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New Havener Of The Year THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

by LAURA GLESBY The new haven independent

Gaylord Salters imagined the event years before it took place, back when he was still fighting for his freedom.

Then, during a year in which newlyfreed Black men put New Haven’s criminal justice system on trial, Salters made the event happen: Seven days in a row of calling public attention to how law enforcement manipulated evidence to pin crimes on himself and others.

The weeklong rally in June, titled “Injustice Amongst Us: Seven Days of Truth With Proof,” centered around a wrongful conviction crisis in New Haven. It drew dozens outside City Hall and the police department headquarters — including exonerated New Haveners, random pedestrians who happened upon the event, and criminal justice reformers who traveled from out of state.

The activism coincided with a momentous year of public and personal reckonings with police misconduct against Black New Haveners — including a decision to overturn the conviction of Maleek Jones

LAURA GLESBY PHOTOS

Gaylord Salters offers "Truth With Proof" on Church Street.

(pending appeal), the dropped charges against recently-exonerated Adam Carmon, and the largest police misconduct settlement in the country paid to Randy Cox. Salters, 48, made it his mission to piece these individual incidents together into a broader call for accountability, not just on those seven days, but throughout 2023.

All the while, he has been fighting to clear his own name of what both he and the man who once testified against him say was a wrongful conviction resting on witness coercion.

Reform activist James Jeter credited Salters with generating a broader public understanding that the mounting wrongful convictions uncovered in New Haven are connected and “systemic.” People can no longer say “that’s just one case,” Jeter said.

“Gaylord has brought a crazy energy” to this activism, Jeter added. “Because it’s him. It’s who he is. And he’s fighting for his vindication.”

"Injustice Amongst Us" On Church Street

When Salters left prison in 2022, he continued to devote hours to research and activism. He organized a rally outside the federal courthouse on Church Street calling attention to wrongful convictions in 2022. Day by day, he made calls, took on speaking roles, and met other criminal justice reformers face to face.

Over time, he amassed a group of allies from all over the country, including the New England Innocence Project, music producer Jason Flom and Khaliah Ali (the daughter of the late famous boxer Muhammad Ali), advocates from Yale Law and Cardozo School of Law, and the NAACP, among others. These allies comprised the list of guest speakers who came from across the state and beyond for Seven Days of Truth With Proof this June.

On the protest’s first day, 25 people assembled for hours outside City Hall, steps from the federal courthouse and from federal prosecutors’ office. The group included criminal justice reform activists and men who had been wrongfully incarcerated themselves.

Salters had organized guest speakers, short documentary screenings, opening prayers, collective chants, and detailed recountings of the research he compiled on how police and prosecutorial corruption led to his conviction and others’.

On each day of the protest, Salters zeroed in on patterns of corruption from specific prosecutors and detectives that led to the convictions of Stefon Morant, Darcus Henry, Bobby Johnson, Daryl Valentine,

and himself, among many others.

In presentations about these various convictions to twenty or so onlookers, Salters anonymized the names of the detectives and prosecutors involved in each case so as to be “diplomatic.” But he made clear that many of the same law enforcement officials were responsible. That many, such as Anthony DiLullo, were allowed to continue in their professions even after their misconduct came to light.

On the first day of the Injustice Amongst Us protest, Salters focused largely on Maleek Jones, who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a murder conviction that a judge eventually overturned in August.

Salters explained how the state’s case against Jones hinged on the testimony of a man who was also convicted of the same crime; how the theory that Jones was involved with the crime contradicted ballistic evidence; how the only eyewitness of the crime, a friend of the victim, has always maintained that Jones was not involved, even though detectives allegedly pressured her to name him.

From the court’s perspective, Salters argued, “the word of a police officer is solid. The word of a prosecutor is solid.

Point blank, period. But the word of an individual who has spent 30 years in prison means nothing, even when he has the truth and proof to show that he was wrong.”

Jones heard about the protest from a phone call with Jeter after the fact. “I had no idea that was going on,” he said.

“To know there were people out there …

I’m just grateful. Words can’t even suffice what that actually meant to me, my family. That was huge.”

On the third day of Injustice Amongst Us, State’s Attorney John Doyle announced in court that he would not be pursuing a new trial against Adam Carmon, whose conviction had been overturned several months prior. This announcement meant that Carmon, who had spent three decades in prison after a trial mired in suppressed and manipulated evidence, could call himself “exonerated.”

The next day, Carmon showed up to Salters’ protest — where he met Cecilia Bratton, a former prosecutor who had signed onto the warrant for Carmon’s arrest that led to his wrongful imprisonment. According to Salters and Carmon, she apologized to him, saying she didn’t know that the warrant she signed was based on fabricated evidence. She invited him out to dinner. “She’s a great lady,” Carmon said. “She expressed such heartfelt shame.”

Carmon knew when he heard about the protest that “I had to be there,” he said.

He attended not only for himself, but for the people responsible for his conviction: “Their feet should be held to the fire.”

Salters believes that Carmon and Jones’ overturned convictions are signs that a movement for justice is making progress.

“It’s only for so long you’re gonna be able to lie and dance around these situations,” he said, “because all of this truth is

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“It Is Hard Being In A Cage”

LAURA GLESBY PHOTO

Salters with the most recent book he authored, Momma Bear, at La Isla restaurant in 2022.

Salters was born on New Years’ Day 1975. witness against him was one of the shootHe was raised in New Haven’s Quinnipiac ing’s survivors. That witness had been siTerrace public housing development in multaneously arrested on a gun possession the 1980s, the third youngest of four kids. charge, and prosecutors secretly sent him He attended Clinton Avenue Elementary to a prison diversion program for which he School, Fair Haven Middle School, and ordinarily would not have qualified.

Wilbur Cross High School.

Previous Independent articles have gone in His mother worked at a factory producdepth into the misconduct that kept Salters ing airplane parts, and later, turbine compobehind bars even after the state’s key witnents. The check she earned wasn’t enough ness against him recanted; the daily legal to pay all the family’s bills. research and advocacy he undertook while As a result, Salters and his little brother incarcerated, which culminated in a senbecame entrepreneurial kids. They earned tence modification allowing him to leave money carrying grocery bags for neighbors prison in 2022; and the wrongful convicand shoveling snow. “When there was no tion, exoneration, and murder of his brother snow on the ground to shovel, we had to Johnny, with whom he at one point shared pivot and we got a lawn mower,” he said. a cell.

“I couldn’t wait ‘til I was 14 years old and According to the Vera Institute, ConnectiI could get that summer job.” cut’s incarcerated population has grown by Decades later, as Salters said on an epi- more than 400 percent since 1983, peaking sode of WNHH Radio’s “Dateline New Ha- around the time that Salters was sentenced. ven” in June, “I realized all that my mother By the end of Salters’ time in prison, based had been through trying to keep her chilon Census data compiled by the Prison dren safe from our own environment. And Policy Initiative, Black people made up she didn’t know that it was a losing battle.” 44 percent of people incarcerated in ConIt was a losing battle, Salters said, because necticut, but only 13 percent of the state as “while she’s at work and we have free time a whole. and outside of our door is all the chaos that “It is hard being in a cage, even when you comes with poverty, it was just a losing have committed a crime,” Salters reflected. situation.”

“Losing total control of your well-being, By the time Salters was a teenager, the your physical being, is something that is crack epidemic had taken root in New Haout of this world. And it does something ven. He found that the drug trade offered to you. And it lasts forever. Unless you much more income than a summer job. have a realization that ‘This is not right.’

The fallout of that era affected Salters’ famAnd you come to that realization by seeing, ily in multiple ways. “I had siblings get ad- Why does everybody in here look like me, dicted,” he said. And police soon wanted to come from my communities? And why is it arrest him and his brother, Johnny Johnson, so constant, why is it so hard to stay away even though they didn’t have the evidence from this place?” to do so.

Those who are wrongfully convicted, SaltDetective Thomas Troccio and prosecutor ers said, contend with another layer of James Clark were able to put Salters behind injustice. “Just being in there, in that cell bars eventually — for a crime he has always for 20 years, and not having nothing to do maintained he never committed. Salters with this — that creates a certain type of was convicted in 2003 for a 1996 shooting beast. It makes you do a lot of reading, a lot that injured two people. The state’s sole of studying.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Winterfest Finds Joy In The Coldest, Darkest Season Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

back a few lines, and began to replay it. As two characters rekindled their friendship on one side of the floor-turned-stage, Chloé came to the foreground, her mind working through the next lines. In the script, she said, she tries to channel her mom, a single parent who works as the youth services coordinator at the New Haven Pride Center.

The approach worked: there was still almost a week to go until opening night, and already it felt seamless. In a short break before the end of class, Chloé said it is especially important to her to strike the right tone this year, because she knows the eighth graders are setting an example for their younger classmates.

"We need to be role models for the younger students who are doing this for the first time," added Jacqueline. "I really try to connect with the characters. I think about what it would be like if I was going through this in real life."

Down the hall, the first strains of Moana’s "How Far I'll Go" drifted from Angelo Vessichio's band classroom, the well-loved song carried on the brassy notes of a sixth grade baritone. Inside, sixth- and seventhgrade students slipped into the music, letting the notes transport them from a dreary Kimberly Avenue all the way to the South Pacific.

Next year, the school will be bringing back its tradition of a spring musical with Moana, Jr., and band students are working on getting a head start.

As Vessichio's hands fluttered through the air, students lifted their instruments, filling the room with music until it pressed up against the windows and slipped beneath the closed door and flowed into the hallway outside. At the far side of the room, sixth grader Aydan Furlow closed his lips tightly around the mouthpiece, and set the tone for the rest of the class. Beneath it, piano and woodwinds worked their way in slowly; a drumbeat rolled from the back of the room.

Vessichio listened intently for about 30 seconds, then held his hands up to stop the class. "Okay, that was good!" he said, smiling. "Let's take it from the beginning."

Cradling the baritone for a moment, Aydan

lifted it once more to his mouth, and began to play. Vessichio leaned in, listening to each part rise around him, and nodded intently.

For him, Aydan said before the end of class, the instrument has been transformative. When he came into BRAMS last year from Edgewood Creative Thinking Through STEAM Magnet School, he already played the piano and the drums, and originally wanted to hone his skills on the trumpet. Then he spotted the baritone. Now, he spends every free moment he can practicing, and often takes lunch in the band room. "Band is actually one of my places to calm down," he said.

Upstairs, that sense of calm radiated through Nikki Claxton's bright dance studio, as seventh graders flexed, pointed, lifted and stretched their way through warmups. On a laptop nearby, Claxton queued up a video set to Boyce Avenue's cover of "Imagine," letting the screen rotate through images of war across the globe.

In one photograph, the blown-out and flattened buildings of Gaza shifted into focus, without a human soul in sight. In another, plumes of smoke rose above Sudan, a city street in the foreground engulfed in flame. The screen shifted again, and this time, a mother wept as she held her child in her arms, both of them covered in blood and dust, the aftermath of conflict.

