• Columbarium in the Most Beautiful Cremation Garden
• Reserve your Niche in a secure location pre-need.
• Reserve a Niche for family and friends or purchase at-need to safely place your Loved One in the Columbarium.
• Burial Lots (infant, single, two-grave, or four-grave)
• Monuments & Markers (black, gray, or pink granite)
• Flower placement (single or multiple placement)
• All orders can be placed at the Evergreen office or the website.
Cash Transfer Pilot Readies 3rd Cohort
by THOMAS BREEN
An extra $500 a month didn’t cover every bill for Michael White as he reacclimated to life in New Haven outside of prison.
But it did allow him to stay home a bit longer with his newborn son; help him and his wife start their own “last-mile delivery” small business; cover some of the costs of groceries and diapers.
White is one of 40 New Haveners to have participated in the first two cohorts of the Elm City Reentry Pilot a privately funded, publicly boosted cash transfer program for formerly incarcerated city residents.
“You could rely on it. There was no hesitation. No withholding,” White said about those cash transfers. “You could count on that” regardless of what else may be going on. “It was everything.”
The program represents a small-scale experiment in guaranteed basic income for a targeted group of New Haveners, and has received the rhetorical and logistical support of City Hall, even as the Elicker administration has chosen not to invest one-time federal pandemic-relief dollars in this program or any other universal income efforts.
Since launching last March, Elm City Reentry Pilot has provided $500 a month for 12 months each to two 20-person cohorts.
The first group of 20 received those cash transfers, delivered through Elm City Resident IDcards, from March 2023 through February 2024. The second 20 participants received $500 apiece per month from August 2023 through July 2024.
The program is run and funded by a statewide nonprofit called 4 CT. According to
director Sarah Blanton, the Elm City Reentry Pilot is gearing up for a third 20-person cohort, scheduled to start sometime later this fall.
The program is funded entirely through private philanthropic dollars, she said.
Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed that the city has contributed no public dollars to the enterprise, outside of some time spent by city employees doing “a little bit of matchmaking with Project M.O.R.E.” and 4 CT,
and “facilitating the Elm City ID cards” for the program participants.
Blanton and Elicker said that 4 CT and City Hall are paying close attention to the data the nonprofit has been gathering about how well the program is working so far: about how successful it’s been at keeping participants out of prison, in jobs and housing, and on track to successful reentry.
Blanton said, at least for these first 40 participants, the program appears to be a
success.
Only two program participants were not able to finish their respective year-long pilots because they ended up back in prison. In interview after interview, she said, cash transfer recipients have spoken about how this money has helped not just with groceries and rent and phone bills, but also with reconnecting with family members and reducing stress. “The number of people able to buy their mothers flowers on Mother’s
Day,” she said, or a present for a child for graduation, speaks to how surprisingly far such a relatively small amount of money goes in making people feel like contributing family members again.
If the results continue to be positive, Elicker said, this pilot could lead the city to invest public dollars in a similar type of cash transfer program. But for now, the city is keeping an eye on how this third 20-person cohort goes.
“A pilot like this could scale quite easily if we have the resources,” Blanton said. “I still want to keep learning. The benefits have been so clear.”
White, 39, and Kevin Boyd, 32, described exactly that type of small-dollar big impact when reflecting on their respective experiences in the cash transfer pilot program.
White said he was incarcerated at the age of 19, sentenced to 25 years in prison, and ultimately released in 2022.
“Getting out of prison is hard,” he reflected. Obtaining IDs, getting your driver’s license, applying for jobs regular, necessary parts of everyday life are that much more difficult when figuring out how to operate in the world outside of bars. “You have to explain for a gap” to prospective employers, he said. He noted he had only had two jobs in his life: one at Walgreens, one at SNET, and then 18 years of no work while in prison.
He ended up getting a job at a marijuana grow facility in West Haven, and was involved in the state’s first cannabis workers union. White also got married and had a son. It was around then that he connected with Blanton through the Grand Avenue
Con’t on page 16
162 More Glendower Apartments OK’d
by THOMAS BREEN
The City Plan Commission signed off on 162 new mostly affordable apartments to be built in Newhallville, West Rock, and Whalley as part of three more newconstruction projects involving the housing authority’s nonprofit development affiliate, the Glendower Group.
Local land use commissioners took those unanimous votes of approval this past Wednesday during the latest monthly online meeting of the City Plan Commission. The commissioners approved site plans for:
• A three-story, 50-unit elderly housing facility at 34 Level St. in the West Rock neighborhood. The complex funded in part by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 202 program will include 47 one-bedroom apartments, three two-bedroom apartments, and 27 on-site parking spaces. All of the units will be set aside for tenants making a maximum of 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), or $48,780 for a
one-person household in 2024.
• A three-story, 63-unit apartment building at 201 Hazel St. in Newhallville. The complex will include a mix of one , two , three , and four-bedroom apartments, and will have 41 on-site parking spaces. Eighty percent of the apartments will be rented out to tenants making no more than 30 to 60 percent AMI; the remaining 20 percent will be rented out at market rates.
• A five-story, 49-unit apartment building with groundfloor commercial space at 117 and 129 Whalley Ave., 10 Dickerman St., and 34 and 36 Sperry St. Glendower is building this long-in-the-works project in partnership with the St. Luke’s Development Corporation. All but a handful of these apartments will be rented out to tenants making no more than 50 percent AMI. (The City Plan Commission last approved this mixed-use development in March 2023. Since then, the project has gone from six floors to five and from 55 apartments to 49, in order to cut down on costs.)
“You keep hearing me saying ‘I’m really
excited about this project,’ ” Glendower Vice President of Development Edward LaChance said at the start of his agency’s third new-housing pitch of the night to the City Plan Commission. “But I’m really excited about this project.”
“You’re three for three tonight,” City Plan Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand said after Glendower had wracked up three approvals for these three different building projects. “Good job.” Wednesday’s approvals marked just the latest examples of the housing authority ambitiously pursuing new construction projects as it seeks to address the city’s affordable housing crunch. They come as the agency is also looking to build lots more new apartments at the former Church Street South site across from Union Station, at the former Hamilton Street clock factory site, atop a surface parking lot on George Street in the 9th Square, and on the Quinnipiac River in Fair Haven Heights, among other places.
THOMAS BREEN FILE PHOTO
4-CT's Sarah Blanton (center) with Mayor Elicker (right) at March 2023 kickoff for cash transfer pilot.
63 new apartments approved for 201 Hazel ...
The new haven independent
The new haven independent
7 Arrested After Counterfeit Pill ’Lab’ Bust
by Dereen Shirnekhi, New Haven Independent
NEW HAVEN, CT – A garage-turned-lab in East Haven equipped with 2,000-pound pill-pressing machines churned out two million synthetic opioid pills containing ingredients more potent than even fentanyl – and now sits at the center of Connecticut’s largest ever clandestine drug manufacturing bust.
The news of that drug operation and seven related arrests was announced at a Monday morning press conference held by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The presser was held in an office on the 25th floor of 157 Church St.
Law enforcement officials on Monday described a complex system led by a 45-year-old New Havener, where counterfeit pills produced in that East Haven garage were sold as oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall but contained methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances. (Protonitazene is a synthetic opioid three times as potent as fentanyl.)
With the help of six others based in greater New Haven, that 45-year-old city resident distributed those pills across Connecticut and the country by using U.S. Mail to ship orders received on the “dark web.” He and four others were arrested on Sept. 5, and two others were arrested on Sept. 19 after they continued selling drugs.
The lead arrestee has been charged with Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with the Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances, including 50 Grams or More of a Mixture and Substance Containing a Detectable Amount
of Methamphetamine.
Speakers at Monday’s presser included U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)‘s Asst. Special Agent in Charge David Lanzoni, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward, and Asst. U.S. Attorney and lead prosecutor Lauren Clark.
“These pills were being produced right here in Connecticut,” said Lanzoni. “That to me is a much scarier thought than stuff coming over the border.”
Drugs are also getting distributed in ways that haven’t been seen before, according to Lanzoni. “If you have access to a smartphone, and/or applications on said
smartphones, you now can be reached by drug dealers.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office is also investigating a Connecticut overdose death that officials believe may have involved the lead arrestee’s pills. Lanzoni said that this was the “largest seizure of fake pills we’ve seen in New England.”
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in early September by Task Force Officer Andrew Pfeiffer, the investigation began in summer 2023 when an informant notified the DEA’s New Haven District Office’s Tactical Diversion Squad (NHDO-TDS) of the lead arrestee’s fake pill press operation, and the fact that he was
shipping narcotics in the mail.
Thus launched an investigation that entailed seizing and searching the 45-yearold New Havener’s parcels, electronic and physical surveillance of the main locations (his East Haven garage lab and his Hill home) and associates involved, undercover purchases of pills, and trash pulls.
Investigators concluded that the operation involved purchasing the ingredients for drugs and pill press parts from “China and elsewhere,” using pill presses to make counterfeit pills, conducting sales on the dark web, and mailing pills to customers as well as distributing them to associates across Connecticut to sell.
Between February 2023 and February 2024, officials estimate that the lead arrestee sent more than 1,300 packages. On those packages, he often listed his return address as that of two seemingly legitimate New Haven businesses, whose owners have denied any involvement in the drug operation.
The Sept. 5 arrest of the 45-year-old New Havener and searches of relevant locations included the seizure of hundreds of thousands of fake pills, two large pill presses (one of which is capable of producing 100,000 pills per hour), and pill manufacturing equipment.
Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, officials declined to answer questions about the possibly related overdose death, about the arrestee’s relationship to the businesses he listed as return addresses on his parcels, or about his history and relationship to the New Haven community.
The 45-year-old arrestee’s LinkedIn profile lists work experience as an electrician, a clothing business owner, and a self-employed sales advocate.
A Promise Kept, & Expanded
by PAUL BASS
The college scholarship and mentoring program is now in its 14th year. It still offers annual scholarships of up to $20,000 for up to four years to a new class of over 200 city public schoolers who maintain a B average, perform community service, and show up to school. Under the direction of President Patricia Melton these past 12 years, it has grown to connect those students to career-launching internships, and to each other as fellow students and then alumni, 86 percent of whom have returned to live and work in town.
“Our work just keeps expanding,” Melton said Tuesday during a conversation on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program. Promise Talent Manager Casey Gargano and new K 12 Manager Frankie Roman joined her on the show.
Next month, according to Melton, Promise plans to announce a new fellowship along with Yale and Southern Connecticut
State University to help students and paraprofessionals obtain teaching certification, tackling one of the school system’s top challenges.
Meanwhile, next week Promise is hosting its first fall summer internship recruiting fair, building on its annual January sessions to include companies that start recruiting interns earlier. One hundred thirty-seven Promise-supported students earned collectively close to $1 million this summer at internships around town, said Gargano, a Wilbur Cross grad who attended UConn on a Promise scholarship.
Roman, who most recently worked as a counselor development manager at LEAP, spoke of how he is aiming to reach students as early as seventh grade to help steer them toward eventually qualifying for the scholarship and thinking about careers.
He’s planning to hold career and college fairs not just at high schools but at middle schools as well. “We want to seed plant very early.”
Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur
Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha
William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee
Contributors At-Large
Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass
www.newhavenindependent.org
Memberships
National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc.
