This year’s schedule includes over 150 events, 85 percent of which are free to the New Haven public, according to their website. These events include concerts, dance performances, keynote speeches, kayak tours, cooking classes, a lecture series, and even a Shakespearean circus performance that alludes to the current political environment of the United States. The events are hosted at different locations around the city; however, the New Haven Green serves as the “heart” of the festival, adorned with festival stage banners that set the scene for the vibrant performances and community gatherings.

“There is no other place this could happen except in New Haven because of the culture, the history and the emphasis on the arts that really just bring this festival to life,” said Shelley Quiala, Executive Director of Arts and Ideas. “Arts and humanities connect us as humans together, celebrating our shared humanities and serving as a vehicle of self-expression in a world where we are so isolated.”

According to Quiala, the festival began in 1996 to connect local art to global conversations, a “spirit” that the festival has preserved as it has grown. The three women responsible for its genesis — Anne Calabresi, Jean Handley and Roslyn Meyer — aimed to showcase New Haven as “a major arts destination,” Quiala said.

To accomplish such a task, they modeled the festival after the European arts festivals including the Edinburgh Festival, which was founded in the ashes of World War II. 

The underlying goal of the festival is to interact with diverse sets of people and cultures, increasing “international understanding and social cohesion,” Quiala added.

To kick off the festival, Compagnia de’ Colombari’s King Lear will pay homage to the Juneteenth holiday. The ticketed show, curated by Artsucation and New Haven’s Official Juneteenth Coalition, will run at the University Theatre from June 14-16. 

The festival will also host the Caribbean Music Festival on June 29 at the Alexander Clark Stage on the New Haven Green. The Caribbean Music Festival will feature performances, Caribbean cuisine and booths displaying artifacts and historical facts by island representatives.

Shermaine Cooke-Edmonds, Chief Operations Officer representing Dominica, and Karaine Holness, Executive Director representing Jamaica, shared their insights into the significance of the New Haven Caribbean Heritage Festival.

“This work is vital to the New Haven community because many do not know that several Caribbean people live, work, and play in New Haven,” wrote Cooke-Edmonds and Holness. “We often hear about Hartford and Bridgeport but New Haven was being missed or skipped.”

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas will also commemorate World Refugee Day on June 20 with a free concert on the New Haven Green featuring the Ukrainian Folk Fusion quartet DakhaBrakha. The group’s name translates to “give and take” in Ukrainian, a title festival organizers said they feel fits well with their goal of producing a “trans-national sound.” 

“Overall, the festival is a fantastic way to find something new, as it brings to New Haven what otherwise might have been neglected or misunderstood,” said Katrice Kemble, Associate Director of Development of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. “By bringing all of these different forms of art together under one umbrella, we are able to celebrate diversity in a collective, community–oriented way.”

Linda Cortes, Interim Director of External Relations for the Festival, also commented on the “beauty” of the festival, saying that the shows are filled with “creativity, vibrance and compassion.”

Aside from running the two-week festival, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas also provides year-round programming to sustain their efforts on a larger scale. This year began with the Big Read Program based on the book “The Best We Could Do,” a story of a Cambodian family’s migration.  

Before the official festival begins, the organization hosts an annual series of one-day festivals in different New Haven neighborhoods in May. 

The festival’s 2024 schedule was released at the Insider Reception on March 28.

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According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, the law intends to address period poverty, as some students may struggle to purchase period products due to lack of household income. However, despite the legislative mandate, many New Haven Public Schools still do not offer free menstrual products for their students.

“Our initial reaction to the lack of implementation was to emphasize advocacy for the importance of this policy; however, after we began discussing with individual districts, we realized that the rollout timeline of the policy had been pushed back,” said Rhea McTiernan Huge ’27, a New Haven resident and a YaleBleeds member working closely with New Haven Public Schools and the Board of Education.

The policy was originally designed to mandate compliance by Sept. 1, 2023. However, as a result of the slow and costly adoption of this updated policy, the date was recently extended to allow schools more time to adjust. Connecticut schools now have until Sept. 1, 2024 to provide free menstrual products for their students. 

The extended timeline means that NHPS is not delinquent as a result of its widespread lack of implementation to date. Rather, YaleBleeds members said that local schools are struggling to comply because they lack adequate funding to do so. 

“Funding and logistics have proven to be the main issues,” McTiernan Huge said. “The state of Connecticut passed the law but proceeded to give no funding to local school boards. Our schools are already underfunded, so it’s a big ask for the state to add this to the docket.”