Claxton, who has never shied away from social justice in her dances, said she wanted to give students a chance to talk about, research, and reflect on the amount of global conflict taking place right now—and to use their craft to make room for hope in that vast darkness. As a mom and a longtime teacher in the New Haven Public Schools, she also knows firsthand that they are seeing the violence already. The studio is a space to dance through it.

"I wanted them to imagine world peace, imagine us loving each other," she said.

As students started working on the choreography earlier this year, she asked each of them to research war in a different part

CON”T ON PAGE 13

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Inside Christopher Lemieux's drama classroom, eighth graders were caught between two worlds, trying to figure out if they could save Christmas. On one side of the makeshift stage, two friends stood by a decorated spruce, learning to apologize.

On the other, their mothers talked amongst themselves, channeling a wisdom beyond their years. Only when Lemieux cut in, beaming at their progress, did they step out of the moment and back into middle school on Kimberly Avenue.

For the past two weeks, students at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School (BRAMS) have kicked it into high gear for Winterfest, their annual end-of-year celebration of visual art, dance, theater, band, chorus and video at the school. After bringing the tradition back last year, several of the classes have leaned into a heavy, weighted world that students are seeing, working to find light in the darkness.

The result, often, is an hours-long student showcase that speaks profoundly to the complexity of the current moment, while still making space for some explosive joy.

"For me, it's so exciting," said Tavares Bussey, arts coordinator for the school, noting how the arts often build a bridge to social and emotional learning. "Last year, the first Winterfest was my entry into the Betsy Ross world, and I'm so excited to see the kids shine. I've been in a lot of schools, and to come here and see how the arts translate in the behaviors of our students is powerful."

Last Thursday, that approach seemed to be everywhere, as students stepped quietly into their arts classrooms and transformed into off-book actors, pint-sized musiciansin-training, and storytellers ready to spin a narrative through movement. As dancers took on global conflict and emotional healing upstairs, old, well-worn carols, movie soundtracks and new scripts came to life one floor below.

In a theater classroom on the first floor, eighth graders Mikayla Williams and Dior Cooper were deep in a family drama, trying to find their way back to stability after the loss of a patriarch and string of financial hardships. The play, written by BRAMS teacher Daniel Sarnelli, tells the story of a family that has fallen on tough financial times, and needs a Christmas miracle—to the tune of $9500—to save the day.

In the play's world, which didn't seem so far from New Haven at all, family members orbited each other cautiously, sizing each other up for a moment. As Mikayla stepped forward, fellow students Chloé Lawson and Jacqueline Soares hung back, listening for an entrance. Dior took a deep breath, and primed herself to listen to a friend's stuttering apology. Then the scene rolled forward, family members learning to pool their resources as they navigated a new normal together.

Just as Mikayla reached for a line, Lemieux stepped in, raising his hands as if to remind them that he was there.

"A little bit quicker and a little bit snappier?" he suggested. The group took the scene

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Elm City Montessori Sings In The Solstice Citizen Contribution The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

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The following photoessay was contributed by Elm City Montessori School, with photos by Robert Wright Photography.

On Thursday night, Elm City Montessori hosted its annual Winter Sing celebration, outdoors and in the evening. The event began with opening remarks from leaders centering the second quarter anti-bias anti-racist themes of "seeing and celebrating differences" alongside "honoring our traditions," as well as a parent sharing some of her Kwanzaa beliefs and practices.

Each classroom, as well as the family organizers and teachers, sang a song. The event was organized by the Family Teacher Organization and co-produced by parent volunteers of A Broken Umbrella Theatre. Poké Oli was present serving hot chocolate and some samples from its winter menu, as well as three food trucks, Ramen Station, Sophie Cafe, and La Chalupa.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

At Wexler-Grant, "The Christmas Lesson" Gives A Master Class In Grace Lucy Gellman

The new haven independent

In the depths of a sleepy Saturday detention, conversation began to rise to a steady hum. At one end of the classroom, student Brenda Johnson admitted that she couldn't shake the feeling of failure every time she looked at a page, and the letters twisted and turned themselves into illegible blobs. Nearby, Kara Anderson listened quietly, nodding as though she’d been there too. From across the room, Deidre Allen piped up: there was no shame in being different.

That exchange—and a master class in learning from others—came to the stage at Wexler-Grant Community School last weekend, as students brought the world premiere of The Christmas Lesson to life in the school's Foote Street auditorium.

Written and directed by music teacher Jaminda Blackmon, the work tells the story of six students who meet in Saturday detention, and come out of it with new friendships and a fresh perspective on both school and giving back during the holiday season.

It continues Blackmon's tradition of getting students to learn about and support a local nonprofit at Christmastime. Last year, students raised money for Columbus House as they put on a play about homelessness and job security. This year, donations will go to Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides temporary housing to kids and families facing pediatric cancer. While the play is very loosely based on The Breakfast Club (which students have not seen, because it's a good three decades older than they are) Blackmon has made it entirely her own.

"I thought it would be a good way to just address some of the challenges that students are facing right now," said Blackmon, who has taught music at WexlerGrant for six years, and has become a second mom to many of her drama students during that time. "I'm so proud of these students. They've overcome a lot."

Set in New Haven's Dixwell neighborhood—down to scenes at the Stetson Branch Library and a character playing Branch Manager Diane Brown—The Christmas Lesson does just that, with cast members who range from fifth to eighth grade, seasoned actors and total novices on the stage. When the play begins, a small group of girls has gathered in a classroom for Saturday detention, all of them juggling their own set of personal and academic burdens. In their deep sighs and hunched backs, it seems like this could be a weekend at Wexler-Grant, where a Saturday Academy gives students the chance to extend their studies.

In the play’s universe, Brenda (Naomi Johnson) is struggling to read, with dyslexia that makes her feel like she's done something wrong. Kara (Rosandra Furtado) has stolen a wallet from a teacher, so she has enough money to buy groceries for her younger sisters. Deidre (Taylar

The cast during intermission at a recent performance. The school's next show, a junior performance of The Wiz, is set for May 2024. Lucy Gellman Photos.

Wylie) is just trying to find her voice, and having trouble doing it. Lydia (Anayiah Dixon) seems to have everything working in her favor, but feels isolated when her parents are less-than-present. Even the teachers (Tanylah Wylie as Mrs. Mongomery and Vanessa Scott as Ms. Neal) seem a little in over their heads.

Until, of course, they start to talk it out, and provide solutions for each other on the fly. Deidre breaks the silence around learning differences, so sweetly that when she says "there's no shame in being different," the audience can feel it in their bones. Kara gets connected with a social worker, and learns how to ask for help and advocate for herself and her family.

Lydia makes friends, first tentatively, and then with ease. Mrs. Montgomery, who is a relatively new teacher at the school, has an unexpected breakthrough.

In other words—and this is where it's like The Breakfast Club, but both more diverse and so much more wholesome— students learn they're not so different from each other at all. By the second time they meet up after intermission, they're coming up with ways to give back to others in the community, from a site visit to Stetson Library (a nod to Harmoni Mabins as a pint-sized Diane Brown) to a letter-writing campaign and fundraising effort for young cancer patients.

As the play roared to life last week, it created a sense of support that radiated from the low-lit stage to an intimate audience of parents, teachers and family friends that had gathered to cheer on the young people at the drama's core. When Taylar came to the lip of the stage to sing

Tanylah Wylie and Vanessa Scott.

a few bars of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," the applause was contagious.

When Harmoni-as-Ms. Diane proclaimed "We are all kings and queens, and we should be treated as such!" it seemed like Brown was indeed in the building. When Ms. Parnell tried smudging and yoga, it was a reminder that sometimes, standard curricula can’t hold a candle to experiential learning.

Backstage and in a school hallway flooded with fluorescent light, that energy remained palpable during intermission and after the show. As students bustled from one side of the stage to the other behind the thick black curtains, many of

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them said they were excited to get back into acting, some for the first time since last year's holiday play (many were also in the school's production of Moana, Jr. last May). Each, it seemed, came away from the performance with a lesson of their own.

"It's fun!" said Taylar, a fifth grader who acts in the show alongside her sisters Tailyn and Tanylah. "It makes me feel good, especially when you're onstage and you get to know the people you're acting for.

It feels like we're teaching people not to bully each other because they're different, you know?"

"Yeah, I feel like it's not just acting,"

chimed in Rosandra Furtado, an eighth grader who graduates from the school this spring. In the play, her father has been injured in a car accident, and she takes a teacher's wallet because she's afraid her family won't otherwise have money for groceries. It's through getting caught that she connects with the school's social worker. "People really do go to extreme measures to care for their families."

Tanylah Wylie, a seventh grader who played Mrs. Montgomery, stressed how much the play taught students about not being so quick to judge each other. For instance, she said, Kara's storyline of falling unexpectedly on financial hardship helped her realize how quickly a situation can go from stable to precarious without a more robust safety net in place for families and kids.

"It can happen to anybody!" she said after the show, as she and fellow seventh grader Vanessa Scott celebrated another successful performance with a hug. "You have to cherish everything that you have and be grateful for the things that you have."

Nearby, those words resonated with sixth grader Jai'Myz Demps, whose character Misti learns from the students around her. After playing the demigod Maui in Moana, Jr. in May, Jai'Myz described The Christmas Lesson as a helpful and timely reality check.

"People don't always have the same kind of privilege as me," she said. "It makes me change my actions, because I never know what someone is going through."

In the days after students presented The Christmas Lesson, they have also seen some of its immediate effects and echoes, a testament to both Blackmon's clear writing and their own ability to bring the story to life. After an all-school performance opened the show on a recent Thursday, a classmate confided in Naomi and Taylar that he had dyslexia, and had been too afraid and embarrassed to seek out academic support.

Before the play, "he felt like he couldn't learn," Naomi remembered. When he saw her character learn to ask for help, he realized that he could be doing the same thing as the characters—and that nothing was wrong with learning differently than his peers.

When students relayed that message to Blackmon, she said at the end of a show last Saturday, she was overjoyed. Each year, she builds the play on a shoestring budget of popcorn sales and out-ofpocket funds; there's currently no district support for the school’s theater program.

When she hears those anecdotes, it reminds her why she does this work on top of a full-time teaching job. This year, she added, she was grateful for the help of Elka Wade, a Yale senior who is studying theater.

"To me, that's where I'm like, it's all worth it," she said. "This is why the arts exist. This is why we tell stories. You never know who you're going to reach."

In 2023, They Found Freedom THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

by LAURA GLESBY The new haven independent

Daryl Valentine isn’t “a beach kind of dude.” But the day the state allowed him to move out of a halfway home, he went to the West Haven beach because “the ocean is free.”

Maleek Jones used to love swimming, having grown up by the Brooklyn water.

But his ankle monitor can’t go underwater, so he stayed out of his new backyard pool.

Adam Carmon has been out of prison for a year, but he still feels “a part of me that’s chained.” On anxious mornings, he got in his car and drove to the ocean so that his mind could clear.