The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-387-0354 phone; 203-3872684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment. Postmaster, send address changes to 50 Fitch Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Display ad deadline Friday prior to insertion date at 5:00pm Advertisers are responsible for checking ads for error in publication. Penfield Communications, Inc d.b.a., “The Inner-City Newspaper” , shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication, except to the extent of the cost of the space in which actual error appeared in the first insertion. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication. The entire contents of The Inner-City Newspaper are copyright 2012, Penfield Communications, Inc. and no portion may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
U.S. Attorney Vanessa Avery and DEA Special Agent David Lanzoni: This was the “largest seizure of fake pills we’ve seen in New England.” Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi / New Haven Independent
PAUL BASS PHOTO Frankie Roman, Casey Gargano, and Patricia Melton at New Haven Promise. Like the young people it helps develop into successful college students and adults, New Haven Promise has entered its teens full of growth of possibility.
The new haven independent
DEEP Announces New Round Of Vouchers For E-Bike Purchases
HARTFORD, CT – The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will launch a second round of vouchers for its popular electronic bike incentive program, which can save qualifying residents over $1,000 when purchasing an e-bike.
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, along with Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, other state officials, and bicycle advocates announced the new funding at a news conference Monday in Bushnell Park. “We had an extraordinary response, extraordinary interest from the public for these e-bike vouchers,” Dykes said. “This program is a result of legislative leadership on improving air quality and tackling climate change, and most importantly, making a difference in providing for more affordable clean transportation options for our folks in Connecticut, and especially those living in communities that are overburdened by air pollution and who lack affordable transportation options.”
Questions about your bill?
Yale New Haven Hospital is pleased to offer patients and their families financial counseling regarding their hospital bills or the availability of financial assistance, including free care funds.
By appointment, patients can speak one-on-one with a financial counselor during regular business hours. For your convenience, extended hours are available in-person at Yale New Haven Hospital once a month.
Date: Monday, September 16, 2024
Time: 5 - 7 pm
Location: Children’s Hospital, 1 Park St., 1st Floor, Admitting Parking available (handicapped accessible)
An appointment is necessary. Please call 855-547-4584.
In light of COVID-19, patients may call 855-547-4584 any time during regular weekday hours to speak with a counselor on the phone.
Spanish-speaking counselors available.
comfort and care right at home
Our needs may change over time but one thing that doesn’t have to change is the comfort of being at home. The Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders, or CHCPE, helps people 65+ get the care they need right at home. Services can include housekeeping, personal care, home-delivered meals, and more.
Commissioner Katie Dykes of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announces new funding for the state’s popular E-Bike Incentive Program. Credit: Screengrab / Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Growing up in the early 1990s, Thuso
- October 01, 2024
Mbedu never dreamt of being an entertainment figure. At a very young age, she wanted to be a dermatologist, but after taking a dramatic arts class in the 10th grade, she became interested in acting.
Tamika Davis, Ed.D., interim vice president of enrollment management for CT State Community College (CT State), was honored at the Ninth Annual 100 Women of Color Gala and Awards on September 13 at the Bushnell Performing Arts Center.
Her acting career has earned her fame and fortune locally and internationally, rising to become one of the most sought after actresses from South Africa. At 27, she was named in the 2018 Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 List, and one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African Magazine.
The gala honors 100 influential women of color from Connecticut and western Massachusetts, celebrating their achievements in business, education, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and government, as well as their positive impact on their communities.
CT State Vice President Receives “100 Women of Color” Award
Born on July 8, 1991, at the Midlands Medical Center in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, to a Zulu mother and Xhosa and Sotho father, she never enjoyed the care of her parents who died when she was barely four years old. She was raised by her grandmother, a very strict school principal in school and at home. Her name reflected the multicultural tribes of her parents – Thuso is a Sotho name, Nokwanda is a Zulu name, and Mbedu is Xhosa.
“Receiving this award is not just a personal honor, but a testament to the collective effort of our community in advancing educational access and fostering an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Davis. “I am deeply grateful for this recognition, but the true reward comes from seeing our students and young professionals thrive and succeed.”
Mbedu went to Pelham Primary School and Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School and graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa in 2013, where she studied Physical Theatre and Performing Arts Management. Earlier in 2012, she took a summer course at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Career
Davis has over 20 years of leadership experience in higher education, professional services, and community-based nonprofit organizations, the majority of which has been at Connecticut colleges and universities. She holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of Hartford, and resides in Woodbridge.
Sponsored by Eleven28 Entertainment, the gala’s goal is to support programs and scholarships for the advancement of young women of color. Event proceeds will also help promote healthy living for women and to support organizations that need funding for cervical and breast cancer research.
Her acting career began in 2014 when she played a minor role of ‘Nosisa’ in the popular South African Soap Opera ‘Isibaya’ from Mzansi Magic. In 2015, she played a guest role as ‘Kheti’ in the Second Season of the SABC 2 youth drama series ‘Snake Park.’
She got her first starring role in the teen drama television series ‘IS’THUNZI’ from Mzansi Magic where she played ‘Winnie.’ Her international debut was in ‘The Underground Railroad’ an American fantasy historical drama series based on the novel ‘The Underground Railroad’ written by Colson Whitehead.
In 2022, she starred in her first film ‘The Woman King’ an epic historical drama about Agosie, where an entire female warrior unit protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 17 – 19th century. She played ‘Nawi’, a zealous recruit in the military unit.
About CT State CT State was launched on July 1, 2023 as the result of a consolidation of the state’s 12 community colleges. CT State serves the residents of 169 towns, as well as neighboring states, with campuses and satellites in Bridgeport, Bristol, Danbury, Danielson, Enfield, Farmington, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, Middletown, Norwalk, Norwich, New Haven, North Haven, Waterbury, Willimantic, and Winsted, with a central office located in New Britain.
‘Black Reel Awards’ (Outstanding Actress – TV Movie / Limited Series), the ‘Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards’ (Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthropology Series or Television Movie), the ‘Gotham Awards’ (Outstanding Performance in New Series), the ‘Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards’ (TV Breakout Star), and the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ (Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie), all for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 TV series ‘The Underground Railroad.’
She won the ‘TV Breakout Star’ award from the Hollywood Critics Association TV and won the ‘Outstanding Performance in New Series’ award from the Gotham Awards.
As the Northeast’s largest community college, the sixth-largest nationwide, and the most affordable college in CT, CT State provides high-quality, accessible, inclusive post-secondary education that enables a diverse array of students to achieve their life and career goals. To learn more, visit ctstate.edu.
In 2022, Mbedu was nominated for the ‘Independent Spirit Awards (Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series), for her role ‘Cora Randall’ in the 2021 television series ‘The Underground Railroad.’ She won the ‘Critics Choice Television Awards’ for ‘Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie’ for her role ‘Cora Ran-
In her keynote speech at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit, Thuso Mbedu tearfully spoke of how she overcame the loss of her dear parents, grandmother, and aunt. But her role in Amanda Lane’s ‘IS’THUNZI’
In 2017, Mbedu was nominated for the ‘DSTV Viewers Choice Awards’ and the ‘International Emmy Awards for the ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the 2016 -2017 television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’
In 2018, she won the ‘South African Film and Television Awards’ for ‘ Best Actress – TV Drama’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the 2016 -2017 television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’ She was also nominated for the ‘International Emmy Awards for ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ for her role ‘Winnie Bhengu’ in the television drama series ‘IS’THUNZI.’
In 2021, she was nominated for the ‘Television Critics Association Award’ (Individual Achievement in Drama), the
da Lane happened in 2016. The role that Amanda Lane gave me was the difference ing that audition brief, I told myself that tion. I gave it the last of everything that I had, that at the time I got the callback, I had nothing left. I secretly made the decision ing left to give. But fortunately, I received cause the role was mine. I had given up. I was in a very dark place at the time, and the character, the role, the opportunity, was a much needed light. And I told myself that I will act as if it was the last character that I will play. And through a great script and an amazing director, I earned two International Emmy Awards for that role…”
Thuso Mbedu. Photo -IOL
Freddy Fixer Honors Awardees, Names A New Leadership Team
Lucy Gellman
Reese McLeod can’t imagine New Haven without the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade. As a kid, she looked forward to parade day for months, from the outfits she carefully put together to the vibrant colors that flooded Dixwell Avenue. Well before June this year, she was eager to roll up her sleeves and get to work.
So when leadership put out a call to keep the event going, she stepped up— and brought a whole team with her.
A daughter of New Haven, McLeod is the new president of the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee (EFPCC), the organization that fundraises for and runs the eponymously named parade each year. Announced Wednesday night at Stetson Branch Library, new ECFPCC team members include McLeod, Secretary Arden Santana, Treasurer and retired Fire Capt. Samod “Nuke” Rankins, and Sergeant at Arms Belito Garcia.
They replace Board President Diane Brown and Vice President Petisia Adger, who have kept the parade going through several leadership transitions, fundraising woes, and a global pandemic (read more about that here). While the two have said they’re leaving before, “this time it’s real,” Brown said. Thanking fellow organizers Jacqueline Glover, Monique Cain and Iman Hameen, she added that she has full confidence in the new team.
Johnny Johnson and Joshua Smith, who won first place for the Majorette and Dance Factory and James Hillhouse High School Marching Band. Bottom: Volunteers, including McLeod, who were recognized for their service.
“I have a lot of creative ideas and am so grateful that they believe in me,” McLeod said Wednesday night, as attendees received awards for leadership, service and artistry in this year’s parade. “We want to include more schools, more bands and dancers, more colors … we want to continue to let the community know that this is for them.”
For McLeod and fellow members of the leadership team, it’s a responsibility that feels as natural as it does historic and huge. Last December, McLeod met Brown through the inaugural “Winter Wonderland,” a holiday festival at Stetson and the Dixwell Avenue Q House. In the months that followed, she signed up as a volunteer with the Freddy Fixer Parade, helping with everything from its star-studded gala to a return to Dixwell Avenue.
When Brown and Adger announced that they would be stepping down months ago, McLeod asked how she could be most helpful. Then she kept asking, and showing up to planning meetings. The answer, Brown told her, was stepping into leadership to ensure the event’s continuation. While the ECFFPC has not yet announced a date, Brown said that there will definitely be a 2025 parade. “This
is your incoming parade committee, they have a lot of work to do,” she said. “They are committed … we’re ready to go for 2025.”
Each member of the new team brings a different skill set to the planning process.
McLeod is a public administrator with years of volunteering experience, Santana is a creative and educator, Rankins is a dedicated public servant who has served as the parade's Grand Marshal, and Garcia is a professional life and business coach and Philly transplant (and Santana’s partner) who has become a champion of New Haven.
Several of them also grew with the Freddy, and wouldn’t want to live in a New Haven without it.
Santana, who has been going since her childhood, would spend weeks planning her outfit, she said. She still remembers when the parade went downtown. When it took a brief pause during her high school years, something about the summer didn’t feel right. During the years that she lived in Philly, she often spoke about it with Garcia, who came to New Haven with her when she made the move back.
“I just can’t imagine New Haven without it,” she said Wednesday. “It was always exciting because of the people, the music, the socializing. It was a gathering … like a huge cookout or a block party.”
When she heard that leadership was stepping down for good, “it felt natural to call Diane and say, ‘How do I help? How do I support?’”
In the spirit of the parade, Wednesday also marked a kind of miniature Freddy reunion, with laughter and applause that filled the second floor of the library. As attendees tucked into plates of mac and cheese, tender green beans, chopped
chicken and cornbread, Brown and Adger announced a number of awardees, from Best Marching Unit, Drill Team and Motorcycle Group to the Elm City Freddy Fixer Spirit Award.
“Good evening, beautiful Black people,” Brown said gently at one point, to bring the room to attention, and the greeting felt right on time.
This year, those recognitions carried cash prizes, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation that is now in its second year of funding. For many of the awardees, it was also a moment to savor and relive the sun-soaked parade day that filled Dixwell Avenue with joyful, sometimes cacophonous sound three months ago.
