McInnis’ speech made four references to the city, mostly gestures made in broad strokes that characterized the city in partnership with Yale, braving challenges and marching forward together. In comparison, Former University President Peter Salovey in 2013 dedicated three minutes in his speech to an address on town-gown collaborations.

“Together with our home city of New Haven, we have weathered the storms of every moment, the ‘breeze of public criticism’ and the winds of change,” McInnis said.

The presidential inauguration came as higher education institutions across the nation face criticism from the federal administration, a decline in public trust and potential funding freezes. Several of Yale’s peer institutions have already faced funding cuts.

McInnis previously told the News that while she originally hoped to lay out a more ambitious vision plan in her speech, given the current political backdrop, she chose not to. Instead, her speech would reflect on Yale’s history and values, as well as muse on its future.

Yale’s outreach to New Haven extended beyond McInnis’ speech, however. In the week before her inauguration, the Yale Alumni Association and United Way of Greater New Haven led dozens of volunteer events, open houses and local partnerships to celebrate the town-gown community, drawing over 250 Yale and community volunteers.

McInnis and Salovey on town-gown

In his inauguration speech more than a decade ago, Salovey sought to probe “new directions in [Yale’s] alliance with New Haven,” calling for fresh entrepreneurial and intellectual partnerships.

In particular, he encouraged students to contribute more to the “local idea economy.” After graduation, he hoped, “they can remain in New Haven and play active roles as civic, arts, and business leaders.”

He ended his New Haven segment with several driving questions for his term: “How can we create a local ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs? How would a one-hour train between New York and New Haven change the intellectual and educational biosphere of our campus and city?”

Though the University’s relationship to New Haven could be at times tense as late as 2020, when Mayor Justin Elicker rose to the mayoral office, the signing of a 2021 agreement to increase Yale’s voluntary contribution to the city ushered in a wave of friendly public appearances between public officials and University leaders. In February, Elicker called on McInnis to increase the voluntary contribution.

Last week, in her speech, McInnis recounted how she “found a second home in New Haven” during her time as a graduate student, spending her leisure time exploring the city’s pizza spots and staying up late at Toads.

Near the end of her speech, McInnis quoted a New York Times article that named New Haven among the “52 Places to Go in 2023.” In it, Alexander Lobrano, travel writer and Connecticut native, promoted the city’s history, culture and food scene.

“There’s a reason the New York Times called us a ‘home to tinkerers and rebels.’ We don’t sit still. We don’t sit back,” McInnis said, following a segment referring exclusively to Yale. “We are a university in motion, always seeking out the next frontier. It’s why New Haven has become a global hub of biotechnology and innovation.”

Yale is not mentioned in Lobrano’s article, but McInnis told the News that she saw “Yale as part of New Haven” and that is why she said “us.”

Elicker, a spokesperson from UNITE HERE and two New Haven alders did not respond to requests for reactions to McInnis’ address and the Elm City’s role in the inauguration weekend. 

Like Salovey, McInnis also emphasized Yale and New Haven’s close unity in her speech.

“Hand in hand with the city of New Haven, we will create a vibrant, thriving community where our mission — our purpose — is renewed with each new member we welcome, each discovery made and idea exchanged, each new graduate who carries Lux et Veritas into the world,” she said. 

Inauguration community programming reached hundreds

Leading up to McInnis’ inauguration, the Yale Alumni Association and United Way of Greater New Haven organized New Haven Community Days, a week of volunteer activities and open houses to commemorate the bond between Yale and New Haven.

The volunteer teams assembled 540 toiletry kits for Haven Free Clinic, distributed 200 pounds of clothing donations, served food to 351 families, and wrote 60 handwritten letters to seniors, according to Mara Balk, Yale Alumni Association’s associate director for volunteer engagement.

Overall, the groups organized 18 volunteer activities on campus and in the city, including a book drive, gardening work days and read-aloud events for children.

Community Days programming also featured 43 open houses across the city that welcomed all visitors — like a “New Haven all-access pass,” YaleNews wrote. Open houses at Harkness Tower and various art galleries — Yale University Art Gallery, 63 Audubon Gallery and NXTHVN — saw “lively turnout” or were at capacity, according to Alexandra Daum, associate vice president of the Office of New Haven Affairs.

On the first community day, McInnis visited local vendors at CitySeed’s Farmers Market and read to young students with New Haven Reads. Ahead of her inauguration, McInnis also spent time showing her family around town, she told the News.

According to Balk, McInnis explicitly requested there be a volunteer component in her inauguration activities.

The success of the Community Days programming was not unprecedented or uncommon, Balk noted, but rather characteristic of the “mutual respect” and history of collaboration between Yale and New Haven volunteer agencies.

On April 3, McInnis spoke at Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting, and she hosted the first Seton Elm-Ivy awards ceremony of her term last Tuesday.