Each of these men spent decades in prison after police and prosecutors coerced witnesses and suppressed evidence to frame them for murders they have always maintained they never committed. In 2023, they each took steps toward a life

of freedom.

In May, Valentine’s modified sentence ended, allowing him to move in with family while continuing to fight for the state to recognize the holes in his conviction.

In June, the state dropped all charges against Carmon, officially liberating him from the justice system. In August, a federal judge overturned Jones’ conviction; in October, awaiting the state’s appeal, Jones took his first steps out of prison in 30 years.

They each found support in a growing community of wrongfully convicted New Haveners who are now free: Scott Lewis, Stefon Morant, Sean Adams, and others.

Many had known each other from hours spent in the prison’s law library. Since getting out, they have leaned on one another to navigate an unfamiliar world; when Valentine rode the New York City subway for the first time en route to the Innocence Project, for instance, he called

LAURA GLESBY PHOTOS

Adam Carmon reunited with his son Najee after his release from prison.

"Why Is This Man So Happy?"

The first time Maleek Jones flew on an airplane, he almost didn’t make it through security. Not because he was carrying anything forbidden, but because he had no government-issued identification — only freshly-printed bond papers that bore his name.

Early that September morning, Jones woke up in his cell at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, unaware that it would be his last morning in prison after 31 years inside.

“I didn’t know that I was gonna be released that day,” he said.

He arrived at the Church Street federal courthouse at 10 a.m., still wearing his orange prison uniform, to appear before Judge Janet Hall. His lawyers and a dozen friends and family had been waiting for him. After over an hour of questioning and deliberating, Judge Hall, who had overturned Jones’ conviction a month prior, decided to let him go home that day.

It took hours for the probation office to process his release. Jones did not let himself believe that he would actually go home when his family brought him a pair of gray pants and a navy pinstriped button-down.

“I came in an orange jumpsuit,” he said.

“I left wearing clothes my family had brought me.”

Jones committed to staying with family in North Carolina. He had already secured a job at a mental health organization, where he could draw on past experience as a peer counselor while he was incarcerated.

As part of his post-conviction federal supervision, Jones had to wear a G.P.S. ankle monitor confirming his location. Judge Hall said he had to be out of Connecticut by 9 p.m. that evening, en route to check in with a North Carolina probation office as

In September, Maleek Jones, 51, walks out of the courthouse for the first time.

soon as possible.

So after a few last hours in Connecticut — enough time for a pizza party lunch and a seafood restaurant dinner — Jones drove into New York to check into a hotel by LaGuardia airport. “It was amazing, man, sleeping in the hotel that night on a real bed. I slept on a king-sized bed,” Jones said. “I just melted in that night.”

The next day, when T.S.A. officers at LaGuardia asked for Jones’ identification, he provided them with his bond papers.

He had nothing else to give them. “They weren’t gonna let me on the plane,” Jones said. “We told them to Google my name.”

Online, the officers found a trove of articles about Jones’ exoneration and his release from custody just the day before. They relented and let him through.

Jones is the kind of person who thrives in a bustle of people, surrounded by life

stories he can only wonder about, by a frenetic energy he can endlessly absorb. “I’ve been in a box for thirty-something years,” he said. “I don’t want to be in at all. I just want to be out.” One of his favorite places in Charlotte is the Super Walmart, where he soaks in the feeling of “being out among people.” He laughed as he said, “People be like, You get too happy going to Walmart.”

Jones got that same feeling in LaGuardia airport, surrounded by travelers probably weary of heavy luggage and plane delays and poor customer service. “People were looking at me like, Why is this guy so happy?” he recalled.

Waiting to board his first-ever plane, he thought about how “different people from all walks of life was in the airport, coming from different places.” He stepped onto the aircraft, ready to take flight.

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up Jones, a native New Yorker.

Several among this group came together to support recently-pardoned Troy Streater’s successful campaign for election to the Board of Alders in January, nine months before he would be added to the National Registry of Exonerations in October. (“I’m proud of myself,” Streater said, adding that he hopes his story will “give other people hope.”)

And many gathered at Gaylord Salters’ seven-day protest calling attention to New Haven’s history of police and prosecutorial misconduct that put dozens of innocent Black men behind bars.

All the while, Jones, Carmon, and Valentine found themselves treading water.

Over the course of 2023, they devised large and small methods of staying afloat in a world that can be both exhilarating and unforgiving to the formerly incarcerated.

"Scared To Death This Is Gonna Be The Thing They Use" For months after a judge overturned his conviction, Adam Carmon could not trust his freedom.

State Superior Court Judge Jon Alander issued the decision in November 2022. After 32 years of incarceration, Carmon was able to move out of prison and into a halfway home last December.

But he still faced the uncertainty — “the pain of unknowing” — of whether the state would pursue a new trial against him. He spent seven long months waiting. New Haven State’s Attorney John Doyle was silent.

During that time in limbo, Carmon had to wear an ankle monitor. He couldn’t understand why he was still being treated like a criminal. “It sends the message that, Oh, you’re free, but it’s a technicality.

You’re going back,” he said.

Every component of Carmon’s routine entailed a learning curve.

“I had to go to a probation office by myself in a town that I didn’t know,” he said.

“There’s no guide. There’s nobody to direct me where this place is.” At first, he had no drivers’ license, no familiarity with GPS. For a while, he got around exclusively by the state’s notoriously inscrutable bus system.

Once he got his license, driving brought its own anxieties. Once, on his way to a probation appointment, Carmon found himself in a traffic jam. He was alone in the car. The probation office called him and told him, “You’re two minutes late.”

He called his lawyers, explained the traffic holdup.

He remembers being “scared to death this is gonna be the thing they use to hurl me back in prison” — where Carmon, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a baby, said he faced violence from other inmates and turned cheeks from prison guards.

Even after Doyle formally dropped all charges against him in June, after he could

Carmon, 51, with his fiancée, Valerie Brown. take off his ankle bracelet and move in with his partner, Carmon struggled with the feeling that his freedom could always be taken away. He had, after all, been unjustly imprisoned before.

The worry followed him while he crossed the street, whenever the traffic light turned red before he made it to the sidewalk — did that count as jaywalking?

“Anything,” he said, “can hurl you back into a situation that you don’t want to be in.”

Someday, Carmon hopes to spend his days helping others navigate the transition out of prison, and the mental turmoil that transition often causes. For now, he finds meaning in helping hospital patients through his work as a dishwasher at Hartford Hospital.

Carmon, who is suing the city for his wrongful imprisonment, seeks out respite from his own anxiety in the ocean, in dinners with his son Najee, in jokes and affectionate bickering with his fiancée Valerie.

He reminds himself: “I know I’m here.

I live every day as though I’m here.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Shubert Director Outlines $5M Transformation B yLucy Gellman

The new haven independent

New speakers that will change how sound travels through the mezzanine, the balcony, and the box seats from the stage.

Lighting that cuts cost, increases energy efficiency, and brings an old theater up to an industry standard. A 100-seat cabaret, buzzing with potential for intimate acts that have never considered performing in downtown New Haven. And at some point in there, repointing for the building to survive for another century on College Street.

All of those changes are coming to the Shubert Theatre next year, as the organization implements a $4,993,489 grant from the state's Community Investment Fund 2030 (CIF) in its 110th year in downtown New Haven. After scoring the grant through the third round of CIF funding earlier this year, Shubert staff and leadership have been working to map out a number of transformative changes to the space, from upgraded speakers to a lighting system that will get the theater through at least the next two decades.

"We have a lot of high hopes to be able to accomplish the things we need to do to bring this theater into the 21st Century," Executive Director Anthony McDonald, who joined the Shubert in March 2021, said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

"There are things that we need to do to make sure that we're here to stay, and that our building isn't falling apart."

Starting next year, those renovations will all happen beneath the umbrella of "Shubert Sustainability Projects," a term McDonald associates with the theater's ability to receive long-overdue updates and survive as a College Street performing arts venue for another 100 years. Already, the Shubert has replaced speakers on the theater's orchestra and main levels, which amplify sound both in front of the stage and in the theater more broadly.

In the next several months, the Shubert will move ahead with replacing speakers in the mezzanine, the balcony, and the box seats. A set of hanging speakers in the space will also need to be replaced, McDonald said; their last upgrade came in 1996, when the technology was totally different.

That kind of change, while not always visible, can be transformative: touring productions often use the Shubert's sound system, but add speaker towers to the side of the stage that block patrons' sightlines.

"We're trying to get away from that," said McDonald, aware that extra tech onstage can become a hindrance to enjoying a show.

While updates to the speaker system may come in the next months (McDonald did not have a hard-and-fast timeline), some of the larger improvements will likely have to wait until July 1 of next year, when the theater goes "dark" after a robust 2023-2024 season. That includes a total overhaul of the Shubert's current

Anthony McDonald: Let's make sure the Shubert is here to stay. Lucy Gellman File Photo. lighting infrastructure, which runs on a decades-old dimmer system, to cost-saving, energy-efficient LED lighting.

It’s been a long time coming. When the dimmer system was first installed in 1983, the Shubert had just reopened to the public under city ownership, following seven years of financial insolvency and a temporary closure. In the intervening four decades—during which, for perspective, McDonald was born, went to school, finished two advanced degrees, worked multiple jobs and became a parent himself—lighting technology has changed so much that some of the Shubert's current lighting equipment is both archaic and technically illegal.

With the grant funding, the theater is able to install both LED and intelligent or moving lighting, making it a more appealing venue for touring productions. During Anthony McDonald: Let's make sure the Shubert is here to stay. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

McDonald’s tenure, which has seen the that enables a higher production value for into downtown and spur economic growth theater reopen from Covid and widely performing artists and shows in the space. in New Haven. expand its programming, that’s been one Whether it's a touring production of SIX For McDonald, it opens up new opporof his first priorities. "We’re beginning to or New Haven Ballet's The Nutcracker, tunities for not only community partners, up our level of spectacle and artistry," he McDonald said, that makes a difference. but also smaller, up-and-coming acts that said. "That’s another world where if you "All of our community partners, they get are looking for more intimate venues in come, we want to make sure that you get to also experience something different," New Haven. the full experience." he said. "They can continue to dream big"We're hoping to create more access He added that lighting doesn't just bring ger and differently. The innovation for while also exploring other forms of enthe Shubert back up to code, but also them will also hopefully increase as we tertainment," he said. For instance, he's helps the theater keep costs down on one raise the bar." inspired by New Haven's long and stoitem when it feels like the price of everyThe final large renovation, and perhaps ried history of jazz, and has already been thing else has continued to rise. Some the most exciting for the Shubert, is the thinking about artists who could book a of the old lighting, for instance, might creation of a new, 100-seat cabaret style few shows in the space. Looking back run between 750 and 3000 watts—using theater in what is currently the mezzanine on his time in Washington, D.C., he also significantly more energy than a 200 or lobby. For years—even before McDon- fondly recalled open mic nights at Bus500-watt LED light that patrons can look ald's tenure—there were efforts from the boys & Poets, during which the venue forward to when they return in the fall.