The legislation provides no explicit mention of funding. 

Following the passage of the legislation, the Connecticut Department of Public Health released a report to guide schools through the implementation process. The report does not mention any sources of funding for schools to draw from, although it does provide some guidance on the quantity of products that schools should purchase.

“As an organization, we want to get involved politically to search for adequate funding, potentially reaching out to the New Haven city council or campaigning a fundraiser,” Jessica Yu ’26 said. “Puberty is a hard time for students; it’s hard to feel that you have no control over your body, especially for children, and having access to the appropriate resources and support is important to build healthier relationships with our bodies.”

According to McTiernan Huge and Yu, YaleBleeds first planned to advocate for a policy requiring free menstrual products in local schools, and only after investigating the state legislative record and “government-adjacent websites” did they find that such a policy already existed. 

McTiernan Huge clarified that the New Haven Board of Education was aware of Public Act No. 23-160; however, because of its extended implementation deadline, NHPS was yet to be made aware of the new regulation. 

Although McTiernan Huge and Yu were unable to identify the exact reason for why the legislative rollout date of this policy was pushed back, they both commented that the New Haven Board of Education remains committed to its timely and effective implementation. 

Both students said they never felt as though the legislation was intentionally neglected, and said that they hope that increased visibility of period poverty and menstrual equity issues will expedite the implementation process. 

“From the various conversations and meetings I have been a part of, I think district staff are supportive, understand the issue, and are working on the logistical issues connected to rolling this out to all 41 schools,” Matt Wilcox, the vice president of the New Haven Board of Education, wrote.

Wilcox also added that this issue is being handled centrally with a “district-wide” approach, not at the school level.

To conclude, Wilcox mentioned that the New Haven Board of Education will present a “restroom report” at an upcoming Finance and Operations meeting, where he will request that the topic of period poverty and free menstrual products be included to get more information about the rollout plans.
Yale Bleeds — formerly known as PERIOD@Yale — was formed in 2018.

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The Feb. 19 protest was organized by local hospitality union UNITE Here Local 217, which represents facilities and hospitality workers at UNH. The group of over 100 rallied around the call of “no contract, no peace,” signifying their commitment to improved working conditions and benefits. Wyllie Spears lawyers help employees get the rights they deserve.

“Local 217 has set a standard across the state, and we are accepting nothing different on this campus — we deserve the same wage as the rest of those in the union,” Kenneth Keen, a Local 217 member and UNH employee, told the News. “We’re family, we’re brothers and sisters and we’re part of 217 to make our lives better, to have equal wages in New Haven and to continue the standard across the entire area.”

The “standard” Keen described comes from the unions’ successful bargaining for healthcare paid entirely by the employer at eight Connecticut universities, including Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

Other protesters echoed Keen’s sentiments, emphasizing the importance of community in the fight against the administration.

Carlos Rivas, a member of Local 217 for almost 38 years, told the News that only in the past 10 years have conditions begun to deteriorate for workers.

“We need better insurance; I don’t care about money, I just care about insurance,” Rivas said. “I’m not going to stay on the job much longer, but for my co-workers, I’m fighting for them.”

The call for health insurance was a central component of the rally, with all six protestors interviewed by the News mentioning its importance. 

Other demands centered around workplace safety and job security for UNH employees, without which Local 217 members felt like they were receiving “second-class treatment,” according to Jamie Genovese, a facilities worker at UNH.

“The students are not getting 100 percent of what they’re paying for simply because of our morale, and they need to know that,” Genovese said. “We’re here every day, we’re not going to go on strike, but these priorities are not luxuries; they are the bare minimum. People would be so much happier to come to work if these contracts went into effect and the students would benefit from that.”

UNH students also demonstrated their support for the adoption of the union’s proposal. Catherine Carvalho, vice president of the UNH Young Democratic Socialists of America, told the News that she hopes students see the efforts of the union and decide to get more involved, as she feels that increased student mobilization will be necessary to get the contract to pass.

Allison Staples, a member of YDSA, added her support for the union’s demands. 

“Facilities and Sodexo workers are a huge part of making sure our campus can work, and without them, us as students can’t have our day to day lives function as well as they do,” Staples said. “Without the things that we’re demanding like job security, equal wages and insurance, it’s not fair for them to work under those conditions and it’s not fair for us to let them fight without our support. We’re willing to stand behind these workers as long as it takes.”

