members, including Muslim neighbors at the Diyanet Mosque of New Haven after alleged arson damaged significant portions of the building.

She has done it all with a kind of quiet, behind-the-scenes grace, eschewing the spotlight where and when she could. And yet, her name has been spoken—often with reverence—on city buses and frantic 2-1-1 phone calls, in houses of worship and houses that provide a safe haven to families, in legislative chambers from City Hall to the State Capitol in Hartford. And it was Thursday night, as both alders and members of the public took a moment to recognize the vast imprint that she has had on New Haven.

Hill Alder Angel Hubbard, who wrote a letter in support of the naming, cheered on the CSEP committee during the public testimony portion of the night. Calling Grubbs "a great pillar of our community," Hubbard recognized her work in the neighborhood and New Haven more broadly, suggesting that a corner was the least the city could do to recognize one of its greatest advocates.

"If it could be part of the state, it would be that," she said with a soft, warm smile. As a representative of the Hill—before she was an alder, she was a Democratic Party ward co-chair—she's spent years directing people to CCA when they ask for social service providers.

"That was easy!" she later said of writing a letter of support. "I feel like something like this should have been done for her a long time ago."

CSEP Committee members echoed that feeling. Fellow Hill Alder Kampton Singh, who has seen the impact of CCA on the neighborhood, said he's excited to see the corner named in Grubbs' honor. After several years sitting on CSEP, "I can truly say that this is one street ... that deserves the name, the corner."

"I'll just say that Reverend Bonita Grubbs has been a presence even in this room, she's come before the Board of Alders a few times," said CSEP Chair and East Rock Alder Anna Festa. "She's an amazing community activist. I know she retired, but I'm not sure how much of a retirement she'll have because she's so embedded in the community ... this is very well deserved."

"I've had the privilege of knowing and working with Rev. Grubbs for many years and she is truly an extraordinary human being," added Westville Alder Amy Marx. "She is a New Haven treasure and, I think, a role model and a hero to many of us. She is a fierce advocate with an unbreakable spirit, combined with an unbelievable warmth, kindness, and compassion, she is extraordinary."

The proposed renaming will now go on to the city’s full Board of Alders, which next meets Dec. 16 in the aldermanic chambers at New Haven City Hall.

Rev. Bonita Grubbs speaking at a vigil for the Diyanet Mosque in 2019, after alleged arson destroyed part of the building during Ramadan. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

Katherine Tombaugh, artist Kwadwo Adae, Rev. Bonita Grubbs (who was then still leading CCA), and Kwasi Adae at the 2022 unveiling of a mural at the Hillside Family Shelter. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

Hubbard and Toure at the CSEP meeting last week. Lucy Gellman Photo.

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

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Downtown Cuban Restaurant To Close

by DAVID SEPULVEDA

After more than 20 years of serving Cuban cuisine and culture on the corner of High and Crown Streets, Soul de Cuba will be offering only catering and take out services for the next few days before going dark on Dec. 22.

At last call on Sunday night, the restaurant’s founder and owner, Jesus Puerto, said the reasons for the closure had to do with financial pressures growing out of the pandemic era and changing realities of business at the street level.

Sounding resolute, Puerto said the restaurant’s mission had been accomplished after two decades of providing the Guanabacoa Cuban and Tampa (Florida) based renditions of Afro Cuban cuisine in an environment of culture, history and music.

The restaurant’s dining area was known for its well-curated selection of visual art and photographs highlighting Cuban people and images of cultural groups and events. The restaurant dining area often doubled as an art gallery with changing exhibits that provided opportunities for artists and for restaurant goers to experience the establishment’s unique food offerings and cultural vibe, or, as the line

printed on the restaurant’s windows fronting Crown Street note, ”Cuban cuisine and more.”

Its presence on the high-visibility corner not only presaged the well-regarded downtown food district, but helped catalyze it.

Friends and family, please be informed that this Sunday will be the last day of dining service for Soul de Cuba Cafe in New Haven, CT.

For over 20 years we have known ourselves to be blessed for having been given the opportunity preserve and protect the noble and rich traditions of the Afro-Cubans of Tampa, Florida and Guanabacoa, Cuba by showcasing Cuban food art, music on the High and Crown corner of downtown New Haven.

We will cease operations with sincerest gratitude and appreciation for all the love and support provided by members of the greater New Haven and Yale University community over the past 20 years. Thank you all so much for helping to share this vision with us and co- manifest it into reality.

Sunday December 15 at 9 PM the dining room will close and we will continue operating catering and takeout service until December 22.

Elicker Files For Reelection

by THOMAS BREEN

Mayor Justin Elicker quietly kicked off the 2025 race for mayor on Tuesday by officially filing to run for a fourth twoyear term in office.

Elicker, 49, submitted his mayoral campaign paperwork to the city clerk’s office on Tuesday barely 13 months after the Democrat finished running his most recent race for New Haven’s top elected office in November 2023.

He is the first candidate so far to file to run for mayor in 2025. A total of five people ran for mayor in the city’s 2023 municipal elections. The only other Democrat besides Elicker to get his name on last year’s primary ballot, Liam Brennan, is currently serving in Elicker’s City Hall as the head of the Livable City Initiative (LCI).

The pace of municipal elections is set to slow down significantly several years from now, thanks to voters’ approval of four-year terms for mayor and alders as part of last year’s charter revisions.

However, those four-year terms won’t take effect until the 2027 municipal elections; that means that, whoever wins the 2025 mayoral and aldermanic races will serve two-year terms.

A former East Rock/Cedar Hill alder and community gardens nonprofit leader, Elicker first took office in 2020 after defeating incumbent Mayor Toni Harp in both a Democratic primary and the general election.

He told the Independent on Tuesday that, just like during his 2013, 2019, 2021, and 2023 mayoral campaigns, he plans to participate next year in the city’s clean-money Democracy Fund.

Unlike in previous years, Elicker did not invite the press on Tuesday to document his campaign paperwork filing, which he has used in the past as an opportunity to field questions about his time in office to date and his priorities if reelected. “I just wanted to file” and continue on with the work of being mayor and serving the city, he said during a followup phone interview.

He told the Independent that he’s running for a fourth two-year term to “continue the momentum” from his first five years in office to date.

“Of course we have our challenges, but overall we’re going in a really positive direction,” he said.

Elicker pointed to accomplishments and priorities around housing, public safety, and education when explaining his run for another two years in the job.

He said that the city has seen 2,000 new or renovated housing units come online in the past five years, “with 40 percent affordable.” He said another 3,500 units are in the pipeline and that’s not even counting the 1,000 to 2,500 new residential units that could be included in the new Union Square / Church Street South redevelopment. He also credited the Fair Rent Commission and LCI for stepping up work on landlord accountability during

Holiday Season

Nowhere was that enthusiasm clearer than in the band's final performance of the night, a mix of carols that blended one into the next until the house was on its feet. No sooner had the soulful strains of "Angels We Have Heard On High" rung out—Joseph encouraged attendees to sing along—than people sat up a little straighter, some holding their programs, squeezed in closer to the people they’d come with, and started in on the first long chorus of Glo-ooooo-ooooo-ooooo-ria, in excelsis Deo!

If the room had started to loosen up somewhere around Glenn Miller's "In The Mood," it had fully exhaled by “Black Cake & Sorrel,” a Christmas melody that the group Da Spirits first released in 2007. Named after the traditional, beloved fruit cake and sorrel drink eaten across the West Indies at the holidays, the song became an invitation to dance, from listeners still crawling through the room to those who now need mobility aids to walk.

On one side of the gym, several generations of New Haveners jammed out to the song, letting themselves groove to the thumping, steady percussion that runs through it. On the other, a few attendees whipped out their phones and cameras to record. In the center, dozens waved their arms, tapped along with their feet, and stood from their seats to dance.

“It feels great” Lloyd Daniel had said earlier in the evening, and it was easy to see why as he danced along to the beat. “The camaraderie is very wonderful.”

With the first quarter of a century behind them, Joseph said, the band is already focusing on—and playing into—its future. When the church started a steel band in 1999, it did so with a handful of used drums. Twenty-five years later, Joseph has finally been able to buy new instruments with funding from the state's "Good To Great" grant program.

his tenure in office.