Beaming as he accepted an award for “Best Drill Team”—it’s the second consecutive year the team has won—Elite Drill Squad Director Ryshon Menafee remembered watching the Freddy as a kid, and then jumping in as a member of Mob Squad when his aunt, Tracey MenafeeHie, put out the call. He was just eight, maybe nine years old, and it shaped the kind of mentor he wanted to become himself.
While Mob Squad may no longer exist, “I wanted the kids to have the same experience I had,” Menafee said. “It’s about the community coming together.” As social media becomes a new challenge to young people’s mental health, he added, he wants to provide a healthy alternative that builds confidence, provides a sort of dance and drill family, and gets young people off their phones.
Nearby, Style 2000 Co-Owners Samantha Galberth and Patricia Jackson celebrated their first place win of the Grand Marshal’s Award. What was strange about it, Galberth mused, is that it almost didn’t happen.
After participating in the parade for years, the duo had decided not to march in this year’s Freddy Fixer Parade. Then Brown came to their Whalley Avenue shop.
“She came to the shop, she talked to all of us, and boom! We was there and we had fun,” Galberth said to fellow attendees with a smile. It feels doubly meaningful because this is an anniversary year for Style 2000: the shop turns 30 this fall.
“It was everything to us,” Galberth later added of both the parade and of marching this year. As a kid, she attended, and later joined as a member of Elm City Drill Team. Now, she’s glad to march as an adult and small business owner in the city that raised her. “It brings back such memories.”
“It means a lot to me to see people get together and show love to each other,” added Jackson, who moved to the U.S. at 10 and grew up watching the parade. She joked that Galberth is the Laverne to her Shirley, ready to bring her flamboyant personality back to the Freddy year after year. “After Covid, we needed this.”
Patricia Jackson, Diane Brown and Samantha Galberth. Jackson and Galberth co-own Style 2000, which won first place for the Grand Mashal’s Award in this year's parade.
Johnny Johnson and Joshua Smith, who won first place for the Majorette and Dance Factor y and James Hillhouse High School Marching Band.
Menafee accepts the award for Elite.
The new haven independent
Time For Supervised Injection Sites?
by LAURA GLESBY
Myra Smith walked into the Wilson Library Branch with her mind made up about supervised substance use centers:
“It is NOT coming to the Hill. It’s not.”
She left with more openness to the concept as a way to address the opioid crisis that has overwhelmed her neighborhood.
“I’m not saying I’m totally against it. This sounds wonderful,” she said as long as it’s implemented with care for the surrounding community.
Smith gathered along with over a dozen other community members in the Hill library branch on Tuesday evening for a workshop on the possibility of supervised injection sites designated places where people can use high-risk substances such as opioids with medical supervision, with the ultimate goal of preventing overdoses and saving lives.
The meeting was hosted by Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), which has been researching the implications of a hypothetical supervised injection site in New Haven with help from Facente Consulting for the last year and a half.
As DESK Executive Director Steve Werlin emphasized on Tuesday, the organization is not currently planning to open up a supervised injection site (also known as “overdose prevention centers” or “safe consumption sites”) in New Haven.
“We really want to understand what the community thinks of this,” he said.
He explained that amid the rise of the highly-potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, DESK staff have witnessed more and more overdoses among the primarily unhoused community members they serve. In New Haven, accidental or unsolved overdose deaths not determined to be intentional have more than doubled since before the pandemic, with 116 deaths in 2023. Fentanyl was found to be the most common culprit.
While DESK has increased its own resources around substance use disorder, “it never feels like enough,” Werlin said. That’s why the organization is exploring the idea of a supervised injection site aimed at preventing more deaths.
Supervised injection sites have become a flash point both in New Haven and across the country for debates about the “harm reduction” approach to public health. Harm reduction maintains that shaming or turning away people who engage in highrisk behaviors like sex work and drug use is not effective that instead, organizations should offer tools that lower the risk of illness or death from those activities, such as condoms, clean needles, fentanylidentifying strips, and the overdose-reversal drug naloxone (Narcan).
When it comes to addiction, critics say that harm reduction doesn’t adequately push substance users toward sobriety.
They argue that providing safer supplies ultimately normalizes drug use in the broader community.
Meanwhile, advocates of harm reduction point to research that stigmatizing drug use can actually drive people further away from seeking help. They argue that so many people struggling with addiction are not ready or willing to accept treatment and that the lives and wellbeing of those people are worth protecting regardless.
The city supports the idea of “a harm reduction center” which “would save
as the neighborhood services advocate at the local homelessness provider Christian Community Action, entered Tuesday’s meeting with tangible skepticism about supervised injection sites.
She echoed concerns often raised in response to addiction-related proposals that New Haven’s social services tend to be concentrated in low-income neighborhoods like the Hill.
She expressed worry that a supervised injection site would draw more dealing to an area already struggling with the drug trade. “It brings traffic to the neighborhood,” she observed, noting that substance users usually don’t want to travel too far to get high after obtaining drugs.
“We want to help,” Smith said. “Right now, we are overwhelmed.”
Over the course of the conversation, Smith listened to the suggestions and reactions of other participants, who were primarily enthusiastic about a supervised injection site.
Facilitator Katie Burk of Facente Consulting suggested a rule against drug sales inside the facility, with consequences if that rule isn’t followed.
Luz Catarineau Colville posited that a large empty space, like the site of the former “Tent City” encampment on the Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, might be a good spot, relatively distant from residents and especially from schools.
Roosevelt Watkins said the site should operate 24 hours a day, so that no one is kicked out to get high on the street.
Participants emphasized the need for wraparound services, with public restrooms, laundry, mental health support, and financial literacy training alongside medical resources.
Those services are great, noted one participant who identified himself as Mike, but “those are all buzzkills. There’d have to be something fun to do” something like music, or colorful lights, he suggested.
“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have wanted none of that when I was tweaking,” interjected Watkins, who suggested a quiet, peaceful area.
They came to a consensus that a center with multiple rooms with different atmospheres would be ideal.
hold it accountable.
And most importantly, it should be managed diligently, with strict enforcement to ensure that clients are using drugs inside and not out in public, Smith said. If substance use “can be kept indoors… that would be totally awesome,” she said. Werlin jumped in. “Part of what I’m hearing is, ‘don’t half-ass it,’” he said.
“YES!” Smith exclaimed.
"They're Being So Desensitized"
The group came to a consensus that multiple small, indoor sites in areas currently struggling with lots of outdoor substance use would be better than one more centralized location.
Many attendees on Tuesday spoke from personal experience about addiction. “I started using in grade school,” Mike said in a small-group discussion about personal experiences at the end of the meeting.
“Addiction saved my life,” he added. “It just took too much from me, too.” Those words resonated with Watkins, who pointed out that many people cope by using drugs as an alternative to ending their lives.
Smith described how living and working in the Hill has exposed her to the effects of the opioid crisis on a daily basis providing her with a very different perspective from when she was younger and struggling with substance use.
Smith had started out in the meeting feeling strongly against the idea of supervised injection, she reflected. “At the end of the day, it’s like, Myra, you was getting high! You didn’t want anyone to talk about you that way.”
“I feel powerless when it comes to this population,” Smith added. “I’m concerned about our children. … They’re curious.”
She described her interactions with the children at the Hill homeless shelter where she works, who ask her to explain what happened to people who have overdosed outside. Recently, she said, she saw some kids imitating some of the drug users in the neighborhood. They were joking around and it worried her. “They’re being so desensitized to it,” she said.
lives, and help people break the cycle of addition by connecting them to substance use treatment and other services and supports,” Mayor Justin Elicker wrote in a statement.
“There would, of course, need to be very thoughtful planning and robust community conversation around any particular site,” Elicker wrote, “but New Haveners are a compassionate people who I’m confident would rally around a responsible, evidence-based approach to support some of our most vulnerable residents.” Smith, a resident of the Hill who works
Facilitator Alixe Dittmore suggested that beyond providing for basic needs, offerings like acupuncture, massages, and aromatherapy could help create a sense among clients that “they’re not judging me when I get high.”
Ultimately, Dittmore stated again and again, the goal of a supervised injection site would be “death prevention.”
While she remained skeptical, Smith offered her own suggestions.
If such a center comes to New Haven, Smith said, it should have an advisory committee of neighborhood residents to
Werlin diligently jotted down notes from the dialogue on a large sheet of paper, where Smith and Mike and Watkins’ points joined dozens of bullet points. “I have lost too many people to count,” one of them read.
If you are struggling with substance use, you are not alone. Local and national resources are available at https://connectgnh.org/. The Drug Free CT treatment hotline is 1 – 800 – 563 4086. The Never Use Alone hotline is 1 – 800 – 484 3731.
Research compiled by DESK-hired consultant Katie Burk on supervised injection sites.
Myra Smith: "I feel powerless when it comes to this population."
Attendee Carl Ferris.
The new haven independent
Library Looks To The 5 Year Future
by ALLAN APPEL
Library leaders and patrons gathered on Grand Avenue to think through how to keep the city’s public libraries among the most welcoming, friendly, helpful, diverse places in town as part of a planning process designed to make them even more effective at serving the New Haven community a half decade from now.
That was the subject of an hour and a half’s candid community conversation with 30 library patrons and neighbors at the Fair Haven Branch Library Thursday night.
The occasion was the second of what City Librarian and Director Maria Bernhey and Deputy Director Luis ChavezBrumell have billed as ten community workshops being convened between now and Oct. 8.
Their aim is to gather citizens’ ideas for the future – how to fill gaps in other city services, how to hone current programs and/or introduce new stuff to the library’s already impressive menu of offerings – as part of NHFPL’s triennial strategic planning process.
Library lovers praised the system as it currently exists and detailed an ambitious vision for its near future.
They said that if the library’s to continue to embrace students and the elderly, entrepreneurs as well as the homeless, those eager to learn algorithms as well as Spanish or English, and maybe even add Chinese and Pashto to its conversation groups, it absolutely needs to seriously up its digital game; market itself better; look spiffier; tell its true and dignified story to a broader swath of citizens and bring our many diverse groups more into a sense of one unifying community.
While library brass took attentive notes on their laptops, Fair Haven Branch Manager Kirk Morrison, whom Brumell termed the “trusted messenger,” elicited local evaluations, hopes, and concerns.
A resident of the area for only three years, Gina Toppins said she has lived in six states and 17 cities. When she arrives in a new one, her first stops are for voter registration and to get a library card. “This is the friendliest library of all.”
That theme – an organizational style of openness, helpfulness, and treating patrons with dignity – was echoed throughout the evening.
Three young South Korean women, for example, couldn’t praise enough Wednesday’s weekly English conversation group led by Susan Hackett at the Fair Haven branch.
Another interlocutor praised the neighborly atmosphere not only of the Fair Haven Branch but throughout the system. I’ve never seen anyone ever mistreated, she said.
Three more folks were enamored of the Spanish-learning conversation group, another liked seeing programs for adults and kids cheek by jowl, but said she would
also appreciate more programs to help her with computer skills.
And Dave Caron, who as a 12-yearold used to bike to the library, now, at 78, really appreciates that there is now an elevator.
And a young woman who lives in a group home said she has met her best friends at library programs
Downside concerns: “Fair Haven is diverse but it’s also isolated,” Toppins added. “Arabic speakers should also be here” at the library, she said, and, by way of example, the Fair Haven Day festivities, often organized at the library, should feature not only Hispanic culture but, for example, Irish music, as well as all the cultures who have been part of the fabric of the immigrant neighborhood.
Bernhey was keen to know how the speakers heard about library programs, like the very program they were attending Thursday night.
The answers ranged from online email
notifications, to announcements of library events at other gatherings like the community management team. And one speaker said the only way you really know the accurate and broad range of what’s going on is to walk in the door.