“Yale’s and New Haven’s successes are inextricably linked. I look forward to building on our progress and strengthening our centuries-old bond, and I will be sharing more details as we do this work together,” McInnis wrote to the News.

Since July 2024, McInnis has served as the University’s 24th president.

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Historically, New Haven has not had a large Asian American and Pacific Islander population. But the number is growing every year — from four percent in 2010 to seven percent in 2020 — and new Asian American shops and markets are popping up all over the city. 

A generation of Asian American leaders are finding their own ways to fight for change in New Haven – whether through organization, public service or community-building. Some found their way to Yale and New Haven from immigrant families, and with a deep sense of community and shared stake in the city’s future, they now call New Haven home. 

The News spoke to three local organizers to learn how their Asian American background informs their community advocacy. 

John Lee ’18 DIV ‘26: An “embodied” connection to New Haven

John Lee ’18 DIV ‘26, the grandson of North Korean immigrants, grew up in the predominantly white suburbs of Baltimore. His main source of Asian American community was the local Korean church, and when he came to Yale as an undergraduate, he naturally found community in a Korean American church in Westville. Since he couldn’t speak Korean well, he gravitated towards the younger, English-speaking churchgoers, volunteering and helping out with the youth programs. 

As he worked with New Haven students as a LEAP site coordinator, he noticed how neighborhoods close to Yale struggled with housing, unemployment and a lack of resources in schools and libraries. At the same time, he began meeting city activists and organizers from New Haven Rising — an organization that advocates for racial, economic and social justice. Their ideas for solidarity and reform were energizing, he thought.

After graduating, Lee stayed at Yale to study at the Divinity School and eventually became a key leader for New Haven Rising. 

On a typical day for Lee, he wraps up class at Yale to meet directly with residents and other organizers. He goes to East Rock Magnet School every week to teach students to cycle, and in his free time, he traces the city’s streets on his bike, writing poetry about Elm Street or Whalley Avenue. Sometimes, he challenges kids to foot races at a Newhallville school he used to mentor at; when the weather’s nice, he might take on Alders Caroline Tanbee Smith ’14 and Eli Sabin ’22 LAW ’26 in basketball. 

For many immigrants, it’s difficult to tangibly relate to systemic, historical problems in America, Lee said. As an organizer, a big question for him has been identifying personal points of connection to engage people. 

For him, it’s an “embodied” relationship with New Haven. He sees this connection as grounded in his faith but also in his sheer love for the city: its charming size, diverse neighborhoods and history. “It’s a very rich place that has a lot of the patterns of American history that are confusing, beautiful [and] painful,” he said.

When people have an embodied relationship to a place, Lee thinks, they “hold a lot of what that place has meant” and can pass that along to future generations.   

“I love New Haven, and I love walking out my door and being a part of the city and being among neighbors. [But there are] young people who are like, ‘I take a lot of pride in being here or I have a kind of vision, but it’s getting harder and harder to live in the city.’ So that tension is where I locate a need for change,” he said.

Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith ’14 SOM ’25: The activist spirit

New Haven is a “city that fights for itself,” Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith ’14 SOM ’25: of East Rock said. “It’s a city where you can feel the spirit of advocacy, the entrepreneurial spirit really ripple through the sidewalks and streets.”

When she arrived at Yale as an undergraduate, Tanbee Smith felt the urgency of wanting to be a part of something bigger than herself. She got her start mentoring at New Haven Academy and interning at the mayor’s office. 

She described how her mother, in South Korea, would often go to student protests and have to flee from the police. Yet now, in America, her parents were nervous when Tanbee Smith initially proposed becoming a politician. 

“I sometimes wonder if a lot of us have that experience of our parents having that advocate spirit when they’re in their home countries. Then, when they come here, it’s different,” she said.

Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston is one of her heroes: “a ferocious, fiery but humble leader.” Seeing her run for city council years ago affirmed Tanbee Smith’s desire to run for office.

After living in New Haven for over a decade and growing confident in her values — developing a “really strong spine,” she says — she ran for office in 2023 and became alder of East Rock. Since then, she’s worked on issues ranging from traffic safety and climate justice to economic opportunity. 

“I think love is built and cultivated over time. And I just, I love this place, and it’s the place I want to be, hopefully for the rest of my life,” she said. 

Chistine Kim ’99 and aapiNHV: Scaffolding of support
Over the pandemic, Christine Kim ’99 felt “paralyzed” by the rise of anti-Asian sentiment nationally and locally. Her and other Asian American residents realized the necessity of more dialogue and a space for an Asian American community in the city. 

In 2021, she co-founded aapiNHV, New Haven’s first organized community for Asian Americans, with Tanbee Smith and several others. 

People come in and out of the group, Kim said — a reflection of the transitory nature of New Haven she finds dynamic. She loves how the group is diverse in all regards: age, skin color, ethnicity and socio-economic. 