In regards to public safety, Elicker said his administration has invested in “increased supports for young people” as well as in violence intervention programs, street outreach workers, and improved police technology from surveillance cameras to stop sticks. He pointed to task forces on violent crime and stolen cars

for helping with the city’s “efforts around accountability” and “to make sure, when there is violence, we get people off the street.”

“Overall, numbers are going down, even though we have continuing challenges,” he said.

As for schools, Elicker celebrated Supt.

That money, a $49,420 infusion that came through last year, is enough to get 16 new instruments. Joseph credited Mittco (Musical Instruments of Trinidad and Tobago Company Limited), a steel pan distributor that operates out of Trinidad and Tobago, with creating the pans specifically for the group. It's a point of personal pride too: he is Trinidadian himself, and began studying the steel pan there in the 1990s. By the time he came to the U.S. to pursue music education, he was well on his way to becoming a virtuoso. Saturday, he savored the moment. For him, pan has long been an expression of exuberance, particularly during the holiday season. While the performance normally takes place at St. Luke’s Whalley Avenue home, he was glad to partner with the Q House to round out a year of centennial celebrations, he said. He praised Yakeita Robinson, chief of staff at LEAP, for helping the band feel welcomed in the space.

“Tonight is going to be a lot of fun,” he’d said shortly before the show, and the words remained in the air long after the final number had ended. “It’s meant for them [musicians] to really just enjoy themselves.”

DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO

At last call at Soul De Cuba, with Frank Brady and Tea Montgomery.

THOMAS BREEN PHOTO

Mayor Elicker (center) at Monday's ribbon cutting for the Coliseum redevelopment: "On the housing front, we've made a ton of progress."

The New Haven independent

The New Haven independent

HIV/AIDS Program Mistake, Change Spark Pushback

by THOMAS BREEN

More than 20 representatives from nonprofits that help people living with HIV/ AIDS sent a letter to the mayor criticizing the city for changing how it handles a federal grant program and warning the Elicker administration against “dismantling” a system of care they say works just fine.

The Health Department has responded by correcting an error regarding who is eligible to apply for these funds, and by arguing that centralizing oversight with city government is necessary to bring this program into compliance with federal requirements.

That’s the latest with the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part A, a tranche of federal funds that the city’s Health Department applies for every couple years, and then distributes through grants to nonprofits scattered throughout New Haven and Fairfield counties.

The program allows local government recipients to distribute those funds to support a mix of “core medical services” like hospice, home health care, mental health services, and AIDS pharmaceutical assistance and “support services” like child care, housing, and medical transport for people living with HIV/AIDS. The city’s most recent fiscal year allocation covers the period March 1, 2025 through Feb. 29, 2028, and totals just over $5.4 million.

Last Wednesday, APNH Executive Director Chris Cole and Yale School of Medicine HIV/AIDS Care Program Director Merceditas Villanueva led the way in penning a press release and a letter to Mayor Justin Elicker, decrying what they feared would be a harmful shakeup to how the Health Department handles Ryan White Part A funds.

The letter was signed by a total of 21 people who work for regional HIV/AIDS healthcare nonprofits, including representatives from Yale New Haven Health, Anchor Health, Leeway, Family Centers, and Staywell Health Center.

The group focused their concerns on two potential local grant-program changes.

The first and most prominent concern involved who is eligible to apply for these funds. The Health Department has attributed confusion over this issue to an administrative mistake that it has subsequently corrected.

The second concern involved the city’s decision to scrap the existing “regional lead” structure by which the city allows grant recipients to subcontract with “peer” nonprofits. The Health Department has clarified that it is moving ahead with this change, in response to a 2022 set of federal recommendations about how New Haven can improve its oversight of this program.

Who Exactly Can Apply?

According to nonprofit groups’ press release, a Dec. 2 request for proposals

(RFP) posted by the Health Department to the city’s procurement portal indicated that only federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and community health centers (CHCs) could apply.

Cole told the Independent that that would immediately box out 19 of the 22 organizations that currently receive Ryan White Part A funds through New Haven city government, including APNH, the state’s oldest community-based services organization for people living with HIV/ AIDS.

“This decision will seriously impact the health of our clients who depend on our networks for critical health issues,” the group’s letter to the mayor reads. “These clients who are among the most vulnerable among us … Without Ryan White services, many would not be able to access life-saving treatment that affects their health and that of the larger community.”

“The well-established relationships between clients and providers will be disrupted, leaving the most vulnerable patients with fewer choices of where, and from whom, they receive care,” Joseph Canarie, the chief medical officer at Anchor Health, is quoted as saying in that same press release.

The Health Department wound up pulling that RFP on Dec. 5. In an informational Zoom session with relevant nonprofits on Dec. 11, and in a set of comments provided to the Independent for this story, city Health Director Maritza Bond made clear that this was a mistake and that Ryan White Part A funds are not restricted to just FQHCs and CHCs.

“The initial RFP was withdrawn due to an oversight that suggested only FQHC and CHCs should apply – this was an oversight that we have corrected and that was also clarified in the information session with service providers that we had last week,” Bond said. “The revised RFP, which notes all non-profit service providers can apply individually or with subcontractors, is now live on the City’s procurement website.”

Indeed, the new RFP, posted on Dec. 12, describes eligible applicants as including but not limited to “community-based organizations, hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs), and other non-profit entities located within the two-county Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA), particularly in cities or neighborhoods with the highest rates of HIV.”

John Hamilton, who leads the Bridgeport-based Liberation Programs, praised Bond for retracting the “erroneous” RFP. He said that the health director “clarified the confusion out of the gate” with last week’s info session.

Hamilton’s nonprofit works with individuals from Greenwich to Bridgeport who are living with HIV/AIDS and struggling with substance use disorder. His organization currently receives Ryan White Part A funds through New Haven, and was one of the 21 signatories to the Dec. 11 letter to the mayor protesting the potential restriction of funds to just FQHCs and CHCs.

But on Monday, he stressed that this is

ed to service providers about the error in the RFP. He added that “a vast majority” of the 140 people who attended the info session “expressed positive feedback on the proposed changes to the program” and thanked the health director for her transparency.)

Villanueva added in a separate email comment that it is “unclear’ whether or not the Health Department plans to direct these funds to FQHCs and CHCs, even though the new RFP expanded eligibility. Asked if that is indeed the Health Department’s intention, Bond replied that her agency encourages all nonprofits that meet the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) requirements to apply for this funding. “Serving people living with HIV/AIDS with the highest quality care is our number one priority and we will select entities that best demonstrate this standard whether they are a FQHC, a CHC or another direct service organization,” she said.

So Long, Regional Leads

While the Health Department has walked back as a mistake the initial indication that this funding will be made available to a much smaller group of organizations, Bond’s agency has confirmed it plans to scrap a different part of how New Haven has historically administered Ryan White Part A funds.

no longer a concern of his.

Cole and Villanueva remain skeptical.

Cole said he believes that the Health Department’s intention under Bond’s leadership is still to direct these Ryan White Part A funds towards FQHCs and CHCs. That move would effectively cut funding for community-based organizations like his that have been building trust with clients for decades.

Cole told the Independent that Ryan White Part A funding currently makes up $700,000 out of APNH’s $3 million budget. He said he has put on notice six fulltime staffers and three contracted staffers, as he cannot guarantee that funding for their jobs will be in place come March 1. “We will lose our behavioral health program, the bulk of which is funded by Part A,” he said. “We will completely lose our care and cuisine home meals delivery program, which have been in effect for 38 years. We will have our case management staff reduced by half. That’s a significant impact on our organization.”

He also said that the only reason the Health Department held its Dec. 11 info session was because he and his nonprofit leader colleagues spoke out with such force about their concerns with changes to the Ryan White Part A program.

(Update: City spokesperson Lenny Speiller said on Tuesday that this isn’t true. He noted that the group’s press release was circulated the morning of Dec. 11, the same day of the info session. He also said that, prior to the info session, the Health Department had communicat-

That is, the Health Department plans to get rid of the current “regional lead” structure. That setup saw the city designate one nonprofit grant recipient in each of the five geographical areas covered by this program Greater New Haven, Greater Waterbury, Greater Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford, and Greater Danbury as a main point of contact allowed to subcontract with other relevant nonprofits.