Another speaker said it’s embarrassing, that the only way people across the city hear of the library is when it becomes a political football around cutting hours of service
“It’s embarrassing that the library is not a priority,” said long-time library advocate and activist Paula Panzarella.
“It should not fall on the staff,” said Toppins, “but this library needs a marketing person with social media savvy, a separate dedicated person.”
Yet once more people come, will the infrastructure hold up?
Morrison said with the current building configuration at the Fair Haven branch it
Allan Appel Photos Library lovers Dave Caron and Mary Newell at Thursday's planning session ...
... with City Librarian Maria Bernhey and Deputy Director Luis Chavez-Brumell.
The new haven independent
Co-Op Dancers (Re)Connect With Their Rhythms
Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org
It was Monday morning in studio 206, and Kori Tatman felt more alive than she had in days.
At the front of the room, pumping bass exploded from the speakers, traveling from the floor into dancers’ bones. It was New Haven, circa 2024. It was Harlem, circa 1985. The bass reached her chest, and Tatman began to move in long, businesslike strides, sinking into her hips and shoulders. With each step, she connected to histories—of dance, of free expression, of Black and Brown LGBTQ+ solidarity—that made her love the form.
Monday, Tatman joined fellow Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School seniors in a master class from dancers Ondrej Vidlar and Perle Palombe, both longtime collaborators with Trajal Harrell’s and part of his performances with the Yale Schwarzman Center this week. In just an hour, they transported dancers from College Street to another universe, pushing them to connect with the rhythms of their own bodies.
“I was very much—I guess you could say, in my spirituality,” said Tatman after the class. “When she [Pearle] was talking about the creativity inside of us and how we relate to it, it just connected me to the divine. I just love that. I do believe in a God, but I really believe that us all are a part of one unanimous love."
Harrell, who may be best known for his marriage of twentieth-century postmodern dance and underground ballroom culture, is the first performer of the Schwarzman Center’s fall season. In addition to a performance last weekend, his time in New Haven includes a talk at the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) on Monday afternoon and performance of his Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church on Tuesday evening. Learn more about those here.
But it was the master class, held above a bustling College Street in the school’s second-floor dance studio, that may have been his most organic gift to New Haven. On Monday morning, the studio had a specific, expectant kind of energy, like it had been waiting all weekend for students to return. As they trickled in with black bodysuits and neat coiffures, Vidlar and Palombe stood among them, chatting casually as one might in the lull between classes.
It was only when Vidlar announced warm ups that they fell to a hush, arranging themselves instantly into row. Heads swiveled obediently towards the front of the room. Walls of full-length mirrors, on which dancers can study themselves, became impromptu backrests as teachers and Schwarzman Center staff squeezed in. Students stood straight, prepared for the technical rigor they’ve come to expect from their dance classes.
Vidlar smiled: today was going to be a
little different, he said. He spread his feet just slightly, soles flat on the floor. Switching on a soaring, synth-heavy track, he began to bounce at the knees, pulling in his elbows. His wrists relaxed, hands and fingers slack for the first time that morning. Vocals slipped in over the bass. Out the window, the low-hanging clouds gave a uniform curtain of gray.
“Try to breathe,” he said, doing an audible, exaggerated breath in. “And try to bring deep breathing, in and—ahhhhh— deep breathing out.” Another audible breath. “Shake it out. A bit more. Feel it, bouncing through the floor—” he appeared to dribble an imaginary basketball.
“Feeling the floor, you can even close your eyes for a second, you will not miss anything.”
He pulled a hand momentarily to his right ear, running a finger along the rim.
“I do want to hear the breathing. Don’t be afraid to let it out and make a sound.”
In the front row, Alondra Rodriguez was finding her breath. When she steps into the dance classroom, she later said, the art form has the ability to whisk her into a different universe. As she felt the floor beneath her feet, arms at her sides, Monday had that sort of feeling.
“It's definitely getting transported to a new world,” she later said. “You get to dive into different techniques, different styles. And so, it's a great way to kind of find yourself within dance—to show your own personality and tell stories.”
At the front of the room, Vidlar was just getting started. He and Palombe extended their arms, spreading their fingertips out towards the walls. He rose onto the balls of his feet, toes feeling the cool marley floor beneath him. He leaned just slightly in, watching as 12 pairs of eyes studied his every move. When he stopped to shake it out, a wave of gentle laughter filled the room.
“Always enjoy this moment of the sus-
pension of the foot lifting itself from the floor,” he said. One row behind Rodriguez, Tatman pushed herself onto her toes, shoulders just slightly forward. She evened herself out, still hovering in space. Her fingers, which moments before had hung noodle-like, came to life, pointed toward the flood at precise, clean angles.
“Okay, let’s just move into walking,” Vidlar said, and he took a beat as students rearranged themselves and began to walk through the room. A few looked up with questioning glances, and he explained that this is known as pedestrian movement, or the idea that even walking can become dance. “Literally, feel how you walk in the space.”
When she spotted a few more hesitant faces, Palombe jumped in. “You’re connecting with the imagination,” she said. A tinkling of bells from the speaker system played softly beneath her voice.
From their neat rows, students became jumbled, agitated electrons, finding their way around each other as they wove through the space. Some pumped their arms, feeling out the space around them. A few let the studio fade away, bodies
she reached the other end of the room, she whipped her head around, and Vidlar cheered from where he stood.
“I think it’s interesting when you create a step between the beat—a kind of rhythm in your body,” Palombe said. “The difference between the music and you … the rhythm inside yourself.”
Students seemed to take the words to heart. When Alayna Ellis stopped and posed before walking back across the room, a knot of her peers exploded into cheers. When Sincere Shields added a little pop to his step, raising his hands above his head as if to praise a higher power, it was easy to imagine him in the heart of a ball, equal parts graceful and punchy.
Even Curtis McClease, who had hesitated when the music came on, sauntered cautiously across the room, spreading his arms as he found his feet, bent his knees, and flowed into a strut. When he has stage fright, he later said, “I just pretend” he knows what to do, and lets it come to him. It’s how he moves past fear, he added— like a constant worry that he might fall.
Back at the speaker, Vidlar slowed it down with Cat Power’s “Werewolf,” encouraging students to feel the music. Ellis glided through the space, reaching toward the wall with such a slow, palpable urgency that it seemed certain there was someone on the other side. Tatman raised her arms over her head, letting her fingers graze her neck on the way back down. McClease, still cautious, willed his legs forward and watched as they loosened to the sound.
as alert and efficient as they might be in a busy city crosswalk. Just as they eased into it, turning the movement into a sort of ballet, Vidlar called them back to attention, finding a track that could weave in vogue and ballroom.
With the first suggestion of a beat, students understood the assignment: smiles erupted from the group as dancers waved their hands and criss-crossed their feet in preparation. When Vidlar asked who would go first, Tatman barely let him finish his sentence before she started walking. Throwing her shoulders dramatically back, she made a beeline for the floor-toceiling windows, feet barely touching the floor as her toes made contact, and then lifted off again.
“Yasss!” declared one of her classmates, and it felt like a statement of what was possible that morning. “Okay!” cried another, and soon the group was channeling histories of LaBeija, Ninja, Xtravaganza that they had only ever read about. When Rodriguez began to move, her arms sliced through the air, hands bobbing as she moved. Beneath the light, tiny beige flowers glittered on her acrylic nails. When
“I was mostly in my own self-consciousness,” he said minutes later, in an interview after class. “Through the last four years, I used to be very shy, scared of everybody making fun of me or whatever. These four years helped me improve a lot. Helping to improvise those kinds of movements from my own self consciousness went a long, long way for me.”
“For me, dance is therapeutic,” added Tatman. “Very, very therapeutic. I go to a completely different place. I could go to a dance class with the most tense and anxious energy and walk out feeling like I'm on a cloud. It really relieves stress … It's kind of like a meditation for me.”
Back outside on College Street, Vidlar and Palombe transformed back into mere mortals, chatting about their plans for an afternoon talk, the suggestion of a chill in the air, their upcoming dance work in Philadelphia. Both said that they delight in the chance to work with young people, in no small part because they are the dancers of the future.
“Hopefully they [these students] open themselves for many different opportunities,” said Vidlar, who has worked with Harrell for 14 years. “For me, there is something about inclusion and helping each other. They have all these questions—like, it’s their own discovery period, figuring out what is the next thing. It’s so beautiful to watch that.”
Kori Tatman. Bottom: Alayna Ellis. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Alondra Rodriguez, Xavier "Curtis" McClease, Sincere Shields, and Kori Tatman.
Beauty Biz Dreams Started At Troup
by LISA REISMAN
To understand how Nevaeh Dent came to run her own beauty supply shop, salon, and after-school program teaching young people the finer points of braiding, makeup, nails, lashes, confidence-building, and entrepreneurship all at the age of only 20 you have to go back to her Troup Middle School fifth-grade teacher, Marissa White.
“Just her being young and Black, being a teacher,” Dent said, was an inspiration for all she knew she too could accomplish. Dent spoke with the Independent about her beauty business background and dreams as lively music played amid an array of hair extensions, stocking caps, and braiding gels in the tidy, well-lit 1700 Dixwell Ave. shop.
The store is called LSH Beauty Supply. Dent also runs LSH Academy, short for Luxurious Skye Hair. (Skye is short for Neriah Skye, Dent’s younger sister, who passed away at three months.) The 20-year-old known as “Coach Vae” spent six weeks this summer schooling Greater New Haven area girls aged 7 to 17 on the beauty care business. There will be an after-school program with the same curriculum starting next month.
“I feel like the beauty industry is frowned upon and we aren’t recognized as real heroes when it comes to the role we play in people’s lives,” she said on a recent afternoon at her Dixwell Avenue shop in Hamden. “I want these girls to know you can make a career out of the beauty industry because you have the power to make people feel better about themselves.”
Her authority on these matters comes from her experience at LSH Beauty Sup-
ply, which she opened in January, as well as the two other businesses she owns, LSH Studio, a salon in West Haven, and the LSH “Vaecation” spa two doors down from her shop on Dixwell which is slated to open soon.
Her precocious belief in herself comes, in part, from her fifth-grade teacher, Marissa White.
White, now a principal at Renzulli Academy in Hartford, said she formed the young women’s leadership group BEAUTI an acronym for bold, enlightened, and unique teams identify while Dent’s
teacher at Troup.
“We talked a lot about skin color, and we went through the lyrics of Lauryn Hill’s song “Doo Woop (That Thing)” and just talked about having dignity and having respect for yourself and what that means in today’s world,” she said.
Already then, White said, Dent was growing into a leader, starring in talent shows with her rapping chops, wowing with her deft moves in a dance circle on field day. “It’s a natural gift of hers to stand out in a positive way, to be a go-getter,” she said. As for her work in the community, she
said, “that’s her figuring out how to use her gift to encourage and uplift other people.”
Dent’s mother Ivory Brewer, it seems, alighted her entrepreneurial spirit by pointedly refusing to pay her allowance.
“She would say ‘why should I pay you to clean up a house you live in?’” Dent recalled with a laugh. To get what you want, she told her daughter, start your own business.
Dent worked on building a website for an online business selling hair extensions and accessories everyday after school. She was 12. Once it went live, the orders started
coming in. “Some of my classmates would purchase stuff off the site and I’d deliver it to them at school,” she said. For online orders, she got her science teacher to print out shipping labels for her.
At an informal reunion at her shop, her summer program alums reflected on their experience.
“I learned to be a boss, and how to do nails, makeup, hair, and lashes,” said Skyla “KK” Kenion, 9.