Tanbee Smith found the friendships she formed with other Asian American women — from aapiNHV’s team to her Korean American co-founder in Collab, an accelerator for small businesses — “edifying” for her confidence as an Asian American advocate. “They poured into me, and I hopefully poured into them as well,” she said.

Now, Tanbee Smith is appreciative of the opportunity to build the “scaffolding” for Asian Americans to see themselves as politicians and advocates, to spark the “fight and advocacy” embedded in their family’s histories. 

Since its inception, aapiNHV has gathered in support of community members, held potlucks and hosted pop-ups at New Haven’s night market. In the coming years, Kim hopes to continue the space for Asian Americans to gather and support each other in business ideas or community projects.

“I think it’s really important for young people to be able to imagine a future for themselves and, you know, representation can help to establish that kind of horizon line. You’re like, ‘Hey, I could do that too,’” Tanbee Smith said.

Building spines and bridges

For some kids that Lee has worked with in New Haven schools, he’s the first Asian person they’ve spent time with and befriended. 

“Those moments are wonderful. It was never my intention to go in as an Asian representative, but I do think there was something fun and joyful about being a surprising presence,” he said. 

Tanbee Smith echoed this, describing her appreciation of being “more than one”: half-White and half-Korean, part of the LGBTQ+ community and from an immigrant family, grew up in the South but now in the Northeast. Though she struggled in her youth with wanting “simplicity,” she’s grown to cherish her multitudes. 

“Being able to build bridges or see multiple perspectives is something that feels pretty baked into my DNA,” she said. 

Her proudest moments during her time as an alder have been when, sitting across the table from a neighbor who disagrees with her, they are able to find a “shared underbelly of respect.” Her experience being multi-racial and Asian American, she says, has provided her some of the crucial tools to find this common ground. 

In January, when anti-immigration flyers were distributed in East Rock, Tanbee Smith was astonished by how resolutely the community rallied around their immigrant neighbors. Though “hateful actions” are sometimes inevitable, she believes that the most important thing is how a community responds. 

“I think New Haven is a city that responds with love,” Tanbee Smith said. “That moment of anti-immigration flyers being distributed in the neighborhood, kids picked them up and threw them away. [Even] a dog ate one. New Haven has a spine of values that it returns to.” 

In 2006, William Tong became the first Asian American elected to Connecticut state office.  

Correction, April 14: A previous version of this article misstated that John Lee ’18 DIV ‘26 was the son of North Korean immigrants. Additionally, Lee’s role in LEAP was site coordinator, not mentor and counselor.

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Many people in Yale and New Haven who dedicate time to the city and university’s collaborative development do so voluntarily, Alexandra Daum, associate vice president of the Office of New Haven Affairs, emphasized as she kicked off the ceremony. The event was an opportunity to reflect and honor those people, she said. 

“The collaboration between the university and the city is not all top level speech making. It’s a lot of nitty-gritty stuff,” Daum said as attendees nodded in agreement. 

A crowd of city officials, community members and University-affiliates celebrated collaborative initiatives such as educational programs for New Haven students, Black history archival events at the Beinecke and joint efforts on wastewater monitoring. 

Due to being under the weather with the flu, Mayor Justin Elicker could not attend this year. Afterward, he wrote to the News expressing his “heartfelt thanks and congratulations to all of this year’s awardees.” 

Several alders were present, including Alders Frank Douglass and Evette Hamilton of Dwight and Edgewood, respectively. 

In her first Seton Elm-Ivy awards of her tenure, University President Maurie McInnis said that as she grew reacquainted with Yale in the past nine months, she found the University’s prioritization of a partnership with New Haven “heartening.” Daum echoed how “delightful” it has been to work with someone who understands the importance of town-gown collaboration. 

“Much of what has made Yale so strong is this great partnership, this great sense of community, and I certainly share the ambition shared by so many at Yale that Yale be the most civically engaged university in America,” McInnis said. 

New Haven Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli stepped up to the microphone to speak on behalf of Elicker and the city. He drew laughter with a quip about the need to always be “dressed for the day,” referring to his impromptu stepping in place of the mayor. 

“I’m also grateful to the many honorees who come back and join and share a meal at this table every year,” Piscitelli, who is a former recipient of the Elm award, said. “We have built a strong partnership and lifted our community together.” 

McInnis and Piscitelli both cited the wide array of Yale’s community partnerships, such as the Center of Inclusive Growth, the School of Management’s fellowships and Yale’s Pathways to Science program. 

Though last year’s awards ceremony was a more playful affair, as former University President Peter Salovey and the mayor bantered and exchanged one-liners, Tuesday’s luncheon was still lighthearted. As the presenters took turns introducing awardees, they began a running joke of how laborious it was to repeat Piscetilli’s title — economic development administrator — after each award. 

Daum gave the first award of the day to Carolyn Baker and Diane Petaway, co-presidents and “dynamic duo” of the Greater New Haven African American Historical Society, for their work organizing and advocating for Black history archival events. 