Cole told the Independent that this regional lead structure has been in place for over 14 years. “This decision effectively dismantles an established, well-coordinated and effective system of care and service delivery that has been serving people living with HIV in New Haven and Fairfield Counties for decades,” he’s quoted as saying in the Dec. 11 press release.

Cole and Villanueva defended that setup in followup interviews with the Independent by arguing that, essentially, it isn’t broken, so no need to fix it.

As Villanueva put it: “The Lead model had many strengths and dismantling a system that existed for 15 years with excellent public health outcomes without a stated transition plan and without stakeholder input is concerning.”

Bond explained this proposed change by pointing to a March 2022 virtual site visit by HRSA that found holes in how the city monitors subcontracts of Ryan White Part A grants.

“In this upcoming grant funding cycle, we have proposed changes to improve how the program is administered in order to comply with federal guidelines, ensure greater transparency and fiscal accountCon’t on page 18

The New Haven independent

NORA GRACE-FLOOD FILE PHOTO Health Director Bond: RFP error corrected.

"Macbeth In Stride" Kills It At The Yale Rep

Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

Lady Macbeth is finally Queen—and her first order of the day is taking it to church. To her right, drummer Barbara “MD” Duncan cues in the praise break, with hammering, vibrant percussion that spills from the stage to the audience. Bass and guitar creep in, the sound big and bright enough to reach the rafters. Quick footfalls enter the fray, as if the holy spirit is moving through the space.

She turns toward the audience, just getting started. Three witches dance with abandon, the leather fringe of their skirts flying. Rose petals, soft and trampled underfoot, are momentarily forgotten. Incense still hangs low in the air. This is Sunday service. This is Shakespeare. This is reclamation, the way it was always meant to feel.

Worship, literary critique, rite and ritual all meet Shakespeare in Whitney White’s Macbeth In Stride, running at the Yale Repertory Theatre through Dec. 14. A fierce, fast-paced and mellifluous retelling of Macbeth, it reimagines the play from Lady Macbeth’s point of view, giving her the voice that the playwright never did.

In so doing, White subverts, challenges, and plays with dominant narrative, writing a love letter to Black women (and queer women, and women of color, and just women) that is also somehow a love letter to the Bard.

She doesn’t do any of it alone: a rockstar cast includes three witches (Holli’ Conway, Phoenix Best and Ciara Alyse Harris), a live band, and “Man” (Charlie Thurston), presumably a stand-in for Macbeth and for so many men who have come before and after him. It is sumptuously directed by Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky, with choreography from Raja Feather Kelly. Tickets and more information are available here.

“Nothing is for free, and if you want to get anything, it will cost you,” White said during a visit to New Haven Adult & Continuing Education Tuesday, before a Thursday performance for the Rep’s Will Power! initiative (more on that below). “And what’s the cost of that? That’s what’s in my heart right now. In the world we live in, if you want to get somewhere, there’s always a tradeoff. And I think the lead character, she’s thinking very much about, what’s it gonna cost her to get what she wants?”

Her take, which has as much wit and moxie as it does glam, starts with the seventeenth-century text itself. Macbeth, written in 1606 and performed publicly at the Globe Theatre five years later, tells the story of Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and the bloody pursuit of power that ultimately drives him insane. As the play goes, Macbeth has returned to Scotland from war—much to the praise and adulation of the king, Duncan—when three witches (also called the Weïrd Sisters) appear before him. They predict that he will be king and that his friend and comrade, Banquo,

will also be the father of kings. Macbeth doesn’t know what to make of it; he’s kind of stupefied by the whole thing. But his wife does: she plants the seed that he kill Duncan and become king. Where he is fretful and indecisive, she is calculated and cold-blooded. When she says “Yet do I fear thy nature;. It is too full o' the milk of human kindness,” she’s saying that she doesn’t know if he has the balls to see it through. When Macbeth finally announces that he’s done it, she’s intoxicated with the scent of power, and also annoyed that he has done so more clumsily than she would have.

In the hours and days that follow the murder—which begets more murders, because of course it does—Macbeth descends into a state of madness, so wracked by his guilt that it is not a complete surprise when he ends up at the other end of a sword. White deftly weaves this into her retelling, with lines from Shakespeare

that marry contemporary music making with praise, opera, pop and jazz (“'Yet do I fear thy nature” is followed by an original song about a doll she had as a little girl, setting in parallel the expectations placed on her and Lady Macbeth from birth). In the Shakespeare, she disappears until she goes mad. In White's take, this is a central point worth questioning. If it’s a character arc that sounds familiar, it should—at least to any woman who has ever made it through a day of adult life. White questions everything, from the narrative itself (“So what’s the story?”) to the witches’ positionality (are they her sister-friends or something more slippery?) to Shakespeare’s suggestion that she may have lost a child (“If a woman is unhappy, it must be about a child,” she announces to the audience at one point, and a listener can hear the tired, aching rage in her voice) to the point of power itself.

no words at all, leaning forward to play an accordion that Man holds at his chest, somewhere between moody musicianship and making an offering.

She’s never doing it alone (would this be an accurate play about women if she were?). Even before White-As-Woman enters, the witches set the tone, summoning the lights as they raise and lower their arms, long fingers gliding through the air. In this version, they are presented as backup singers, with constant choreography and costume changes that take them from simple black cassocks and headscarves to slinky, woven purple tops and skirts with leather fringe (a nod to costume designer Qween Jean).

Unlike the Weïrd Sisters, they remain onstage for the entire show, with sound and movement that is somewhere between Destiny’s Child and a Greek chorus. That’s part of White’s interrogation of dominant narratives: these witches ask questions, push back, invoke both past and present, and make the vocals into a dazzling, layered locomotive.

In this performance, the play belongs to them as much as it belongs to White. Conway, who came into the show from Six and plays the first witch, is particularly dynamic in this role: she glides around the stage, constantly in motion, with a mysterious glint in her eye that her vocals amplify. Alongside her, Best and Harris become something between thought partners and frenemies, refusing to be the LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett of this play.

In this sense, it’s much more than just a retelling: White is interested in pulling Shakespeare’s work apart, and figuring out where and how and why she fits into this story. She breaks the fourth wall, looping the audience in and asking for everything from affirmation to live participation. She cuts through thick, layered critique with sharp humor, the kind that makes a person laugh because the alternative is crying. She makes her way through a feminism that is more bell hooks than Gloria Steinem while folding original music into a revered, centuries-old text. She tries to take up space, and when she can’t, she questions that too. “Who says I can’t have both?” she says of love and power, and acts put off when the witches answer “Time/Space/the World/the Bible” like an incantation. “But why not give power just to me?” she asks at another point, and laughter inevitably, cruelly follows. Some time later, she does it with

That White and the witches are all Black women adds necessary depth to this reclamation, without ever having to name it. When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the early 17th century, neither women nor people of color were able to perform in his plays. To the contrary, Britain was well on its way to becoming the most active participant in the transatlantic slave trade, a title it held onto until the first half of the eighteenth century. (Not that the U.S. was any better: the first public performance of the show came only five years before the first recorded arrival of enslaved Africans in Virginia).

Shakespeare’s language might be for everyone—New Haven’s most compelling performances have come from public high schools and anti gun violence groups—but it wasn’t written with everyone in mind. In the year 2024, maybe it shouldn’t be inherently subversive for a Black girl raised on the South Side of Chicago to step into this role and make it entirely her own.

But White still lives in a country that was built by stolen people on stolen land, that just elected a white supremacist who gets his kicks from making women feel small and afraid and not in control of their futures. She is writing for the world that is, not the world that could be, and the questions she asks are well worth it.

“All The World Should Be Welcomed To The Stage”

Whitney White in a scene from Macbeth in Stride written and performed by Whitney White, directed by Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky, choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. Yale Repertory Theatre, December 5-14, 2024. Photo © Joan Marcus.

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Mrs. G’s Students Get Ready For The Storm

by MAYA MCFADDEN

A brick house with a raised foundation and a hardwood front porch emerged from the minds of Augusta Lewis Troup School science students as they learned about designing resilient housing that can withstand strong storms.

Students worked on those designs Wednesday morning in the third-floor classroom of Troup sixth grade science and math educator Ebony Gilliams, known to her students as “Mrs. G.” Mrs. G tasked the 11 students before her to spend the 45-minute period working on their final projects for the class’s weather and climate systems unit.