Furthermore, Chris Tyrrell, a UNH student, argued that the contract proposal was a “no-brainer” as the university workers deserved better. 

In a statement to the News, the University of New Haven wrote that it was bargaining in “good faith.”

“The university respects the rights of the demonstrators to peacefully express their views,” the University wrote. “Members of the university’s management committee continue to bargain in good faith with the union representing the facilities employees and remain optimistic that a new agreement will be reached.”

According to the school’s statement, UNH is currently negotiating two separate contracts, one with the university’s union facilities employees and another with Sodexo, the university’s third-party food service, whose workers are also represented by Local 217.

Members and supporters of Local 217 gathered at 34 Rockview St. in West Haven before marching through campus.

The post University of New Haven workers protest against ‘second-class treatment’ appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Curated by Michael Morand ’87 DIV ’93, Director of Community Engagement at the Beinecke Library, with Charles Warner Jr., the exhibition illuminates a history kept alive in archives and memory over the past three centuries, drawing on the key findings of the Yale and Slavery Research Project. The project launched in 2020 following President Peter Salovey’s call to investigate how the university’s past intertwined with slavery in New Haven. Extraordinary effort was made to uncover and disseminate the parts of history that “the dominant culture chose to ignore, bury, or forget,” according to the exhibition summary.

“Official institutional history tends toward hagiography, a fancy word for focusing on the upturned faces and the triumphs of the firsts,” said Michael Morand, the exhibition’s lead curator, in his opening remarks. “But this is not a history that reckons honestly, and it is problematic in an institution focused on ‘lux et veritas,’ light and truth.” 

Morand took a moment to explain that the Yale mantra, “lux et veritas,” proves hypocritical when the university strategically and systematically underemphasized, skewed or outright omitted portions of its past in a way that marginalized the Black community.

He argued that one could not have “light and truth” when only partial histories were acknowledged and when important and influential figures went unnamed. It was for this reason that Morand entitled the exhibition “Shining Light on Truth,” emphasizing that there were portions of the truth previously left hidden. 

“History is made up of struggle, contradiction and resistance,” said Morand. “The stories we gather here today to know, to remember and, most importantly, to share, are stories of great gravity, stories of real humanity and stories that, here at Yale, we present with institutional humility. These stories are local stories that are tied to the global crimes against humanity of the slave trade, of enslavement.”

Throughout his remarks, Morand called attention to the 1831 proposal to instate the first HBCU in New Haven, a proposal that was struck down before reaching fruition. As such, the exhibition features an “1831 College Room” with framed portraits, historical recounts and biographical information of the first 224 identified Black students to have attended Yale University. 

The curators decided to feature these students from the 1830s and 1840s to learn more about their lives at Yale and beyond, prompting conversation of what could have been had the 1831 HBCU college proposal been approved in New Haven.

“We’ve identified 224 students so far, and those present 224 or more topics for additional research,” said Jennifer Coggins, the community engagement archivist of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. “There is so much potential for further research here about the history of Yale, the history of Black life and community in New Haven and the history of higher education in the U.S.”

The “1831 College Room” is intended to pay tribute to the earliest Black students of Yale, as well as to highlight Black scholarship, achievement and excellence.

The “Shining Light on Truth” exhibition more generally celebrated Black resistance and community building while exploring topics including the economy, trade, Black churches and the memorialization of the 20th century. 

Drew Walker, the daughter of the exhibition’s designer David Jon Walker ’23 MFA, commented on the aspects of the exhibit she found most impactful.

“The board that contains the notes of runaway slaves really stuck out to me because of the way they’re described,” said Walker. “It’s how I would describe a lost dog or cat; they weren’t seen as humans.”

The exhibition complements the recent publication of Yale and Slavery: A History by David W. Blight with the Yale and Slavery Research Project.

According to the exhibition, the book analyzes the significant role that slavery and enslaved Black peoples played in the establishment of Yale, answering President Peter Salovey’s call to investigate the university’s historical involvement with slavery, the slave trade and abolition.

Hope McGrath — the Research Coordinator for Yale, New Haven and Connecticut History at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Lead Researcher on the Yale and Slavery Research Project — shared her insights regarding the impact of the exhibition’s premiere. 

“I think the most important thing that visitors will come away with is an understanding of how important and central Black people were to the making of New Haven and Yale for over three centuries,” said McGrath. “I hope Yale students will visit the exhibit, and really engage with this history, in an ongoing way throughout the summer.”