Shubert to get such a theater downtown, would reserve its back room for a weekly LED lights also have staying power: as a space that could provide more flex- night of poetry. they are good for around 20,000 hours of ibility for smaller performances and gigs "It was just like an ambiance and a use, and generate less heat when they are that may not yet have the name recogni- mood that I just don’t see anywhere else," on. That means lower heating and cooling tion to seat over 1,000 people (the main he said. "It’s these kinds of atmospheres bills for the theater, as well as a system theater seats 1,664) but can bring people that we can create. Yes, they will keep

8

people coming in, but they also create a new sense of possibility."

As renovations begin in the coming months, McDonald said he is extremely grateful to both city officials and members of New Haven's legislative delegation for their support. Before receiving the grant in late October, the Shubert had applied for two rounds of funding unsuccessfully; McDonald described the third try as "very much a team effort," with a push from both Mayor Justin Elicker and city economic development officials who made a strong case for why a performing arts institution deserved state support.

He added that the funding, while transformative, will only cover half of the work that the theater hopes to do in the next few years. With money left over from an Urban Act Grant from the state, the Shubert will be able to do repointing for the entire building, but will need to wait on further renovations to the lobby, HVAC systems, a backstage elevator and better live streaming capability in the space. McDonald said he is hopeful that additional funding will come through in the next years to make that a possibility.

Still, he said, he is feeling immense gratitude this holiday season, the first he will celebrate with a new daughter in tow. It's his hope, he said, that next year's renovations mean the Shubert will still be thriving on College Street by the time she gets to college.

"We really, greatly appreciated Senator Looney championing us," he said. "This will allow us to bring in bigger and better acts. It will also inevitably help our restaurant partners and businesses downtown. Helping us helps everyone around us. It’s the entire ecosystem."

In the past weeks, State Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney has also expressed excitement for the grant. Born and raised in New Haven, he's watched the Shubert navigate several artistic and economic transitions, including a brief period of closure in the 1970s and early 1980s, and struggle to stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. For him, the coming updates are a vote of confidence in not just the theater, but also the economic future of downtown New Haven.

"It is a cultural icon," he said of the theater at a press conference at the Shubert earlier this month, noting the institution's cameo in the 1950 film All About Eve. "This is, of course, part of New Haven's heritage. We also have the Yale Repertory Theatre, the Long Wharf Theatre, theater is a part of New Haven ... and something that we need to maintain and continue."

“While people cite the dollar figures, the ancillary value, that arts and cultural programs bring in, I think we have to primarily cite the value of art in itself, whether it’s performance or representational art,” he said. “Art is something that ennobles the human spirit, and it should be talked about independently of financial aspects that it brings.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

At 101, A Peace Activist Passes On Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper newhavenarts.org

Much of this piece is pulled from a previous Arts Paper story, also by Lucy Gellman, celebrating Marder on his 100th birthday.

A lifelong advocate for peace who reached the age of 101 has passed on, joining some of the ancestors he often championed in his work. Those who found comfort, guidance and inspiration in his life are now remembering him as a fierce educator, occasional rabble rouser, and sharp-witted champion of human rights until the very end.

That man is Al Marder, a lifelong member of the Communist Party who spent a century in New Haven fighting for peace, and died on Tuesday at Connecticut Hospice at the age of 101. Wednesday and Thursday, friends and colleagues reflected on a life well lived, from his upbringing in the city’s Hill neighborhood to a social justice footprint that spanned over a century of action, advocacy and activism.

“Al will always be with us,” said Joelle Fishman, chair of the Connecticut Communist Party, who met Marder in 1968 and remained close with him through the end of his life. “He’s not gone. Everything that he accomplished and everything that he taught will continue with us.

Al touched thousands and thousands of people. It’s not just New Haven, it’s the world.”

“To me the legacy that Al leaves behind lives in all of us,” said Manuel (Manny) Camacho, a freshman at Southern Connecticut State University who knew Marder through his work with the antiviolence youth group Ice The Beef, and frequent attendance at New Haven Peace Commission meetings. “The best way that we can honor him, which was literally his life’s purpose, is to keep fighting for peace. It’s because of people like Al that I do what I do. ” For those who knew Marder in the last decades of his life, it was as a champion of the New Haven People’s Center, a founder of the New Haven Peace Commission, Amistad Committee, and Connecticut Freedom Trail, and a dedicated member of Connecticut Veterans for Peace. During those years, Marder also held more national and international profiles, including on the U.S. Peace Council and World Peace Council. In New Haven and well beyond it too, he was known for his grit and gumption, which often started with dreaming up projects, and ended with getting them over the finish line.

But Marder made peace—particularly labor rights, demilitarization, and a fervid commitment to anti-racism—his life’s work from the very beginning. Born in 1922 to Ukrainian immigrants in the city’s Hill neighborhood, Marder started growing his roots as an organizer before

Marder and Amistad Committee, Inc. member Charles Warner in September 2020. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

his 10th birthday. Some of his earliest memories were of an economically hardhit New Haven as the city headed into the Great Depression. In a 2016 interview with Mary Donahue of Connecticut Explored, he recalled watching unemployed men come from the rail yard to his parents’ Oak Street grocery store, looking for something to eat.

Even at a very young age, Marder became committed to fighting for the wellbeing of his fellow New Haveners, and saw it as a struggle tied to the rights of workers and to the end of the military industrial complex. At 14, he would drive his parents’ car down the street—far away from the home that they didn’t know exactly what he was up to—and begin delivering copies of labor newspapers to fellow workers in the city. Jim Brasile, chair of Connecticut Veterans for Peace, marveled at how unshakeable that belief system was, even at such a young age. Decades later, Marder worked closely with Brasile to bring The Golden Rule to New Haven, where it docked in June of this year.

By the time Marder was 16, Marder became the chairman of the Connecticut Young Communist League, publicly declaring a lifetime commitment to the cause that later made him a victim of invasive FBI surveillance and a 1954 arrest for which he was later acquitted.

His years as a student at James Hillhouse High School were formative in and outside the classroom, as he spent time organizing with a fire he carried every time he

spoke at an event in New Haven, however large or small (read more about his tremendous life of activism here and here).

Those years also brought him in touch with fellow changemaker Constance Baker Motley, who became the first Black woman to serve on a federal bench.

Charles Warner, Jr., who met Marder through his parents and later served alongside him on the Amistad Committee and Connecticut Freedom Trail, remembered listening to stories of the years the two shared in high school, where they were in an interracial student group “that met to talk about issues of the day.”

Motley, now a civil rights icon, went on to study at Columbia University Law School, blazing a path that included clerking for Judge Thurgood Marshall, arguing cases for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and successfully fighting for desegregation in multiple cases that gained national attention, including before the Supreme Court of the United States. Marder, meanwhile, dedicated his life to fighting the military industrial complex not only in New Haven, but in the U.S. more broadly.

“Our streets have been the scene of so much killing,” Marder himself said in January of last year, during a Zoom celebration of his 100th birthday. “The American people have to be awakened to the dangers that exist. And in a small way, this Peace Commission is playing a small role, an exemplary role, to show young people that there's another way.”

10

Those years were just the beginning of a life dedicated to social justice, labor rights, and a deep belief in the power of people over profit. In the late 1930s, Marder discovered the New Haven People’s Center on Howe Street, which even in its early years was dedicated to labor activism, integration, and job growth for working-class Black people. As his involvement with the state’s Communist party deepened, so too did his deep interest in history, through which he later learned the story of the Amistad captives and the pivotal role that New Haven played in their trial and freedom.

It was also there, three decades later, that he met Fishman after her move to New Haven in 1968. The two—often with Fishman’s longtime partner, the late activist Art Perlo—became close friends and partners in peace, she said in a phone call Thursday. Between 1974 and 1982, Marder supported Fishman’s multiple runs for Congress and for mayor of New Haven, issuing position papers as she ran on a platform of “people over profit.”

It sparked four decades of activism in which Marder, who remained physically active into his late 90s, pushed for peace globally and in his own corner of the world. In the 1980s, Fishman remembered, he became involved in efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, and soon thereafter, the Coalition to End Child Poverty. Somewhere in between those efforts, he also came across the story of The Amistad uprising, and became obsessed

with it.

“I remember sitting in Al’s house one day, and he said, ‘Joelle, there’s this incredible story of captives from Africa and they won their freedom,’” Fishman remembered in a phone call on Thursday. “He said, ‘This is a story that every school child should know. How are we going to bring this forward?’”

It turned out he was the right person for the job. In 1988, Marder became the founding president of the Amistad Committee, Inc. during efforts to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Amistad rebellion. At the time, he and a small group of activists began advocating for a public way to remember and honor Sengbe Pieh and the Amistad captives.

They included Dixwell UCC’s Rev. Edwin R. Edmonds and Rev. Peter Ives of the First Church of Christ on the Green, who both championed the role that abolitionists and interracial coalitions had played in the trial and freedom of the Amistad captives. Four years later, he got his wish when the city unveiled Ed Hamilton’s 1992 Amistad memorial in front of City Hall.

Warner, who referred to Marder as “Mr. Al” for his whole life, was just a kid then, and remembered watching those efforts with a sense of wonder and excitement that later informed his work in the New Haven Public Schools. In the committee’s efforts to bring Hamilton’s statue to New Haven, Marder set up penny drives at every elementary school in the city. He pushed for the same kind of student involvement eight years later, when a replica of the Schooner Amistad set sail from Mystic Seaport’s historic shipyard.

“He wanted all citizens to have some investment in the statue,” Warner said, adding that it was often Marder who spearheaded efforts to get into schools, talk to students and build curricula that would outlive him. “He knew that before change can happen, people have to know and understand their history.”

That year also marked the beginning of Marder’s work on the New Haven Peace Commission, of which former alder and lifelong activist Tom Holahan was the co-founder and first chair. Working with Holahan, Marder helped sculpt a cityappointed body dedicated to anti-war advocacy, demilitarization and opposition to all forms of violence at home and abroad, from drafting proposals for the New Haven Board of Alders to planting peace trees across the city.

Camacho, who met Marder through the Peace Commission in 2019, remembered feeling awestruck by all that this New Haven elder had accomplished—and still wanted to accomplish—during his lifetime. He called it a blessing to have close to five years together before Marder’s passing, in which he soaked up every ounce of knowledge and piece of advice

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Advocates Call for More Oversight of Prison System Following Charges Against Three Officers

by Hugh McQuaid

The new haven independent

Lawmakers and advocates for incarcerated people called Wednesday for transparency in Connecticut’s prison system in response to a September incident at a prison in Newtown, which resulted in criminal charges against three correction officers.

Members of Stop Solitary CT joined lawmakers including Sen. Gary Winfield, co-chairman of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, to call on the state to improve oversight of the Department of Correction and hire a candidate to serve as an ombudsman to the prison system as required by a law passed last year.