In Mrs. G’s class, students learned about regional weather patterns and climate systems. They also researched Hurricane Katrina. They learned about structural damage caused by storms and mud slides, and about the economic impacts of disasters. Students were required to design a residential or commercial building that included weather-resistant features based on the students’ scientific research. They worked with blueprints that clarified the materials used throughout the structures to help them withstand storms.

After adding their final touches to the blueprints on Wednesday, the students were then asked by Mrs. G to answer “high-leverage questions” for when they presented their projects the following day. In two-to-three complete sentences, the students explained how their designs would protect against storm damage by wind, rain, and flooding. They also shared what challenges they came across during the design process, and what improvements they would make to their designs in the future.

After explaining the task at hand on Wednesday, Mrs. G checked in with the students by asking, “What questions do we have?” She also checked in with students who missed a class earlier in the week to be sure they were each caught up. Each student’s blueprint was unique. Some depicted strictures with fire escapes and garages. Others showed solar panels and double-hung windows.

As students filled out note cards answering the project’s written prompts, Mrs. G reminded them, “All group members’ voices should be contributing to the response of the question.”

In one group, sixth-grader Saniya Newby worked with her peers to write what challenges they came across during the process. Newby’s team designed a brick home with solar panels and three-double hung windows. It also had a wooden door and raised foundation supporting a front porch to keep the home dry in case of a flood.

The sturdy brick and windows, she said, would help provide a protective barrier for the home when it comes to strong winds.

She said she learned during the unit the true strength of strong storm winds and floods. She recalled seeing in her research of Hurricane Katrina videos of cars flipped over in high waters. “It taught

me that you always have to have supplies to survive, like a med kit and your personal items. You have to be ready,” she said.

Sixth-grader Aiden Norris worked with his class partners Noela and Yaman Wednesday to finalize their design of a brick house with a plywood roof. A metal roof, Aiden said, would easily fly off. “We never really learn about stuff like this. I like it,” he concluded.

This year is Mrs. G’s, second year at Troup, and her seventh year as an educa-

with real-world problems. She tries to get her students to engage with each other more than with her, to learn how to revisit and modify their ideas and take in suggestions from many.

She noted that many of her current students, who were fifth graders last year, didn’t have a full year of direct certified instruction in several core subjects due to staff vacancies. With the occasional substitute, paraprofessional, or certified teachers who eventually departed, Mrs. G began this year having to catch her students up.

Her class of 11 on Wednesday has also shrunk in size since the start of the school year, which has allowed her to work personally with students.

She sets high linguistic expectations for her students, and focuses on developing their articulation. Her favorite word while teaching is “specificity” to help students speak and write clearly and with purpose. While checking in on students as they worked Wednesday, Mrs. G read aloud Aiden’s response to his presentation question. The two worked together to see how fluidly his response read. She urged him to answer the second and third parts of the question, asking about not just the biggest challenges the team faced for the project but also about how specifically they overcame the challenges. Aiden explained that his team did research to combat the challenge then went on to write the additional response on his question card.

Despite Mrs. G growing up playing school, she never had an interest in becoming an educator. She emphasized that the great educators she had growing up, particularly her pre-calculus teacher at Eli Whitney Technical High School Latrice James, helped change her life.

During her senior year of high school, she was convinced she wouldn’t apply to college. James encouraged her otherwise. She applied to two schools and attended the University of Bridgeport for her BAand MA. She later took part in the state’s Alternate Route to Certification (ARC) program.

As a first-generation college student, Mrs. G recalled not knowing anything about the college process and having to figure out the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans on her own. Her hardwon financial literacy later encouraged her to work with youth in her community to prepare them for their futures.

Program Mistake

ability, and direct as much funding as possible directly to client services,” Bond said.

“This updated approach no longer uses five regional leads that subcontract with direct service organizations. Instead, the New Haven Health Department will be the lead entity to ensure proper monitoring and compliance of the recipients who are awarded grant funds.”

Hamilton, of Liberation Programs, and Suzanne Lagarde, who leads one of the city’s two FQHCs, Fair Haven Community Health Care, both praised the city for this change to the Ryan White Part A funding structure.

Hamilton described the Health Department’s move to get rid of the regional “lead” structure as simplifying the application process for organizations like his. Up until now, his nonprofit has had to apply for New Haven Ryan White Part A funds through the Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy (GPAP) program, the designated regional lead in the area. Now, he can apply directly to the city itself. Lagarde, whose organization does not currently receive Ryan White Part A funds, praised the city for doing its “due diligence” in response to HRSA recommendations based on the 2022 site visit. “I believe their response makes sense to me. I have faith the city will do right by patients” through this change to how the program is administered.

She added that Fair Haven Community Health Care currently receives Ryan White Part C funds, and works with a relatively small patient population of around 200 people living with HIV/AIDS. She said her organization is reviewing the city’s RFP and is still deciding whether or not to apply for Part A funds this cycle. Asked for comment on how he feels about how the Health Department has handled communicating changes to the Ryan White Part A program, APNH’s Cole replied, “I’m feeling blindsided, frustrated, uncertain, and lacking confidence in why and how this decision was made. Communicating months ago would have gone a long way in [building] trust and confidence” between the city’s Health Department and regional nonprofits like his that know, work well with, and are trusted by New Haveners living with HIV/AIDS.

tor. Her passion is science education. This year she’s also taken on teaching math to Troup’s sixth graders. She previously taught at Amistad Achievement First Middle School and King Robinson.

Her classroom’s walls are filled with math and science posters. One poster included on one side the power of ten, and on the other quantitative and qualitative data.

Mrs. G aims for her students to learn how to problem solve when presented

She was familiar with Troup because her two sons attended its LEAP summer programming. She also wanted to work in a neighborhood school. She added that living in her community as an educator has helped to better engage with her students and their families. She often runs into them at Stop and Shop and other neighborhood stops.

“I model the experiences of some of the educators who have impacted me along the way, and who I want my own children to have,” she said.

Mrs. G emphasized that “they have to receive you to receive any information from you.”

Bond defended her department’s work as trying to bring this program into better line with federal guidelines, and in prioritizing outcomes for people most in need. “We value the long history and quality of care that these organizations have provided to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS,” Bond said. “It is because of their coordinated care that 92% of clients in our metro area are virally suppressed. At the same time, the Health Department must ensure that the program is meeting federally mandated requirements and there is proper oversight of these funds. We believe this updated approach will ensure these fiduciary and programmatic responsibilities are both met so that people living with HIV/AIDS in our city and region receive the highest quality care.”

The New Haven independent

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO Mrs. G in class: "All group members' voices should be contributing."

Troup sixth grade science and math educator Ebony Gilliams.

NHPS Fills Recruitment, Retention Vacancy

by MAYA MCFADDEN

A former New Haven teacher who became a principal in New Britain is returning to the city to help the public school district fill vacancies and keep its educators.

At last Monday’s Board of Education meeting, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón presented her recommendation that Rolanda Booker become the district’s new lead for recruiting and retaining school staff. The school board unanimously approved her appointment.

Booker began her teaching career in NHPS in 1996, and worked in the district until 2018. She served as a classroom teacher, TAG teacher, and math coach over the years. She later moved on to become an assistant principal and then a principal in New Britain, where she’s worked since 2020.

While in New Britain, Booker helped to improve Northend Elementary School from a Tier 5“turnaround” or“focus” classification to a Tier 3.

Booker will step into her new role in New Haven on Jan. 2 at a starting salary of $146,368. Her appointment comes several months after the September resignation of the district’s most recent recruitment and retention coordinator, Sarah Diggs.

Negrón described Booker to the school board on Monday as passionate about mentorship and teacher development. She added that throughout Booker’s career in New Britain, she has partnered with the district’s teacher residency program to mentor six educators as they worked to get certified. Booker also previously led an initiative to create school-based advisory clubs to address social, emotional and engagement needs for students. “She is committed to equity and excel-

lence, empowering educators and students to achieve their fullest potential,” Negrón concluded.

In Booker’s brief remarks Monday, she expressed excitement for her return to New Haven. She said that her goal in the new role is to establish mentorship support for new teachers and new opportunities for veteran educators.

She said that, as a principal in New Britain, her school’s teacher residency

program was significant for making sure educators felt supported. She hopes to build partnerships in and out of state to bring talented educators to the city. She also plans to spend a lot of time identifying gifted teachers already in New Haven who can be “pushed up.”