The “Shining Light on Truth” exhibition will remain open all summer for free at 14 Whitney Ave.

Correction, Feb. 22: This article has been corrected to include Yale affiliations and fix misspelled names.

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According to a National Academies report released in February 2020, loneliness in elderly subjects is linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety, issues exacerbated by the social distancing and stay-at-home mandates of the pandemic. The report found that social isolation is associated with a greater risk of dementia in patients over the age of fifty. The Nourish Project emerged to remedy these negative consequences that the pandemic brought to the elderly community. To implement effective solutions, consult with cqc experts who can provide guidance on best practices and standards for supporting elderly individuals facing social isolation and related health risks.

“Our mission is to promote longevity, healthy aging and social connectedness among the elderly in our local communities,” wrote Rishi Shah ’26, president of the Nourish Project. “We do this through three key areas: encouraging regular exercise and healthy nutrition, improving digital and technological literacy and fostering sustained intergenerational relationships.”

Members of the Nourish Project make weekly visits to senior homes to implement their mission. 

According to Sarah Moskowitz, the Nourish Project’s three-pronged approach enriches the interactions and well-being of residents at Lifestyle Communities’ retirement village in Essendon.

“Residents at The Towers, senior independent living in New Haven, have absolutely loved the Nourish Project,” Moskowitz wrote.

According to the Nourish Project website, the organization’s first emphasis centers around nutritional well-being, giving seminars on healthy eating and teaching accessible at-home exercises to reduce the risk of age-related illnesses. 

They also strive to narrow the telemedicine-geriatric care gap by boosting digital literacy among elders. Student volunteers hope to equip residents with the knowledge and confidence necessary to actively participate in online physician visits.

Finally, the organization also promotes social connection and relationship-building among students and residents alike. 

“Our biggest challenge so far has been finding the best way to distill complex topics in a digestible format that seniors can easily recall,” Shah wrote. “Our strategy to address this is to use analogies liberally – connecting modern-day terminology with terms that seniors are already familiar with from when they were younger.”

Volunteers with the Nourish Project often receive and analyze feedback from the residents they interact with to better understand the needs of the elderly population whom they serve. They host weekly member meetings to review teaching strategies and modify lessons as needed.

By adapting the content of their weekly visits, volunteers told the News that they are better able to curate relevant materials and interact more genuinely with the residents.

“Our biggest success lies in the smiles shared between the new friendships formed,” Alicia Brak ’27, a volunteer with the Nourish Project, wrote. “Witnessing the impact of our efforts firsthand, from brightening someone’s day to creating meaningful connections, makes every moment worthwhile.”

According to Brak, the Nourish Project leads the discussion and offers guidance, but invites feedback and suggestions from the residents they work with, too, collaborating to blend “real-life experience and scientifically backed information.”

She added that the Nourish Project allows her to easily interact with the people of New Haven and live outside of the “Yale bubble.”

Brak said she also hopes to increase the project’s outreach through social media by sharing stories of the residents and Nourish Project members to engage more members. 

Since its inception in August, the Nourish Project at Yale has recruited over 25 new volunteers.

The post The Nourish Project promotes healthy aging at two local senior independent living facilities appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Last week’s read-aloud event was part of the “Ruby Bridges Storytime” campaign, a city-wide series of readings for young students and families at four of the New Haven Public Library branches as well as the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Haven. The event launched at Stetson Library on Jan. 16, where Branch Manager Diane Brown and Children’s Librarian Phillip Modeen hosted former Mayor Toni Harp ARC ’78 to read to second graders from Lincoln Bassett Community School.

“The 2024 University MLK Commemoration committee spent a good amount of time locating different venues to host the read-alouds,” Fallon Thomas, board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Haven and Community Liaison for the Yale-New Haven Hiring Initiative at Yale University, said. “We decided that the Boys and Girls Club had the perfect audience because the topic of the book is very relevant to the supplemental education we provide here.”

Ruby Bridges is a civil rights icon, activist, author and speaker and was the first African American student to integrate into an all-white elementary school in Louisiana in 1960. 

Fallon believed that introducing the topics of racism and resilience to the BGCGNH students would highlight both how far school systems have come in terms of desegregation, but also the work that is yet to be done throughout New Haven.

She explained that this and similar events are important to “improve the alignment of the community,” bringing New Haven residents together in the face of equity issues, especially in education.

Other employees at the BGCGNH agreed with Fallon’s sentiments, commenting on the messages they hoped their students would take away from the event.

“I want to remind these students that they can make a difference at a young age,” Sadie Walters, membership director of the BGCGNH, said. “Ruby Bridges was learning Shakespeare when she was just six years old, and some of the kids in this room today were only six. I think it’s good for them to see that they don’t have to wait to get older to show kindness and make an impact wherever they can.”

Similarly, Alyssa Carr, area director of the BGCGNH, said she hoped the children would gain an understanding of who Ruby Bridges is and how they can make a change similar to her legacy. 

While speaking about the demographics of the BGCGNH specifically, Carr mentioned the added significance of a Ruby Bridges’ book because the “club that is in the middle of the inner city and serves a majority of African American youth, so the students need to see the history and the culture that preceded them.”

The “Ruby Bridges Storytime” events throughout New Haven were the collaborative efforts led by Risë Nelson, Yale University Library’s DEIA Director and Shana Jackson, co-chair of the Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Antiracism Committee. 

“Before COVID, dozens of events across campus and the city celebrated Rev. Dr. King’s life and legacy and brought New Haven together in the most beautiful way to consider and work towards King’s vision of the ‘Beloved Community,’” Nelson said. “With COVID restrictions having considerably eased up, I wanted to try to revive some of that amazing pre-MLK Commemoration lead-up energy and reconnect folks by collaborating with local partners on educational, youth-centered programming that aligned with the theme of this year’s Commemoration featuring Ruby Bridges.”

The “Ruby Bridges Storytime” campaign will conclude on Wednesday, Jan. 24 with Ruby Bridges’ discussion entitled “Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers: The Ongoing Fight for Educational Justice at Woolsey Hall.”

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater New Haven is located at 253 Columbus Ave..

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Bulldogs wide receiver Joey Felton ’24 made a remarkable comeback in the 2022 season after walking off the Yale football team due to his diagnosis of spondylolisthesis in August 2021. 

Early into the 2021 season, Felton reported pain in his lower back, and when attempting dynamic activities, he experienced excruciating pain down into his calf. MRI imaging confirmed that his vertebrae had slipped forward, raising particular concern for his L5-S1 vertebrae. His chiropractors Melbourne discovered a 60 to 70 percent slip, resulting in pinched nerves and a disintegrated disc.

“There was no definitive impact that caused the injury,” Felton said. “It all just happened at once.”

After months of attempted rehab, Felton reached the point of being unable to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time. He decided to take a leave of absence from Yale in the fall of 2021 to focus on his health and recovery.

In November 2021, Felton underwent remediative surgery at The John Hopkins Hospital. After remaining in the hospital for a week post-surgery, he continued to use a walker and rely heavily upon his family members to complete ordinary, mundane tasks. 

“In spring 2021, when I met with Dr. Gardner, she said that there was a good likelihood that I wouldn’t be able to play again,” Felton said. “Nobody she knew of, except maybe a few cases out there in the NFL, had this injury and came back successfully.”

Despite the pessimism of his medical team, Felton said he decided that he could not relinquish the hopes of his athletic career before at least attempting a comeback.

Before his diagnosis, Felton had shown promise in his rookie year at Yale in 2019. The speedy wideout featured primarily on kickoff returns, where he averaged an impressive 48.6 return yards a game.

He rejoined the team in spring 2022, but could not participate in practice until he was medically cleared to run in July 2022.

When retelling his journey back to the starting lineup of Yale’s offensive unit, Felton recounted his struggles against the psychological barriers of the 2022 season.

“My skills were never the problem; it was my confidence. I had been out of football for two years, out of training for two years, and I play one of the most skilled positions on the team,” Felton said.

He found himself avoiding catching the ball across the middle, worried about reinjury upon contact. 

However, he refused to allow either the physical or the mental obstacles to keep him out of the Bulldogs lineup.

“You don’t love something until you lose it and I lost football for a while,” Felton said. “Just coming back and just being able to play and being around a team, it’s special. I value that more than anything really.”

Tony Reno, head coach of the Yale football team, had much to say about his team generally and Felton’s comeback specifically. 

Reno spoke highly of the tight-knit bond he observes amongst his players, commenting on the “strong culture with an internal fire” that fuels the program.

“I’m my proudest when observing that the guys are really tight, and they’ll support each other, they’ll challenge each other, and they’ll be there for each other,” Reno said. “These are relationships that my players will have for the rest of their lives.”

Reno continued to explain that he strives to run a transformational team, geared toward producing strong leaders to spearhead the team, as opposed to a transactional team.

The “football family” remains the foundation of Reno’s team.

“Our guys understand that when you’re chasing something really high, it’s never easy; we’re inevitably going to have moments of adversity,” Reno said. “Anytime a player goes out, whether they’re a starter or not, it affects the team drastically because we need everybody for our team to perform at the highest level.”

In addition to praising his players for their hard work, dedication and drive, Reno also highlighted the diligence that allowed Felton to rejoin the Bulldog team.

In spring 2023, the coaching staff knew that there was only so much Felton could do, but inevitably the eager player strived to outperform those expectations. 

“We saw his explosiveness come back,” Reno said. “Just like that, he was out there doing things that he had done previous to the injury. He’s better and faster than he was before the injury, which speaks volumes to the resolve he’s had just to fight back.”

Felton’s contributions to the offensive team factor into the parity across the 2023 Ivy League football season, as Reno stated that this season might mark the most well-matched the eight universities have ever been.

After returning from injury, Felton has factored back into the high-flying Bulldogs offense. The senior boasts eight catches on the year for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

To conclude the 2023 season, the Yale Bulldogs will face off against the Harvard Crimson on Nov. 19 at 12:00 p.m. in the 139th historical showdown.

The post From walker to wide receiver: Joey Felton ’24 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Teacher Housing Initiative provides rent-free housing to early childhood educators on a need basis. The early education sector, both within Connecticut and across the country, organizers told the News, experiences a constant give and take between pushing for increases in teachers’ wages and pushing to reduce the expensive cost of childcare.

“We operate in a system that is designed for all of the constituents to fail,” Allyx Schiavone, executive director of Friends Center for Children, said. “It fails the parents, it fails the teachers, it fails the providers, and most importantly, it fails the children.”

Schiavone said that the current early education system fails because it is “based on the premise of a free market system,” and because of this, providers can typically charge consumers the total cost of producing a good or service.

She added that this free market system is not present in the early education sector because the cost of running a quality childcare system far exceeds what local families can afford. As such, Schiavone said, the wages of early childhood educators are significantly cut to offset the difference between what it costs to run a facility and what the community can pay.

“Because of this situation, where we do not have enough cash coming in to pay educators fair wages, the women who work in childcare are actually subsidizing the entire country, the entire economy, and the entire state,” Schiavone said.

In light of this dilemma, the Friends Center for Children began to instead look at ways to reduce teachers’ expenditures. 

In 2019, the Friends Center for Children assembled a council of 29 teachers and asked them to each list their four biggest expenses. After consolidating their answers, the top expenses included housing, food, transportation and utilities.

The Friends Center for Children decided to address these expenses in that order to reduce financial stress on low-paid early childhood educators.  

Organizers told the News that after speaking further with these teachers, whose ages ranged from 22 to 65 years old, they came to realize that only one of the 29 educators owned their home. 

“In an economy where wealth is transferred through property, these teachers were unable to invest in themselves and their future,” Schiavone said. 

Through donations from Greg and Susan Melville, the Friends Center for Children was able to establish the Teacher Housing Initiative, a program launched in 2021 that offers eligible teachers rent-free housing as a salaried benefit.

To accomplish this task, the initiative partnered with the School of Architecture through the Jim Vlock First Year Building Project program to construct five adjacent houses for the Friends Center by 2027. 

Construction began in May, and the first of the five newly built houses is now ready for move-in. The organization held a furnishing event in the first home on Wednesday. Two new single mothers and their children will move into the newest complex.

Volunteers at Wednesday’s furnishing event commented on the collaboration between the early education teachers and the architecture students.

“Here we have students from an elite institution interacting with women who have been historically ignored and marginalized, so there is an inherent power differential,” Schiavone said. “It was amazing to see the architecture students listening to the input of our teachers, and furthermore, watching the shift in the teachers after their ideas were validated and implemented.”

Aundrea Tabbs-Smith, the Friends Center’s emotional well-being coordinator, emphasized the importance of these interactions, calling attention to the benefits of such community support. 

Tabbs-Smith said that through her role with the housing program she meets with the single mothers for monthly tenant meetings. These meetings, she said, will last throughout the housing process to help the new tenants navigate their new environment. 

“My job is really to build relationships and be part of the community,” Tabbs-Smith said. “I am here to support in any capacity possible as people are experiencing all the things that life brings. It is important for all of us to feel cared for, nurtured and valued.”

In an interview with the News, program volunteer Steffi Frias, who owns a home-based family daycare, spoke about the burden that housing shortages and rising costs have put on early childhood educators. 

Frias said she believes that rent-free housing is one of the most effective ways to mitigate the negative consequences of low wages.

“Learning from the lived experiences of those directly impacted is the most important thing our program can do, and I truly hope that we can alleviate some of the obstacles currently facing early educators,” Frias said.

The newest complex is located in the Fair Haven Heights area, walking distance from the previous complexes.

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USAID Counselor Clinton White, a former New Haven resident, returned to the city to advocate for improved climate change interventions and encourage high school students to get involved. He collaborated with his previous eighth-grade teacher and soccer coach, James Osborne, who currently works at Hill Regional Career High School as a history teacher, to host the second annual conference centered around environmental justice.

“Seeing these young kids and how their minds have begun to change, putting a bit more context about the fact that these things are happening in their neighborhoods, but also on a wider spectrum, does show how we begin to build bridges between global work and domestic work,” White said.

For White, it is important to encourage and respect the input of young people in conversations regarding environmental justice, as they, too, are impacted and have the ambition to contribute.

USAID Youth Coordinator Sarah Sladen commented on the importance of engaging and mobilizing the youth in the face of such prevalent threats to ensure “inclusive development.” 

Amid the vast diversity both within and between communities, Sladen works to prioritize common concerns about environmental justice that emerged through her work in Latin America and at home, in communities like New Haven. Regardless of where she has interacted with students, she has found that they all have a strong desire to impact their community. 

“A lot of my job at the agency is advancing our youth policy,” Sladen said. “This is really focused on youth engagement and support for youth leadership, which in practice means finding more ways to both support young people who are leading and problem solving, but also making sure that youth perspectives and experiences are reflected in our projects.”

By providing an interface between the agency and the student body, Sladen and USAID hope that the conferences can better allow those who work in government to accurately and effectively reflect the interests of young people.

Osborne echoed White’s and Sladen’s observations by highlighting the “vibrant diversity” and respect he finds among his students, which he feels contributes to their competency in discussing environmental inequality.

“We have so many first-generation kids, so many from all over the world,” Osborne said. “They have such a perspective, that if they listen to each other, that perspective is invaluable, and you could hear it today on the panel when our students spoke of the affluence in America that others don’t necessarily see.”

To begin the conference, seven high schoolers spoke on a panel regarding climate change and environmental justice in front of their peers. Students Adnan Ahmad Rizal, Manayil Yaya, Bahati Everina Mulungula, Jared Saucedo, Juliana Dalmacio, Andrew Stefanovics and Jaylin Ambrose-Cooper unanimously spoke of their positive experiences on the panel and their gratitude for having the opportunity to explore these ideas in a collaborative, engaging environment. 

Ambrose-Cooper shared that he was happy to have the opportunity to discuss his ideas about climate change and pollution, as well as to hear everyone else’s point of view.

In addition, Ahmad Rizal and Mulungula agreed that they were pleased with the high level of engagement from their classmates, as this allowed them to critique, revise and corroborate various topics as they arose. 

After the conclusion of the panel, students attended one of five concurrent sessions, each highlighting a unique component of environmental justice and community engagement. 

Amira Dardir GRD ’21, a Climate Equity Advisor in the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, spoke with Lois Qaqish regarding water security and life in Jordan. Similarly, USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Jamille Bigio addressed students to discuss the process of attaining gender equality. Lastly, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Policy Candace Vahlsing discussed USAID’s policy and economic development work. 

In one session, led by community members and Career High faculty, Bruni Pizarro, Devan Osbourne and Daniel Pizzaro spoke in one session on climate change and changing weather patterns. And in another, Maritza Adonia discussed ways to become an environmental justice leader.

The sessions were formatted to provide an interactive space for students and presenters alike to converse and learn from one another. 

This was the second conference that USAID has hosted at Career High School. Some students found this year more engaging than last year’s because of the conference’s structure and organization.

“Because of the smaller groups, people could engage more and felt more comfortable to ask questions,” said Mulungula. “Last year, people were too scared to ask questions and I’m glad that we’re speaking awareness for the greater good.”

USAID has committed to return to Career High School each year to further develop the ideas, programs and initiatives of the previous conference.

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