“We practiced on mannequins, and I learned to have confidence in myself and not let anyone make me feel less than,” said Constance Zimmer, a seventh grader at Highville Charter. “She said, ‘it’s okay if you don’t get it the first time, just keep trying.’”
“I was already confident but I didn’t believe in myself,” said London Loman, an eighth grader at Hamden Middle School. “I learned how to braid better and I learned how to believe in myself.”
Styling a client’s hair in the back of the shop was another mentee, Makayla Evans, 19, who runs marketing and sales at LSH Beauty Supply. She said she initially met Dent at a back-to-school giveaway she was hosting.
“To see someone who looks like me, who’s from the same place as me, New Haven, and who’s where I want to be was really inspiring,” said Evans, who studied cosmetology at Eli Whitney Technical School and is now pursuing a degree at Gateway in nursing and business management.
“I don’t exactly know what her plans are and I don’t think Nevaeh even knows,” White, her former teacher, said. “But with what she’s done so far at such a young age, the sky’s the limit.”
Law Enforcement, Campus Safety Converge At State Capitol Strategy Session
by Jamil Ragland
HARTFORD, CT – Local, state, and federal law enforcement officials gathered Tuesday at the state Capitol for the third Campus Policing and Public Safety Leaders summit to discuss ways to promote safety on college and university campuses across Connecticut.
Ronnell Higgins, commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, met with reporters for a news conference during the closed-to-the-public summit’s lunch break. He didn’t share specifics of what was being discussed during the ongoing summit between over 50 law enforcement and community members, but Higgins did offer an overview of what the summit was designed to accomplish.
“Today, we re-emphasize the importance of incorporating strategy into campus safety,” he said. “There was a lot of discussion this morning. We
have a lot to discuss this afternoon. But in this kind of hyper-focused environment, we discussed a lot of issues ranging from the upcoming election to the anniversary of October 7. We thought it was important to convene campus safety leaders yet again to talk about best and emerging practices, share our experiences from last spring and last winter, and also talk about the different resources, what we’ve learned from the last several months, and how we’re going to go forward.”
The commissioner was joined at the press conference by Deputy Chief Sonia Watson of the Hartford Police Department, UConn Police Chief Gene Labonte, and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Connecticut, Anish Shukla.
Higgins described the meeting as part of the pre-emptive work that law enforcement and other stakeholders engage in to be ready to meet security
challenges.
“[Law enforcement] is involved in some really tough work, but I will say that we’ve brought forward thinking leaders together to start thinking about how to make or keep our campuses places where people can come live, work, study, and visit,” Higgins said. “We can’t apply the same approach that we applied three years ago, five years ago, or 10 years ago. We have to think about how students feel. We have Muslim students, we have Jewish students, and students from different countries. We have to really take that into account and factor that into our approach.”
Watson discussed the Hartford Police Department’s role in ensuring safety for all the campuses across the city.
“I would be remiss not to say that there are always concerns over safety, but on a day-to-day basis, the police department is completely embedded with our Con’t on page 13
Nevaeh Dent, center, and her mentees: London Loman, Constance Dennis, Kamaiya Hyman, and Skyla "KK" Kenion.
Ronnell Higgins, commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, speaks to reporters during a news conference Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, during the lunch break of the third Campus Policing and Public Safety Leaders summit. Credit: Jamil Ragland / CTNewsJunkie
The new haven independent
Converge
partnerships with all of the universities in Hartford,” Watson said. “We have meetings with them, typically at the beginning of the school year, and it’s an ongoing relationship. It’s imperative that we were here today so that we could be exposed to and hear exactly what the collaborations will be so that we can continue to participate.”
As this year’s contentious presidential election and anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel approaches, Labonte, UConn’s police chief, said his troopers are staying vigilant.
“We’re monitoring information that’s coming to our attention. We know that [October 7] was a very impactful situation for many students on our campuses,” Labonte said. “And as information comes to our attention, if we think it warrants an uptick in our presence, or an outreach to our partners, we will absolutely do so. At this point, we have not seen anything significant that concerns us. But, you know, I’ve been doing this for a long time, and things can change in an instant.”
Shukla praised law enforcement in the state and outlined ways that the FBI can help local and state law enforcement if the need arises.
“We have a vast array of resources that can be used,” Shukla said. “Some of them are just based in our human capital. Some are analytical in our capabilities to look at various data sets and extrapolate information from them, especially on themes that we may be seeing nationally. Some are technical, certainly such as cyber tools. And then our laboratory division has a whole host of means to analyze, whether it be white powder or bomb-related type evidence that we collect. And we bring those to the table and we make sure that our partners are fully aware of what we have and how they can best make use of it, if needed.”
Higgins said that there would be no public announcements at the conclusion of the meeting, but didn’t rule out the possibility of Tuesday’s brainstorming session leading to something in the future.
“I’m starting to see some themes, but right now I’m gonna hold my cards pretty close on that. But whenever you bring minds like this together, and we start to see themes, and this is our third meeting, I’m starting to see some things that we can do together, so I’ll hold on that for now,” Higgins said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We misspelled UConn Police Chief Gene Labonte’s last name in the original version of this story.
Crisis-Response Crew Adds Third Shift
by THOMAS BREEN
The city’s non-cop crisis response team will now be on call until 3 a.m. each day — with double the staffers working during the peak hours of 7 to midnight — as the Elicker administration again expands its effort to send social workers and not police to certain 911 calls about homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse.
Mayor Justin Elicker, city Department of Community Resilience Director Tirzah Kemp, Elm City COMPASS Director Jack Tebes, city Public Safety Communications Director Joseph Vitale, city Police Chief Karl Jacobson, and a host of others gathered outside the Fair Haven police substation at 295 Blatchley Ave. Wednesday afternoon to announce and celebrate that expansion of the Elm City COMPASS program.
COMPASS, which stands for “Compassionate Allies Serving Our Streets,” grew out of the city’s response to the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the subsequent local and nationwide movement for police reform.
After two years of planning, the team — overseen by the city and run by city-hired contractor Continuum of Care — launched in November 2022 with one two-person team deployed each day between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The program expanded in July 2023 to two two-person teams and two daily shifts covering 8 a.m. to midnight.
And now, as announced on Wednesday,
three two-person COMPASS teams will be on call across three different shifts between 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., every day of the week.
Those shifts will take place between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., between 4 p.m. and midnight, and between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. The final two shifts of each day will therefore overlap between 7 p.m. and midnight, meaning two teams will be call during that time, which Elicker described as
when most COMPASS-relevant 911 calls are made. COMPASS now employs six full-time crew members and six part-time workers to handle these three shifts.
Elicker and Vitale also said that COMPASS will now be directly deployed to certain 911 calls — primarily those involving people loitering, speaking to themselves, or sleeping on benches — unassisted by police. Jacobson said that the COMPASS teams will have police radios
and will be able to call for law enforcement help if they need it. But, now, for the first time in a sustained way rather than as just a pilot, COMPASS will respond to certain 911 calls solo.
As Elicker, Kemp, Tebes, and COMPASS Coordinator John Labienec said, each two-person COMPASS team consists of one licensed social worker and one “peer specialist” with lived experience of some of addiction, mental health challeng-
es, or homelessness.
Elicker said that, since launching in November 2022, COMPASS has responded to more than 1,600 calls. See the chart above for a breakdown of call types; click here to read the latest full COMPASS report. Tebes told the Independent that around 90 percent of these responses have been for different individuals in crisis; the remaining 10 percent have been “repeat” calls for people whom COMPASS has responded to multiple times.
As an example of the types of calls the crew responds to, one COMPASS team member told the Independent that, earlier on Wednesday, she responded to a Yale police call for help regarding a man who had laid down blankets on the sidewalk in front of the university’s downtown campus. She said the COMPASS team took the man to a Hill clinic where he is a patient so he could receive his scheduled methadone dose; they then drove him to Continuum’s recently opened Rapid Evaluation, Stabilization, and Treatment (REST) hub on Winthrop Avenue.
The city’s COMPASS program provides an “empathetic, compassionate, humane, and trauma-informed approach to care,” Kemp said.
“For the first time,” added Tebes, “we have comprehensive supports at a system level for when someone calls 911 with a mental health crisis.” That network of care is not perfect and complete, he said. But, with the help of COMPASS, it is getting better.
THE STORY BEHIND FILMMAKER / CREATOR
by: Carla Morrison Chit Chat Communications
Filmmaker, Director, Actor Steven Rashan is the creator behind the new Tubi series "Divided Loyalty" debuting this Fall 2024. His company MCAT along with Mr. Bethune Enterprises will premier the series in New Haven, Connecticut, Saturday, October 5, 2024, at the Canal Boathouse.
Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Steven Rashan grew up in a home where music was the foundation. Surrounded by a family steeped in the rhythms and melodies of diverse genres, Steven was surrounded by creativity and artistic expression from a young age. This environment fostered his love for the arts and expanded his horizons,
guiding him towards a career in filmmaking.
Driven by the powerful storytelling capabilities of film and its profound effect on audiences, Steven pursued his passion at Springfield Technical Community College majoring in television & film. It was there that he refined his abilities, mastering the subtleties of filmmaking and cultivating his distinctive voice as a director.
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Black Operatives Reportedly Furious Over Kamala Harris Campaign’s Spending Decisions
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Black Democratic operatives and minority-owned firms are raising alarms over spending practices in Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. They accuse the campaign of favoring white-owned vendors while sidelining Black-owned firms. The controversy, first reported by NOTUS, a nonprofit newsroom created by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, has caused growing frustration among Democratic leaders, operatives, and donors. Many fear that these missteps could harm Harris’ standing with voters of color in the crucial weeks before Election Day.
Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, expressed frustration in an August call with Harris’s campaign. Alongside other prominent Black leaders, Johnson questioned why minority-owned political firms—historically integral to Democratic campaigns—were not receiving a fair share of the campaign’s recordbreaking fundraising, nearly $1 billion since Harris became the Democratic nominee.
“If Black voters are the base, it should be Black vendors telling the story,” a participant on the call told NOTUS. Yet despite pressing the issue, many left the conversation with no clear resolution. Johnson and other leaders reportedly vowed to escalate their concerns, demanding transparency on how the campaign allocates its funds and why there appears to be a lack of equitable spending with minority-owned firms.
One point of contention is Harris’ underinvestment in the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing more than 200 Black-owned newspapers and media companies collectively known as the Black Press of America. In June, the Harris campaign signed a modest $1.5 million advertising and partnership deal with NNPA, which pales compared to the near-billion-dollar fundraising total. The Black Press, which has been a trusted voice in Black communities for nearly 198 years, has long played a crucial role in informing and mobilizing Black voters.
Founded in New York in 1827, before the end of slavery, the Black Press of America remains a cornerstone of communication within Black communities. As the NNPA prepares to celebrate the Black Press’ 200th anniversary, many argue that a stronger investment from Harris, who has publicly vowed to support Black businesses, is warranted and necessary.
A Long-Standing Issue for Democrats
The marginalization of Black-owned political firms is not new to Democratic campaigns, but Harris’ candidacy has sharpened the issue. Black operatives and media companies argue that Harris’ campaign is following a pattern of taking
Black vendors for granted despite their critical role in past Democratic victories.
Insiders say the problem is not just a Harris issue but one inherited from the Biden campaign, where similar grievances were raised in 2020. Still, the stakes are higher for Harris, who, as the first Black and Southeast Asian woman to lead a major party ticket, faces calls to align her campaign’s spending with her historic candidacy.
One Democratic consultant close to the campaign told NOTUS, “It’s not just the media. It’s the get-out-the-vote operations and grassroots efforts too. Every time we push for more Black spending, it’s met with resistance, and the amounts we’re talking about are just a fraction of what’s being spent on the general market. It’s getting pretty insulting.”