“I’m excited to start this work in New Haven on something I’m passionate about and that’s close to my heart,” she concluded.

CDC Reports South Carolina Legionella Outbreak Linked to Industrial Water Jet Cutters and Floor Scrubbers

Urbanization, climate change, and aging infrastructure are contributing to the rise in Legionnaires’ disease cases.

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire S Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

A recent investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has linked an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease to a manufacturing facility’s water jet cutters and floor scrubbers. The outbreak, which occurred between August and November 2022, resulted in 34 cases of legionellosis, 15 hospitalizations, and two deaths. The investigation found that Legionella pneumophila sequence type 36, a particularly virulent strain, was isolated from two water jet cutters and a floor scrubber used at the facility. These machines, which aerosolize water, were identified as the likely sources of infection after multiple employees across different shifts reported symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease and Pontiac fever.

The outbreak came to light in September 2022 when three employees tested

positive for Legionella through urinary antigen tests. Following these reports, the health department issued a statewide advisory and worked with facility management to notify employees and encourage testing.

Health officials identified 10 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease, 20 probable cases, and four probable cases of Pontiac fever. The affected employees ranged in age from 18 to 65, with a median age of 40 years younger than the typical demographic for Legionnaires’ disease. Men accounted for nearly 68 percent of the cases.

The outbreak predominantly affected employees working on the third shift, with the highest attack rate at 3.8 percent. Prolonged and overnight exposure may have contributed to the higher rate, investigators surmised.

A comprehensive environmental investigation involved testing 316 water samples from various sources within the facility. Legionella bacteria were detected in samples from two water jet cutters, which op-

Kills It At The Yale Rep

Part of that is the genesis of the show itself. On Tuesday morning, White and Duncan discussed the journey that led them to the Rep’s York Street stage, priming an audience at New Haven Adult & Continuing Education for the performance they would see on Thursday. By the time they left, both had not just demystified Shakespeare, but stressed that theater is and has always been for everyone—no matter how many barriers there seem to be between a person and a performance. It’s why she puts Sizza, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Ricky Dillard and Robert Glasper right there beside Elizabethan language.

"When you go to the theater, you feel like this—" White pulled her shoulders up until they were nearly touching her cheeks. "You feel like, 'That's not a space for me ... they don't want me and my kind in this building.' And yet Shakespeare is very much for everybody."

"If all the world's a stage, then all the world should be welcomed to the stage,” she added “And I started making these shows evaluating power and contemporary issues through his plays and through music."

Born and raised by a single mom in Chicago, White “grew up in a very communal environment,” where music became part of her foundation and her door to the theater. What she loved—and still loves—was how quickly and profoundly music could communicate, including across languages and cultural barriers.

At the same time, she was also part of a family of Black women, many of whom died way before their time. When she started reading Shakespeare more closely as a young adult, it often led her back to these women she loved so deeply. In his women, she could see and feel the dreams deferred, the constant striving, the ways the world pushed back against them and ground them down because of who they were.

erated with water temperatures ideal for bacterial growth, and one-floor scrubber used to clean water overspray from the jet cutters. The machines’ ability to aerosolize water made them effective vectors for spreading Legionella bacteria throughout the facility.

Upon confirmation of the contamination, facility management took immediate action. Both water jet cutters and all floor scrubbers were taken out of service on September 18, 2022. Water jet cutters were decontaminated using mechanical maintenance and biocide treatments and resumed operation on November 16, 2022. Although recommendations for safe use were provided, management opted to replace the contaminated scrubbers with backup equipment. Post-remediation testing confirmed the elimination of Legionellafrom the machines.

This outbreak underscores the growing risk of Legionella in industrial settings where water-aerosolizing devices are used. The CDC recommends that manufacturing facilities implement and regu-

Connie Beaman: "I felt that, I know I can make it. I can make it.”

After graduating, she committed to performing it once a year, in locations that ranged from a barn in Vermont to the American Repertory Theatre. During that time, the show kept evolving (it is still evolving, she said—this production happens to be her favorite): White replaced covers with original music, with influences from rock to gospel to opera. She added the witches and a Macbeth character. She folded in opportunities for audience participation, including a moment where a volunteer breaks down the plot (Thursday, it was Metro Business Academy’s Atlas Salter, who last year crushed it as Puck in an abridged Midsummer). She had friends read and reread and edit the work, asking them for feedback along the way.

“I wanted a play that looked and sounded the way I felt about the text,” she said (White also continued teaching, directing, writing and working in community during that time, including directing the premiere of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding on Broadway). At its best, she added, she thinks of the play as an old-school hip hop mixtape, in which Shakespeare is but one sample.

That resonated for Connie Beaman, a student and poet who moved to New Haven in 2008, and before Thursday had never attended a play. Tuesday, she was one of the first to raise a hand when White asked who in the room had been to a church service (“Then you've seen a show!” White said). Two days later, she was glowing after the performance.

“It was very educational, and it was all about life to me,” she said. “And the challenges that people have in their life. I felt that, I know I can make it. I can make it.”

“I always like to say, I don’t feel I’m the best and most beautiful of my family,” she said. “There were a lot of other women in my family who had ideas and passions and wanted to stay in school and wanted to do all these things, and they didn’t make it there. And their lives, to me, were cut way too short, as Shakespeare would say.”

“If you’re too loud, then you’re that,” she added. “If you’re too this, then you’re that. If you’re too Black, you’re that. And the world has many ways of syphoning us away from what we want to be. And so the piece is looking at that. Like, maybe we’re not the problem. Maybe there’s another problem.”

Macbeth In Stride is an answer to that, she said. When she revisited the play in graduate school—White studied at Brown University, where an early run of the show took place in 2015— she could see her mom, her aunts, her cousins in Lady Macbeth. The first versions of the show included covers of Ike and Tina Turner (she idolizes Turner, who is also an inspiration for this show) and the Doors.

Milane Williams, who after Thursday's performance said she was going to come back to the show with her grandmother. White also encouraged attendees to stick with whatever they are most passionate about, whether it is writing or theatre or something completely different. Student Milane Williams perked up as she listened.

“When you thought about giving up, what kept you going?” Williams asked. After Thursday's performance, she said that the message had resonated so deeply that she planned to return with her grandmother.

White recalled nights with her mom in a one-room apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Her mom did everything to make sure that White could achieve whatever she wanted.

“We all deserve to be in the spaces we want to be in,” she said. “And it’s very easy for people to make you feel like you don’t need to be there, or you shouldn’t be there. You know? And whenever someone makes me feel like that, I’m like, I need to be here. Let me spread all the way out and be right here.”

MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTOS

Rolanda Booker with Supt. Madeline Negrón.

The New Haven independent

Walmart Ends Diversity Commitments as Trump Policies Stoke Division

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

In 2020, following the global Black Lives Matter protests, Walmart pledged to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging. Its “Belonging” program promised associates they would “feel seen, supported, and connected” and highlighted that diversity would drive engagement and business success. Four years later, Walmart is reversing course, dismantling many of those commitments as the incoming Trump administration advances policies critics argue will deepen racial divisions in America. Once vocal about promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the retailer announced it would no longer consider race or gender when awarding supplier contracts or collecting demographic data for financing eligibility and grants. Walmart will also review its financial support for “Pride” events and restrict the sale of products such as chest binders for minors, which were previously marketed as part of gender-affirming care.

In a statement, Walmart pointed to its corporate purpose: “Our purpose, to help people save money and live better, has been at our core since our founding 62 years ago and continues to guide us today. We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers, and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone.”

The changes follow efforts by conservative activists, including commentator Robby Starbuck, who has targeted major corporations for their diversity initiatives. Starbuck said his discussions with Walmart led to these changes and described the retailer’s decision as “the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America.”

Walmart has also discontinued racial equity training, ended participation in the Human Rights Coalition’s Corporate Equality Index, and removed terms like “Latinx” and “DEI” from its corporate lexicon.

The reversals align with the broader

push from the incoming Trump administration to dismantle diversity programs nationwide. Trump has promised to eliminate federal DEI programs, dismantle protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, and penalize companies that prioritize diversity in hiring and promotions. His administration plans to enforce stricter oversight of corporate diversity efforts through the Department of Justice, targeting practices that allegedly violate laws barring racial and gender-based discrimination.