The event was prompted by an incident at Garner Correctional Institution on Sept. 25, which led to 3rd Assault charges against three officers, Anthony Marlak, Joshua Johnson and Patrick McGoldrick.

On Wednesday, Barbara Fair, lead organizer of Stop Solitary CT, said video footage of the event showed an unnamed incarcerated man “brutally assaulted” by the officers and called on the state to improve oversight of the system, including through the hiring of an independent ombudsman required under a 2022 law.

“Legislators did their job. They passed a bill,” she said. “It even got funded. It’s been funded since 2022. We are getting ready to go into 2024 and we still don’t have an independent person that’s going to go inside the Department of Corrections and probably put some kind of

Barbara Fair of Stop Solitary CT. Credit: Hugh McQuaid / CTNewsJunkie

reduction in the assaults that are happening on both — on staff and incarcerated people.”

According to the DOC, the agency placed the three officers on paid leave two days after the incident. State Police later filed arrest warrants for the officers, who each turned themselves in to Troop A in early November. All three were free on $20,000 bond, State Police said Wednesday.

Winfield, a Democrat from New Haven, said that although an ombudsperson may not have changed the incident at Garner, that person would help to illuminate how the state’s prison system is functioning.

“Clearly there’s a need for transparency in the system and an ombudsperson is part of the work that we’ve been doing to get that transparency,” Winfield said.

“We have to have real conversations about how this happens and why this hap-

pens,” Winfield said of the September incident, noting that the prison system was fraught with trauma. “People are going have explosions including prisoners acting out against guards and guards acting out against prisoners… We’ve got to do something about this system.”

The incident comes as the Correction Department works to address steep increases in assaults against staff members, which have been on the rise since 2019, and increases in the number of fights between members of the incarcerated population.

Following several high-profile staff assaults this summer, the agency convened a committee to make recommendations to increase safety and has been soliciting proposals for an independent consultant to review DOC policies.

The department has also been working to implement the provisions of recent legislation designed to reduce the use of solitary confinement in state prisons. Those efforts led to the creation of the ombudsman position as well as new requirements designed to increase the amount of outof-cell time for incarcerated people.

Unions representing correctional employees have argued the new policies have caused unsafe working conditions.

In a statement Wednesday, Mike Vargo, president AFSCME Local 1565, declined to comment on the pending charges facing the officers involved in the September incident.

“AFSCME Local 1565 supports our

members’ right to due process,” Vargo said. “We respect the ongoing investigative process and await its completion.

Until then, we will not comment further on this matter.”

Advocates including Fair did not discount the impact that increased staff assaults have had on the state prison systems, but argued they were accompanied by assaults on incarcerated individuals, which they said often went unreported.

Wednesday’s hour-long press conference was at times emotional as Fair and Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, told of the traumatic impact prison sentences had had on both their sons. They read letters from currently incarcerated people who said the system continued to subject them to dehumanizing conditions.

Fair urged state officials to quickly hire an ombudsperson and revealed she was among the candidates who had applied for the position. She said she interviewed with the state last month.

“There’s no better candidate to go in there and take a look at what’s going on, that’s not going to be bought by the system,” she said. “I think what they want is somebody they can buy.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said that an ombudsman would ultimately be selected by the governor after a Correction Advisory Committee provided him with a list of approved candidates. As of Wednesday, the panel had yet to provide Lamont with that list, the spokesperson said.

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ct.gov/betterwithyou to learn more

11

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Why Black Christmas Means Resistance Since the 1800s, Black folks have used Christmas to resist racial violence and oppression

Here are some social justice organizations to support this holiday season

by Nadira Jamerson wordinblack.com

For many of us, Christmas is a time to exchange gifts, indulge in slices of sweet potato pie, and binge-watch movies like “This Christmas” and “Best Man Holiday” with family. But for Black Americans, spreading holiday cheer has also meant reflecting on the injustices in our society and actively working to do something about them.

Historically, Christmas was one of the only times when some enslaved Black folks were given time off from the grueling work of plantation life. In the 1830s, the large slaveholding states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas became the first in the United States to declare Christmas a state holiday.

As Solomon Northup wrote in his memoir “Twelve Years a Slave,” Christmas was “the time of feasting, and frolicking, and fiddling — the carnival season with the children of bondage. They are the only days when they are allowed a little restricted liberty, and heartily indeed do they enjoy it.”

During the holiday season, some enslaved Black folks used their “little restricted liberty” to resist the atrocities of slavery by enjoying rest that was otherwise seldom afforded to them, while some traveled to nearby relatives to strengthen family bonds that slaveholders worked tirelessly to break.

For others, Christmas was an ideal time

to plan their escapes to freedom. In fact, icon and leader of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, used Christmas Eve, 1854, to lead her three brothers to freedom in Philadelphia. And Ellen Craft disguised herself as a white man to help her and her husband escape enslavement on Christmas day, 1848.

Today, resistance may look a little different — but it’s still a strong Black tradition.

According to a joint study from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, nearly two-thirds of Black households donate to communitybased organizations and causes, totaling roughly $11 billion each year.

Despite having a lower net worth, Black households, on average, give away 25% more of their income per year than their white counterparts. Outside of financial contributions, Black Americans have taken charge of facilitating some of the most influential protests in the United States, from the 1963 March on Washington to the Summer of George Floyd in 2020.

If you want to make a meaningful change in your community this Christmas, support these Black-led organizations to help you get in the holiday spirit.

5 Social Justice Organizations to Support This Holiday Season 1 Black Women For Wellness: This Black-women-led organization promotes health and well-being among Black women and girls through health education, empowerment, and advocacy. You can sup-

port their mission by making a donation.

2 Black Male Voter Project: BMVP directly engages Black male voters in their 17 priority states to increase civic engagement and voter participation, and ensure the needs of Black male voters are heard.

You can support their mission by making a donation.

3 H.O.P.E.: Through counseling, success coaching, and financial assistance for housing and childcare, H.O.P.E empowers Black single parents in Atlanta. Learn more about this organization in our interview with founder Kenita Smith, and support their work by volunteering at their next event.

4 Black and Pink National: A prison abolitionist organization dedicated to abolishing the criminal punishment system and liberating Black LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS. You can volunteer to support one of their programs or make a donation.

5 The National Coalition for the Homeless: Building a movement to end homelessness. This organization uses an advocacy-based approach to prevent homelessness for those at risk, provide resources for the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness, and ensure their civil rights are respected and protected. Get involved by volunteering or making a donation.

credit: Mixetto/Getty Images

Meet St. Vincent’s Atiba Edwards named 1st Black CEO of Brooklyn Children’s Museum in its 125-year history

by Dollita Okina, Face2FaceAfrica.com Atiba T. Edwards has been appointed President and CEO of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. The St. Vincent native, who previously served as the museum’s Chief Operating Officer, is now the museum’s 12th president and the first Black man to hold the role in the nearly 125year history of the institution.

“I am deeply honored and excited to assume the role of President and CEO at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. This institution holds a special place in the hearts of families and children in Brooklyn and beyond. BCM is a place I grew up coming to with my family during my childhood years. I am committed to continuing the museum’s legacy of providing a dynamic and enriching educational experience for all, and I look forward to working with our dedicated staff, board, and community partners to ensure the museum’s continued success,” Edwards expressed, according to Caribbean Today.

At the beginning of his career, Edwards worked as a fixed-income research analyst at JPMorgan‘s Investment Bank, focusing on the automotive sector. He

continued to work in finance, lending his knowledge to Nomura Securities, covering high-grade and high-yield fixedincome research divisions in a variety of industries such as aerospace, automotive, defense, healthcare, and tobacco.

The appointee then became the director of operations at Brooklyn East Collegiate, an Uncommon Schools middle school. In addition, Edwards is a co-founder of FOKUS, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use the arts to foster community development and connection.

Edwards, who grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, wants to use his new position to bring the community back together and make sure that everyone is accepted at the institution.

The museum describes him as a leader who “served with outstanding leadership, overseeing various critical functions of the museum, including adeptly managing the budget, implementing systems to increase staff efficiency, overseeing an incredibly successful rebranding effort, and spearheading an array of new offerings at the Museum, including the highly acclaimed ArtRink exhibition, launch of a mini-golf course and the inauguration of a

Atiba T. Edwards

12

state-of-the-art auditorium.”

Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Amanda Sue Nichols, said, “We could not be more thrilled to welcome Atiba into this new role as President and CEO. Atiba has been a central player in the Museum’s success over the last four years and was instrumental in guiding the museum through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Edwards became acting president and CEO in mid-August when former leader Stephanie Hill Wilchfort left the museum.

Nichols said that Edwards’ outstanding leadership during his time as acting CEO and his proven dedication to the museum’s mission and the communities it serves make everyone confident that he is the right person to lead the Brooklyn Children’s Museum into the future.

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum (BCM), founded in 1899 as the world’s first children’s museum, is New York City’s largest cultural institution dedicated to families. BCM serves 300,000 children and caregivers each year via exhibitions and programs centered on visual arts, music and performance, natural science, and international cultures.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023 CON”T ON PAGE 03

Winterfest Finds Joy

of the world. "It's sad. No one wants to see genocide, bombing, fighting. They see it, and they wonder why there's so much war."

Around her, students fell into place, ready for the beginning of the dance as they placed their backs to the floor, and let themselves be still for the first time in hours. As music began to play, they rose by their torsos, leaning into their knees before lowering their bodies to the floor once more. In synchronous motion, they looked to the side, raised one arm, and turned to lift themselves into a hold, right toes pointed to the ceiling.

From a speaker, Boyce Avenue proclaimed No Hell below us/Above us only sky! and dancers turned, balancing on their flattened palms as they spread their fingers wide, looked up toward the ceiling, and flung their bodies all the way out. They melted into the floor and rose once more, suddenly aware of their own strength. Back on the screen, a photograph of protesters from the Civil Rights Movement froze in place for a moment, and then dissolved. In the studio, dancers began to move across the floor.

Following the dance, students gathered shoulder to shoulder, trading thoughts on the choreography. Anthonique Miller, who is in the seventh grade, said that it’s hard to escape the constant churn of visual culture around war; young people get much of their information from online sources like Instagram and TikTok, where it’s omnipresent.

“It’s emotional for me,” she said. “If I was in one of the wars, I would be scared. You don’t know when you can go outside, or if you’re gonna live. Maybe it [the dance] can encourage people to speak up.”

“I feel like this dance is very powerful for many people who have experienced war,” added Maegiani Davenport, whose older sister Maelle has also blazed a trail through BRAMS’ dance program. “Many people, their families have died during these wars, and it’s very sad.”

One classroom over, sixth and seventhgrade students in Hannah Healy's dance class spread out across the floor, ready to practice choreography for Michael Jackson's "Heal The World." Since October, they’ve been working under the watchful eye of Tayvon Dudley, an NHPS graduate who is filling in for Healy while she is on maternity leave.

To the first bars of the song—There's a place in your heart/And I know that it is love!—students rose from where they had been kneeling face down, arms rising and falling gently across the brightly lit room.

They knelt and rose and knelt and rose again, a study in slowness and grace that melted into the floorboards. When at last the class rose, springing into movement, it was as if someone had allowed themselves to inhale for the first time in a long time.

This year, many of them said, dance has helped them process the reality of a new normal, from navigating a new year in middle school to holding onto the sheer amount of news happening in the world at any given moment.

“I feel like we’re really connected, really energized,” said seventh grader Maylin Bellamy. “I feel like the dance connects us

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

Generous Black celebrities of 2023 who brought smiles to faces Candace Parker

by Dollita Okine, Face2FaceAfrica.com

In 2023, black celebrities demonstrated incredible generosity, making a significant impact on the lives of the less privileged. Throughout the year, these inspiring individuals used their fame and resources to give back in meaningful ways.

From supporting healthcare initiatives to promoting education and social welfare programs, these celebrities embraced a diverse range of charitable causes. Beyond their financial contributions, these celebrities also invested their time and personal involvement in various charitable endeavors.

Their philanthropic endeavors made a global impact, extending help and support to communities far and wide.

WNBA star Candace Parker joined with Gatorade and DICK’s Sporting Goods to donate $100,000 to The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation Sports Matter Program, which will cover registration fees for young athletes in underserved regions.

Parker, the mother of a volleyball player and a longstanding advocate for increasing fairness in young sports, told Clutch Points that she understands the problems families encounter while paying for sports registration.

She stated that athletes must be allowed to participate in sports without financial constraints. “It will help them not just make professionals. That’s not what the goal is necessarily, but to create good Gatorade and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation Sports Matter Program partner with WNBA Legend Candace Parker to continue advancing youth sports equity. Photo Credit: PR Newswire

Beyonce donated to a Nigerian restaurant. Photos: YouTube/Chuku's/Facebook

Rick Ross recently awarded scholarships to students at his former high school — Photo Credit: CBS News

The celebrity musician made a $20,000 donation to the school’s fine arts program. Photo Credit: WREG

Rick Ross presented a large check to a clinic in Fayette County, which helped it stay operational. Upon hearing via his attorney Steve Shadow that the clinic could have to close owing to financial difficulties, the rapper gave more than $30,000 to the Fayette C.A.R.E. Clinic.

GloRilla

Rapper GloRilla, a Memphis native and Grammy nominee, shocked students at Westside Middle School in Frayser. The celebrity singer gave a $20,000 donation to the school’s fine arts program.

She told the students: “To chase your dreams, whatever you want to do is possible. I’m living proof because I came from this exact neighborhood, this exact school. And whatever you want to do, you can do it. Manifest and actually work to achieve it.”

Michael Jordan NBA icon Michael Jordan gave $10 million to Make-A-Wish America some days before his birthday. This is the highest donation from a single person in the group’s 43-year existence, according to the organization.

Since granting the first wish in 1989, the NBA star has been helping Make-AWish, an organization that grants children with life-altering illnesses their request for something special. Jordan “has granted hundreds of wishes to children all over the world, becoming one of the all-time most requested celebrity wish granters,” according to the group.

Jordan’s donation, according to the wish-granting foundation, would build an endowment to assist in supporting future wishes for children with serious diseases.

Angel Reese

LSU basketball star Angel Reese recently gave a significant donation of $12,000 to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, her former high school, to help with a player’s tuition and fees.

This act demonstrates Reese’s commitment to support her alma mater and assist other young players in pursuing their academic and basketball goals.

Reese also recently announced the launch of the Angel C. Reese Foundation, which aims to empower girls and women via sports, education, financial literacy, and other activities.

The organization will offer girls’ basketball camps, financial literacy initiatives, scholarships, holiday celebrations, and continuous community programming.

Kevin Durant — Photo: gritdaily.com

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant and the Durant Family Foundation donated $500,000 to Bowie State University (BSU), which financed the construction of a new basketball facility.

The money was used to revamp the bleachers, add seats, and remodel the court at Bowie State’s Leonidas S. James Physical Education Complex. It was also used to boost the broadcasting capabilities of the press box.

Because BSU does not receive state money for athletics, President Aminta Breaux said that the gift from the Durant Family Foundation had a major impact.

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Sean “Diddy” Combs, who attended Howard University, gave a sizable donation to the institution. Photo Credit: Instagram, Sean “Diddy” Combs

Diddy Howard University received a substantial donation from the renowned artist

Sean “Diddy” Combs. He also took center stage during the school’s Yardfest event and performed some of his most popular songs.

After the show, he gave Dr. Ben Vinson III, President of Howard University, a $1 million grant, fulfilling his promise to support HBCUs in 2022.

Combs’ recent donation is the latest in an extended history of contributions to historically black colleges and universities. In August, he gave $1 million to Jackson State University’s football program. Combs, 53, attended Howard in the late 1980s but did not graduate, though he was awarded an honorary degree in 2014.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Dece mber 2023 - January 02, 2023 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 20, 2016 - August 02, 2016

Construction

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valCT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits id drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621Contact: Tom Dunay VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE 1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Phone: 860- 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom this develAffiatrmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to applyapartments Drug Free Workforce opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven.

Maximum income limitations apAffirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:will be mailied upon rebeen received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications Reclaimer and Milling with current quest byOperators calling HOME INC atOperators 203-562-4663 duringlicensing those hours. Completed preand clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the NorthLargeStreet, CT Fence applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Third Company looking for an individual for our east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits PVC Fence Production Shop. Experience preferred but will Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. train the right person. Must be familiar with carpentry hand Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 & power tools and be able to read a CAD drawing and tape Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com measure. Use of CNC Router machine a plus but not required, will train the right person. This is an in-shop production poWomen & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Duties include building fence panels, posts, gates and AffirmativeMACRI Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer VALENTINA VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDESsition.

DISPONIBLES more. Must have a valid CT driver’s license & be able to obtain a Drivers Medical HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está Card. Must be able to pass a physical and drug test. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com.

Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipaceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of AA/EOE-MF ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the máximos.

Las We pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m.tscomenzando Martes 25 Northeast & NY. offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefi Full Time julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100)Administrative assistant position en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición for a steel & misc metals fabrication shop who will oversee the llamandoEmail: a HOMEdana.briere@garrityasphalt.com INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirseof clerical duties such as answering phones, acdaily operations Women & Minority encouraged to apply a las oficinas de HOMEApplicants INC en 171are Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .purchase orders/invoicing and certified payroll. counts payable Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer Email resumes to jillherbert@gwfabrication.com

NOTICE

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

NOTICIA

Union Company seeks:

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

NOW HIRINGNEW FOR 2024 SEASON HAVEN

Roma Construction, 242-258 Inc. has openings forAve Laborers, CDL Drivers Fairmont with Class A & B Licenses,1.5 andBA, operators. are,an Equal 2BR Townhouse, 3BR, 1We level 1BA Opportunity Employer and have training availability.

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Please contact Rebecca 860-996-8766 Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested partiesat contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

or put in an application at romaconst.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 1:30630 Plainfi eld Rd Jewett 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. City, CT 06351 (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

ROMA CONSTRUCTION, INC.

St. New Haven, CT

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

is looking for licensed and insured towing companies who Sealed be bidsinterested are invited by Housing of the of Seymour would in the signing upAuthority to be on ourTown monthly towuntil 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, ing rotation. Interested vendors will be subject to a due diliSeymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Repairs and Replacement at thea gence check.

Vendors placed Sidewalk on our rotation will be assigned SmithfieldinGardens Assisted Livingall Facility, 26 calls Smithfor Street month(s) the year, in which towing allSeymour. of HACB’s properties will be placed with that assigned vendor. Interested A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith parties should email their Company name and address, conStreet Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. tact person and phone number, along with a W9 and Certificate ofBidding Insurance to procurement@parkcitycommunities.org . The documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Ofcut-off date for submissions is COB 12/18/2023 fice, 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

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO. Invitation for Bids SNOW REMOVAL SERVICES 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

Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at 3:00PM.

The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications from qualified

candidates for the position of Mechanic. The starting salary is $55,393 per year and the town offers an excellent benefit package. Only candidates with at least 6 years of experience in motor-mechanic work, a High School Diploma or GED supplemented by trade school training and a CDL, class 2 will be considered. Applications are available online at http://www.townofeasthavenct.org/civiltest.shtml or the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT. The deadline for submission is November 22, 2023.

The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals.

Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN Notice of Public Hearing Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes 8-44 With Respect to the Acquisition of Real Property and Improvements located at 16 East Grand Avenue and 36 East Grand Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut, Notice is given, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Section 8-44 that the

State of Connecticut Housing Authority of the City of New Haven ("Authority") will hold a public Office of Policy hearing at 10 a.m./p.m. on December 13, 2023, via RING CENTRAL AND IN and Management Invitation to Bid:

PERSON, to receive public comment on the acquisition by the Authority or one

2nd Notice of its affiliated entities of the real property located at 16 East Grand Avenue and

The State of Connecticut, Office of 36 East Grand Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut, (the "Property"). A portion Policy and Management is recruiting for an OPM Assistant Division of this property will be developed by the Authority to meet the needs of, among Director in the Office of Finance.Old Saybrook, others,CTFamilies, Individuals (including Elderly and Disabled) Extremely Low

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

17 Units) Further information regarding (4 Buildings, Income and Very Low Income Households. the duties,Tax eligibility Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project requirements and application To connect to the meeting VIA Ring Central, please use the following: instructions are available at:

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Casthttps://www.jobapscloud.com/ 267-930-4000 CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Meeting ID: 230908&R2=0104MP&R3=001 Passcode: 685184917 Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

To attend in person the meeting will be held at: strongly encourages the applications of women, This minorities, contractand is persons subjectwithtodisabilities. state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven

Board Room Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 360 Orange Street Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 QSR STEEL New Haven, Connecticut 06511 Project documents available via ftp link below: CORPORATION http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Authority staff is available at 360 Orange Street, New Haven, Connecticut, and

APPLY NOW!

by telephone Authority staff - Yadira Vargas at (203) 498-8800 ext. 1096, to

assist persons with disabilities. Authority’s TTY/TDD phone number is (203) 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 497-8434.

Authority is an equal opportunity housing agency.

Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders AA/EEO EMPLOYER HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN Top pay for top performers. Health By:________________________________ Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

15

Karen DuBois-Walton President Date: November __, 2023

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - July December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023 INNER-CITY NEWS 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

Seymour Housing NOTICE Authority CHFA – 23-301

CDBG 2023 –PRETBDAPPLICATIONS AVAILABLE VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING Revitalization at Castle Heights

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 Sealed bids are invited and will be received by the Seymour Housing Authority, 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have until 2:00PM on Thursday January 25, 2024, in the Office of the Seymour Housing been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon reAuthority, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483, at which time and place they will quest by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed prebe publicly opened and read aloud. applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

Proposals must be submitted on the forms provided and in a sealed envelope plainly marked with the appropriate title. “Revitalization at Castle Heights for the Seymour Housing Authority”.