Internal Campaign Friction
Frustration has also been mounting within the campaign itself. NOTUS reported that sources close to the campaign said while Harris has repeatedly directed her team to prioritize spending with minorityowned vendors, that directive has not been consistently implemented. Over a dozen campaign staffers, vendors, and external advisers told NOTUS that they have seen little follow-through.
Minyon Moore, a close adviser to Harris and chair of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, emphasized that Harris values engaging voters through trusted voices from their communities. “Certainly, it is important to her that she reaches voters through the lens of people that can communicate with them,” Moore told NOTUS. “That’s her value system.”
Yet, many Black operatives feel the campaign is not meeting those values. Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin
Fulks has come under fire for being unresponsive to internal and external requests for more equitable spending. Fulks is reportedly quick to reject proposals related to Black outreach efforts, frustrating many in the campaign with his budget handling. Some have even accused Fulks of downplaying the need for Black-owned firms, arguing that using white-owned firms with Black associates on the project should be seen as equivalent to hiring Black-owned vendors—an assertion that has only deepened the frustration among Black operatives.
A Lack of Investment Could Cost Support
The underinvestment in Black-owned firms goes beyond finances; it’s a problem that could threaten Harris’ standing with Black voters. In 2020, Black voters overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden, with 92% backing his candidacy, according to Pew Research. However, that support has softened in 2024. A recent poll from Howard University showed that Black voter support for Harris had dropped to 82%.
An even more troubling sign for the Harris campaign comes from a recent NAACP poll showing that one in four Black men under 50 now support Donald Trump. This shift is deeply concerning for Democrats, who have relied heavily on the Black vote in past elections. For many Black operatives, the solution is clear: Harris must direct more resources to Black-owned firms that know how to mobilize Black voters effectively.
Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, which targets Black voters, told NOTUS that while Harris has a compelling story, the real question is whether the campaign will spend enough to reach skeptical voters. “They very clearly understand the need to increase communica-
reentry nonprofit Project MORE. Enrolling in the cash transfer program was “perfect timing,” he said, as it allowed him to stay out of work past the duration of the state’s paid family leave, and after his wife had return to her job as a postal worker, so that he could care for their newborn son for a full four months.
Their family could afford for him to stay home “and not fear about money” partly in thanks to the cash transfer program. “Getting that $500 a month, it closed that gap. It helped us get through hard times,” White said.
Now, he said, he and his wife have started their own company, a “last-mile delivery” service. They’ve got a cargo van and a few contracts, and they’re looking to grow.
The program “inspired me to not only create my business,” he said, but also to hire formerly incarcerated workers if and when he’s able to bring on employees. “I want to give back.”
Boyd detailed a similar experience with the program.
tion with Black voters,” Shropshire said. “But can they reach enough voters to turn enthusiasm into actual votes?”
Calls for Urgent Action
With only weeks left until Election Day, many operatives across racial lines call for swift course correction. While the Harris campaign has added some Black-owned firms, including HIT Strategies and Walton Isaacson, overall spending with minority-owned vendors remains significantly lower than with white-owned firms—a gap that could have lasting repercussions.
The amount of spending worries many operatives. In 2020, the Biden campaign spent over $70 million on paid media for Black audiences, yet this year’s Harris campaign is projected to spend far less, according to campaign consultants.
Several key Black Democratic leaders, including Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford and campaign cochair Marcia Fudge, have raised concerns in private meetings about the disparity in spending.
As Election Day draws nearer, the central question remains: “Who are you trusting to tell the story of the vice president?” asked one senior Democratic consultant.
With Black voters being a critical component of the Democratic coalition, Harris’ campaign must act quickly to ensure it isn’t alienating the very base it relies on for success.
As the campaign scrambles to close the gap with voters, the pressure is mounting on Harris to ensure that her spending aligns with her promises. The frustration from Black operatives is clear: unless swift and decisive action is taken, the campaign risks losing the trust of Black communities and the businesses that have long supported the Democratic Party.
He said he was in prison for nearly seven years, and also got out in 2022. “The program, it was a life saver for me,” he said about the Elm City Reentry Pilot. When he came out of prison, he said, “I was literally just drowning in life, financially and everything.” He connected with the program through Project MORE after being released from prison to a halfway house in New Haven.
“This was a relief of so much tension,” he said. “I know it was only $500. It really went a long way for me personally. If it wasn’t for this pilot, I probably would have never stayed in school, would have gotten a dead-end job.”
But instead, he did stay in school learning to become a truck driver. He’s still in training, but is on his way to that full-time work. He said he’s driven trucks all over the country over the past year. He was getting ready to drive back from New Jersey to New Haven at the end of one such work trip when he spoke with this reporter.
Boyd said the $500 per month helped him catch up on back rent. It also let him “do little things” with his kids, like take them to a bounce house in Milford and to Chuck E Cheese’s.
He emphasized that having this $500 guaranteed every month helped him find his next job, moving from warehouse work he really didn’t like in East Haven ultimately into his current trucking gig.
“Sure, the $500 helped,” he added, “but the check-ins were everything.” He credited Blanton’s regular check-ins and interviews with program participants as providing a reliable, caring venue just to talk about how he was doing, and how life outside of prison was going.
“Once I get on my feet, I want to come back and try to donate to the program,” he said. So that he can do his part to help someone else like this program’s helped him.
To The 5 Year Future
can sometimes be a challenge to have a quiet adult program, a kid program concurrently.
And the immediate area around the library, especially if patrons want to come to evening programs, can be off-putting; then of course there’s the Perennial Parking Problem, which in the case of Fair Haven branch is exacerbated by the adjacent Fair Haven School’s parking requirements.
Since Thursday’s “visioning” included how the library of five years from now will fit in with the city of five years from now, the gathering wound down with concerns about all the spiffy new apartment buildings rising across town.
Will they house residents who will use the library? The self perception of attendees seemed to be that the libraries belong to the working and lower middle class and the future residents may well be far more well-to-do, less anchored in town, transient, and likely to organize their lives around info and programs online and in far less need of a physical library where you can touch a book and make a friend. Is this the way it should be?
Tasty sandwiches and beverages are provided to stimulate the forecasting.
After all the community listening, the deliverable of this process, according to officials, will be a Strategic Framework document that the library plans to release early in 2025 detailing the initiatives and the goals the Library plans to pursue during the second half of the decade.
Poll: Presidential Election Still Too Close To Call
by Jamil Ragland
A new presidential election poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University shows that the race remains too close to call as early voting begins in some parts of the country.
Former President Donald Trump received the support of 48% of likely voters while Vice President Kamala Harris received 47%, making the race a statistical dead heat as the difference between the two candidates is within the poll’s margin of error. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each received the support of 1% of likely voters, but in a hypothetical twoway race between Trump and Harris, both candidates receive 48%.
Both candidates have rock solid support among their respective parties, with 93% of Republicans supporting Trump and 94% of Democrats supporting Harris. The difference so far appears to be among independent voters, who back Trump 47% to 44% over Harris. Some 3% of independents chose Stein and 2% support Oliver. Trump and Harris are trending in opposite directions in terms of enthusiasm. 70% of voters are enthusiastic about supporting Harris, down from 75% when the last Quinnipiac poll was conducted. Meanwhile, Trump has gained three percentage points since then, moving to 71% showing enthusiasm from 68%.
And enthusiasm may just be the key to winning the election, according to Quinni-
“On the backstretch of the race to Election Day, all eyes are on which candidate can best stoke their supporter’s enthusiasm all the way to the finish line,” he said. “A slight shift suggests the Harris crowd is not roaring as loudly as it was last month.”
Even while enthusiasm is high, both candidates are below water when it comes to favorability. Voters find Harris unfavorable 48% to 47%, but she still has room for growth with 4% of voters saying they haven’t heard enough about her. Trump has an even greater gap to overcome, with 50% of voters finding him favorable compared to 47%, and only 1% of voters saying they don’t know enough.
The negative feelings about the candidates bleed over into the outlook for both candidates’ possible presidency’s. A plurality for each candidate believe that they would be terrible as presidents, with 37% saying that about Harris and 41% feeling that way about Trump. More voters think Trump would be a great president than Harris though, giving him the nod by a 28% to 19% margin.
On six important issues for the nation, Harris comes out ahead of Trump on a majority of them. Harris beats Trump on decisions regarding:
• the use of nuclear weapons (49% to 47%);
• preserving democracy in the United
States (50% to 47%);
• gun violence (50% to 45%), and;
• abortion (54% to 41%).
Meanwhile, voters believe Trump would be better for the economy (52% to 45%) and on immigration (53% to 45%). Voters also give the nod to Trump for his ability to handle a crisis that put the country at great risk, with 51% supporting him to Harris’ 47%.
One area in the poll that found majorities across all political groups is the fear of political violence after the election. Some 73% of all respondents said they were either very or somewhat concerned that there will be politically motivated violence following the outcome of the election. Those numbers break down to 90% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 59% of Republicans saying they have some level of concern about political violence.
The 2024 election season has been unprecedented in many ways, with incumbent president Joe Biden stepping aside after a disastrous debate performance in June. Former president Trump was wounded during an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, PA. There are only 41 days until election day, but some states such as Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia have already begun early voting. Connecticut’s early voting begins on Monday, Oct. 21.
The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,728 likely voters nationwide from Sept. 19-22. There is a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.
the Unmatched Contributions and Urgent Funding Needs
of HBCUs
New report reveals $16.5 billion in economic impact and calls for immediate action to secure the future of America's Black higher education institutions
WASHINGTON, DC Today, UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, proudly unveiled its 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report. The report, Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs, commissioned by UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (FDPRI), is a comprehensive, datadriven analysis highlighting the substantial contributions the nation’s 101 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) make to their students, local communities and the nation at large.
HBCUs have long been pillars of educational excellence and economic engines, driving prosperity in their communities and across the nation. Despite these contributions, chronic underfunding threatens their ability to sustain this impact. Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs, underscores the urgent need for equitable and sustainable funding to ensure HBCUs can continue their vital role in promoting social mobility and economic growth and calls on the public to advocate for these essential institutions.
“As UNCF observes its 80th anniversary, one of the highlights of our yearlong celebration is the release of the sequel to our groundbreaking 2017 report. This report reaffirms what we have always known about the resilience of HBCUs: despite a deadly pandemic, social unrest caused by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the economic uncertainties of the past seven years, HBCUs continue to do more with less—not only in preparing the next generation of leaders but also in contributing to our nation's economic impact,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO, UNCF.
“At this critical moment, with a crucial election on the horizon, we all must imme-
diately actualize our commitment to these cornerstone institutions.”
Key findings in the 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report include:
• HBCUs generate $16.5 billion in direct economic impact nationally.
• If they were a company, the nation’s HBCUs would place in the top 50 of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies in job creation.
• Collectively, 136,048 jobs exist because of HBCUs.
• On average, for each job created on campus, 1.5 off-campus jobs exist because of spending related to the institution.
• HBCUs are far more accessible to students and more successful at moving students from the bottom 40% of a country's
income distribution to the top 60%, signaling social mobility.
• The 51,269 HBCU graduates in the class of 2021 can expect work-life earnings of $146 billion, 57% ($53 billion) more than the $93 billion they could expect without their degrees or certificates.
The 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report is a continuation of the landmark 2017 study, HBCUs Make America Strong: The Positive Economic Impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which showed that HBCUs' economic benefits extend beyond the students they educate.
In addition to the comprehensive report, a website has been launched where users can explore state-specific data and insights for individual HCBUs. This resource allows
users to explore the localized impact, emphasizing the critical role HBCUs play in communities across the nation.
“Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs represents the latest chapter in a longitudinal research initiative by UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute.
By leveraging robust methodology and extensive data, we highlight how HBCUs continue to be critical drivers of economic growth and social mobility,” said Dr. Nadrea R. Njoku, assistant vice president, of Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, UNCF.
“This report not only underscores the substantial economic benefits generated by HBCUs but also contextualizes the broader
challenges they have faced over the past three years, including the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threats of violence that have been levied against many of these institutions.”
“Now more than ever, we must recognize the indispensable role HBCUs play in shaping not just the future of their students but the future of our nation. This report is not just a call to awareness but a call to action," said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president, of public policy and government affairs, at UNCF. “As we move forward, it is imperative that we leverage this data to galvanize our communities and demand the necessary support from our policymakers by voting for HBCUs. We urge every supporter to make their voices heard, to advocate for the equitable funding our HBCUs deserve, and to ensure that these institutions can continue to thrive and contribute to America's future.”
UNCF will soon shift its focus towards voter mobilization efforts, leveraging the findings of the 2024 HBCU Economic Impact Report to raise awareness about the critical role of HBCUs ahead of Election Day, and the need for elected officials to commit to strengthening HBCU infrastructure, safety, and student life. By highlighting the economic and social contributions of these institutions, UNCF aims to inspire voters to support policies and send letters to elected leaders at the state and federal level in support of equitable funding and resources for HBCUs, ensuring their continued impact on communities and the nation.
To view the brief and full report for Transforming Futures: The Economic Engines of HBCUs, visit: UNCF.org/HBCUImpactReport.
For more information on how to actualize a commitment and be a voice for HBCUs, visit: UNCF.org/EquityPledge.
T.I. and Tiny Harris Win $71 Million Lawsuit Against MGA Over L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. Dolls
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
Rapper T.I. and singer Tameka “Tiny” Harris have emerged victorious in a major lawsuit against toy company MGA Entertainment, securing a $71 million judgment. The couple, alongside their music group OMG Girlz, accused MGA of violating their intellectual property rights by copying the group’s image and style for the company’s popular L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls.
The case, which spanned over three years, concluded when a jury ruled in favor of the Harris family. According to People Magazine, Tiny, 49, was elated as she shared her thoughts in an Instagram Live video outside the Santa Ana, California federal courthouse. “We did this for the city. We did this for the culture,” she said. Reflecting on the years-long legal battle, she added, “It was a hell of a fight. We couldn’t be more happy.”
Tiny expressed profound gratitude to the jurors, who delivered a unanimous verdict.
“They heard our story and they knew we wasn’t lying. It’s amazing,” she said, thankful for their belief in the group’s claim.
The lawsuit, initiated in 2020, focused on more than a dozen L.O.L. Surprise!
O.M.G. dolls that strongly resemble the OMG Girlz, a group Tiny formed in 2009 with her daughter, Zonnique Pullins, along with Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack. According to the court, MGA had “infringed on the trade dress and misappropriated the name, image, and likeness” of the group, particularly their outfits and hairstyles.
People Magazine noted that the jury awarded $53.6 million in punitive damages in addition to the initial settlement, an outcome that surprised even Tiny. “I mean, wow. They did more than I thought they would,” she told Rolling Stoneafter the verdict. “I would have been happy with whatever. They blessed us more than beyond.”
The OMG Girlz themselves testified during the three-week trial, recalling specific public events and photos where the dolls copied their unique wardrobe and style.
Womack shared her emotional reaction, telling Rolling Stone, “I’m so grateful and overwhelmed with joy.” Pullins added that when the jurors unanimously recognized the group’s memorable style, “We all silently cried.”
T.I. also reflected on the case, criticizing MGA for attempting to dismiss the lawsuit as a “money grab.” “That kind of condescension comes from when you’re not really in touch with the reality of culture,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone. The rapper emphasized that MGA’s actions were exploitative, stating, “They were the ones that came and ripped us off, and [they] expected us to not have the audacity to stand up and speak for ourselves.”
Despite MGA’s founder, Isaac Larian, calling the claims baseless and referring to the Harris family as “extortionists,” the jury’s decision firmly supported the OMG Girlz, reinforcing the importance of protecting creative and cultural expression. “We did this for the culture,” Tiny said outside the courthouse, a resounding declaration of their victory.
Public Notice
NOTICE
The Manchester Housing Authority will accept pre-applications for the Federal Public Housing and State Congregate Program.
VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE
The MHA will accept lottery applications from elderly (62+) or disabled applicants on 9:00 am September 30th, 2024 through 2:00 pm October 4th, 2024. Interested parties may apply at: https://www.pha-web.com/portals/onlineApplication/1703 or https://manchesterha.org/ waitlist.aspx
Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders
ELM CITY COMMUNITIES
Invitation for Bids Executive Firm Search
If needed, printed applications are available at 24 Bluefield Drive Manchester, CT 06040 and may be returned by mail, fax, or drop box to the same address.
Important Information
HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.
NOTICIA
The Housing Authority of the Town of Manchester will use a Random-Draw Lottery System to select pre-applications for placement on the waiting list. The date and time of your application will not impact the selection or placement on the waiting list. Those chosen in the lottery will be notified by mail no later than November 1, 2024. All disqualified or remaining pre-applications not selected for the lottery will be discarded with no further notice. Therefore, if you do not receive a letter by November 15, 2024, your pre-application was not drawn.
VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES
Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay.
Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT
The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Budget Analyst Trainee (Leadership Associate (Confidential))
The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking the services of an Executive Search Firm to identify qualified candidates for senior level positions. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on
If you require reasonable accommodation regarding the application process, please notify the office and you will be advised on how to proceed with the request.
HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510
Listing: Dispatch Manager
Extremely fast paced petroleum company needs a full time (which includes on call and weekend coverage) detail oriented experiencedDispatch Manager. A strong logistics background and a minimum of Three years managerial experience required. Send resume to: HR Manager, P.O. Box 388, Guilford, CT. 06437. Email: HRDEPT@eastriverenergy.com
All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258
Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 240726&R2=5989VR&R3=001
The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.
360 Management Group, Co. Is currently seeking bids for Agency Wide Plumbing Services & Preventative Maintenance. A complete copy of the requirements may be obtained from 360 Management Group’s vendor Collaboration Portal. https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on
Monday, September 23, 2024, at 3:00 PM.
360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.
Invitation for Bids SNOW REMOVAL SERVICES
Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice
Truck Driver with clean CDL license
SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE
360 Management Group, Co. is currently seeking bids for Snow Removal Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from 360 Management Group’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on
Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 3:00PM.
SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (WT), the construction manager, is currently accepting bids for ConnCAT Place on Dixwell – Phase 1A for the following bid packages: 04A – Masonry, 05B – Misc. Metals, 06A – Millwork, 07A – Roofing, 07B – Exterior Façade, 08A – Storefront, 08B – Doors, Frames, Hardware, 08C – Operable Partitions, Coiling Door, 09A – Carpentry, 09B – Flooring, 09C – Tile, 09D – Painting, 09E – Acoustical Ceilings, 10A – Bathroom Partitions, Accessories, 10B – Signage, 11A – Kitchen Equipment, 12A – Window Treatments, 21A – Fire Suppression, 22A – Plumbing, 23A – Mechanical, HVAC, TAB, Controls, 26A – Electrical, Fire Alarm, Security, 27A – Communications, AV, 32A – Landscaping, 32B – Site Improvements for the new ~70,000 SF two-story ConnCAT headquarters which will contain teaching spaces, kitchen, offices, and daycare/early childhood facility. Interested firms may obtain a bid package and instructions to bid by emailing 020822@whiting-turner.com.
CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host,General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor ofPitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. New Haven, CT
Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.
Prevailing Wage | Tax-Exempt | CHRO and City of New Haven Subcontracting Requirements will apply | Section 3 HUD
Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE
New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.
ELECTRIC UTILITY
SUBSTATION AND MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR
Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016
Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016
Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage
A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.
Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.
Bids wills be accepted at The Lab at ConnCORP located at 496 Newhall Street, Hamden, CT 06517, no later than 10AM on 10/11/24. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. WT and the Owner reserve the right to amend this invitation to bid, reject bids, waive minor irregularities in the bid, and award the contract to the proposer that is deemed to be the best interest of the Owner, ConnCORP. WT is an EEO/AA; Disadvantaged, Small, Minority and Women Business Enterprises are encouraged to bid.
The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the
Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER
The Town of Wallingford, CT is offering an excellent career opportunity for a strong leader to supervise and manage the substation electrical operations and maintenance department of the Town’s Electric Division. Applicants should possess 5 years of progressively responsible supervisory or management experience in substation operations, plus a bachelor's degree in engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-foryear basis. Must possess or be able to obtain and maintain ESOP-100 Switching and Tagging qualifications within six months. Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut Driver’s License. Annual Salary: $116,798 to $145,998, plus on-call pay when assigned. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of October 17, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/ government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE
Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:
NOTICE
Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory training on equipment we operate.
$101,455 to $156,599 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range)
LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE
Contact: Tom Dunay Phone: 860- 243-2300
Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com
Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply
Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer
Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:
Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits
HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this development located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.
Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300
Fully Benefited – 35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website –www.bloomfieldct.org
Portland
Police Officer
NOTICIA
Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com
Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply
Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer
VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES
DISPONIBLES
Union Company seeks:
Go to www.portlandct.org for details
Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits
Contact Dana at 860-243-2300
Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com
HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510
Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply
Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer
Construction
NEW HAVEN
Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.
242-258 Fairmont Ave
2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Drug Free Workforce
All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center
Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258
WANTED TRUCK DRIVER
Truck Driver with clean CDL license
Please send resume to attielordan@gmail.com PJF Construction Corporation AA/EOE
The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury (HACD) is seeking sealed bids for the following Project: State Moderate Rental Apartments -Electrical Panel and Service Replacement. Bid Opening date is October 16, 2024 at 11:00 am at the Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Road, Danbury, CT 06811. All bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. A pre-bid walk through will be held on October 2, 2024 at 10:00 am at 17-19 Mill Ridge Road, Danbury, CT. Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed on-line and purchased from Contract documents including plans & specifications can be viewed online and purchased from the DigiPrint’s website. Visit https://www.digiprintplanroom.com/jobs/public and select Danbury State Moderate Rental Apartments -Electrical Panel and Service Replacement beginning on September 16 , 2024. A 5% Bid Security and 100% Performance/Payment Bonds are required. Bidders will note requirements of minimum wage rates, nondiscrimination/equal opportunity rules (Executive Order 11246) and related provisions in the General Conditions. No bid shall be withdrawn for ninety (90) days. Complete bidding requirements are noted in the Contract Documents. This project is federally assisted. Therefore, bidders must comply with the following requirements: Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968; Equal Opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246; Non-Discrimination provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Labor Standards provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts and Contract Work Hours Standards Act; prevailing wage determinations as issued by the Department of Labor; and all applicable provisions under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. HACD is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Section 3 businesses are encouraged to participate.
Devin Marra, Acting Executive Director
ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN
Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice
SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE
Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units)
Senior Sales Representative Wanted
Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project
Advertising and the cultivation of existing and new advertising clients is key to the growth and continued success of The Inner-City News. The paper is delivered weekly to businesses, schools, shopping outlets and wherever newspapers can be found. This is a remote sales position.
Work closely with the Publisher and editor to create a successful sales strategy.
SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY
Performs skilled work in the repair, maintenance and calibration of all electrical and electronic equipment pertaining to the wastewater treatment plant in the Town of Wallingford. Applicants should possess a H.S. or trade school diploma and 2 years of related college education or specialized maintenance training and 4 years of experience in the repair and maintenance of electrical and electronic equipment; or a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or related field plus 1 year of experience. Must possess a valid Connecticut Driver's License. Hourly rate: $32.24 to $36.79. The Town offers an excellent fringe benefits package that includes pension plan, paid sick and vacation time, medical insurance, life insurance, 13 paid holidays, and deferred compensation plan. To apply online by the closing date of October 1, 2024, please visit: www.wallingfordct. gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE
New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.
Must be a self-starter and highly motivated.
Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.
Potential local
A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.
Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016
Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016
Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage
Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER
Builds relationships with customers and coworkers and has strong interpersonal skills. An associate or bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related major is a plus but not required. At least [number] years of sales representative experience is preferred. Interested candidates should apply to John Thomas, JThomas@penfieldcomm.com
Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.
The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any
The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications to participate in the examination for the position of Secretary II, Grade Level 10-$24.29/hour, 37.5 hours per week, 12-month position. Qualified candidates must possess a High School Diploma or equivalent and a minimum of 2 years secretarial experience. Candidates must have experience with Google Suites, Microsoft Word and Excel. Prior experience in a school system or related work with children preferred. The application is available online at https://www.townofeasthavenct. org/civil-service-commission/pages/job-notices-and-tests or from the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven and must be returned by October 11, 2024. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.
Andrea M. Liquori
Chief Examiner
Civil Service Commission
250 Main Street
East Haven CT 06512
(203)468-3375
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
Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.
A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.
Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.
The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any
Town of Bloomfield
Salary Range: $87,727 to $136,071 Deputy Finance Director/Controller
Pre-employment drug testing. AA/EOE. For Details go to www.bloomfieldct.org
QSR STEEL CORPORATION
APPLY NOW!
Construction
Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valid drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410. Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
applications are currently being accepted for the waiting list at Spencer Village I & II located at 151 Spencer Street in Manchester, CT.
Applications will be available beginning September 16, 2024 through September 30, 2024.
Eligibility for Admission: An applicant’s gross family income must be used to determine eligibility for admission. Per CGS Statute 8-115a, the admission limits for Spencer Village I & II shall be at or below 30% and not the exceed 50% of the AMI adjusted for family size. Only “elderly persons” are eligible. An “elderly person” means a person who is sixty-two years of age or older, or a person who has been certified by the Social Security Board as being totally disabled. [CGS sec. 8-113a]
Rent Determination: Residents must pay the greater amount of either the base rent or a percentage of their adjusted gross income. Current base rent is $500.00.
All persons interested in Spencer Village I and II may request an application either in person (or through a designated individual or agency) at the local site office located at 151 Spencer Street in Manchester, CT during posted office hours.
Applications can also be requested via email at compliance@demarcomc.com or by calling 860-951-3045
Applications can also be requested utilizing the AT&T relay service by dialing 711 Applications will be accepted by mail or in person at the:
Spencer Village I & II 151 Spencer Street Manchester, CT 06040
EFAX # 860-760-6221
Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice
Applications received before September 16th or after September 30th will not be accepted. Applicants are selected from the wait list in the order in which they were placed on the waiting list in order of random lottery Equal Housing Opportunities
SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE
Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project
Galasso Materials LLC, a quarry and paving contractor, has positions open for the upcoming construction season. We are seeking candidates for a variety of positions, including: Scalehouse Dispatcher/ Equipment Operators and Laborers. NO PHONE CALLS. Please email resume and cover letter to “Hiring Manager”, Galasso Materials LLC, PO Box 1776, East Granby CT 06026.
New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Castin-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.
Galasso Materials is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016
Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016
Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Fax or
Kamala Harris endorsed by Muslim group despite criticism of her Gazaek policy
by Kofi Oppong Kyekyeku, Face2FaceAfrica.com
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been endorsed by a Muslim political group despite criticism of her Middle East policy.
Emgage Action, one of the largest Muslim political organizations in the U.S., announced its support for Harris on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
“We feel it’s our obligation to speak truthfully to our communities as they grapple with perhaps the most difficult electoral choice they’ve ever had to make,” Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage Action, told NBC News. “We are very clear-eyed and honest that the Vice President still has a ways to go, but we feel there’s a fighting chance to move her on these issues and prevent the very real threat of a Donald Trump presidency.”
Emgage Action, like other MuslimAmerican groups aiming to mobilize voters and build the community’s political power, has often sided with Democrats in the past, particularly during the Trump era, when his rhetoric and immigration policies frequently targeted Muslims and Islamic countries.
Polls showing widespread disenchantment and growing support for anti-war third-party candidates like the Green Party’s Jill Stein and independent Cornel West indicate that many Muslim and Arab voters have turned away from Democrats,
putting the party’s prospects at risk.
Before this endorsement, a coalition of other Muslim-American groups, the American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force, declined to support Harris last week. The group urged American Muslims to vote for “any presidential candidate of their choosing who supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a U.S. arms embargo on the Israeli government,
such
In response, Trump has sought to capitalize on the frustration with Democrats by courting Arab American voters. Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, a key battleground state with the highest percentage of immigrant residents and the first U.S. city to elect an all-Mus-
lim city government, endorsed Trump on Monday.
Alzayat acknowledged the difficulty of supporting Harris, especially given the concerns of Palestinian and Lebanese American staffers and supporters of the group. However, he said that backing Harris is the best option for opponents of the war in Gaza to advance their agenda, arguing that Trump represents too great a threat to American Muslims.
“If we agree that we want this war to end, and we agree that either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will be commander in chief, then we believe that supporting her is the only way to advance the anti-war agenda,” said Alzayat. “We just see no pathway forward under a Donald Trump presidency.”
He referenced the Muslim ban during Trump’s term, Trump’s current threat to deport pro-Palestinian student protesters, and more. Alzayat added that he and others have met with Trump advisers, including former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, but were “very disappointed” by the lack of commitments.
Trump, a staunch ally of Israel and its controversial leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has made clear his support for Israel, and Alzayat believes that Israel would feel more emboldened under Trump, with less pressure to reduce civilian casualties or end the war.
By endorsing Harris and encouraging
Muslim voters to participate, Emgage hopes to gain influence in a potential Harris administration and push her in a more favorable direction on Middle East policy.
“We hold President Biden responsible for continuing to supply the Netanyahu government with weapons,” Alzayat said, drawing a distinction between Biden and Harris. “We are committed to pushing the next administration.”
Alzayat added that they have “hints and hopes” that Harris might diverge from Biden’s policies if elected, though he admitted, “that’s all we’ve got.”
Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, responded to the endorsement, emphasizing the campaign’s commitment to working with Muslim leaders.
READ ALSO: New Poll: Kamala Harris gains majority support among Black swing-state voters
“We understand this endorsement comes at a time of great pain and loss in the Muslim and Arab American communities,” Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“The Vice President will continue to work relentlessly to bring the war in Gaza to an end, ensuring Israel’s security, the release of all hostages, an end to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, and the right of the Palestinian people to freedom, dignity, security, and self-determination. As she has throughout the past year, the Vice President will continue to work to prevent the conflict from widening throughout the region.”
Outrage on execution of Marcellus Williams after Governor and state Supreme Cour t rejected bids to save him
by Prosper Kuzo, Face2FaceAfrica.com
Outrage is sweeping across the U.S. following the execution of Marcellus Williams, a death row inmate whose murder conviction had been questioned by the very prosecutors who sought it.
Missouri Governor, Mike Parson is facing intense criticism, and is being labeled as “shameful” and “racist” by many, with state and federal justice systems accused of being “flawed” after Williams was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday, as per a Daily Mail report.
55-year-old Williams, had been sentenced to death for the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, who was stabbed several times during a burglary at her home in suburban St. Louis.
Despite a motion filed by the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office to vacate the conviction, citing a lack of DNA evidence linking Williams to the crime, his execution still proceeded after Parson and the Missouri Supreme Court swiftly rejected his appeals.
The U.S. Supreme Court also denied a last-minute request to halt the execution. Williams had consistently maintained his innocence, and Gayle’s family had agreed to a deal that would have spared him the death penalty, sentencing him to life in prison instead. However, he was not afforded that opportunity and was put to
death.
Civil rights organizations, politicians, and public figures have now swiftly condemned the execution. The NAACP called it a modern-day “lynching,” while British billionaire Richard Branson, who had taken out a full-page ad in the Kansas City Star denouncing the execution, expressed his dismay and dissatisfaction with the decision on social media.
“Marcellus Williams was killed today by the state of Missouri for a crime he didn’t commit,” Branson wrote on X. “It’s a shameful day for Missouri, and a shameful day for Governor Mike Parson.”
Congresswoman Cori Bush, whose district includes parts of St. Louis County, also condemned the execution, and wrote on X: “Governor Mike Parson shamefully allowed an innocent man to be executed tonight. We must abolish this flawed, racist, inhumane practice once and for all.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas also left his thoughts on the matter and added ,: “No matter where you stand on capital punishment, it is a travesty to execute someone unless you are certain of their guilt. Missouri is not.”
Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and advocate for abolishing the death penalty, then went on to express her thoughts on Williams’ execution, labelling it as “a horrible injustice.”
“The actions of state officials and the
courts call the legitimacy of the entire legal process into question,” Prejean wrote on X.
Elad Gross, a candidate for Missouri Attorney General, also criticized the decision, referencing a passage in the bible to highlight what he saw as the governor’s hardened resolve in moving forward with
the execution.
Williams was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time, and witnesses reported that he spent his final moments interacting with a spiritual advisor. His son and two attorneys observed from another room, while no one from Gayle’s family was present.
In a statement written prior to his execution, Williams said, “All Praise Be to Allah In Every Situation!!!”
In defense of the decision, Governor Parson expressed hope that the execution brought finality to a case that “revictimized Ms. Gayle’s family over and over again.”
“No juror nor judge has ever found Williams’ innocence claim to be credible,” Parson said. “His guilty verdict and sentence of capital punishment were upheld.” However, Gayle’s relatives had expressed a desire for Williams’ sentence to be commuted to life without parole, rather than the execution. The clemency petition filed on his behalf emphasized that “the family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live.”
Gayle, 42, was a social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was found stabbed 43 times in her home.
Williams had prior convictions for burglary and robbery, and his ex-girlfriend and a former jail cellmate testified against him, leading to his conviction and even-
tual execution. However, the stressing aspect of the case for many is the fact that there was no DNA evidence linking him to the crime scene.
Prosecutors contended that Williams had broken into Gayle’s home, stolen a purse and laptop, and confessed to the crime while in jail.
Nonetheless, Williams’ attorneys argued that key witnesses had motives to lie, and that DNA and other evidence, including fingerprints and shoeprints, did not match that of Williams.
The case had long been fraught with questions over evidence, racial bias in jury selection, and DNA results. Back in 2015 and 2017, Williams’ execution was stayed after new DNA evidence on the knife used in the murder did not match him. However, the Missouri Supreme Court ultimately upheld his conviction.
Williams was the third person executed in Missouri this year and the 100th since the state resumed use of the death penalty in 1989. He was also one of several death row inmates scheduled for execution nationwide this week, a stark contrast to the overall decline in the use of capital punishment in the U.S.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 U.S. states, with six others, including Arizona and California, maintaining moratoriums.
as candidates Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Cornel West, or [Libertarian Party nominee] Chase Oliver.”
Marcellus Williams,
WALK RUN BIKE
Lace Up for Sickle Cell Disease
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Dear Friend,
At the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Connecticut (SCDAA,CT), we embrace prevention strategies to enhance the quality of life and well-being of the communities in CT impacted by Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and Sickle Cell Trait (SCT).
We’re looking for partners & participants like you; individuals who want to support the underserved communities of color and who desire to reshape the social, economic and academic landscape of those who are most vulnerable—our SCD youth.
See the list on the right for various ways you can support our event.