A Trump spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said the incoming president has made it clear that ending DEI policies is a top priority and that Americans have voted to favor these changes. Vice President-elect JD Vance has also supported efforts to abolish federal DEI programs and repeal Biden-era protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Proponents of DEI argue that such ini-

tiatives help companies hire and retain diverse talent and foster innovation. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and other business leaders have repeatedly emphasized that diversity benefits both the workplace and the bottom line. Despite this, corporations like Bud Light, Target, and Ford have scaled back or abandoned diversity efforts following boycotts and conservative pressure campaigns. The rollback of diversity efforts comes as data reveals significant racial inequities in corporate leadership. USA Today reported that its investigation found that white men hold seven out of 10 executive officer positions at the nation’s largest companies, with one in seven of those companies having all-white executive teams. The lack of representation underscores the stakes for employees of color and marginalized communities as diversity programs face increasing opposition.

Experts warn that the rollback of cor-

porate diversity efforts, combined with the Trump administration’s aggressive stance, could deepen racial and social divides in the United States. Franklin Turner, a corporate attorney specializing in federal contracts, said that while companies dependent on federal funding may adjust their policies under pressure, most are unlikely to abandon diversity efforts entirely.

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law, told reporters that the work would continue. “It may need a rebranding, but there is no universe where even the most hostile presidency is going to be able to completely eliminate an entire field of work because there are too many people out there who care about creating organizations that are respectful, that are inclusive, and where people have equal opportunity,” Glasgow remarked.

Madeline Negrón’s first year-plus in the job. He said the public school district has seen reduced chronic absenteeism rates and improved literacy rates under her leadership.

“Where we’re putting a lot of energy this year is funding for schools,” he continued. Elicker said the city has increased its portion of public education funding in the last six or seven years “by almost 50 percent.” The problem is that state funding, based on the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, has not kept up with New Haven’s schools’ needs.

“There’s a statewide push now to change the Education Cost Sharing formula to reflect the real need in schools,” he said. More than 350 students per social worker is just too much, he said. And only 26 librarians for 41 schools “is not adequate.” The city is investing in fixing up aging school buildings, he said, but the district needs more state money to help with that, too.

Elicker pledged to partner with the city’s state legislative delegation to advocate for increased schools funding from state government much in the way that they succeeded in getting increased PILOTmunicipal aid several years ago.

“It will become clear that this is a challenge shared by many municipalities” across Connecticut, he said. “My role is helping coordinate other mayors and first select people around the state” to testify before the state legislature and educate people on why the ECS formula needs to be changed. He pointed to the work of the 119K commission to help lay the groundwork that statewide effort to increase Connecticut’s funding for local public school districts like New Haven’s. Elicker concluded by saying how, five years in, he still loves the job of being mayor. “What makes the job really hard tackling really big problems, challenges and surprises around every corner,” is also what he likes about it. “It feels really good to be able to work with a lot of inspiring people” all trying to make the city a better place.

He said he hasn’t yet picked a campaign manager; that should happen in the spring. Tuesday’s campaign paperwork indicates that Elicker’s campaign treasurer is Susan Metrick of East Rock.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator (Attendant II)

NOTICE

Invitation to Bid:

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Renovation / Modernization.

Scattered Site: Garden, Martin & Nelson Streets Hartford, CT 9 RES. BLDGS + 1 CB, 78 Units

MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF NORWALK, CT IS REQUESTING PROPOSALS FOR INSURANCE AND BENEFITS BROKERAGE SERVICES FOR HEALTH (Medical, Dental and Vision) BENEFITS.

The Town of Wallingford Sewer Division is seeking qualified applicants to perform skilled duties associated with the operation and maintenance of its modern, upgraded Class IV wastewater treatment facility. Applicants should possess a H.S. diploma or equivalent, plus possess a State of Connecticut DEEP Class II Operator or higher, or a Class II Operator-in-Training or higher certification. Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut Driver’s License. Wages: $28.44 to $33.89 hourly plus on-call pay when assigned. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, individual and family medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of November 26, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

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

Project Documents include but not limited to: Sitework, landscaping, asphalt paving, repair and sealing, selective site demolition, fencing, concrete, masonry, misc metals, rough carpentry, finish carpentry, roofing, doors, frames and hardware labor and material, gypsum board, flooring, painting, manufactured casework, window blinds, fire suppression, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, windows, residential equipment / appliances, sanitary facilities and final cleaning.

Bid Due Date: 1/30/25 @ 3pm Project is Tax Exempt. No Wage Rates. If you have not already received a bid from us and would like to bid, please email Taylor your business & contact information, she will add you to Procore and send you the ITB. Email Questions & Bids to: Taylor Els tels@haynesct.com

NOTICIA

ELECTRIC UTILITY DISTRIBUTION SUPERINTENDENT

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

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

TO OBTAIN A COMPLETE COPY OF THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS, CONTACT GUILLERMO BENDANA, PROCUREMENT SPECIALIST AT GBENDA@NORWALKHA.ORG PROPOSALS ARE DUE AT 5:00 P.M. ON 11/25/2024.

NORWALK HOUSING IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. ADAM BOVILSKY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.

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

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

Continuum of Care, New Haven, Connecticut –LEGAL NOTICE INVITATION TO BID

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

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

The Town of Wallingford is offering an excellent career opportunity for a strong manager and leader in the electric utility industry to oversee the construction, operation, and maintenance of the electric transmission and distribution systems and related facilities of the Town’s Electric Division. This highly reliable municipally-owned electric utility, located 10 miles from New Haven, CT, serves 25,000 customers in a 50+ square mile distribution area with a peak demand of 130 MW with an excellent rate structure. Applicants should possess 8 years of progressively responsible experience in electric utility distribution construction, maintenance, and operations which includes at least 4 years of experience as a supervisor, plus a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (power), or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-for-year basis. Must possess, or obtain within 12 months of hire and maintain ESOP-100 Switching and Tagging qualifications. Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut Driver’s License. Salary: $119,632 to $149,540 annually plus on-call stipend when required. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, individual and family medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of November 22, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

State law requires a minimum of (25%) percent of the state-funded portion of thetract for award to subcontractors holding current certification from the CT Dept of Admin Services (“DAS”) under the provisions of CONN. GEN. STAT. § 4a-60g. (25% of the work with DAS certified Small & Minority owned businesses and 25% of that work with DAS certified Minority, Women and/or Disabled owned businesses.)

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

LEGAL NOTICE

POLICE OFFICER City of Bristol

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice

$75,636 - $91,939/yr. Required testing, general info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

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

#024-02: ON-CALL GRANT SERVICES

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

LEGAL NOTICE INVITATION TO BID: CONTINUUM OF CARE, NEW HAVEN is requesting licensed and insured contractor bids for their property located at 599 Howard Avenue, New Haven. Complete first floor kitchen renovation with new layout. Owner to supply new cabinets, granite counter (will be installed by supplier), and appliances. Work Scope to include new flooring of area, new lighting, new plumbing. Scope to include replacement of one window and removal of two separate windows, and replacement of entry door. The owner will select flooring (commercial vinyl), paint color, and style of faucets and light fixtures but include contingency for this. The proposal must include contingency for unforeseen conditions. Further detailed information will be given on the scheduled site visit. Environmental testing will be conducted by the owner. GC price should include dumpster and permit feeds. Minority/women’s business enterprises are encouraged to apply. A bidding site meeting will be held at 599 Howard Avenue, New Haven on 12/18/2024 at 1pm. All bids are due by 12/27/2024 at 3pm. All bids, W9, work scope timeline and copy of license and questions should be submitted in writing to Monica O’Connor via email moconnor@continuumct.org or delivered to 109 Legion Avenue, New Haven.

SCRCOG’s Regional Purchasing Consortium is accepting sealed Request for Qualifications for:

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

The South Central Regional Council of Governments (“SCRCOG”) will be accepting sealed Qualifications for On-Call Grant Services. SCRCOG is seeking proposals to provide “On-Call” services to all fifteen municipalities in the region. Disciplines include, but are not limited to, grant management and comprehensive technical assistance, grant writing, strategic grant planning, and other disciplines. Disadvantaged, minority, small, and women-owned business enterprises are encouraged to respond.

