THE INNER-CITY NEWS

Volume 32. No. 1635

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Future Teachers Celebrated At TFA Cere-mony by Maya McFadden

The New Haven independent

Lili Filppu and Natalie Quiroz-Duran returned to New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) this summer — this time not as students, but as educators preparing for their first year of teaching this coming fall. Filppu and Quiroz-Duran are two of 39 incoming Teach for America (TFA) Corps members who were celebrated at an induction and summer practicum conclusion event hosted at CT State Gate-way, formerly known as Gateway Community College, last week. Of those 39 TFA Corps members, 10 are headed into New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) while the others will take on roles in Hartford and Bridgeport. An additional seven TFA Corps members will also be working in New Haven through TFA’s charter partners Achievement First and Ele-vate. The TFA Corps program supports aspiring educators in securing a full-time, two-year teaching position in “under-resourced K-12 schools” as they pursue their master’s degree and teaching certi-fication. Filppu is a New Haven native who graduated from Sound School and attended FAME and Davis Street School while growing up in Fair Haven and then in Westville. She discovered her love for her hometown while attending Sound because, at the time, she rode the city bus on a daily basis. “This is more about connecting back with my community,” she said about her goal to teach specifically in New Haven. Starting in the fall, Filppu will return to New Haven not to take the former Q bus — now the 246 — to hang out downtown with friends, but instead to teach biology at Wilbur Cross High School. Being a student at Sound is what helped Filppu discover her love for science. When she first went on to attend the University of Connecticut (UCONN) for physiology and neurology, Filppu struggled and was academically dismissed. She went on to work in New Haven while briefly attending Gateway. Once she returned to UCONN, she majored in psychology and began working at the campus’s academic achievement center. While working, she heard stories similar to hers of students capable of excellence but struggling with the structure of college academics. “I was a passive learner but I know I’m not the only one,” she said. “I want students to not just hear that other people have struggled like them but to see I got through it and am here now to sup-port them however I can.” This led her to realize “it’s clear what I think I should do.” Just before graduating this past spring, Filppu joined TFA to expand her teaching toolkit before returning home “where I belong,” she said. Another New Haven native, Natalie Quiroz-Duran, also said her upbringing in the city and public school district put her

Incoming TFA New Haven educators Tie-Ese Stewart, Lili Filppu, Natalie Quiroz-Duran, and Judiana Seda. Credit: Maya McFadden Photos

on track to want to return. Quiroz-Duran did her TFA summer practicum at FAME with 5th through 8th grade special educa-tion programs. One of her takeaways from the summer was learning to adapt. She supported classrooms that had some middle school students learning basic addition while others were learning al-gebra. Her biggest takeaway was the confirmation that returning home is the right decision for her. “As a New Haven Promise scholar, New Haven helped shape me and pour so much into me. Now I’m giving back,” she said. She decided on special education because she has a family member who receives special education services and that team’s impact inspired her daily. She was introduced to TFA while working for NHPS as a part-time community aid for its McKinney Vento services. That work — which included talking with families to connect them with resources like bookbags, uniforms, and food pantries — exposed her to the population of hundreds of homeless NHPS stu-dents and added to her passion to help in a larger way. Quiroz-Duran will bring her passion to King/Robinson School, where she will teach special educa-tion for her first year. Fellow TFA Corps member Tie-Ese Stewart moved to Hartford in 2017 and was inspired by the “phenomenal” teachers she had growing up. She recalled using a blackboard and chalk to teach her dolls when she was a child. Over the summer Stewart taught modern world history at Metropolitan Business Academy, which hosted the district’s credit recovery program. “The community could use more love and I have that to give,” she said. During last Wednesday’s ceremony,

TFA staffers Justin Taylor, Sarah Diggs, Mikayla Brown, and Francisco Cruz.

remarks were shared by TFA CT Executive Director Dolores Garcia-Blocker and 2025 Corps members Deborah Butler and Madison Goodson, who this spring finished their first year of teaching. Butler, a Hartford special education teacher, said that she selected TFA CT because she saw a need in her community. So, as a teacher does, she made a plan, then made change. She told the room full of incoming teachers that some days will be great while others will be “very hard and exhausting.” She also said that TFA staff were always just a call, email, or text away. “Thankfully no problem is too unique and no disaster too monstrous for TFA,” she said.

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Her first year had more ups than downs and she even got to conclude it this summer by flying to Beijing with 24 of her students. Meanwhile, Goodson, an English educator at Achievement First High School, spoke about how the hardest year of her life was her first year of teaching. She also described her first year as mak-ing her feel unstoppable. Throughout the year she experienced an abrupt principal change, school closure over safety, a cur-riculum without standards, parents cursing her out, and a department not properly trained to coach her. “If I’m completely honest, when it came

to the technicalities of teaching, I spent most of my first year trying not to drown,” she said. She continued that being unstoppable “is not about wins, it is about showing up every single day ready to try again.” She reminded the 2026 TFA Corps members that they too are unstoppable and to embrace the daily resets the teaching profession offers. She recalled sitting with students for support while they made calls for job interviews and having honest conversations with them about their post-secondary plans and college. “I may not have increased data numbers this first year, but my students were able to change school policy because of the space I gave them to speak to school leaders,” she concluded. Corps member Judiana Seda is stepping into a special education teaching role in the fall after previ-ously working as a family advocate for NHPS’ Head Start program. While working with families through HeadStart, Seda said she began getting curious about teach-ing students. She found her already seasoned skills in goal setting, collaboration, and listening are just as needed in the classroom as they are when meeting to support elementary families. TFA Senior Managing Director of Strategy and Impact Sarah Diggs hosted last week’s ceremony. Diggs was previously NHPS’ coordinator of recruitment and retention. She noted during the ceremony that “when people work and teach where they have roots, they’re more likely to stay.” During TFA’s summer practicum, cohorts of two to three TFA Corps members were paired with a NHPS mentor while working at the district’s summer sites. Mentors shared during the ceremony about the TFA Corps members’ skills in turning behavior resets into lessons, creating inclusive learning environments for students and staff, commanding a full classroom’s attention, and creating creative lesson plans. NHPS educators and summer mentors Nick DeCapua and Zania Collier said they learned from their TFA mentees throughout the summer. DeCapua, who had Quiroz-Duran and Porsha Wiliams in his cohort, said they became masters of understanding that with special education especially, “27 kids on your caseload means you have to be 27 different teachers.” Collier said she plans to use several activities in her own classroom that she learned this summer from her cohort, which included David Reynolds, Peter Katcher, and Stewart. NHPS Asst. Supt. Keisha Redd-Hananns reported that the summer practicum for TFA came at no cost to the district. She said she is proud that NHPS continues to expand its number of TFA Corps members so much that it is considering whether it may need to open up another summer school site for TFA Corps members to participate in the future.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

At Season’s Start, Steelers Set Sights High

Members of the 13U New Haven Steelers at pre-pads summer practice including Romeo Ojeda, Kendrix Kelly, Noah Concepcion, David Gaskin, offensive coordinator Demelle Turner, William E.J. McClary, David Gaskin, Jomar Rodriguez, Kayden Wells, Davian “Brodie” Colon, Derrick Greene, Khalil Wooten, Andre Martin, and Landon Murphy.

by Lisa Reisman

The New Haven independent

On a recent Thursday evening at Goffe Street Park, wide receiver Romeo Ojeda took off from a crouch, breaking sharply across the green expanse of field. “That’s it,” offensive coordinator DeMelle Turner called out, clapping, as Ojeda reached up and received a high, arcing pass from quarterback William “E.J.” McClary, cradling the ball in his arms. Ojeda and McClary are among the 26 members of the 13U, or 13 years old and under, New Haven Steelers of the Pop Warner Youth Football League, one of multiple football teams across agebased divisions in the city. Last season, the team dominated the New England region, reaching nationals but falling short in the first round and finishing eighth in the nation. This year, they have their sights squarely set on a national championship. The team has been practicing since early July. This week, they get equipment and uniforms. The season begins on August 22 with the Soul Bowl on Bowen Field. There’s a lot at stake this season, according to Garrett Barros, who’s served as head coach for the last three years. Most of the squad has been playing together since they were six. “They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they’ve been through it all,” he said. After this year comes high school. Under Pop Warner regulations, the majority of players will age out. That’s not the only challenge. The team plays its home games at Winslow Field, part of the Rock View Circle public housing complex that last season had opponents refusing to play without police and security. On Tuesday, Ricky Barrett, coach of the 9U team, issued an open letter to New Ha-ven mayor Justin Elicker and the Board of Alders request-

ing that attention be paid to the athletic fields used by the Steelers, which he described as “overgrown and poorly maintained” and “posing safety hazards.” To judge from recent practices, none of that seems to have fazed the team, which throughout July has been going through physical conditioning, position drills, and learning the playbook. That’s where the route that Romeo Ojeda was carving comes in. It’s called a slant and it’s part of a so-called route tree, a package of nine routes that gives receivers and quarterbacks a shared language to map out exact depths and cuts. “It’s something all our wide receivers should know,” Barros said, as offensive line coach Jaylin “Jay” Davis put the players through a series of drills to improve footwork. “They don’t know it, they’re not going to play.” The goal, Barros said, “is to give our kids more structure. A lot of them come from single-parent homes, so we get a chance to provide that and also to teach them commitment, making sure you do something 100% rather than just do it just because, and that helps them get prepared for the next level and also for life.” Barros said he looks for coaches that understand football is more than Xs and Os. That might mean giving the kids a ride home if they don’t have one, or their phone numbers in the event they’re hav-ing a tough time at home, or taking them out for a meal. “It’s about wins and losses, but it’s also about pouring into them so they know we value them as part of this team,” he said. “That’s a lap,” Team Mom Delores Roberts was telling one of the offensive lineman. Someone had cussed, and Roberts enforces a strict no cussing policy. That’s consistent with certain Pop Warner standards including a requirement that players maintain a 2.0 GPA in order to participate. “Educa-tion comes first,”

Davian “Brodie” Colon, a defensive tackle, with his father defensive coordinator Martin Colon.

Offensive coach Angel Ojeda with team mom Delores Roberts. “She keeps the agenda on track,” he said.

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said Roberts, the mother of quarterback E.J. McClary. There are also mandated safety measures, like reducing contact to 25 percent of practice time; banning full-speed, head-on tackling and blocking drills; and eliminating kickoffs for the youngest divisions. Just then, offensive coordinator Demelle Turner approached, followed by a group of wide receiv-ers and running backs, for team-wide drills. A former star quarterback and defensive back at Hill-house High School who’s also known for his work in the community, Turner and defensive line coach Nate Morrison-Fuller have been with the team since the players were six. “They weren’t part of the staff back then, but they were around for the kids,” Barros said. “They proved themselves.” “I like the fact that I get to share this with my son,” said defensive coordinator Martin Colon, refer-ring to Brodie, a standout defensive tackle; Angelo Ojeda (offense) and Cameron Davis Sr. (defense) also coach their sons. “And this group as a whole, they’re determined, they’re gritty, they’re tight-knit,” he went on. “The plus about football is you try to set a good example for them, get them to develop good habits, make them into better players.” By then, it was the end of practice. The players and coaches gathered in a circle. Colon’s voice rose up. “You are going to have bumps in the road, you are going to have adversity, we get it,” he said, the players hanging on his every word. “Football is football. But if you know what you’re doing, you play good because you don’t second-guess yourself. You can go at 100 mph that way.” “It’s okay to play with some swag,” Turner, the offensive coordinator, chimed in. “You get a stop, you get a touchdown, you celebrate, that’s okay. This is about winning but it’s also about having fun.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 23, 2019 - January 29, 2019

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

LEAP Dances Through Summer Learning

“Go! Go!” voices rang out from the folding chairs assembled on three sides of a group of teenage girls, as they ran into a single-file line. The first kicked her feet up and jumped, her right leg going forward. She nailed a split in the middle of the air. She landed, and turned to her right to go to the back of the line. The next girl hopped and her leg made it 90 degrees into the air. The next one looked as if she could have kicked herself in the nose. Each drew a cheer from the crowd. Twelve teens-turned-leaders, all 15 years old, and nine of their counselors performed that routine in the gym of the Dixwell Community “Q” House last Friday afternoon, as the culmination of a weeklong intensive for Leadership Education and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP) Leaders In Training (LITs) with Connecticut College and David Dorfman Dance. The LITs, a program from LEAP, are 13 through 15 year olds, but only 15 year olds were allowed to participate in the intensive. This summer marks the first year to allow boys to participate in the intensive. For four days, the LITs took classes including astronomy, Africana studies, marine biology, and the "philosophy of dinosaurs," as well as hour-long dance classes. Each day, students learned a different style of dance, from Hip Hop to Afro-Caribbean to Street Jazz. Friday’s performance, which ran just short of 20

Samir Iydroose Photos.

minutes across multiple dance numbers, became a reflection of that work. “I wanted to have classes that they could see themselves in, and show them that you can do any-thing in college,” said Shanice Maxwell, the LIT manager at LEAP and herself a graduate of Cor-nell University and Fairfield University. “So, I advocated for having Africana studies, and Afro-Caribbean dancing.” In addition to the dance performances,

the other age groups showed off what they had learned in the duration of the LIT program. Participants from each of LEAP'S six citywide sites assembled slideshows and spoke about what they liked about LEAP: making friends, exploring career paths, and more. Kids and counselors also talked about the activities they had done, including a wilderness club, ar-chery, and canoeing, among others.

Beloved muralist Kwadwo Adae, who has been collaborating with LEAP and the organization Discovering Amistad, unveiled an unfinished painting (he is going to add the sky) that he had made in conjunction with the kids at LEAP. Discover Amistad is an educational nonprofit devoted to teaching people of all ages about the his-tory and legacy of La Amistad, a Spanish slave vessel on which captured, wrongfully imprisoned, and enslaved Africans planned a successful revolt against their captors. The trial was held in New Haven in 1839, forever linking the history of this port city to the history of enslavement and forced migration. Janiya, 15, said that she really liked the week she spent at Connecticut College. “My favorite class was … ‘Philosophy of Dinosaurs,’” she said. “It was so cool we got to touch this fossil of an extinct species.” She said that she really liked Hip Hop dancing, but her peers were resistant to it, so they blended the various styles for their final performance. This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit sto-ries with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Samir Iydroose is a rising junior at Hamden

CT Officials Slam ‘Reckless’ Online Voter Fraud Speculation by Donald Eng CTNewsJunkie

HARTFORD, CT — Misinformation around immigration and elections undermines public trust by encouraging people to accept accusations before facts, according to Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas. Thomas and Gov. Ned Lamont condemned what they called the reckless spread of false election claims that led to a New Britain woman being publicly misidentified as an undocumented immi-grant, falsely connected her to a fatal crash and wrongfully accused her of illegally registering to vote. “This should alarm everyone, regardless of political party,” Thomas said. “An innocent Connecti-cut woman was publicly accused of causing a fatal crash she had nothing to do with and of engag-ing in voter fraud she never carried out — not because anyone established the facts, but because too many people were willing to accept a Facebook post narrative before verifying the evidence. A screenshot is not proof. A matching name is not an investigation. And misinformation does not become responsible because it is repeated by an elected official, circulated on social media, or print-ed in a newspaper.” Lamont also condemned what he called speculation outpacing facts. “As a result of misinformation pushed

FILE PHOTO — At a news conference in Hartford on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas tells reporters that at the halfway mark of the state’s first early voting period, over 313,000 people have cast ballots. Credit: Viktoria Sundqvist / CTNewsJunkie

in a rush to advance a political agenda, an innocent woman has had her personal details spread across social media and is now facing threats over a crime she had nothing to do with,” Lamont said. “Social media rewards speed over accuracy, but there are real-world consequences when that habit meets a tragedy like this one. I’m asking everyone, and especially mem-

bers of the media and elected officials, to slow down and verify information before sharing.” Melissa Esperanza Ramirez of Stamford, the defendant charged in connection with the July 13 crash that killed an off-duty Bridgeport police officer and his passenger, is not, and has never been, registered to vote in Connecticut, Thomas said.

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The voter registration record circulating online belongs to a different person: a United States citizen from New Britain who is legally registered to vote in Connecticut, she said. Danbury police have publicly stated that she was mistakenly identified and has no connection to the criminal case. But screenshots of the voter registration were presented online in a way that made it appear to be the Stamford defendant, Thomas said. The misinformation was then amplified online and repeated by elected officials and news organizations before the central claim — that the defendant was the registered voter — had been proven, she said. In the days that followed, numerous state Republicans including the party’s House caucus, de-manded an investigation. “We believe both the Secretary of the State and the Department of Motor Vehicles owe Connecticut residents a detailed and very public accounting of the driving and perhaps even voting records of Melissa Ramirez,” according to the House statement. “Regardless of what people in and around Governor Lamont’s administration might think or project in their media statements, Connecticut residents do care about the integrity of our fundamental systems, whether it’s voting or public safe-ty. Democrats can’t keep brushing off these Con’t on page 06

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Connecticut businesses warn Lamont's Medi-caid fee could cost jobs By Liese Klein, Staff

Facing rising healthcare costs, federal funding cuts and growing pressure to close budget gaps, Connecticut leaders want the state’s largest employers to help pay for workers who rely on Medi-caid. Standing in a Walmart parking lot in Wallingford in June, Gov. Ned Lamont argued that large cor-porations benefiting from billions in profits should contribute more toward healthcare costs. “They have … millions or billions in profits. I think they can contribute rather than (take) corporate welfare,” Lamont said at the news event. Lamont’s plan, called the Fair Share Healthcare initiative, would require for-profit businesses with 100 or more workers to pay up to $1,000 for each employee enrolled in the state’s Husky Medi-caid program. Nonprofits with 1,000 workers or more would also be hit with the levy. Lamont said he expects to raise up to $100 million, with the proceeds going directly to subsidize the state’s health insurance exchange, Access Health CT. “If a multibillion-dollar corporation can afford to operate in our state, it can afford to ensure its workers have healthcare,” Lamont said in a statement. “By closing this loophole, we are defending Connecticut taxpayers and making our state a more affordable place to live, work, and do busi-ness.” Critics highlight risk of job losses The proposal quickly drew criticism, with Republicans calling it another tax on businesses. “Isn’t this the same governor who frequently says, ‘Connecticut doesn’t need more taxes; it needs more taxpayers’?” said state Sen. Stephen Harding, Republican of Brookfield. Companies and nonprofits would likely respond to a new healthcare tax by passing on higher costs, hiring fewer people or cutting raises, said Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of CBIA, Connecticut’s largest business group. “Businesses don’t just eat these costs,” DiPentima said. He pointed to a similar proposal in Colo-rado that died in committee in that state’s legislature earlier this year due to broad concerns about job losses. “Just look at Colorado and the fact that both the business community, labor,

Transform Your Bathroom and Change Your Life.

Gov. Ned Lamont speaks in the Fair Haven section of New Haven in a July 2024 file photo to mark the expansion of HUSKY health services to undocumented children ages 15 and younger.

and pro-gressives opposed it because they saw it as potentially a job killer. And we see it the same way,” he said. Despite the Colorado loss, similar plans aiming at employers with workers on Medicaid are getting new traction nationwide this year as states grapple with healthcare shortfalls. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the nation’s first such measure in recent years into law on June 30, charging employers with at least 50 workers up to $725 per each employee receiving Medicaid benefits, aiming to raise up to $145 million a year. In California, lawmakers in early July passed the Fair Share From Big Corporations Act with the aim of rolling out new fees next year for employers with workers enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. “We also believe the biggest and most profitable companies should do their fair share — not shift the cost of employee health care onto taxpayers,” Gov. Gavin

Newsom said in a statement on sign-ing the bill.

Fewer opt for health coverage as costs rise Lamont’s proposed employer tax comes as pressure mounts on the state’s healthcare system on both the local and national level. Due in part to higher prices caused by expiring federal subsidies, enrollment in Access Health CT’s marketplace dropped slightly this year, in line with nationwide trends. Despite a record num-ber of signups in the initial enrollment period that ended Jan. 31, actual enrollment in the exchange dropped by 1%, to 148,596 people, according to an analysis posted this week by nonprofit news site KFF. The number of people getting health coverage on Affordable Care Act exchanges like Access Health CT nationwide dropped by nearly 3 million people between 2025 and 2026, the U.S. De-part-

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ment of Health and Human Services has reported. Instead of opting for cheaper health insurance, many of those who dropped ACA plans are going without any coverage and turning up at hospitals unable to pay, healthcare executives have been telling shareholders in recent weeks. “We expected some of these patients to shift to other forms of coverage, but this did not happen. Instead, these patients migrated almost one for one to uninsured,” the CEO of the HCA for-profit hospital network told analysts in an earning call on July 24. Those uninsured patients are still getting care at hospitals, but are increasingly unable to pay for it, according to health industry analyst Kaufman Hall. Hospitals are facing higher rates of bad debt and charity care this year, along with soaring drug prices, the company said in a recent report.

Companies defend coverage options The choice of Walmart as the site of Lamont’s June press event was no coincidence — the mega-retailer is often cited as a top employer of workers who make so little that they are also eligible for government benefits like Medicaid health coverage and food stamps. Walmart defended its benefits packages in an emailed statement, citing medical coverage that starts at $38.30 per pay period for full-time and 30-plus-hour-perweek workers. “Penalizing employers for hiring Connecticut residents is bad health care policy and even worse economic policy,” Walmart said of Lamont’s plan. “This proposal does nothing to lower premiums, reduce prescription drug prices or address the true drivers of health care inflation.” The average wage of Walmart workers in Connecticut is $19.31 an hour, the company said. Although frequently cited as the largest employer of low-wage workers receiving government ben-efits, Walmart was surpassed this year by gig platforms like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Grubhub and Instacart as the largest employers of workers receiving food stamps, according to new data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Amazon, which currently employs about 15,000 people in Connecticut, also moved up the list to the No. 3 employer of workers receiving SNAP benefits and the No. 2 employer of those enrolled in Medicaid, according to the report. “The conclusions drawn from these reports are wrong and are based on a fundamental misrepre-sentation of how public assistance eligibility works,” Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty said in a statement. The new GAO report looks at raw numbers instead of percentages, leading to “mis-leading” conclusions, she said. Amazon workers are eligible for company-sponsored health insurance beginning on their first day, with some plans starting at $5 a week. Because eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP is based on total household income, "employers that offer parttime options for those who want them, like we do, are likely to have more people who are eligible," Lighty said. Con’t on page 06

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Lamont Labor Cheer: “Four More Years!” by Thomas Breen

The New Haven independent

UNITE HERE Local 34 Chief Steward and Staff Director Barbara Vereen held a microphone on a crowded College Street sidewalk Tuesday afternoon and asked, “Could we just say, ‘Four more years?'” She then led a group of statewide union leaders and allies in that exact chant — “Four more years! Four more years!” — as part of a labor-focused rally in support of Gov. Ned Lamont’s reelection. Vereen was one of a half-dozen speakers at a press conference and rally for Lamont that was held on the sidewalk in front of 425 College St., which is the headquarters of the politically influential Yale unions, UNITE HERE Locals 33, 34, and 35. The rally took place a week to the day before the Aug. 11 Democratic gubernatorial primary, when Lamont — a two-term incumbent and Greenwich businessman — is set to face off against Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott, who has sought to challenge the governor from the left. Whoever wins the primary will face Republican candidate and Greenwich State Sen. Ryan Fazio in November’s gen-eral election. Tuesday afternoon’s rally — Lamont’s second New Haven stop of the day — saw Connecticut labor leaders like UNITE HERE Local 217 Secretary-Treasurer Josh Stanley, New Haven Rising Director Scott Marks, CT AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne, Connecticut Educational Associa-tion President Kate Dias, Connecticut State Building Trades Council Executive Director Joseph Toner, and Carpenters Local 326 President Miguel Fuentes heap praise on Lamont for being a friend to organized labor. It also marked a smoothing out of a sometimes rocky relationship be-tween the governor and labor in the runup to the contested Democratic primary. “The difference is stark” between when Lamont first took office eight years ago and now, Haw-thorne said. He lauded Lamont for helping raise the minimum wage and tying it to inflation, for delivering eight straight years of raises for state employees, for creating a paid family and medical leave program and strengthening pensions for teachers and banning private prisons and restoring PTSD coverage for first responders and supporting Project Labor Agreements with unionized con-struction workers. Lamont is a “true champion of labor,” Hawthorne said. During her time at the mic, Vereen spoke about organized labor at Yale. During his first term in office, Lamont stood “with us around having Yale

Barbara Vereen at Tuesday's rally: "Get up, stand up, and fight for your rights." Credit: Thomas Breen photos

commit to hiring local people,” she said. “That was when we coined the phrase: ‘Get up, stand up, and fight for your rights.'” She thanked Lamont and the statewide labor leaders for “coming to the heart of Yale, where we’re negotiating one of the toughest contracts that we have ever negotiated since the forming of Local 34.” That’s the union that represents roughly 4,000 clerical and technical workers at the university. Vereen said that Local 34’s current contract negotiations with the university hinge in part on how “our wages are not keeping up. Our wages are falling behind.” She said that Yale has spent the past nine months showing “PowerPoint after PowerPoint about how poor” they were going to be — a reference to Trump administration policies, like the endow-ment tax hike, that university leaders have warned will cost Yale a significant amount of money. All the while, Vereen said, Yale has a nearly $45 billion endowment. “We know Yale’s gonna be fine,” she said. Vereen also spoke about how “A.I. automation is threatening workers all around the state. We need a governor

Gov. Lamont (center): “One union, one family, one fight.”

Con’t from page 04

could cost jobs

… Carpenters Local 326’s Miguel Fuentes …

… and Connecticut State Building Trades Council’s Joseph Toner, on College St. on Thursday.

6

Two-thirds of Amazon's Connecticut employees are enrolled in Amazon-sponsored health plans, according to the company, which said many workers increase their earnings over time and leave public assistance programs. The GAO report was commissioned by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who said the find-ings underscore a growing reliance on public assistance among employees of some of the nation's largest corporations. “It is beyond unacceptable that these corporations, owned by some of the wealthiest people on the planet, are receiving corporate welfare from the federal government,” Sanders said. “No one who works for a company making billions in profits should be living in poverty.” All major employers offer some form of health insurance but can’t force workers to choose their plans, DiPentima of the CBIA said. Connecticut businesses have increasingly limited options on health plans to offer to their workers due in part to state mandates and regulations, he added. “They can’t really control the product they’re offering for their employees, and they can’t control whether those employees choose to enroll in that product or go over to Medicaid,” DiPentima said. “Yet they’re going to be taxed. "

that is going to stand up with us and help us fight against — we’re not saying stop tech. What we’re saying is, protect the workers, protect our jobs, so we can keep us middle class.” She said that Local 34 “has proudly endorsed Gov. Lamont” for a third term. And she ended with the chant she began her speech with: “Four more years!” Con’t from page 04

CT Officials Slam

failures as one-off anomalies and go back to blaming all our state’s problems on President Trump and the federal government. Democrats are behind the wheel in this state, and it’s time they acted like it.” Senate Republicans Stephen Harding of Brookfield and Rob Sampson of Wolcott had similar comments, posting on the Senate Republican page that “we must now get clear answers from state officials and the Lamont administration. That includes Ramirez’s voting and driving records. They must get out in front of this. Get to a podium and answer questions.” Lamont said Connecticut’s elections are safe and voters “should have full confidence in the security of our elections.” Thomas said her office had reviewed Connecticut’s voter registration system and confirmed that the Stamford defendant has never been registered to vote in Connecticut. People had a right to ask questions and scrutinize the government, she said. “But asking questions is different from making accusations. Verification comes first,” she said. “You cannot skip the fact-finding process, make a reckless allegation, and call it oversight.” Several elected officials questioned Connecticut’s voter rolls without first contacting the Secretary of the State’s Office, Thomas said. She also criticized some media outlets and reported the allega-tion while acknowledging that it had not been verified that the Stamford defendant and the New Britain voter were the same person. The case began July 13, when off-duty Bridgeport police officer Cooper Whiteside and Brittany Islami died in an apparent DUI crash while riding Cooper’s motorcycle. Melissa Esperanza Ramirez of Stamford was later arrested. A July 24 press release from the department identified the suspect only as Melissa Ramirez, 27, and said that she had been taken into custody in Stamford but did not list a city of residence. She was charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, traveling unreasonably fast and failure to drive in the proper lane. She was reportedly being held on $500,000 bond. The online people search database Spokeo lists 19 people named Melissa Ramirez in Connecticut, although the listings are compiled from publicly available documents and there are numerous dis-crepancies and ambiguities in the listings.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Eco-Friendly Fashion Returns To Bregamos

Local designer Tea Montgomery leaned over a piece of a peacock-patterned fabric, the tan and green print vibrant in his hands. To another pair of eyes, it may have been a scrap headed for the waste bin. But for Montgomery, it was just the accent that his bag had just been waiting for. Slow-ly he glued it to his bag, made with tan fabric, and decided what to add next. Around him, Bregamos Community Theater felt like a cool, dramatically lit art gallery. Colorful paintings winked out from the walls, complemented by mason jars of red-pink dahlias from South Haven Farm that gave each table a pop of color. There were custom pieces of “trashion” already on display: a jacket made out of old food boxes and bags; a loose dress with bright yarn that bloomed into a fiber rainbow around the collar, denim jackets waiting for a little something to zhuzh them up. The crowd had a super positive energy, with everyone hanging out, talking, and laughing. This was the scene last Saturday at "Create and Celebrate," Trash to Fashion’s second annual ball and workshop, which brought 38 people together to fête and envision a kinder and more thrifty approach to fashion and raise awareness around waste. Held at Bregamos Community Theater in the city’s Fair Haven neighborhood, the event is the sustainably-sourced, fashion-forward brain-child of artist and writer Rebekah Fraser, who launched the organization last year. Trash To Fashion receives fiscal sponsorship from Dwight Hall at Yale. Sponsors of the event in-cluded Goodwill of Southern New England, the Greater New Haven Green Fund, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, and the New Alliance Foundation. Community partners in-cluded EcoWorks and New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority, as well as Peels & Wheels Composting, EcoWorks and the Whitney Avenue plant-based ice cream shop Via Lactea. “It’s not just that we’re doing fun, cool things,” Fraser said in a phone call before the event. “It’s that we are very careful about how we do them, because we recognize the impact of our choices on our community.” “Environmental action can be joyful, and our choices are a reflection of how we take care of others and ourselves,” she added. Trash to Fashion is a grassroots organization that Fraser launched last year to creatively address the sheer amount of trash that people produce, and the environmental harm caused by both waste (par-ticularly plastics and synthetic materials) and fast fashion. Her concept of “trashion,” around which she has held workshops, fashion shows, and an exhibition, challenges people to take garbage and scrap fabric and turn them into wearable style pieces. Take, for instance, a navy blue dress from EcoWorks’ Lisa Spetrini spiffed up with blue and green fabric, soda tabs, and colorful bright yarn. In the past year, Spetrini has been a collaborator and friend to Trash To Fashion, which dovetails with the eco-friendly approach she takes at EcoWorks’ North Haven home. Spetrini co-founded EcoWorks with Sherill Bald-

Tasnim, the hardest part was all the choic-es in designing her own object. “When you know how a piece is put together, you can change it later,” Tasnim said.

Alexine and Tasnim. Karina Gonzalez Photo.

win in 2012; the organization focuses on creative reuse. For the second year in a row, the ball and workshop was designed as a completely zero-waste event. Fraser and collaborators set up a compost bin set up for food scraps; Goodwill of Southern New England donated glasses, plates, and silverware, which attendees got to take home with them as souvenirs. In addition, the organization used bamboo ice cream cups and disposable napkins, and sent guests home with foilwrapped leftovers on plates and in compostable takeout containers, Fraser said. She said that she and event organizers work hard to make sure the event does not leave a footprint. “In addition to whatever textiles were upcycled during the workshop, we recycled 140 pounds of textiles brought to us by the community and leftover by the workshop,” she said in a text following the event. She and organizers also “saved” nearly three dozen garments that received a new life thanks to the team at Pistachio Print Co., members of which were on hand to add Trash To Fash-ion’s logo to old clothing items. During the event, Montgomery remembered the ball’s origins, and how the organization has con-tinued to evolve in the time since. Last year, he and Fraser grabbed a coffee to plan their very first workshop. She told him about her vision, and he was in; it fits with his own efforts to keep his practice as sustainable as possible. It took off from there. "She was talking to me about the idea before it ever started," Montgomery said. Before the work-shops, he and Fraser made sure to collect materials like string, hooks for earrings, and otherwise-would-be refuse—lots of it (people also donated their trash, from old woven bags to window screens). He has remained a supporter of the organization at all of its events, with

Tiffany Robinson. Karina Gonzalez Photo.

fellow designers like Donald Carter, Molly McGurk and Leo Smokinski and Soule Golden among others. This year, Montgomery worked on hand-sewing a bag out of old vinyl scraps, using a hole punch-er to prepare the material. He admitted that working with garbage or discarded fabric isn't easy for him (or anyone) because “the pieces come in different shapes and sizes, so you may not get a nor-mal, evenly cut piece of fabric.” According to Montgomery, the biggest challenge is "figuring out what you want to do," but he loves how the process pushes creative limits. "The energy is amazing," he said. "I really love the creativity, and the inspiration, and everyone’s eyes. It looks like everyone is having fun or enjoying themselves."

8

Jackie Gaudioso.

He added that the best part of events like the workshop is seeing people who have never met before leave the event as friends. Plus, it gives people the opportunity to do something kind for the planet. The event also brings in locals who are new to the Trash to Fashion world. Alexine Casanova, op-erations manager at Dwight Hall, came out with her 10-year-old daughter Tasnim, and the two jumped right into experimenting. Tasnim was drawn to a piece of bright blue fabric that she hoped to turn into a bag, while her mom searched for a floral pattern she could weave into an accessory. Casanova, like Montgomery, noted that using scrap materials requires a totally different approach than regular sewing. Instead of buying exact materials from a pattern, a person has to look at what you have and figure out what you can make with it. For

Even though they had just arrived, the mother-daughter duo described the vibe of the room in three words: friendly, colorful, and creative. Another first-timer at the event was Tiffany Robinson (photographed above), planning and devel-opment coordinator at the Community Action Agency of New Haven, who heard about the project through word of mouth. She was immediately won over by the experience, noting that she will def-initely consider coming back next year because the whole setup was "pretty dope." When she first walked in, a bright pink metallic fabric caught her eye. However, she decided to go in a different direction for her project, spending the evening crafting a custom skirt out of a tan fab-ric. She described the feel of the event as “eclectic, intentional, and vibrant.” The event also helped form and fortify a bridge between local environmental work, fashion design and artmaking. Jackie Gaudioso, outdoor adventure coordinator with the New Haven Parks De-partment, connected with Fraser through an environmental book discussion club in June 2025. Later that year, they decided to collaborate on a series of workshops, including two "canoe cleanup and trash" chats held in May and June at New Haven's Beaver Pond and West River Parks, and an upcoming jewelry-making workshop where participants will use materials found during the clean-ups and sterilized before reuse. A few weeks before "Create and Celebrate," Gaudioso attended a "Think Like A Trashionista" workshop at Lotta Studio with her daughter, where they drew sketches of a custom jacket to bring to the July event. While she initially planned to use crochet sleeves, looking at all of the up cycled materials made her turn in a different direction. She decided to decorate her jacket with several zip-pers and buttons, featuring a built-in "picture frame" to slide a different photo into every time she wears it. A biologist and former research scientist, Gaudioso shared how important these workshops have been for her. While she isn't a professional seamstress and found it a bit challenging, the event al-lowed her to tap into her old art minor. "Through going to her workshops, I've been able to kind of reignite my creativity," Gaudioso said, vibing with the creative energy. This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit sto-ries with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Karina Gonzalez is a rising sophomore planning to transfer into Madison High School. She was previously at Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) and Acellus Academy.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

CT Providing $300 Grocery Cards For Eligi-ble Residents Pushed Off SNAP by Donald Eng CTNewsJunkie

HARTFORD, CT — Low-income residents who have been pushed out of the Supplemental Nutri-tion Assistance Program (SNAP) due to changes in the federal program are eligible to receive onetime $300 grocery benefits from the state, Gov. Ned Lamont and a group of other elected officials announced Tuesday. The $300 grocery benefits are being distributed as prepaid virtual grocery cards — not loaded onto existing EBT cards — through a partnership the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) arranged with Connecticut’s network of community action agencies, with support provided by the Connecticut Association for Community Action (CAFCA). Eligible residents are expected to be able to begin accessing the benefits immediately. “Connecticut will not stand by as the Trump administration uses hunger as a weapon against work-ing families, veterans, and our most vulnerable populations,” Lamont said. “These federal changes represent a cruel decision to pull food away from people who need it most.”

Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves talks about SNAP benefits in New Haven, CT on Aug. 4, 2026. Credit: Donald Eng / CTNewsJunkie

Lamont added that Connecticut is providing this food assistance as a bridge to prevent people from going hungry as they navigate federal changes. “I am urging Congress to reverse these inhumane cuts so we can get groceries back on the tables of those who need it,” he said.

The benefits are being financed by $8.5 million in state funding that Lamont approved several weeks ago using Connecticut’s Federal Cuts Response Fund. This fund was established by Gov-ernor Lamont and the Connecticut General Assembly in 2025 to ensure that the state remains pre-pared to quickly respond to significant federal policy and funding changes affecting Connecticut residents, businesses, and communities. Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves said when a family’s gro-

cery budget disap-pears overnight, it affects health, stress and home stability. “This benefit won’t undo the impact of these federal changes, but it’s real, immediate help, and our community action agency partners are ready to make sure it reaches the people who need it—along with the support to help them regain SNAP eligibility going forward,” she said. Any individual in a household that lost SNAP eligibility due to the new federal changes — com-monly referred to as

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ABAWD, or Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents requirements — since December 1, 2025, and who is no longer receiving SNAP, qualifies for the benefit. The benefit is available per individual, not per household, and households could have multiple SNAP recipients. Connecticut residents who received a DSS notice stating they do not meet the ABAWD require-ments and who are identified in that notice as having reached their three-month SNAP benefit limit should reach out to their local community

action agency about how to request the benefit. Eligibility will be confirmed at the time of request, Barton-Reeves said.. Losing SNAP eligibility due to ABAWD does not necessarily mean an entire household loses benefits — other household members may still be eligible, officials said. Receiving the $300 grocery benefit will not affect a resident’s eligibility for any other assistance program. The grocery benefit functions like a prepaid Mastercard or Visa and can be used at any food retailer that accepts standard credit cards. It does not expire, and any unused balance remains on the card until spent. The benefit is intended for SNAP-eligible food purchases. Community action agencies will lead outreach, verify eligibility, distribute the cards, and connect individuals with wraparound supports to help them work toward regaining SNAP eligibility. The state and its administrative partners are also establishing processes to prevent duplicate payments. The $8.5 million used to support these grocery benefits come as part of a broader $33 million in-vestment in state-funded food assistance that also includes $24.5 million used to expand capacity at food banks, pantries, and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program. An additional $4.1 million from the fund is supporting outreach and community health worker ca-pacity for community action agencies to help residents navigate SNAP and Medicaid changes.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

For One Candidate, The Arts As A Space For Connection, Conversation By Lucy Gellman

The New Haven independent

Just off West Rock Avenue, Raphael Saadiq’s “Keep Marchin” was setting the tone for the week-end, the sun making its slow descent as the musician proclaimed We gotta keep on! We just gotta keep on! Keep on marchin', yeah! On the track, voices swelled in the background. On the sidewalk outside, a trickle of people made their way through the neighborhood, some stopping at the scene, and stepping inside to take a listen. “Music just informs who you are,” said State House candidate Justin Farmer, one hand stretched over a mouse as he scrolled through his discography. His finger hovered over Girl Talk’s “Minute By Minute” for a moment, as if he was contemplating where he wanted the evening to go next. It’s one of the ways that the arts, and particularly music and visual culture, are showing up in Farmer’s campaign for Connecticut’s 92nd State House District, an area that includes New Ha-ven’s Westville and Amity neighborhoods, as well as sections of Edgewood and the Hill. At a lis-tening party and informal discussion at the Westville arts incubator SOURCE / MATERIAL Fri-day night, he pointed to the importance of both in keeping him grounded, pushing him forward, and helping him talk about his lived experience as a candidate. Farmer, who served on the Hamden Legislative Council for three terms, and made waves when he ran for State Senate 2020, is currently running against incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon, who has held the position since 1985, and former East Rock/Downtown Alder Eli Sabin, who stepped down from that position in January of this year, shortly before his lease in Westville began. To read more about the three, check out this coverage from our friends at the New Haven Independent. “Arts and culture are important right?” Farmer said in a phone call Saturday, following Friday evening’s event and after a morning of knocking on doors. “I think part of the reason we have such a hard time connecting is that people sometimes reject their culture, or are afraid to share their cul-ture and explain their cultural differences. But when you talk about it, it’s like, ‘Hey, I felt moved by this thing. You felt moved by this thing.’ It’s an easier way to have these conversations.” On the campaign trail, he added, artmaking has given him an opening to talk about everything from the environment to intellectual property, artificial intelligence, and public education, as well as his own lived experience as a Black man and a person with a disability. Farmer lives with Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause verbal or physical ticks. More on that below. Farmer’s love for music began in Hamden, in a Jamaican immigrant household where artists like Bob Marley, Buju Banton and Ras Michael were in constant rotation. By his 10th birthday, he had found a musical comrade in his cousin, Keyla Whyte, Westvillian whose tastes bent toward old school rap and R&B, and

Justin Farmer on West Rock Avenue last week. Lucy Gellman Photo.

who liked to trade music with him. That never ended: the two still swap CD recommendations (Farmer largely stays off streaming platforms, which can exploit artists, but he does use the offline app Musicolet). It was his first exposure to “all the rap,” with favorites that included (and still include) 2Pac, Nas, and Jay Z among dozens of others—artists who he now lists among hundreds of songs he’ll gravi-tate towards. Years later, he lists artists including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott to among his favorites—which also include artists like John Mayer, Carrie Underwood and blink-182. As he got older, growing his sonic palate, music also became an unexpected lesson in racism and stereotypes. When Farmer got involved in grassroots advocacy work over a decade ago, people would look at his noise-cancelling headphones—he wears them to control and regulate his Tou-rette’s, sometimes for up to 17 hours a day—and “they would say, ‘Oh, I know what you’re listen-ing to,’” he recalled.

WVRA Executive Director Lizzy Donius (center) with her daughter, Alice McGill (left) and curator nico okoro (right).

When he asked, they clarified that they meant rap. Exclusively rap. It frustrated him. “Like, yeah, I listen to some Remy Ma, but I also listen to some Yo-Yo Ma too,” he said. “I listen to everything.” While he bristled at the assumptions— he still does—he also saw it as a chance to engage with peo-ple, busting stereotypes as he talked about his musical tastes, his experience with disability, and his platform. It’s what has inspired him to often march alongside artists, poets, and vocalists, including the spoken word artist Sun Queen and, in 2020, the artist Thabisa Rich as she belted Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” while waiting for a statue of Christopher Columbus to

Heidi Oyuela and her dad, Carlos Oyuela, chat with Farmer.

come down. “A lot of art, it feels apolitical but it’s not,” he said. “It’s a gateway to saying, ‘Hey, actually every-thing is politics.’” Friday, that was evident as a soundtrack

sailed from Dev’s “Getaway” to Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man” to Marvin Gaye’s “Distant Lover,” the sound filling the space. Inside, CDs covered tables and counters, their covers

catching every so often in the light. A campaign sign sat propped up in the corner, looking out onto West Rock Avenue; two shirts hung over seat backs, as if they had come just to listen. Attendees trickled in and out; toddlers (including in full disclosure this reporter’s) started an im-promptu dance party with organizer Nate Fox in the center of the room. Trays of cookies sat un-touched in the corner, attendees poring over album covers and chatting with each other over favor-ite songs. Outside, Farmer greeted recent college graduate Heidi Oyuela and her dad, Carlos Oyuela, who both live in the 92nd district and will be making time to vote on the 11th. Six years ago, Heidi re-membered, Farmer was the reason she got into grassroots politics. At the time, she was still a sophomore at Hamden High School, and her AP Government teacher encouraged students to get involved in a local race. That race ended up being a tight one: Farmer was running against Jeorge Cabrera for the 17th State Senate district. Oyuela saw a young, eager candidate who shared many of her progressive views, and built alliances by pounding the pavement and knocking on doors. When she left Hamden for Pace University in 2022, she studied political science and women and gender studies—just like Farmer. Her early advocacy for Farmer encouraged her to work on “a lot of campaigns,” including Zohran Mamdani’s run for New York City mayor last year. Now that she’s graduated, she wants to do political organizing professionally—including in the district she now calls home. Oyuela’s family moved to Westville five years ago. “I love the energy and the diversity!” she said. She added that she had signed up to canvass, so when she saw the event was happening, she was excited to swing by and get involved. nico w. okoro, who runs SOURCE / MATERIAL and was recently appointed executive director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, echoed that enthusiasm—although she made it clear that she would not be endorsing anyone or talking about candidates during the evening. For her, opening the space to Farmer was about a chance to build community around artmaking, which is why SOURCE / MATERIAL exists. She sees Farmer doing that when he shows up to events not just in the district, but across New Haven. Back inside, Saadiq’s “Keep Marchin” faded into D’Angelo’s “I Found My Smile Again.” On a playlist, not far ahead of them, were tracks from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Waylon Jennings, LMFAO, Will Smith, Wiz Khalifa and Alicia Keys. The night was young, and there were hundreds of songs to go. “Planting The Seeds of Change” Farmer’s interest in the arts, particularly in the last decade or so, has extended to visual culture and graphic design, a field he thinks about frequently as he pursues journalism (along with political sci-ence

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Howard University’s Enroll-ment Controversy Highlights Black Colleges Are Under Financial Pressure: What’s Really Happening At HBCUS Right Now By courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com

underserved communities, making their finan-cial stability a national issue rather than simply a higher education con-cern. As The EduLedger summarized, HBCUs “are being forced to aggres-sively increase their endowment fundraising, divert budgets toward institutional ‘gap’ grants, and in some cases, consider tuition freezes to prevent a mass exodus of students who can no longer bridge the fund-ing gap between federal aid and the cost of attendance.”

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country are facing mounting financial pressures and operational challenges, and Howard University has become the latest institution to find itself at the center of a national conversation with its enrollment controver-sy. Howard University enrollment controversy: What happened? This month, Howard University reinstated dozens of incoming fresh-men after more than 500 students were abruptly removed from the University’s fall incoming class over financial and enrollment deadlines. The decision sparked outrage among students, parents, and alumni, quickly gaining traction across social media. According to DC News Now, Howard has since reinstated 46 incoming freshmen after widespread public backlash over its decision to unen-roll hundreds of students with unpaid balances. University officials say they are reviewing each student’s case individually and making adjust-ments where appropriate as families continue arriving on campus seeking answers. The controversy began after Howard unenrolled more than 500 in-coming freshmen who failed to meet a July 10 payment deadline. Uni-versity officials said students received multiple communications re-garding outstanding balances and enrollment requirements before the deadline. However, many students and parents said they believed scholarships, financial aid, or outside funding had already covered their tuition costs—or that those funds were still being processed. Some families said they didn’t learn about remaining balances until after stu-dents had already lost their enrollment. In a statement published July 23, Howard acknowledged the frustra-tion families were experiencing but defended its communication ef-forts. “We understand that the enrollment update that was issued yesterday is difficult and disappointing for students and their families. Howard University provided multiple detailed communications throughout March, April, May, June, and July to first-time-in-college students and families on steps needed to secure enrollment for the fall 2026 se-mester,” the HBCU stated. “Notifications included emails, personalized financial aid information, videos, and Bison Prep sessions—to help in-coming students understand tuition payment requirements, payment plan options, the process for reporting outside scholarships, and the deadlines necessary to secure their enrollment,” they continued. “Students who did not meet the established payment, payment ar-rangement, or scholarship and other financial aid reporting deadlines have been notified that the University can no longer hold their place in the incoming class. As Howard finalizes enrollment for the Fall 2026 semester, which begins August 17, confirming enrollment is essential to planning academic programs, housing, financial aid, and student support services.” The university added, “We recognize that some students with pending outside scholarships and other financial aid resources

Several institutions have already experienced the consequences of these financial pressures.

may have been impacted by the recent enrollment update. The University is reviewing information related to anticipated scholarship funding and other finan-cial aid, where appropriate, and will consider relevant circumstances presented regarding pending scholarship awards and financial aid re-sources.” Howard University has faced financial challenges over the last several years. The enrollment controversy comes as Howard is already navigating broader financial headwinds. According to Fitch Ratings, the university has faced rising operating expenses and softer enrollment in recent years, with expectations that operating cash flow will remain narrow through fiscal years 2026 and 2027. While Howard projects an operating surplus for fiscal 2026 on a consolidated basis—thanks in part to one-time unrestricted gifts—its underlying financial picture remains more challenging. Excluding those one-time donations, the university is expected to post an oper-ating deficit that could continue into fiscal 2027. Enrollment has also become a concern. After several years of growth, Howard’s fall 2025 student headcount declined by 5%, reducing tuition and auxiliary revenue by approximately $1 million. Meanwhile, Howard University Hospital continues to operate on thin margins despite im-proving financial performance. Thankfully, hope remains for the legacy HBCU. According to Fitch Rat-ings, the university has implemented approximately $25 million in op-erational improvements and plans additional cost-saving measures. Fitch noted that Howard remains in compliance with its debt and li-quidity requirements and maintains significant financial flexibility with approximately $331 million in liquidity at the end of fiscal year 2025. Analysts expect the university to return to balanced operations over the next one to two years. Howard’s challenges, however, are part

of a much larger trend affect-ing HBCUs nationwide. HBCUs are facing challenges across the country. Many Historically Black Colleges and Universities are facing unprece-dented financial and operational risks driven by federal policy changes, declining enrollment, state funding disputes, and individual institu-tional financial struggles. One of the most significant changes comes from new federal Parent PLUS loan caps. Beginning July 1, 2026, annual Parent PLUS borrow-ing is limited to $20,000 per student with a lifetime cap of $65,000. Because many HBCU families historically relied on Parent PLUS loans that exceeded those limits, institutions are now scrambling to raise emergency scholarship funds and institutional aid to help students close unexpected funding gaps. Loan default rates present another concern. According to Bankrate, Department of Education rules could place nearly 60% of HBCUs at risk of losing access to federal student aid programs if student loan default rates are not adequately controlled.

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Federal aid changes don’t stop there. The Williams-Franklin Founda-tion warns that policy changes included in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law in 2025, tighten Pell Grant eligibil-ity while proposing a 90% reduction in Federal Work-Study funding. Those changes disproportionately affect low-income students who rely on campus employment and federal aid to pay for housing, food, and educational expenses. The financial disparities facing HBCUs have existed for decades. Today, there remains an estimated $12.8 billion funding gap between land-grant HBCUs and predominantly white institutions. The foundation also noted that although HBCUs enroll only about 3% of U.S. college students, they produce nearly 20% of all Black college graduates. They remain national leaders in educating Black engineers, teachers, healthcare professionals, scientists, and public servants. A United Negro College Fund (UNCF) study found that HBCUs gener-ate $14.8 billion in annual economic impact while supporting more than 134,000 jobs nationwide. These institutions serve as major economic engines in historically

As previously reported, Saint Augustine’s University filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Raleigh-based HBCU filed on April 27 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. In announcing the filing, university officials emphasized that bankrupt-cy was intended to strengthen—not close—the institution. “This structured, court-supervised process will enable SAU to organize its financial affairs in an orderly and transparent manner. The deci-sion, made by the University’s Board of Trustees, reflects a deliberate and strategic step to advance the University’s long-term sustainability while addressing current financial realities.” University leaders said Saint Augustine’s will continue operating throughout the restructuring process with support from its primary lender, Self-Help Ventures Fund. Court documents list the university’s assets between $100 million and $500 million, with liabilities ranging from $50 million to $100 million and more than 200 creditors. Meanwhile, students at Harris-Stowe State University in Missouri found themselves at the center of a separate funding battle earlier this year. Just weeks before the spring semester concluded, Missouri lawmakers considered changing the state’s higher education funding formula by tying institutional funding primarily to full-time enrollment numbers. According to 5 On Your Side, the proposal would have reduced funding to Harris-Stowe—the state’s only HBCU— by nearly $5 million, roughly 40% of its state allocation. University leaders warned the cuts would almost certainly force tuition increases and threaten student enrollment. Although House Bill 2003 ultimately became law, legislators removed the enrollment-based funding penalty before the governor signed the measure on June 30, 2026. Still, lawmakers acknowledged that Missouri’s higher education fund-ing formula remains unresolved and will require a long-term solution. For Howard University and many other HBCUs, the challenges extend far beyond a single enrollment deadline. Rising costs, changing federal aid policies, enrollment fluctuations, and longstanding funding inequi-ties are creating an increasingly difficult financial landscape. The outcome of Howard’s current enrollment controversy may ulti-mately be resolved through individual student reviews. But the broader issues confronting HBCUs across the country are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Forbes Top HBCUs 2026: Howard, NC A&T Lead List By courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com

Forbes Top HBCUs 2026 is here, and it’s the first ranking the publica-tion has ever built just for historically Black colleges and universities. The list highlights 20 schools total. Forbes split the field into two sepa-rate top-10 tables, one for private HBCUs and one for public HBCUs. That structure matters. Private and public schools run on very different budgets, so grouping them together would have buried some strong performers. Instead, each sector gets judged against its own peers. Forbes Top HBCUs 2026: A Quick Snapshot Before diving into the full breakdown, here’s the headline. Howard University leads the private schools, while North Carolina A&T tops the public list. Together, the 20 schools span nine states and one U.S. ter-ritory. Some are massive research universities. Others are small liberal arts colleges with just a few thousand students. Still, all 20 earned their spot the same way: by showing that a degree from an HBCU pays off. How Forbes Built the Rankings The methodology borrows from Forbes’ larger America’s Top Colleges project. Graduation rates count. So do alumni earnings, student debt loads, and retention numbers. Additionally, Forbes factored in return on investment, rewarding schools whose graduates see the biggest fi-nancial payoff relative to cost. On top of that, Forbes pulled from its own American Leaders List. That database tracks graduates who’ve reached high office, won major awards, or landed on other Forbes hon-ors. As a result, schools with standout alumni in that database got an extra boost. Meanwhile, only two HBCUs made Forbes’ full Top 500 Colleges list this year. Howard University and Spelman College were the excep-tions. That scarcity says something important. The national six-year graduation rate hovers around 60 percent, but HBCUs often fall under 40 percent for first-time, full-time students. Because of that gap, Forbes’ formula leans hard on outcomes like this one. Private HBCUs: Howard Tops a Stacked Top Five Howard University claimed the No. 1 spot among private HBCUs. It’s a title Howard also holds on Forbes’ broader 2026 rankings, marking a second straight year at the top. Meanwhile, Spelman College, More-house College, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Hampton University rounded out the top five. Spelman posted a 76 percent graduation rate, the best mark in the private group. Similarly, Morehouse stood out on earnings, with graduates reporting median mid-career pay of $126,700. Tuskegee University, Fisk University, Talladega College, Clark Atlanta University, and Tougaloo College filled the rest of the private top 10. Each school built its reputation while operating with smaller endow-ments than most predominantly

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Many families are struggling to afford the essentials right now. If you’re looking for ways to lower your energy bills, talk to us. We’ve got solutions to help. white institutions. Still, that gap makes the showing here even more impressive, since Forbes weighs financial return so heavily. Public HBCUs: North Carolina A&T Leads a Deep Field On the public side, North Carolina A&T took the top ranking. The Greensboro school posted a 55 percent six-year graduation rate. Meanwhile, its graduates reported median early-career pay of $68,700, climbing to $116,300 at mid-career. Overall, those numbers track with A&T’s reputation for producing more Black engineers than almost any other university in the country. Florida A&M University finished second, followed by Prairie View A&M, Morgan State University, and the University of the Virgin Islands. Similarly, Prairie View turned in strong earnings numbers, with gradu-ates posting median early-career pay of $72,300 and mid-career pay of $117,900. Finally, Tennessee State, Bowie State, Winston-Salem State, Elizabeth City State, and Delaware State rounded out the public top 10. Why the Timing Matters This ranking lands at an interesting moment. Since the 2020 murder of George Floyd, more Black students have gravitated toward HBCUs. Then, the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending affirmative action pushed that trend further. So did what Forbes describes as growing pressure on college diversity programs nationwide. Consequently, stu-dents say they’re looking for community and a sense of belonging. That search follows decades of decline, since the share of Black stu-dents choosing HBCUs shrank steadily from 1976 through 2014 before stabilizing in recent years.

Because of that shift, families are also weighing sticker price against long-term payoff more carefully than ever. Naturally, a ranking built around earnings and debt outcomes speaks directly to that concern. Forbes’ own reporting frames the project around one question: not which school has the most name recognition, but which ones actu-ally deliver for the students who enroll. What It Means for the HBCU Community Howard University already had momentum heading into this ranking. The school recently topped Forbes’ full America’s Top Colleges list, put together a strong showing at the 2026 NCAA Track and Field Champi-onships, and kept making enrollment headlines all year. Likewise, North Carolina A&T’s win adds to its own good stretch. The Aggies be-came the first HBCU to top 15,000 students in enrollment, and they’re gearing up for a 100th Homecoming celebration this fall. Other outlets have also weighed in on what the debut list means for the broader landscape. According to HBCU Gameday’s breakdown of the rankings, splitting private and public categories gives smaller, re-source-limited schools a real shot at recognition. That framing mat-ters, because it puts Talladega, Tougaloo, and Elizabeth City State in the same conversation as bigger-name programs, based purely on out-comes rather than size or endowment. For now, Forbes Top HBCUs 2026 gives prospective students, alumni, and administrators a fresh data point to point to. Expect it to become an annual fixture, much like Forbes’ broader college rankings. Expect the conversation around methodology, resources, and representation to keep evolving right alongside it.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Tuskegee student leader says dress code debate overrides deeper concerns By Courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com Tuskegee University’s dress code has dominated public discussion in HBCU circles and beyond. But a student leader at the private HBCU says the controversy has obscured deeper concerns about housing, communication and administrative support. Rayne Caldwell contacted HBCU Gameday to offer further insight into why students have been speaking out. She identified herself as Tuskegee’s sophomore class president. Caldwell said the conversation has centered almost entirely on the dress code. She does not view clothing as the root of the frustration. “The issue isn’t simply about clothing. It’s about priorities,” Caldwell wrote in an email to HBCU Gameday. Her message adds a student-government perspective to a debate that has spread well beyond the Tuskegee campus. Much of the online re-action has focused on rules involving bonnets, pajamas and other clothing. Caldwell, however, said students are questioning why appear-ance-related policies appear to be receiving attention while longstand-ing campus concerns remain unresolved. “Students are frustrated because, while the administration has moved quickly to announce and enforce policies regarding dress code, cell phone use, and attendance, many long standing issues that directly af-fect students’ education and well being remain unresolved,” Caldwell wrote. Housing and communication at center

individual cases or response times. But it framed communication as part of a wider student-support problem rather than an isolated complaint. She also referenced ongoing concerns involving campus infrastructure and student services. Caldwell said students have raised those issues for months. However, she did not identify particular buildings, facilities or unresolved maintenance problems in her initial email. Those unanswered questions matter. Caldwell’s account offers direct insight into concerns circulating among students. But the scope of the housing and infrastructure issues still requires supporting records and accounts from additional students or families. Student leader challenges public narrative

of concerns Caldwell pointed first to housing. She said freshmen and sophomores have faced uncertainty. Some students were placed in off-campus housing farther from Tuskegee than they expected. According to Cald-well, students had been told those class years would receive priority for on-campus housing. Her email did not include a count of affected students or identify the off-campus properties. It also did not specify

what transportation the HBCU is providing. HBCU Gameday asked Caldwell for those details. The request also sought notices, emails or screenshots that could es-tablish what students were originally promised. She had not provided additional documentation as of publication. Caldwell also described difficulty reaching administrative offices. She said students and families have struggled to receive answers to urgent questions involving housing, financial aid and enrollment. Her mes-sage did not provide

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The sophomore class president also pushed back against the image of Tuskegee students that has emerged through social media commen-tary. She said critics have reduced the dispute to bonnets, scarves or pajamas. The resulting comments, she said, portray the student body as unprofessional. Caldwell said that characterization does not reflect what she sees on campus. She wrote that students already attend class dressed appropri-ately. Caldwell also said she has not observed students wearing pajam-as during lunch, when campus visitors are often present. Sweats, she noted, may be visible, but students generally dress casually. The distinction is central to her argu-

ment. Caldwell is not asking news outlets to ignore the dress code. Instead, she wants coverage to place the policy beside other concerns. Those housing, communication and support issues affect students’ daily lives, she said. “As students, we want accountability, transparency, and solutions,” Caldwell wrote. “We love our university, and that’s exactly why we’re speaking up. We are advocating because we want to see our institution succeed, not because we want to damage its reputation.” That perspective adds a layer often lost when an HBCU controversy moves from campus discussion to a national social-media debate. A policy that generates attention can become the entire story. Less visi-ble concerns involving enrollment, financial aid or housing may re-ceive less scrutiny. Caldwell said students want the complete story told. For her, that means acknowledging Tuskegee’s dress code. It also means asking whether the university is communicating effectively and addressing the needs students consider more urgent. HBCU Gameday has asked Caldwell for more specific examples and documentation. It also requested connections to students or families directly affected by the concerns she described. Until those details are available, her email remains a student leader’s account. It explains why she believes the Tuskegee debate extends beyond what students wear.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

LaRosa Earth Group LLC, a Site/Excavation Company, is currently looking to add the following full-time positions to our Team:

Listing: HVAC Apprentice Level 1 Opening for a full time HVAC Apprentice Level 1. Candidate must possess a technical school certificate in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, oil, propane and natural gas. Must be detail oriented and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or emailHRDept@eastriverenergy.com

Heavy Equipment Operators Skilled Laborers Please submit resumes to HR@LAROSABG.COM or stop by our main office to fill out an application: 163 Research Parkway Meriden, CT. Salary will be commensurate with experience and best fit for the positions. Health plan; 401K; company-paid holidays in addition to paid time off.

**An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer including Disabled and Veterans**

Listing: Part-Time Class A Driver

LaRosa Groups is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer who values diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply.

Opening for a Class A Part-Time driver for petroleum/asphalt/like products deliveries for nights and weekends. Previous experience required. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or email: hrdept@eastriverenergy.com

Exp. Layout person. Send resume jillherbert@gwfabrica=on.com

***An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Disabled & Veterans***

Request for Qualifications The South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) seeks the services of one or more consultants for the following transportation planning studies during the 2026 and 2027 Fiscal Years (July 1, 2025- June 30, 2027): Metropolitan Transportation Plan Update and Local Bridge Inspection Study. Responses are due by June 2, 2026 (12 noon local time). Selected firms will be interviewed on June 9, 2026. The full RFQ document can be viewed at the Council’s website: www.scrcog.org or can be made available upon request. Contact James Rode at (203) 466-8623 with any questions.

Exp. Layout person. Send resume jillherbert@gwfabrica=on.com

UNION CONTRACTOR SEEKS: Construction Equipment Mechanic (preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment) We offer factory training on equipment we operate. Job is in Bloomfield, CT. Contact: Tom Dunay Phone: 860-243-2300 Ext. 122 Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators (must have current licensing and a clean driving record; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY) Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860-243-2300 Ext. 133 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment (must have a class A CDL license with Tank Endorsement and a clean driving record; be capable of operating heavy equipment and willing to travel throughout the Northeast and NY) Contact: Brian McKee Phone: 860-558-6189 Email: bmckee@garrityasphalt.com

• We offer Excellent hourly rates and benefits. • Women and Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply. • Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

360 Management Group

The Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities

Request for Proposals (RFP) Co Developer

Invitation for Bids

Co-Developer for the implementation of the Union Square Phase I Transformation Plan

Security Camera Maintenance/Installation/Upgrades

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities acting through its instrumentality, The Glendower Group, Inc. in partnership with the City of New Haven (the "City") as Co-Applicant and Neighborhood Implementation Entity, is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP). for selection of a qualified and experienced Co-Developer for the imple-mentation of the Union Square Phase I Transformation Plan (The “Project”). A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from New Haven Housing Authority Vendor Collabora-tion Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

360 Management Group is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors to perform Security Camera Maintenance/Installation/upgrades . A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on

July 27, 2026, at 3:00PM.

Monday, August 10, 2026, at 3:00PM.

The Town of East Haven

Elm City Communities

is currently accepting applications to participate in the examination for the position of Secretary II, Grade Level 10-$25.40/hour, 37.5 hours per week, 12-month position. Qualified candidates must possess a High School Diploma or equivalent with a business course background and a minimum of 3 years secretarial experience. Prior experience in a school system or related work with children preferred. The application is available online at https://www.easthaven-ct.gov/jobs.aspx or from the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven and must be returned by August 17, 2026. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Invitation for Bids Trash Collection Services Elm City Communities is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors to perform Trash Col-lection services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Ven-dor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway be-ginning on

August 10, 2026, at 3:00PM. The Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities

For Immediate Hiring: Operations Specialist

Invitation for Bid General Contractor (GC) for Henry St University Row

This is a full-time position in a fast-paced environment. The candidate must be highly organized, analytical and detail-oriented. This opportunity offers exposure to all areas of the business and plays a critical role in driving operational excellence and supporting company growth. A college degree is required. Benefits include: Competitive Hourly Wage, Medical, Dental, and Vision Plans, Vacation & Sick Time, Paid Holidays, Retirement Plan 401(k), Wellness Program, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance Options.

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities acting through its instrumentality, The Glendower Group, Inc. Is soliciting Invitation for Bids (“IFB”) for qualified General Contracts (GC) for the Henry Street University Row Project. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from New Haven Housing Authority Vendor Collaboration Por-tal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems. com/gateway beginning on

Monday, July 27, 2026, at 3:00PM.

Send resume to: HR Manager, P.O. Box 388, Guilford, CT. 06437. Email: HRDEPT@eastriverenergy.com *An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disabled and Veterans*

The Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities Request for Qualifications Architectural Engineering Services for Westville Manor Development

Galasso Materials LLC,

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities acting through its instrumentality, The Glendower Group, Inc. Is soliciting request for qualifications (“RFQ”) for selection of a qualified and experienced A & E Firm to serve as the Project Architect for the Westville Manor Development. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from New Haven Housing Authority Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

a quarry and paving contractor, has positions open for the upcoming construction season. We are seeking candidates for a variety of positions, including: Scalehouse Dispatcher/ Equipment Operators and Laborers. NO PHONE CALLS. Please mail resume and cover letter to “Hiring Manager”, Galasso Materials LLC, PO Box 1776, East Granby CT 06026. Galasso Materials is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion,

Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at 3:00PM.

sex, orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Listing: Full-Time Class A Driver

VIDEO TECHNICIAN I (PART-TIME)

Opening for a Class A Full-Time driver for petroleum/asphalt/like products deliveries for nights and weekends. Previous experience required. Send re-sume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or email: hrdept@eastriverenergy.com

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for Video Technician I (Part-Time). Wages: $20.00 to $22.00 hourly. For additional information and to apply online by the July 6th, 2026 closing date please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

***An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Disabled & Veter-ans***

Listing: Licensed HVAC Technician

This is a full-time Licensed HVAC Technician position. The candidate must possess a technical school certificate in heating, ventilation, A/C, oil, propane, and natural gas. The candidate must also hold a valid “S”, “E”, “B”, “D”, or “G” license. We are looking for some-one who is detail-oriented and is comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437 or emailHRDept@eastriverenergy.com **An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, including disabled and veterans**

HVAC Tradesman

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for an HVAC Tradesman. Wages: $31.22 to $40.23 hourly. For additional information and to apply online by the closing date June 8, 2026, please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management is recruiting for a Municipal Assessment Professional in the Intergovernmental Policy and Planning division. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 260722&R2=5864AR&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.

Invitation to Bid:

PARCEL B PHASE 2 90 Old Firehouse Road Naugatuck, CT 06770 (One Mixed-Use Building, 60 Units)

Project Description: New Construction of a Transit Oriented Development.

Project is Taxable. No Wage Rate project.

Project documents include but not limited to: concrete, gypcrete, masonry, rough carpentry, finish carpentry, insulation, roofing, siding, doors & hardware, windows, storefront, smoke curtains, gypsum board, flooring, tile, painting, signage, specialties, appliances, casework, window blinds, electric traction elevators, trash chute, fire suppression, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, site-work, sanitary facilities, tele data, fire alarm and (final cleaning as an MWBE trade). If you are interested in bidding and have not received this invitation to bid from us please email: Taylor Els Tels@haynesct.com your business name, contact information and trade, we will add you to Precon Suite and send you the ITB.

POLICE OFFICER ENTRY LEVEL

Bid Due Date: August 25, 2026 @ 3pm

City of Bristol

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

Email Bids to: Taylor Els tels@haynesct.com 203-888-8139 Email RFI’s to Eric Facchini by 8/13/26 @ 3 pm

efacchini@haynesct.com Haynes Construction has been awarded this project.

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

$78,813/yr. Required testing, general info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov DEADLINE: 12-07-25 EOE

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The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications to participate in the examination for the position of Secretary II, Grade Level 10$25.40/hour, 37.5 hours per week, 12-month position. Qualified candidates must possess a High School Diploma or equivalent with a business course background and a minimum of 3 years secretarial experience. Prior experience in a school system or related work with children preferred. The application is available online at https://www.easthaven-ct. gov/jobs.aspx or from the Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven and must be returned by August 17, 2026. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Water Treatment Pumping Operator I

The Town of Wallingford is accepting applications for Water Treatment Pumping Operator I. Wages: $30.35 to $36.64 hourly. For additional information and to apply online by the April 20, 2026 closing date please visit: www.wallingfordct.gov/government/departments/human-resources/. Applications are also available at the Department of Human Resources located in Room #301 of the Town Hall, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Phone: (203) 294-2080; Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

Fayetteville State Captures Two Major Honors at 2026 HBCU Sports Awards Fayetteville State Captures Two Major Honors at 2026 HBCU Sports Awards

BY SHAUN WHITE Courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com Fayetteville State University celebrated a standout showing at the 3rd Annual HBCU Sports Awards, streamed live on the HBCU Sports YouTube channel on Saturday, July 25, as junior golfer Landon Cabingas and Director of Athletics Anthony T. Bennett earned two of the event’s top honors. Cabingas was named HBCU Men’s Golfer of the Year, while Bennett received HBCU Athletic Director of the Year, highlighting a banner year for Fayetteville State Athletics and further cementing the Broncos’ position among the nation’s premier HBCU athletic programs. A junior from New Bern, North Carolina, Cabingas was instrumental in leading Fayetteville State to its 28th CIAA Men’s Golf Championship. He emerged as one of the conference’s most consistent competitors throughout the season and finished as the CIAA Championship runner-up with a three-round score of 1-under-par 215, earning CIAA All-Tournament Team honors. Cabingas delivered one of the champion-ship’s best performances with a 3-under-par 69 in the second round and remained in contention for medalist honors throughout the tour-nament. His final-round effort featured two eagles and several clutch birdies, helping the Broncos pull away down the stretch and reclaim the conference crown. Throughout the 2025-26 season, Cabingas recorded multiple top-three finishes and served as a cornerstone of a Broncos

team that advanced to the NCAA Division II East/Atlantic Regional. Prior to joining Fayetteville State, he established an impressive collegiate résumé at Sandhills Community College, where he won two national champion-ships and earned two All-America selections. His championship pedi-gree, consistency and poise under pressure made him one of the top golfers in HBCU competition this season.

Bennett’s recognition as HBCU Athletic Director of the Year comes af-ter overseeing one of the most successful periods in Fayetteville State Athletics history. Since being named Director of Athletics in 2015, he has guided the Broncos to 35 CIAA championships while establishing the department as a perennial contender across multiple sports, with numerous teams also earning CIAA runner-up finishes and com-

peting for conference titles year after year. During the 2025-26 academic year alone, Fayetteville State captured seven CIAA championships, produced four CIAA Players of the Year, four CIAA Coaches of the Year, and multiple national award finalists while continuing to elevate the department’s competitive and academic profile. The Broncos claimed conference championships in men’s bas-ketball, men’s golf,

men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volley-ball, women’s indoor track and field, and women’s bowling, with sever-al programs advancing to regional and national postseason competi-tion. Bennett’s leadership has been recognized throughout the conference and beyond. In addition to being named HBCU Athletic Director of the Year, he previously earned CIAA Athletic Director of the Year honors in 2022, 2023, and 2026. In 2023, Bennett was selected to serve a three-year term on the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Board of Direc-tors, further reflecting the respect he has earned as a leader within collegiate athletics across the state. Bennett has also championed excellence in academics, compliance, and student-athlete development. Under his leadership this past aca-demic year, Fayetteville State earned the Loretta Taylor Women’s AllSports Award for the fifth consecutive year, produced the CIAA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and saw Associate Athletics Director Deron Norwood recognized as CIAA Compliance Director of the Year. Collectively, those achievements demonstrate Bennett’s commitment to building a department that excels in every area while positioning Fayetteville State as one of the premier athletic programs in HBCU sports. The national recognition of Cabingas and Bennett underscores the continued growth and dominance of Fayetteville State Athletics as the Broncos build on a tradition of excellence both on and off the field of competition.

Louis Carr outlines his fall vision for BET as focus on HBCU, storytelling take cen-ter stage By Courtesy of HBCUNEWS.com

In December 2025, Louis Carr wasn’t a household name, unless you were deeply in the know of ad executives. He’d been a near-BET lifer, someone who elevated the company’s pro-file behind the scenes through ad work, navigating how to sell it to ad-vertisers as one of the footholds of Black entertainment and the Black community, generating over $9 billion in ad revenue in the process. Then, almost immediately, Carr’s name became even more synony-mous with BET. He was named President of the company following the exit of former chief Scott Mills. And in the middle of a broad merger that eventually saw BET+ be folded into Paramount+ and months after the sunsetting of two iconic award shows that celebrated hip-hop and R&B, Carr understood the focus of BET had to be from the ground up. Seven months later, fresh off the highest-rated BET Awards since 2019 and a couple of Emmy nominations for the network, Carr feels like his work as President is only truly beginning. “I think we have the brand pointed in the right direction,” he told theGrio in an exclusive interview. “We’re operating under the pillars of community, culture, and connection. I think there could probably be no better direction and insight than those three right there, and every-thing seems to be sort of, you know, connecting and working

NBA star Robert Covington about his journey from playing four years at Tennessee State to playing a decade in the NBA. In the ever-changing landscape of TV program-ming and content, Carr isn’t hiding the fact that BET is tapping deeper into the community thanks to expanded resources, particularly in the fall. “We’ve got to be intentional about doing more,” he said.

at this particular time, very excited about it.” Carr came to BET in the late 1980s. A Drake University graduate, he grew as the brand grew and evolved, becoming a home for news, teen programming, video shows, comedy and more. As NPR recently paid homage to the early 2000s era of BET through this year’s Black Music Month via Tiny Desk, Carr made one of his first swings as President to bring back a beloved series of BET’s heyday: “ComicView.” That swing, coupled with the success of the BET Awards in June, is among Carr’s “favorite” moments as head of the net-

work so far. By moving the BET Experience away from the Los Angeles Convention Center to the Beehive campus in the Crenshaw corridor, the BET Ex-perience shattered attendance records. The pre-show shifted to YouTube and Druski as show host “blew it out of the water,” according to Carr. But resting on laurels is something he’s not prepared to do. The work has only expanded through upcoming documentaries focused on LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, and former

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He continued, “When you look at what we’ve done over the last 30 days, ‘ComicView’ came back. We launched a new show with Terrence J called ‘Behind The Image,’ where he interviewed people like T.I. Druski, Keke Palmer. We also introduced our audience to a new show called ‘Lock Patrol.’ We brought back ‘Miss Pat Settles It.’ So we’ve got a lot of things in the pipeline.” When asked about a proper announcement regarding the return of the Soul Train or BET Hip Hop Awards, Carr held a wry smile on his face. “Keep your ear to the ground in the next 30 days,” he said, “Keep your ear to the ground.” One of the focuses for BET under his leadership is a dedication to sports. In previous administrations, the network leaned heavily into HBCU football and HBCU sports. And its absence was felt, loudly. In an April essay for ClutchPoints, Randall Barnes argued that with Carr at the helm

of the network, it was time to reinvest in HBCU ath-letics on television. “A lot of our games were relegated to platforms people didn’t know about or to ESPNU and ESPN3,” he wrote. “HBCU football was not get-ting the spotlight that it rightfully deserved—not because of celebrities, but because of the high level of play the players have been delivering for years.” For what it’s worth, Carr and BET have already established deals with Ice Cube’s Big 3 basketball league to broadcast games on Mondays. And in the fall, HBCU basketball will be a chief priority in terms of fall content. No matter his time at BET or in media, Carr has stuck to a principle of collaboration, especially as BET continues outreach to bring a genera-tion in that may not have the same fond memories of network pro-gramming. “I am led by this scripture: ‘Old men dream dreams, and young men see visions.’” Carr said. “And people always say, ‘So, what does that re-ally mean?’ I think it means that people have to work together.” He continued, “There are just so many stories that need to be told about our community and about our contributions to society and to America. I just look at the work that we’re doing, whether it is nomi-nated for an award or whether it’s engaging our community on social media-it’s all this sort of 360 ecosystem that we sort of operate in. And it shows that people see we’re headed in the right direction; I’m proud of it all.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 05, 2026 - August 11, 2026

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