“They work hand in hand with Yale University, particularly Beinecke Library, to keep Black history vibrant and alive,” Daum said. 

Several community educators were recognized on Tuesday. 

CEO of Biohaven Dr. Vlad Coric was awarded for his work offering science and business hands-on experience for secondary and university students. Similarly, Dr. Anjelica Gonzalez, professor in the School of Medicine and head of Davenport College, received an Ivy award for sharing her laboratory expertise with talks and programs in New Haven classrooms.

Jessica Haxhi received an Elm Award for her work redesigning and leading World CLASS, Yale’s after-school foreign language lessons for Connecticut high schoolers.

Professors Arielle Baskin-Sommers and Jordan Peccia were commended for promoting primary and mental health care to formerly incarcerated people and for partnering with the city on a groundbreaking wastewater monitoring project, respectively. 

As award recipients stood for pictures, McInnis often whispered congratulations to and laughed with the honorees.

Two students were also granted Ivy awards: Ryan Sutherland MED ’26 for his work expanding health access for homeless people, and Kaylen Yun ’26 for her leadership at Dwight Hall and for supporting migrants as they resettle in New Haven.

Yun told the News that one of her main commitments when she arrived at Yale was to find new ways to remain part of New Haven, where she grew up. “I can equally call Yale and New Haven my home,” she said. 

“These awards serve as a bright light and showcase how collaboration can help bridge divides and bring people together in meaningful ways, especially now when it seems division is an all too frequent narrative,” McInnis said.

The Seton Elm-Ivy awards were established in 1979.

Correction, April 9: This article has been corrected to reflect that Dr. Vlad Coric is the CEO of Biohaven.

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On a public webinar this Wednesday, Strong Towns — a national nonprofit advocating for safe, livable cities — and several community members took a microscope to this crash to analyze and try to address the intersection’s dangers.

East Rock residents have expressed safety concerns about the Willow-Nicoll intersection for over a decade. Due to speeding cars, faded zebra crossings and low visibility, the crossing has become infamous in the area for its hazards.

In the “Crash Analysis Studio” webinar, Strong Towns’ Community Engagement Coordinator Tony Harris facilitated a discussion among several panelists: Alders Caroline Tanbee Smith and Anna Festa of Wards 9 and 10, respectively, and East Rock residents Rishabh Mittal and Peter Clarke.

Mittal and Clarke had successfully applied for this intersection to be analyzed by Strong Towns. This is the 22nd crash analysis the organization has conducted nationwide, with the aim of promoting grassroots action and providing local leaders with an analysis and recommendations report.

According to Tanbee Smith, over 70 people attended the webinar, including New Haven’s City Engineer Giovanni Zinn.

The webinar followed several months of activism and community engagement by Smith and Festa, whose wards this intersection straddles. Since last fall, they have been door-knocking in East Rock and discussing potential solutions with the city. Their petition for traffic safety improvements on the Willow and Nicoll Street intersection has garnered about 200 signatures.

“The North American response to crashes focuses primarily on assigning blame, often assigning blame to drivers and sometimes to pedestrians too,” Harris said. “Our objective really is to learn as much as possible about what happened, what took place, identify contributing factors and make some suggestions for improving safety at this crash location.”

Harris began the webinar with a detailed crash analysis. Clicking through slides of diagrams and images, he described how the intersection would have looked from both drivers’ perspectives. He then opened up the floor to the alders and neighbors to discuss the possible crash factors.

Tanbee Smith and Festa both emphasized the intersection’s poor sightlines for drivers and pedestrians.

“You have to inch, inch, inch to try to see around the tree [or] ironically, the pedestrian yield signs. You always feel like you’re taking a little bit of a leap of faith when you take the turn,” Tanbee Smith said.

Due to overgrown trees, the pedestrian yield sign and cars illegally parked on the intersection corner, it’s difficult for cars to see people waiting to cross. When Festa drives through the stop sign, she even honks to warn pedestrians, she said.

Tanbee Smith also pointed out how the intersection’s proximity to highways means that people are likely to be speeding on and off the ramp. Indeed, in a small study conducted by Mittal and volunteers, they found that even on a weekend day, 57.3 percent of 413 cars tracked were going over the speed limit of 25 miles per hour. 

“It’s treacherous. I avoid it at all costs,” Festa said.

Mittal, who brought his transportation planning and consulting experience to the webinar, suggested two main design features that would ameliorate the intersection’s conditions: narrowing the street and bringing the stop sign closer to the road. 

Of the 28 crashes the intersection has seen in the past five years, over 20 happened because the driver on Nicoll Street ran the stop sign, Mittal said. He believes that drivers mistakenly think they are on the main road for several reasons: Nicoll is the wider street, the stop sign is hard to notice and only Willow Street has crosswalks.

Harris echoed Mittal’s concerns, saying that drivers typically follow “the design cues around them.”

Tanbee Smith also expressed hopes that there can be “more imaginative, more demonstrative solutions that really elevate the pedestrian” at the intersection. With sidewalk bump outs and colorful crosswalk repaintings, she said, drivers would be more likely to think of the area as a spot to slow down and not speed up.

Other solutions floated around during the panel discussion included adding traffic safety measures such as four-way stops and a large speed table, pruning the trees, rethinking pedestrian signs and redirecting traffic in the neighborhood. 

“There’s a Willow and Nicoll, if you will, in every single neighborhood,” Tanbee Smith told the News before the webinar. She hopes this event will serve as a model for uniting city and community expertise together to brainstorm solutions for traffic safety problems. 

“We shouldn’t have to tell people to avoid a street. We shouldn’t have to tell them, take a different route,” Festa said. “All our streets should be safe, and I think it’s everyone’s responsibility.”

Strong Towns will hold two more crash analysis sessions in New Haven, one on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and another on a Whalley Avenue intersection.

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The expedited trains will depart from New Haven every weekday morning — at 5:06 a.m., 5:32 a.m. and 7:52 a.m. — and return from Grand Central at 4:16 p.m., 4:49 p.m. and 6:26 p.m.

Commuters taking some rush-hour trains may notice slight adjustments to their departure and arrival times, which the rail line claims will “improve transfer times.” The new times can be found on the online schedule or on the TrainTime app.

The shorter runtimes are due to signaling infrastructure improvements. The Metro-North team also used train-simulation software, GPS and signal data to create more efficient timetables.

“Super Express travelers save as much as 25 minutes each way, 250 minutes each week, and more than nine full days annually to spend with their friends and family,” the new Metro-North President Justin Vonashek said in a press release.

Aaron Combs ’28 commutes to New York City every Friday to work in-person at a small startup company.

In just the spring semester so far, he has taken a round-trip to NYC nearly a dozen times. This week, he will be making the trip three more times — one for work and two more times for leisure.

“Are you serious? That’s so nice,” Combs said when he heard about the improved run times. 

The updated schedule will be a game-changer for Combs, he said. 

Before, the only 90-minute train down to NYC was at 5:06 a.m. On Friday mornings, he would wake up at 4 a.m. after only having slept a few hours. Once he arrived at Grand Central at 6:38 a.m., he would wait around for a bagel shop to open at 7 a.m. before heading to work at 9 a.m.

But the changes mean that the 5:32 a.m. Super Express train, arriving at 7:02 with a 90-minute run time, is now another viable option for him.

“That is honestly a big deal, because it’s still the weekday,” Combs said. “What it also means is that if I want to get up earlier I can, if I need the flexibility.”

But for some, the schedule changes are either not noticeable or have disrupted their familiar journeys to work. 

Monique Horn, a commuter from Wallingford to Grand Central, told the News that her transfer time at Union Station is now longer because of the changes. 

Tajrian Khan ’27, who day-trips to NYC every other weekend, believes the changes will not affect him or other “leisurely travelers.” He currently finds the rides to and from Grand Central frequent and efficient, but he wouldn’t mind if Metro-North expanded their number of Super Express trains.

Both Combs and Khan expressed support for a Yale partnership with Metro-North to provide discounted rates for students, citing barriers in traveling to and working in NYC for lower-income students.

While Combs’ commute back from Grand Central counts as off-peak and costs $18.25,  his early morning ride is during peak hours and drains $24.50 from his wallet.

“Institutionally, Yale would really benefit to push more accessibility to New York,” Combs said, citing the city’s startup environment as well as arts and culture scenes.

Combs and Khan said that they partly chose Yale for its proximity to NYC. Combs hopes that these new changes will encourage more Yalies to travel to the city and even consider working there during the school year. 

The Metro-North railroad began operations in 1983.

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Philly’s was located on Chapel Street, which houses fifteen of the over 65 Shops at Yale. On the restaurant’s website, it brands itself as “New England’s only option for REAL Philly Cheesesteaks,” with other locations in Norwich, Conn. and Bennington, Vt. 

The restaurant has been closed during business hours — lights off and under padlock — since at least Feb. 9.

Philly’s agreed to a seven-year lease with Yale University Properties on March 26, 2021, according to Yale’s Jan. 13, 2025 complaint document filed in the Connecticut Superior Court. The parties agreed to a monthly rent of $3,960 to $4,917. Four months after they signed their contract, Philly’s stopped paying rent, the University claims. 

This amounts to about $180,000 of unpaid rent as of December 2024. A Philly’s representative could not be reached for comment.

On Dec. 2, 2024, Yale served Philly’s a notice to quit possession, requiring them to move out by Dec. 9. The notice was served to Philly’s representatives on Dec. 2 and again on Jan. 13, per New Haven state marshalls’ reports.

In the January complaint, Yale stated that Philly’s has not moved out of the premises and asked the court for immediate possession. They also checked a statement requesting the acquisition of Philly’s “possessions and personal effects” since the property is nonresidential.

In a motion signed on Feb. 6, Yale asked again for possession of Philly’s premises as they had failed to file a court appearance.

A couple of days later, it appeared that the storefront was vacated. Yelp users have reported that the location is closed, though a user posted a 5-star review of the restaurant on Feb. 25.

Yale’s motion was denied by Housing Court Judge Alayna M. Stone ’04 on Feb. 27 since the “service of the writ,” referring to the notice to quit, was “not left with the defendant’s agent for service.”

The University will now need to procure a new summons and complaint.

Yale is represented by Anthony J. Boccamazzo of Brown Rudnick LLP. On the case files, Philly’s is designated as “Non-Appearing,” meaning that they have not filed an appearance with the court, nor do they have an attorney on their behalf.

When asked to confirm if Philly’s has not been paying rent since July 2021 and why Yale waited several years to sue, the University declined to comment on the “specifics of its business relationships.”

Philly’s, which officially opened in June 2022, was located on 1008 Chapel St.

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Keertan Venkatesh ’28, a city fellow and one of the presenters, recalled that when he asked the dozens of attendees whether they considered themselves New Haven residents, everyone silently shook their heads.

Then, he asked if they wanted their relationship with New Haven to change. The response was a unanimous yes.

Following the disappointment after President Donald Trump’s re-election, Yale College Democrats’ city engagement fellows have doubled down on their attention to local advocacy.

“When national chaos ensued after Trump became president, I turned to local action. Becoming a Dems city fellow felt like the perfect place to start,” Emma Buretta ’28 wrote to the News.

The Yale College Democrats’ city engagement branch has historically been a space for interested students to meet and work on community advocacy and volunteering. According to Buretta, there are about a dozen fellows, mostly underclassmen.

The city fellows choose local organizations whose mission they are passionate about and work with them independently over the course of a semester, their service ranging from regular volunteering to policy research. These organizations have included New Haven Reads, Haven’s Harvest and the New Haven Climate Movement.

This semester, the city engagement fellows have been working with For Cameron, a nonprofit organization that works to reduce addiction stigma in New Haven. At a recent bill hearing in the Connecticut General Assembly, they gave oral and written testimony for open safe use centers, Buretta told the News.

Local organizations often do not get the same recognition as their federal counterparts, Venkatesh said. But for City Engagement Fellow Esperance Han ’28, her work with Citizens’ Climate Lobby has felt uniquely enriching and provided mentors outside of campus gates. 

This semester, though, the city engagement fellows’ new informal initiative aims to incentivize and make city engagement more accessible for students, Venkatesh said. The efforts will be twofold: increased promotion of New Haven advocacy, such as protests and volunteer events, and enlisting students to show up together in person.

“The majority of Yale students, I believe, want their relationship with New Haven to improve, but we’re so busy and focused on careers and extracurriculars that it’s hard to allocate time and effort for that,” Han said.

This Thursday, they plan to kickstart the new initiative at the New Haven Climate Movement’s transportation resolution at the Board of Alders meeting. Resolutions are difficult to pass, Han said, without strong turnout and support.

The fellows — who plan to testify at the meeting — will be joined by members of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition.

“The signs [will be] ready for you, we’ll tell you where, when to be there. It’s like a five minute walk from Old Campus,” Venkatesh said. “Just show up so they can see the numbers in support of this resolution.”

Han and Buretta were both galvanized to join the city engagement branch of Yale College Democrats after Trump’s reelection.

Han also recalled when she was tabling at a packed organization fair at the New Haven Pride Center and was inspired by the myriad of New Haven activities — cooking events, Frisbee teams, book clubs — that she had never heard of before. She felt energized by how excited residents were about joining the groups but also shocked by how few Yale students were present.

Venkatesh felt instinctively pulled to join the city engagement fellows. He cited the stark wealth disparities he noticed between Yale and New Haven, something he found “hard to reconcile” when he first arrived on campus.

In the past, the city engagement branch has not been the most prominent in Yale College Democrats, Venkatesh said, with other branches, such as the legislative advocacy group, attracting more students.

For him and other city engagement fellows, though, now is the time to focus efforts on local change. 

“I feel like city engagement is a branch where you can impact people most directly and most intimately,” Venkatesh said. 

Yale College Democrats was founded in the late 1950s. 

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Eight representatives across the state — one of whom is Rep. Toni Walker from New Haven — recently proposed Bill No. 5617 in the Connecticut General Assembly. A state policy analyst noted that the bill is unlikely to pass or affect Yale’s tax-exempt status.

The legislators have yet to explain how the tax would be implemented, and the potential effect on the University’s $41.4 billion endowment is unclear.

The proposed tax would make finances “much more predictable” for the city, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker told the News. He described the University’s presence in New Haven as both “an incredible benefit and a significant challenge.”

Though many businesses thrive because of Yale’s presence, he said, property taxes are a large pool of revenue for the city, and the University and Yale-New Haven Hospital constitute about half — 56 percent — of the non-taxable properties in New Haven.

“That makes it very hard for residents around the city who own properties to have affordable taxes, and it also means that New Haven has a higher mill rate than some of our suburban counterparts,” Elicker said, referring to the property tax rate.

Yale pays taxes on its commercial properties and since 1990, has given the city an annual voluntary contribution. In 2021, Yale and New Haven reached a historic agreement to increase the University’s contribution by $52 million over six years, totaling $135.4 million. The agreement will end in 2026.

Elicker has recently called on the University to increase its voluntary contribution to the city.

Since 1899, proposals have been routinely initiated to tax Yale buildings, all of which have failed. A bill last year proposed taxing universities’ new property acquisitions after Oct. 1, 2024. Another bill, introduced in 2023, aimed to redirect profits from endowment funds to help Connecticut employees seek paid leave from work.

Yale officials previously denounced a 2016 proposal that would tax certain academic buildings as “unconstitutional.” Taxing the University “won’t create jobs” and “misses the point,” Rich Jacob, associate vice president for federal and state relations, said to YaleNews at the time.

When asked for comment, a University spokeswoman directed the News to Yale’s 2021 six-year commitment to promoting New Haven’s economic growth.

In 2017, President Donald Trump enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which levies a 1.4 percent tax on investment income for universities with endowments worth $500,000 per student or more, in the first successful effort to tax university endowments. Along with other Ivy League schools, the University has previously lobbied in Congress to repeal the act.

Due to the statewide Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, New Haven also receives from the state a percentage of lost revenue on tax-exempt properties. The city has now received over $91 million from this initiative annually, which Elicker called “crucial to the budget.”

On the federal level, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance LAW ’13 have recently proposed steep taxes on university endowments.

Kevin McCarthy, a retired policy analyst in New Haven, believes that the bill in itself will not affect the University’s “constitutional exemption.” He referred to how Yale’s designation as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization has been ingrained in the Connecticut constitution since 1843 and in federal law.

“Whether [the bill] covers endowments would keep the lawyers busy for years,” he wrote to the News, calling the proposal “not serious.”

Bills proposing endowment taxes also face political pushback from universities across Connecticut and the nation. Though no bills since the 2017 act have succeeded, Elicker believes they help continue the conversation of what the university owes to their municipalities.

At the least, No. 5617’s proposal provides “an opportunity for [New Haven] to highlight the financial challenges [the] city has,” Elicker said.

This year’s legislative session convened Jan. 8 and will adjourn June 4.

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Along with establishing a new Center for Inclusive Growth and introducing several tax offsets, the 2021 agreement was historic in including the highest-ever voluntary contribution from the University to New Haven. According to the University’s Office of New Haven Affairs, Yale makes the largest voluntary payment to a single home city of all universities in America.

The University has given New Haven $23.2 million every year, an increase of $10 million. The total voluntary contribution during the six-year agreement will equal $135.4 million.

2026 may seem far off, but Mayor Justin Elicker believes it’s time to begin discussing potential increases in Yale’s voluntary contribution to the city. Negotiations for the 2021 agreement took over a year.

“It’s clear that we need to start rolling up our sleeves and start talking about the future of Yale’s payments to the city,” he said. “Yale made a very, very large step forward under the leadership of Salovey. My strong view is that it should take additional steps in helping out the city.”

Elicker described the nature of early conversations about voluntary contributions as “regularly scheduled meetings,” saying that McInnis is “always very responsive.” McInnis echoed this, describing them as “working closely.”

Ward 15 Alder Frank Redente, who represents part of Fair Haven, also believes that though Yale has been a good partner to the city, it can be an even better one.

“This city is in need, and especially now, in this climate facing the prospect of federal funding freezes,” Redente said. “[Yale] has the capabilities to make real, substantive change in this city.”

The importance of voluntary contribution can’t be understated, according to Redente. 

He added that by increasing contributions, the University could help “plug holes” in the city’s finances. 

“Programs and all that are great, but money talks,” Redente said. 

Jack Callahan ’80, senior vice president for operations at the University, recalled his pride at reaching the “finish line” of the voluntary contribution agreement in 2021.

“I firmly believe that there are more ways for us to work together … than there is for either side trying to extort either support or money from the other,” Callahan said. 

Callahan will retire this year, and he is hopeful that the agreement, along with the Center of Inclusive Growth that it started, has set the tone and laid the foundation for further collaborations. 

“All of us understand that the city’s future financial stability is important for not just New Haven but for Yale,” Elicker said. 

The current agreement was announced in November 2021. 

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On Tuesday night, leaders of New Haven Rising and UNITE HERE unions reflected on a year of successes and setbacks. They called on New Haven and Yale to support citizens during a period of uncertainty and economic hardships. Hundreds of attendees filled the pews of Trinity Temple on Dixwell Avenue, with lines of people spilling out the doors.

The Solidarity Summit was led by New Haven Rising, a community organization that advocates for racial, economic and social justice, and UNITE HERE unions, including Yale’s Locals 33, 34 and 35 and Local 217, as well as Students Unite Now.

Marks, New Haven Rising director, opened the event with a rousing call for solidarity and strength in the face of federal political upheavals. The crowd booed as speakers listed President Donald Trump’s recent directives in office — such as an attempt to freeze federal funds and the deletion of important datasets accused of promoting D.E.I. — and criticized his embrace of the “billionaire class.”

“The truth is that we’re heading about as far away as we can from Dr. [Martin Luther] King’s vision,” Marks said. “We are here, headed towards a place of resentment, hopelessness, a place that becomes cruel and violent, a place where the wealthy buy their way to power, a place where we become more divided, a place where we grow tired from just getting by.”

Peppered throughout a dozen speeches, speakers updated attendees on union progress in New Haven and drew attention to issues such as a lack of affordable housing, wealth inequality and fears of immigration crackdowns.

The summit’s mood oscillated between celebration and somberness. 

Omni workers with Local 217 recalled their triumph of settling a contract with the hotel last September after hard-fought negotiations. Adam Waters of Local 33 celebrated how after facing 30 years of “union busting and retaliation from the University,” the union achieved a landmark contract in December 2023 that raised wages and enhanced healthcare provisions for graduate workers. New leaders, Lisa Stevens, Local 34’s president, and Gwen Mills, president of the international UNITE HERE organization, both expressed excitement for their new roles. 

The celebration was extended to city officials as well. Marks and several speakers thanked the UNITE HERE-affiliated alders who walked the picket line with them and appeared at the summit. Mills praised the recent bravery of state representatives, particularly Rep. Rosa DeLauro, amidst federal policy uncertainties. 

“The Connecticut Democratic Party should lead the whole freaking world,” Mills said.

But speakers at the summit were also bracing for a tumultuous year. Jennifer Chona, a Democratic Town Committee co-chair, recalled when her family immigrated to New Haven, whom she believes to be the first Colombian family in the city. Now, she said, immigrant families fear even going outside and bringing their children to school. Last month, dozens of anti-immigration flyers were littered across the East Rock neighborhood.

Mareika Phillips, a key leader for New Haven Rising, shared how, as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, she and her loved ones have been used as “a tool for hate and division.”

“When we are tricked into blaming differences in race, religion, immigration status, romantic orientation or gender for our woes, they have a freer hand to focus on how to overwork us, raise prices and keep us down,” Phillips said. 

Many speakers also called on Yale to increase its financial and developmental contribution to the city. 

Marks emphasized Yale’s “debts” to New Haven, saying that the institution profited from slavery and blocked the first American Black college from finding a home in New Haven. Representatives of Locals 33, 34 and 35 all criticized Yale’s tax-exempt status, the University’s insufficient contributions to local education and the inequitable benefits of their biotech investment. There’s a biotech boom happening in the city, but “it’s a boom for whom?” Marks questioned.

“We know that Yale University is hoarding money, and they want us to think that they are poor,” Tyisha Walker-Myers, chief Local 35 steward and President of the Board of Alders, said to the crowd, “They want us to think that our jobs are not worth the money that they pay us, and we know that’s just not true.”

Phillips stressed that “we have a big year ahead of us.” 

Local 33 President Adam Waters believes that elected officials and employers like Yale must now decide: to stand “on the side of poor and working people, … on the side of justice” or to take the side of “corporations, billionaires and right-wing authoritarians who want to dismantle democracy.”

State Senator Martin Looney and Mayor Justin Elicker were present at the event but did not speak on stage. After the speeches, though, attendees could go downstairs and eat dinner while meeting their elected officials.

In the past, the summit has been called “Unity in Action” and was held specifically in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. This year, after deliberations, it was rebranded as the “Solidarity Summit.” 

“Whatever affects one affects all of us indirectly,” Marks said, recalling an iconic line from King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” 

Ellen Cupo, Ward 8 alder and member of Local 34, spoke of the transformative power of unionizing to the News after the event. After finding out she had a brain tumor last year, she was grateful for not only the healthcare support her union’s negotiations had won in the past but also for the support of her “union family.”

Marks ended the event by asking attendees to help fight to pass SB 8, a state bill that would enhance protections for workers while striking. 

“The elected leaders stood with us on the picket lines. Now is our chance to stand with the elected leaders and create legislation that’s going to help us build more unions,” he said.

“Now look around. Let’s see who’s in the room and who’s ready to organize,” Marks said, “We ain’t going nowhere.”

The oldest union present was Local 35, which has been organizing since 1941. 

Correction, Feb. 6: The article has been updated to remove a quote that was said off the record.

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