DEADLINE: 01-03-25 EOE

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

ATTENTION STEEL TRADE SUBCONTRACTORS AND IRONWORKERS.

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

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016

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

The complete request for qualification (“RFQ”) document can be obtained on the SCRCOG website, www.scrcog.org/ RFQs shall be submitted in the manner specified to the SCRCOG Regional Purchasing Consortium, 127 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor West, North Haven, CT 06473 until 12:00 P.M. local, eastern standard time on Monday, December 23rd, 2024

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

Eastern Metal Works is actively seeking bids and employment applications for the Steel Point project in Bridgeport, CT. SWMBE businesses, minorities and local residents are encouraged to apply.

To request bid documents or employment applications, please contact EMW at mchernesky@easternmetalworks.com.

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

Bids and applications must be received before January 15, 2025

For questions concerning this RFQ, contact Brendon Dukett, Municipal Services Coordinator at bdukett@scrcog.org. SCRCOG is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Eastern Metal Works is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3

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

a CT based construction firm, has an immediate opening for a Project Accountant. This role is crucial in managing financial records, ensuring the accuracy of project costs, and supporting our accounting functions tailored to the construction sector. The ideal candidate will have experience in construction accounting and a strong understanding of project-based financial management. Minimum of 5 years or equivalent experience. Fax Resumes

Nikki Giovanni, Iconic Poet and Voice of the Black Arts Movement, Dies at 81

Giovanni rose to prominence during the 1960s as a fierce voice in the Black Arts Movement, alongside literary giants such as

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

Nikki Giovanni, the groundbreaking poet, author, and professor whose work embodied the spirit of the Black Arts Movement and beyond, died on Monday in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was 81. Her wife, Virginia C. Fowler, confirmed the cause was complications from lung cancer.

Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Giovanni spent her formative years in Cincinnati, Ohio, but returned to Knoxville every summer with her sister to visit their grandparents. These visits helped shape her sense of identity and belonging, themes that would become central to her work.

She graduated with honors in history from Fisk University, a historically Black college in Nashville and her grandfather’s alma mater. While at Fisk, Giovanni’s defiant spirit and intellect were evident. Expelled briefly due to issues with authority, she returned after a period of reflection and was readmitted with the help of a supportive Dean of Women. This early experience of rebellion and reconciliation laid the groundwork for her unapologetic approach to life and art.

A Voice of Rebellion and Resilience Giovanni rose to prominence during the 1960s as a fierce voice in the Black Arts Movement, alongside literary giants such as Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, and Sonia Sanchez. Her early works, including “Black Feeling, Black Talk” (1968) and “Black Judgement” (1968), were steadfast in their militancy and pride. Her poetry grappled with the injustices faced by Black Americans, including the brutal murder of Emmett Till and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which killed four Black girls.

At a time when mainstream publishers showed little interest in the work of a young Black woman writing what they labeled “militant” poetry, Giovanni took matters into her own hands. She self-published her work, founding a company to distribute her collections. “No one was much interested in a Black girl writing what was called ‘militant’ poetry,” she once wrote. “I thought of it as good poetry.”

Her boldness paid off. In 1972, at just 29 years old, she sold out Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, reading her poetry to a crowd of more than 1,000 alongside the New York Community Choir. The following year, for her 30th birthday, she filled the 3,000-seat Philharmonic Hall, where the choir joined her again, along with Melba Moore and Wilson Pickett. The audience erupted joyfully when she recited her now-iconic poem, “Ego-Tripping.” The piece, a celebration of Black female strength, begins with the lines: “I was born in the congo

Nikki Giovanni Nikki Giovanni

I walked to the fertile crescent and built the sphinx…”

And concludes triumphantly: “I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal I cannot be comprehended except by my permission I mean…I…can fly

Like a bird in the sky…”

A Prolific Career

In addition to her poetry, Giovanni wrote children’s books, essays, and a memoir, “Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet (1971).” She was known for her candid reflections on race, gender, and identity, blending the personal with the political in provocative and deeply human ways.

Giovanni’s interview with James Baldwin on the television program Soul! in 1971 remains a touchstone in American cultural history. Their two-hour conversation, filmed in London, explored the intersections of race, gender, and societal expectations. At one point, she posed a raw question about the cycle of violence affecting Black families: “What do you do about a man who is mistreated in the world and comes home and brutalizes his wife? Where does that leave his daughter?” Baldwin’s response: “Sweetheart. Our ancestors taught us how to do that.” An Educator and Mentor In 1987, Giovanni joined the faculty at Virginia Tech, where she became a University Distinguished Professor. She remained there for 35 years, influencing generations of students with her wit, wisdom, and unwavering commitment to truth. Even in academia, her rebellious spirit shone through. Giovanni famously supported her student, Seung-Hui Cho, before he committed the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. She had him removed from her class when she sensed his troubling nature.

Giovanni earned seven NAACP Image Awards, a Grammy nomination, and the distinction of having three of her books listed as New York Times and Los Angeles Times Best Sellers—a rare feat for a poet.

Giovanni described herself as a dreamer. “My dream was not to publish or to even be a writer,” she remarked. “My dream was to discover something no one else had thought of. I guess that’s why I’m a poet. We put things together in ways no one else does.”

A Legacy of Dreams and Defiance Giovanni’s poetry was a lifeline for many, especially young Black women who saw their power and potential reflected in her verses. She wasn’t just a poet but a cultural force who celebrated Blackness, womanhood, and the art of dreaming. “I’m a writer. I’m happy,” she demanded.

Nikki Giovanni leaves behind her son, Thomas, and her granddaughter. Her father, mother, sister, and aunt preceded her in death.

Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, and Sonia Sanchez.

FTC DATA REVEALS SURGE IN ONLINE JOB SCAMS, WITH LOSSES EXCEEDING $220 MILLION IN 2024

Federal officials cautioned that the rise of “gamified job scams”—which lure victims with repetitive tasks like interacting with social media posts or rating businesses—has further amplified the threat.

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

New complaint data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows a staggering rise in online job scams, particularly schemes known as “task scams,” which now account for nearly 40% of job scam reports in 2024. The sharp increase in these fraudulent activities has driven overall losses to job scams to more than $220 million in just the first six months of this year.

According to the FTC’s latest data spotlight, reports of task scams have skyrocketed from zero in 2020 to 5,000 in 2023, before quadrupling to 20,000 in the first half of 2024 alone. These scams typically begin with unsolicited texts or WhatsApp messages offering vague online work opportunities. Consumers who respond are told they will be completing tasks like “app optimization” or “product boosting.”

Victims may receive small payouts early on to build confidence in the job’s legitimacy. The scheme then escalates, requiring victims to invest their money to complete subsequent tasks, promising more significant payouts. However, once the money is sent, it is lost for good.

“The supposed ‘job’ is to complete tasks in an app or online platform for which you’ll ‘earn money’ from a ‘commission’ on each click,” the FTC warned in a consumer alert. “But those promises are fake: there aren’t any commissions, and nobody but the scammers make any money.”

Cryptocurrency is the primary method of payment in these scams. The FTC reported that task scams have significantly contributed to a surge in cryptocurren-

cy-related losses, which reached $41 million in the first half of 2024—almost double the total for 2023.

In 2023, overall losses from online job scams totaled $286 million. By mid-2024, reported losses had already surpassed $220 million. Since many victims do not report these crimes, the FTC cautioned that these figures likely represent just a fraction of the damage.

The FTC highlighted specific red flags and offered advice to help consumers avoid falling victim to task scams:

• Ignore unsolicited messages: Real employers do not typically contact potential employees via generic texts or WhatsApp messages.

• Never pay to get paid: Any request for money upfront in exchange for future earnings is a clear sign of a scam.

• Be wary of “gamified” tasks: Offers to pay for liking or rating online content are illegal and usually fraudulent.

Federal officials cautioned that the rise of “gamified job scams”—which lure victims with repetitive tasks like interacting with social media posts or rating businesses—has further amplified the threat. Victims often receive large batches of tasks, with promises of increased pay after completing multiple levels. These schemes culminate with demanding deposits to “unlock” their earnings, ultimately leading to financial losses.

“No matter what the system says you earned, you didn’t,” the FTC report cautioned. “That money isn’t real. And if you deposit that money, you won’t get it back.”