NOTICE OF BID

NOTICIA

A MANDATORY pre-bid conference will be held at the Seymour Housing AuthorVALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES ity, Seymour Avenue, Seymour, CT 06483 on Monday January 8, 2024 at 2:00PM. AllHOME prospective toHouse attend.y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está INC, enbidders nombre are de larequired Columbus

aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo A satisfactory Bid Bond or Certified Check, in an amount equal to five percent (5%) ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos of the base bid, shall be submitted with each bid. The Bid Bond shall be made paymáximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 able to the Seymour Housing Authority and shall be properly executed by the Bidder. julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) A 100% Performance, Labor and Material Bond is also required. All sureties must be en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición listed on the most recent IRS circular 570. 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 .

Attention of bidders is directed to certain requirements of this contract which require payment of Davis-Bacon wages, and compliance with certain local, state and federal requirements. This is a partially Federally funded project.

Contract Documents including plans & specifications can be viewed online beginning December 25, 2023 and purchased from Advanced Reprographics Planroom website, visit http://www.advancedplanroom.com/ select “Public Jobs” and select “Revitalization at Castle Heights for the Seymour HA”.

NEW HAVEN

242-258 Fairmont Ave

Note: Addenda this bid will be issued via email.

2BRtoTownhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR,Contractors 1 level ,intending 1BA to bid MUST BE REGISTERED on the Advanced Reprographics Plan holder’s list in orAll new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 der to receive direct email of any and all addenda.

highways, near bus stop & shopping center underconsideration, 40lb allowed. must Interested contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 Bids, toPet receive be inparties the hands of the authorized representative, no later than the day and hour mentioned above.

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s The Seymour Housing reserves the to right or reject anyofor all bids; Certificate Program.

This is aAuthority 10 month program designed assistto in accept the intellectual formation Candidates response to the Church’s Ministry The cost is $125. startin Saturday, August 20, 2016of 1:30to inwaive any informalities, or;needs. to accept any bidClasses deemed the best interests the 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. Seymour Housing Authority.

(203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. New Haven, CT

All bids will be considered valid for a period of One Hundred Twenty (120) days.

The contractor who is selected to perform this State project must comply with CONN. GEN. STAT. §§ 4a-60, 4a-60a, 4a-60g, and 46a-68b through 46a-68f, inclusive, as amended by June 2015 Special Session Public Act 15-5.

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour

State requires minimumAugust of twenty-fi ve (25%) state-funded untillaw 3:00 pm ona Tuesday, 2, 2016 at its percent office atof28theSmith Street, portion of the be Concrete set aside Sidewalk for awardRepairs to subcontractors holding Seymour, CTcontract 06483 for and Replacement at curthe rent certification fromAssisted the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services Smithfield Gardens Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. (“DAS”) under the provisions of CONN. GEN. STAT. § 4a-60g. (25% of the total state-funded value with DAS-certified Small Businesses and 6.25% of the topre-bid conference willDAS-certifi be held at ed theMinority-, Housing Authority Smith talAstate-funded value with Women-, Office and/or 28 DisabledStreetBusinesses.)

Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, Julygood 20, faith 2016.effort to meet owned The contractor must demonstrate the 25% set-aside goals.

BiddingANdocuments are available from the Seymour Housing Authority OfAFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER MBE’s, WBE’s, SBE’s AND SECTION 3 DESIGNATED ARE888-4579.

ENCOURAGED TO APPLY fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CTENTERPRISES 06483 (203)

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

Town of Bloomfield

Finance Director

Salary Range - $101,455 to $156,599 (expected starting pay maximum is mid-range) Fully Benefited – 35 hours weekly Pre-employment drug testing. For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfieldct.org

Portland

The Town of Wallingford is offering an excellent career opportunity for a technical leader in the wastewater treatment industry to assist the Superintendent in providing managerial direction in the operation and maintenance of the Town’s wastewater treatment plant, pumping stations, and sanitary sewer collection systems. Applicants should possess 4 years of progressively responsible experience in water pollution control and a bachelor's degree in environmental science, chemical engineering or other engineering with courses in chemical qualitative analysis, biochemistry or microbiology, or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-for-year basis. Must possess and maintain a State of Connecticut Class III or higher Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator's license or the ability to obtain the same within the probationary period.

Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut Motor Vehicle Operator’s License.

Salary: $80,555 to $103,068 annually plus an on-call stipend 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 a deferred compensation plan. Applications may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page and can be mailed or faxed to the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492; Fax: (203) 294-2084, or emailed to: wlfdhr@wallingfordct.gov by the closing date of January 11, 2024. Phone: (203) 294-2080. EOE

Full time experienced welder for Structural/Miscellaneous metalsemail resume tojillherbert@gwfabrication.com

DRAFT HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN UPDATE NEEDS PUBLIC REVIEW

Police Officer full-time Go to www.portlandct.org for details

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

Wastewater Treatment ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT

The South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) and a Regional Advisory Committee have updated the region’s Hazard Mitigation Plan for FEMA review and municipal adoption. Prior to State and FEMA review, the public is encouraged to review and comment on the draft plan. The plan identifies and prioritizes actions each of the 15 SCRCOG municipalities may take to mitigate the risks of natural hazards and climate change.

Invitation to Bid: 2nd Notice To review and comment on the draft plan, visit the SCRCOG Hazard Mitigation

webVILLAGE page at: www.scrcog.org/hazard SAYEBROOKE

Old Saybrook, CT APPLY NOW! The plan is available for review through March 13, 2023.

(4 Buildings, 17 Units)

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Project The Wage plan Rate includes detailed information regarding twelve natural hazards and Top pay for top performers. Health climate change and their impacts to the region and each municipality. Impacts Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay.

include those to criticalSite-work, facilities,Casthistoric assets, and the built environment. The New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, goals of the plan include the categories of community planning, flood hazards, in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, trees, regional collaboration, and public awareness and preparedness.

Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, State of Connecticut Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

Comments can be submitted to Rebecca Andreucci, Senior Transportation PlanOffice of Policy This contract subject to state set-aside ner andatcontract compliance requirements. randreucci@scrcog.org or by phone at (203) 466-8601. andisManagement

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

The State of Connecticut, Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Office of Policy and Management Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 is recruiting for an Information Technology Technician hour).

Project(40documents available via ftp link below:

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Further information regarding http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage the duties, eligibility Invitation for Bids requirements and application Unarmed Security Services Faxinstructions or Email Questions & Bids to:at: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com are available

HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses

https://www.jobapscloud.com/ Elm City Communities Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483is currently seeking bids for Services of a firm to proCT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= vide Unarmed Security Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be 230927&R2=7602FR&R3=001 AA/EEO EMPLOYER The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

16

obtained from Elm City Communities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, November 6, 2023, at 3:00PM.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Dece mber 2023 - January 02, 2023 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27,20, 2016 - August 02, 2016

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR BID HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY NOTICE Elevator Maintenance and Repair Services

VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE IFB No. B23008 HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the Haven Housing Authority, Please register here to obtain BidNew Package: https://ha.internationaleprocurement.com/requests.html?company_id=49968 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 PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL RETURN: 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd,will Danbury, CT 06811 been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications be mailied upon reEnvelope Must be Marked: IFB No. Elevator Maintenance and Completed Repair Services quest by calling HOME INC at B23008, 203-562-4663 during those hours. preAttn: Lisato Gilchrist, Purchasing applications must be returned HOME INC’s officesAgent at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

SUBMITTAL DEADLINE

January 8th, 2024 at 10:30am (EST)

NOTICIA

CONTACT PERSON FOR IFB DOCUMENT: Lisa Gilchrist – Purchasing Agent Telephone: 203-744-2500 x1421

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES E-Mail: lgilchrist@hacdct.org

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está [Minorityand/or women-owned are aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios ybusinesses apartamentos deencouraged un dormitoriotoenrespond] 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 Petroleum/HVAC company has an immediate opening for a Full Time Receptionist. a lashave oficinas de HOME INC experience, en 171 Orangestrong Street,organizational tercer piso, Newskills, Havenability , CT 06510 .

Must customer service to mul-

Listing: Full Time Receptionist

titask, and be capable of handling multiple telephone lines. Computer knowledge is required. Petroleum or HVAC knowledge preferred. Send resume by email to: HRDept@eastriverenergy.com or send resume to: Human Resource Dept. P O Box 388, Guilford CT 06437.

NEW HAVEN

********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

242-258 Fairmont Ave REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS 2BR Townhouse, 1.5FORBA,(RFP) 3BR,#2023-12-GC 1 level , 1BA

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 GENERAL COUNSEL/LEGAL SERVICES highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

The Housing Authority of the City of New Britain (Authority)

is seeking competitive proposals for general legal services from experienced, area law firms.

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program.

This is a 10 month program designed to assist the intellectual formation of Candidates The RFP will be available on December 4, 2023, andincan be obtained online at www. in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30nbhact.org.

Proposals must be received at the Authority Administrative Office no later 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. than January 2023, atBishop 3:00 Elijah p.m.Davis, Eastern Standard Late Submissions and (203) 996-451705, Host, General D.D. Pastor of PittsTime.

Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster facsimiles willCT not be considered.

St. New Haven,

CLERK TYPIST

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Performs a wide variety of routine clerical duties requiring excellent computer and interpersonal skills. This position requires 1 year of office work experience of a responsible nature and a H.S., GED, or business diploma. Wages: $21.83 to $26.43 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request form the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page. Phone: (203) 294-2080 Fax: (203) 294-2084. The closing date will be on December 11, 2023. EOE

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.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith is looking for licensed and insured towing companies who would be interested in signStreet Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. ing up to be on our monthly towing rotation. Interested vendors will be subject to a due

diligence check. Vendors placed on our rotation will be assigned a month(s) in the year, in Bidding which alldocuments towing calls are for available all of HACB’s will beHousing placed with that assigned fromproperties the Seymour Authority Ofvendor. Interested parties should email their Company name and address, contact person fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. and phone number, along with a W9 and Certificate of Insurance to procurement@parkcitycommunities.org . The cut-off date for submissions is COB 12/18/2023 .

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

Electric Utility System Operator/Dispatcher

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders

Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT

State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Principal Labor Relations Specialist.

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

Operates electric distribution substation and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for an electric utility serving 25,000 customers.

Coordinates electric system switching and places equipment in and out of service during routine and emergency operations. Requires HS diploma/GED with 2 years experience in the operation of Distribution SCADA equipment and/or switchboards used in the distribution of electricity. Experience and training may be substituted on a year for year basis. Must maintain valid system operation certification from Connecticut Valley Exchange (CONVEX) or other approved agency or be able to obtain the same within 90 days of hire. Must posses and maintain a valid State of CT driver’s license. $ 34.63 - $ 41.15 per hour plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request from the Department of Human Resources or may be downloaded from the Department of Human Resources Web Page and emailed to wlfdhr@wallingfordct.gov. Fax #: (203) 294-2084. Closing date will be December 27, 2023. EOE.

State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

https://www.jobapscloud.com/ CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 230417&R2=6342MP&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.

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for an Agency Labor Relations Specialist Trainee (Leadership Associate (Confidential)) position and a Planning Analyst position.

WANTED

Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 231121&R2=5989VR&R3=001

to Bid: TRUCK DRIVERInvitation 2 Notice nd

and https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 231128&R2=6297AR&R3=001

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE Truck Driver with clean encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

CDL license(4 Buildings, 17 Units) Old Saybrook, CT

Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP, CO.

Please send resume to Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastNew Construction, Wood Framed, attielordan@gmail.com in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Invitation for Bids PJF Construction Corporation Flooring, Painting, DivisionAA/EOE 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Agency Wide Key and Lock Services Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

This contract is subject to state set-aside 360 and Management contract compliance Group, requirements.

Co. is currently seeking bids for agency wide key and lock

POLICE OFFICER

services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from 360 Management

Group’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/ Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 gateway beginning on Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 Project documents available via ftp link below: Monday, November 27, 2023, at 3:00PM. http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

City of Bristol

$73,220 - $89,002/yr.

Fax or Email Questionstesting, & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com Help Wanted - Full Time Category Required HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses Highway Safety Program Specialist general info, and apply Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 AA/EEO EMPLOYER online: www.bristolct.gov The South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) is seeking to fill the Highway Safety Program Specialist position. Visit www.scrcog.org for the full position description, qualifications, and application requirements. Bilingual candidates DEADLINE: preferred. Applications are to be submitted by noon on December 29, 2023, or until 12-04-23 the position is filled. Questions may be emailed to jobs@scrcog.org. SCRCOG is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

17

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

After over 20 years of teaching, Brietta Clark now 1st woman and 1st Black to lead Loyola Law School y Abu Mubarik, Face2FaceAfrica.com

Brietta Clark now leads LMU Loyola Law School as dean. Her appointment comes after more than 20 years of teaching and five months of serving as interim dean. As the 19th dean of Loyola Marymount University’s (LMU) Law School, the appointment makes her the first woman to hold the position and also the first Black dean in the university’s 103-year history.

According to CBS News, she will oversee a student body that totals more than 300 students, over 60% of whom are women.

“I am thrilled to welcome Brietta Clark as the new Fritz B. Burns Dean of LMU Loyola Law School,” LMU Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D. said. “Her unparalleled expertise, combined with her passion for advancing research and education and her commitment to diversity and inclusion, makes her an exceptional leader to propel our law school into a future of excellence and innovation.”

Clark joins a growing list of black wom-

en who are leading law schools across the country as well as universities. Her appointment comes at a time when the university was seeking to be more inclusive, particularly in how they teach the law.

“This is a place where we interrogate the law,” Clark said. “Where we’re all about social justice. We think about inequality, right? And yet it has taken a long time for the legal academy to start to have its leadership, and even its professors and faculty and students, really reflect the diversity of America.”

She first joined the law school faculty in 2001 and has served in several capacities, including as Associate Dean for Faculty from 2015-20, according to the University’s website. The website adds that she was recently awarded the 2023 David P. Leonard Faculty Service Award by the St. Thomas More Society.

Also, she has received recognition for her mentorship by the school’s Black Law Students Association, the Judge Stephen O’Neil Trial Advocacy Mentoring Program (“Young Lawyers Program”), and the Health Law & Bioethics Student Association. Additionally, she participated

Brietta R. Clark. Photo: Loyola Law School

How Chrishon Lampley became first Black woman in the Midwest to go national with a wine brand

by Abu Mubarik, Face2FaceAfrica.com What sets Chrishon Lampley’s Love Cork Screw wines apart from others is that her labels are fun, whimsical, and not intimidating, she said in a recent interview. The labels include “Be the Light” Sauvignon Blanc and “Good Times, Good Friends” Pinot Grigio which appeal to the brand’s target demographic of 25- to 44-year-olds.

Some wine brands even started imitating her, which makes her proud. “When I set out to launch Love Cork Screw, I wanted to touch lives through my story.

I want to inspire others and break glass ceilings,” she noted on Shout Out LA. She developed a strong awareness of what the traditional wine novice and enthusiast enjoy after spending 15 years pursuing her passion. To produce her quality wine, she traveled around the world and made it a priority to ensure that her brand adds nutritional value to every label, she noted.

Prior to venturing into the wine industry, she co-owned an art gallery in Chicago’s South Loop. However, a terrible flood ruined the building and compelled her to close.

“During that time, I was also working with well-known distributors in sales, so I was on the frontlines regarding newly released wines and consumer demands,” she said. She used these two stepping stones to plateau herself into creating Love Cork Screw wines, she stated.

“My thought process was even through the challenges, I can leverage my knowledge and skillset to launch my own wine brand and fill in the gaps for what con-

in the AJCU Ignatian Colleagues Program for leaders in Jesuit higher education.

In her early career, she served on the Los Angeles County Medical Association-Bar Association Joint Committee on Bioethics where she helped draft ethical and legal pain management guidelines for physicians.

What is more, she served on the Institutional Review Board for Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles as well as a volunteer attorney with the HIV/ AIDS Legal Services Alliance.

Prior to joining the LLS community, she specialized in healthcare transactions and regulatory compliance, working at the Los Angeles office of Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood.

She also volunteered with the National Health Law Program, which nurtured her interest in Medicaid access and protecting safety-net hospitals in underserved communities.

Meanwhile, Clark got a B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from USC Law School, where she was also a post-graduate research fellow.

Toni Townes-Whitley now one of only two Black

women serving as Fortune 500 CEOs by Abu Mubarik

By Face2FaceAfrica.com

Photo: chrishonlampley.com sumers were missing,” said Lampley. “I knew I would be able to use whatever platform I learned to inspire other entrepreneurs. And that was enough for me to get started.”

In 2022, WGN reported that she is the first Black woman to have a national wine brand, with more than one million bottles sold following her wine’s launch in 2013.

Research shows that out of more than 11,000 wineries in the U.S., only about 1% have a Black winemaker or are Blackowned.

Working in an industry dominated by White males has not been easy for the

entrepreneur. According to her, she is usually mistaken for the promotional girl and not the owner. This, she said, means working extra hard to be taken seriously and to be heard. “I’ve learned through perseverance and resilience that as long as I don’t give up, I will reach my goals,” the Chicago-based negociant and wine enthusiast told Shout Out LA. She credits her mom and dad, Ann and Lou Lampley, for their unconditional support. Lampley said, “My parents have shown me the meaning of resilience, unconditional love, and the importance of entrepreneurship. I am forever grateful.”

18

Toni Townes-Whitley recently joined the list of Black business executives heading Fortune 500 companies. She has become the CEO of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), a Virginia-based Fortune 500 technology company that supports government agencies, intelligence services, and the Department of Defense, according to Fortune.

She becomes one of two black women currently serving as Fortune 500 CEOs, the platform said. The other is TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett.

Walgreens chief Rosalind “Roz” Brewer resigned three months ago. According to Reuters, the separation was mutual.

Townes-Whitley took over from former SAIC chief Nazzic Keene. Her appointment was announced in May and she became “CEO-elect” in June this year.

“I was with the other female in our duo just a few days ago,” she said of Duckett, “And we were talking about the importance of how we show up and that we have a greater pipeline into these roles.”

“This is an opportunity for me not only as a female but as an African American female,” said the CEO who has served in financial services, healthcare, state and local government, as well as higher education. “We’ve never had an African American female as a CEO in national security.

And yet, if you look at our security forces, they’re quite diverse. And so, we’ve got to ask ourselves, both by sector and by size of company, why are we not building that pipeline?”

Prior to joining SAIC, Townes-Whitley

SAIC's ToniTownes-Whitley.Photo: SAIC was Microsoft’s president of U.S. regulated industries, with an $11 billion P&L. SAIC on the other hand has $7.7 billion in annual revenue and a No. 479 ranking on the Fortune 500.

She assumes her new role with a clear understanding that SAIC is undervalued. “I’m starting with a hypothesis that this company, with its rich legacy and its current portfolio, is undervalued by the market,” she told Inc.com. “And it is also slightly misunderstood. How do we differentiate? What is our unique capability? I think we have to articulate that better, and we actually have to execute against it.”

Townes-Whitley said in the interview that she had hired a chief innovation officer coming right out of the Air Force who is “going to bring some real-world perspective to our portfolio, how we go to market, and how we introduce more innovation to our customers.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

COMING UP AT RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE

CONSTRUCTION JOB FAIR

CORINNE BAILEY RAE The Black Rainbows Tour

HIRING ALL TRADES LISTED BELOW! TRADES HIRING INCLUDE: ELECTRICAL, DEMOLITION, SITEWORK, HVAC, PLUMBING, ROOFING, SIDING, DRYWALL, PAINTING, INSULATION, GUTTERS, FINAL CLEANING, FLOORING, STAIRS, CARPENTRY, SHELVING, CASEWORK, COUNTERS, SITE CONCRETE, FIRE SUPPRESSION

***LOW-INCOME/SECTION 3/LOCAL PERSONS ENCOURAGED TO APPLY***

FEB 13 @ 7:30PM 203.438.5795 • RIDGEFIELDPLAYHOUSE.ORG SUBCONTRACTORS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ON-THE-SPOT INTERVIEWS!

Robert Saulsbury

DATE/TIME: Friday, January 19, 2024 - 10 AM to 1 PM LOCATION: 801 Boston Post Road, Madison, CT 06443

a

in

vi

E. C. Scranton Memorial Library (Johnson Community Room)

l

au h s lsb

y ur

coac

Basketball Invitational

tat i o n

2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Career High Vs. East Haven High School 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Sacred Heart Academy Vs. Newington High (girls) 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm Awards Ceremony

For more information, please contact Jennifer Lacombe PH: 203-888-8119 EMAIL: jlacombe@haynesct.com

Honoring: The Honorable Toni Walker, State Representative Cornell Scott Hill Health Centers • Michelle Sepulveda WTNH News 8 • Gary Highsmith

6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Hillhouse High Vs. Kolbe High 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Wilbur Cross Vs. Danbury High Hip Hop Performances by: Lady Steelers • Tiny Mites • Jr. Peewees • Varsity - Hip Hop State Champions

Floyd Little Athletic Center

480 Sherman Ave., New Haven, CT 06511 Thursday December 28, 2023 - 2:30 pm - 9:30 pm Donation: $5.00 Students • $10.00 Adults

Proceeds to Benefit

The Robert H. Saulsbury Scholarship Fund Refreshments available for sale

For More Info Contact: 203-376-1385

Connecticut’s first choice for Urban News since 1990

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19

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 20, 2023 - January 02, 2023

We ask because we care.

Everyone is unique and deserves access to the best health care.

What is your race? What is your ethnicity? What is your ethnic background? What is your preferred language? By asking these questions, we are better able to deliver equitable health care to all. Scan to learn more.

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