The FTC's data regarding job scams is alarming, according to officials. “We urge everyone to be cautious and skeptical of too-good-to-be true offers,” the FTC concluded. “Protecting yourself starts with staying informed and recognizing the red flags.”

Clyburn Statement on President Biden Providing Clemency and Pardons for Individuals Convicted of Non-Violent Crimes

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC06) released the following statement on President Joe Biden providing clemency for nearly 1,500 individuals in home confinement and pardons for 39 individuals convicted of non-violent crimes. "I applaud President Biden for pardoning 39 people with non-violent convictions and commuting even more," said Congressman James E. Clyburn. "This grant of clemency and restoration of rights is a significant step forward. Many people of color and moderate means have been disproportionately burdened by systemic injustices and clemency is a potent tool in the President’s toolbox to remedy some faults in our legal system. We have a leader in President Biden who is committed to tackling these injustices and has done that work in earnest.”

In November, Congressman Clyburn co-led a letter alongside Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-

07) and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) to President Biden urging him to use his executive clemency power in the final months of his presidency to reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on

the path toward ending mass incarceration. In their letter to President Biden, the lawmakers praised the President’s efforts to create a fair and just criminal legal system by pardoning 11 people convicted of simple marijuana possession.

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RFK Jr.’s Vaccine War Threatens to Resurrect the Ghosts of Jim Crow Medicine

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

In the looming shadow of a second Trump administration, the battle over vaccines and public health policy is being revived with unsettling vigor. Public health leaders, particularly those in African American communities who recall the long, painful history of medical neglect and systemic racism, are alarmed by the campaign to revoke approval of life-saving vaccines, including the polio vaccine. This modern war on vaccines is led by figures like Aaron Siri, a lawyer closely associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial choice for health secretary. It threatens to unravel decades of hardfought progress that began when Black Americans demanded equitable treatment in the fight against polio.

The disease’s history remains linked to race and segregation, as the healthcare system once viewed polio as a “white problem.” Healthcare facilities, segregated and led by racist medical standards, advanced the misinformation that African Americans were immune to polio.

Because of that, polio cases in Black Americans were not properly diagnosed.

The Myth of Polio as a “White Disease”

In the early 20th century, polio was perceived as a disease that primarily affected white children, transcending class lines.

According to research by the National Library of Medicine, medical experts of the era, such as George Draper, propagated theories of racial susceptibility, claiming that “primitive” Black bodies were impervious to polio while “delicate” White bodies were vulnerable. The lack of data perpetuated those myths, and Black communities were deprived of doctors who could appropriately diagnose polio’s early symptoms.

The consequences of this neglect proved dire. Black families faced a segregated

healthcare system where few hospitals would admit Black polio patients and fewer still would employ Black doctors and nurses. The Tuskegee Institute’s polio center, founded in 1941 with funding from the March of Dimes, was one of the few facilities dedicated to treating Black polio victims. However, with only 36 beds, it was unable to adequately address the national crisis.

Roosevelt, Warm Springs, and Political Embarrassment

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio survivor, founded the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Center in Georgia in the 1920s. Despite Roosevelt’s progressive image, Warm Springs maintained a Whites-only policy. Black patients were denied admission, even as they contributed to fundraising efforts for the center through the annual Birthday Ball campaigns. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” had been exposed for its racial injustices.

Faced with mounting pressure from civil rights activists and the political em-

barrassment of segregation, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) announced a major grant to establish the Tuskegee Infantile Paralysis Center in 1941, which treated Black polio sufferers and trained African American doctors. The Fight for Integration and Health Equity

In the 1940s and, later, the 1950s, a shift occurred with the civil rights movement. Black leaders like Dr. John Chenault and Charles Hudson Bynum, the NFIP’s director of interracial activities, fought to dismantle the myth of polio’s racial exclusivity. Bynum’s advocacy included Black children in the historic 1954 Salk vaccine trials. According to Scientific American, the HeLa cells—taken without consent from Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman—played a crucial role in developing the vaccine, cultivated in a makeshift lab at the Tuskegee Institute.

Still, segregation persisted. Black children who received the Salk vaccine in Montgomery, Alabama, had to wait on the lawns of white schools because they weren’t allowed to use the facilities in-

Trump’s controversial choice for health secretary. drowning them in litigation to prevent them from protecting public health. “This is a way to hobble a public health agency,” Gostin said in a published interview. “You can just drown them in paperwork so they can’t do their work.”

Lessons from Polio: Vigilance Against Medical Racism

side. At Warm Springs, Black patients were only grudgingly admitted in the late 1940s, and even then, they faced segregated accommodations and second-class care.

Vaccine Rollbacks: A Chilling Threat

Spearheaded by Kennedy, the anti-vaccine movement has returned and is threatening the fight for equal healthcare. Aaron Siri’s attempts to take back approval for the polio vaccine, which has saved millions of lives and kept millions from becoming paralyzed or dying, are a scary reminder of how easily progress can be lost. Kennedy’s appointment as health secretary and Siri’s influence point to a risky change in public health policy that could disproportionately hurt communities of color.

Experts in public health caution that weakening vaccines will allow avoidable outbreaks to occur.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert, described Siri’s legal strategies as a way to “hobble” agencies like the FDA,

The history of polio—from Warm Springs’ segregation to the overlooked contributions of Black scientists—offers a stark lesson in the dangers of medical racism and the need for constant vigilance. “Our racial disparities and health disparities were not invented in the past 10 years, and very often, they have been deliberately ignored,” historian Naomi Rogers, a tenured Associate Professor in the Program for the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University, offered in a Carleton College white paper.

Black communities today are suddenly faced with the same access, trust, and institutional neglect issues that hampered previous anti-polio efforts. Experts said the reversal of vaccines threatens to repeat historical injustices, endangering millions of lives and damaging decades of civil rights progress.

Those with political power are pushing the myth that vaccines are hazardous, recalling the pseudoscientific racism that claimed Black bodies were immune to polio. Civil rights leaders asserted that the stakes are significant, and history requires lawmakers to acknowledge the accomplishments of those who battled for equity and protect the public health victories they secured.

0“When the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccines were available, people of color had less access to information and routine clinical care, which resulted in a big gap in vaccinations administered to whites compared to African Americans,” researchers at Carleton College wrote.

5 Ways to Tame Holiday Stress

If the holidays sometimes leave you feeling overwhelmed and out of control, you’re not alone! There are key things you can do to tame holiday stress. He’s a mean one, alright. If the Grinch has stolen your holiday spirit and good intentions, try some of these tips to reclaim your ho-ho-ho.

1. Keep up healthy habits. Make a pact with yourself during the holidays. For example: “For the next three weeks I will move more and do something active every day, have a healthy breakfast and limit the sweets, and get at least seven hours of sleep each night.” If you don’t completely give up your healthy habits, you won’t feel like you have to start over once the holidays are in the rear-view.

2. Beware of party perils. Special holiday events often serve up extra helpings

of less-than-healthy foods. If you’re a guest, eat a healthy snack before you go to avoid overdoing it at the event. If you’re the host, challenge yourself to offer some delicious and healthier options using our recipes and cooking tips. Your guests will thank you.

3. Stay active—even in the hustle and bustle of the season. A full holiday social calendar might lead to some missed workouts. Instead of beating yourself up about it, sprinkle some healthy activities into your daily routine. For example, if the weather isn’t too frightful, ride your bike to work or school. If dinner is going to be a feast, opt for a light lunch, then take a vigorous walk. And keep the family moving. When the kids are home from school, squeeze in some active chores and trips to the park.

4. But not too active. Give yourself the gift of peace. When the invitations pile up, don’t be afraid to say no to some of them. If you need some down time to recharge for the next big party, declare a me-treat and do something that relaxes you. Try yoga, meditation, or spending time in nature.

5. Make a plan for the new year. Your poinsettia’s pooped and the gifts are all gone. Now what? It’s a great time to reset for the new year—but don’t go dashing through your to-do list too fast or you might not stick to your plan. Lay out realistic, sustainable steps for the months ahead. For example, start a daily walking routine and sign up for your local Heart Walk before you set your sights on that marathon!

From American Heart Association News

This modern war on vaccines is led by figures like Aaron Siri, a lawyer closely associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald