THE INNER-CITY NEWS

Volume 32. No. 1636

The

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026 PENFIELD COMMUNITIONS INC

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Kimber Boosts Lamont At GOTV Gospel Concert

“We are on the move and there is no reason to change horses in midstream,” Kimber told several dozen congregants, elected officials, and “TEAM NED” campaign staffers gathered in First Calvary Baptist Church’s 609 Dixwell Ave. sanctuary. “When you have a Kentucky Derby horse, let’s ride him to the finish line.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Grassroots Production Premieres On The Big Screen by Lisa Reisman

as mere names on a spreadsheet to fatten company stock and the salaries of CEOs. “I’m brand-new to this,” said Barile at the after-party. Not long ago, he was bartending at Lenny’s in Branford when he served a woman at the bar who was editing a commercial on her computer. “You’d be great for them,” she told him. He was in a commercial for a dentist the next week, and then another. Then he heard about “Marblehead.” He auditioned for another role. “Jeff told me that part wasn’t for me, he said you’re the James Greenberg we’ve been looking for,” he recalled.

The New Haven independent

As Earl Pickett flung his hard hat to the ground in anger, cheers erupted from the darkened Bijou Theater in Bridgeport last Thursday night. The occasion was the opening of “Marblehead: The Series,” a New Haven area production based on executive producer D. Jeff Bell’s 2006 thriller of the same name, about a team of ex-Marines holding corporate power and corruption to account. The cheers were coming for Elm City native Clifton Bey, the actor playing Earl Pickett. “Well, he nailed that scene,” said Bell, at the raucous after-party, explaining the impromptu roar. “But also all our pride and excitement at seeing this on the big screen after all this time and all this work.” He said the first season of the series includes five episodes. The pilot, which was shown Thursday night, will be released on YouTube on Aug. 13. If the economic injustice that arises from corporate greed was the theme, the setting in the first episode was all New Haven, from Kennies Earl Kreative House on Shelton Avenue, where Pickett absorbs the news that he’s lost his job; to the steps of the New Haven courthouse on Church Street; to the Palladium Building on Orange Street; to scenes at Madeline’s Empanaderia on Spring Street and Zeneli on Wooster Street; to a slow-speed car chase in the IKEA parking lot. It went to Bell’s mission, from the time screenwriter Melo Ali El taped a handwritten sign to a fence for a casting call outside Kennies almost three years before: to channel the untapped theatrical talent in the New Haven area; to give locals production and acting experience, even as extras, without importing people from Hollywood or New York; and to film most of the scenes in New Haven.

“I wish I had done this 30 years ago,” he said. “It was awesome.”

Some of the cast and crew of "Marblehead: The Series" at the Bijou Theater Thursday night. Credit: Lisa Reisman photos

“We said in 2023 we could grow it here and we did,” he said amid the revelry. There was New Haven native Da’Mone McCollum, filling the big screen as Calvin Tubbs, otherwise known as “Preacher,” an ex-Marine and former district attorney. “He tried to beat the system from inside the wire,” the narrator intones. “Now he’s coming for the whole damn structure.” Likewise, Rachel Rankins, who appeared among the stone-faced board members voting in favor of a motion to engineer massive layoffs. Rankins, a regional actor who runs Rachel’s Hair Unlimited in West Haven, said she applied for a role through backstage.com. “It felt really good to see myself on the big screen,” she said, beaming, after the credits rolled. Then there was Ken Barile playing James Greenberg, a corporate “rightsizer,” as he put it, who, in the eyes of Tubbs and his fellow ex-Marines, sees workers

Introduction of Preacher, in car on Elm Street, on the road to taking names and righting wrongs. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

Da’Mone McCollum with “Marblehead” screenwriter Melo Ali El at Bijou Theater Thursday night. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

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“Marblehead” executive producer D. Jeff Bell with actor and bartender Ken Barile. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

Casting call in 2023. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

The youngest member of the cast, Marley Napier, 6, stood with his parents in view of the festivities. “Jeff saw him on West Haven Beach,” his mother Katelyn recalled. He asked if they thought he would be interested in acting. Then he asked Katelyn and Yannick, his father, to be part of the production as well. “An adventure,” Katelyn said. “We never dreamed of doing anything like this.” To hear the screenwriter Melo Al El tell it, that was among the takeaways of the project. From his original screenplay, he estimated there were at least 12 rewrites. “As we were shooting, we kept finding new people with strengths we wanted to play on, and it changed the story,” he said. He also gained a newfound respect for the acting profession. “These guys travel everywhere just to get a break.” For director Darrell Bellamy Jr., also known as B-Cees, the greatest test was patience, from the sheer logistics of generating scenes with a cast of over 100, to the multiple takes until the right one, to the laborious process of post-production. “All the parts have to be working together,” he said. “If the sound is off, if there’s a break in continuity, you lose the audience.” “This is a dream come true,” said Bell, the executive producer. “I learned early on how little I knew” — his day job is as a financial analyst with the Air Force — “but I also learned to surround myself with people that did, and above all I was gifted with some extraordinarily talented actors and crew that believed in my vision.” The underlying message of the work, written in 2006, holds two decades later. “There’s still corporate abuse against the workers that keep their companies running, but I hope this shows that those workers have more power than they think,” said Bell, who plans to submit the series to film festivals and shop it around Europe, Asia, and Latin America before marketing it here. “I think people will see that these three guys that you never heard of from this small town have put something out that’s worthy for the world to see, something that’s also opened doors for a lot of people,” Ali El said.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026 In the parish hall at St. Luke’s Church, a rainstorm was brewing.

Strings, Steel & Song Play The Planet Into Focus By Lucy Gellman

Arts Council of greater New Haven

The clouds gathered overhead, at first so quietly that no one noticed them at all. Rhea Williams rubbed her palms together, and drops began to fall from the sky. Sixth grader Malia Long swayed with the sound, a rainstick printed with zigzags and polka dots in her hand, and thunder seemed to rumble in the distance. “Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,” a chorus of young voices urged, in unison with each other as the sound of steel pan shimmered beneath them. The beads in the rainstick slid from one end to the other, whispering against layers of tape and paper. “Lis-ten to the rain! Listen to the rain!” A moving and mellifluous message to honor the planet—and all of its creatures, great and small, winged and many-legged, moss-covered and sneaker-wearing alike—came to St. Luke’s last Saturday morning, as young members of Music Haven, the St. Luke’s Steel Band, and Possible Futures Bookspace teamed up for the 14th annual strings and steel summer camp. A collaboration between Music Haven and St. Luke’s that dates back to 2012, when the organizations shared a building off Whalley Avenue, the camp gives young musicians a chance to learn about steel pan and also hone their skills in string music. For the first time this year, the camp wove in singing, an extension of the choir that Music Haven launched last year. Teachers included Williams (chorus), Saleena Holder Bascomb (steel pan), Music Haven alum Cristofer Zunun (strings), Possible Futures founder Lauren Anderson (so many books), as well as guest artist Adina Salahuddin and drummer Kareem Victory. Deborah Teason, who founded the St. Luke’s Steel Band in 1999, reprised her role of camp coordinator. Fifteen years ago, Teason helped midwife the camp into being with current steel band director Kenneth Joseph; violist Colin Benn brought Music Haven in the following year. With Possible Futures, the literary brainchild of Anderson, students also did research on trees, bees, and mushrooms— all topics that dovetailed with a theme of “Forests and Gardens.” That academic enrichment, paired with an influx of new funding from the United Way of Greater New Haven and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, allowed teachers to run four class periods from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day for two weeks. “I think it worked really, really well. It allowed kids to get to know each other,” said Saleena Holder Bascomb, a veteran music educator at Conte-West Hills Magnet School who has been teaching steel pan at the camp for four years, and playing with St. Luke’s Steel Band for a decade. “It means a lot [to have the camp]. Pan is not a luxury that a lot of schools have, but it’s an art form that a lot of

kids, especially because New Haven has a large Caribbean population, might want to learn.” What was unexpected, Zunun added, was how much the theme of “Forests and Gardens” took root. Usually, he joked, students choose the theme based on video games they’re playing, or social media they’re consuming. But as they learned a repertoire that ranged from Marcus Gad’s “Honoring the Soil” to Olivia Dean’s “I Could Be A Florist” to Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers,” the knowledge and appreciation for the natural world started to stick. “I learned a lot about royal jelly and nurse bees,” said 8-year-old Haneif Robinson, who is going into the fourth grade at Worthington Hooker School and studies violin at Music Haven. This summer marked her first year in the camp, and it was one of eye-opening revelations about the world around her. “Like, a hive holds up to 60,000 bees!” A person could hear that flow through the music itself, a set that ran just over an hour and included students presentations on the research and reading they had completed at Possible Futures, from nurse logs to oak trees and acorns. From the moment Gad’s reggae “Honoring the

Soil” filled the air, students were fully immersed in it, bringing lyrics like Honoring the soil, fills our hearts with joy! and Honoring the soil, the micronutrients feed the rhizomes to life. Standing tall at the steel drums, musicians let the song roll in slowly, the notes so full and round it felt like a person could reach out and touch them. Over a slow babuh-bum-bum of the melody, a string of high notes gleamed, shining as they made their way out over the crowd. Every so often, Victory’s drums pushed their way in, slicing through the bounce of the pan. Then the sound would rise again, buoyant. At the center of the action, Bascomb swayed comfortably at her hips and shoulders, an orange lei vibrant around her neck. Everywhere, students seemed to get the memo: Theodore Felton looked down at his pan with a kind of steady calm, as if he was studying for something the audience didn’t yet know was coming. In the righthand corner, Kenneth Felton, III bounced between two large pans, beaming each time his mallets touched down. If a person closed their eyes and listened, they could hear a world of separate organisms all moving in sync with each

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other, interdependent as a rich, fragrant soil after a summer rain. Somewhere, the parish house’s doorbell rang, and someone in the back sprang up to get it. Every other ear in the room was glued to the musicians playing at the front. A poster of trees and greenery had unfurled behind them, as if a forest had appeared in the middle of Whalley Avenue. “Honestly, it’s just the joy of seeing a lot of musicians come together,” said Felton, a rising sophomore studying music education and percussion at the University of Delaware, after the performance. Because his family hails from Saint Kitts in the Caribbean, the pan tradition is very close to his heart. He’s played for years, making the pilgrimage from Pennsylvania to New Haven each summer to study at St. Luke’s. That sense of unity, and of reverence, permeated the rest of the show. In the choir’s performance of Kacey Musgraves’ “Heart of the Woods,” which yokes human behavior with the microscopic universes that exist underfoot, it became a reminder that shared responsibility is the only way forward. As students sang It’s in our nature / To look out for each other / In the heart of the woods, it was easy to imagine two worlds spinning into one,

creatures existing side by side as a matter of necessity. In one, right there in front of the audience, Williams conducted and coaxed musicians forward as she sang, a gentle smile on her face. When a young, small voice wavered—which it rarely did— students gave each other little nods of encouragement, and the sound rose to full volume again. In another, worms burrowed through the soil. Tiny springtails, their bodies translucent, nibbled through dead leaves. Soil mites and centipedes went about their day, turning detritus into a life force. Suddenly, the concert felt like a bridge— between Music Haven and nearby sites like the Armory Community Garden, yes, but also between New Haven and the land that was here before it was ever called New Haven, and between this little room off Whalley Avenue and the West Indies, where the tradition of steel pan was born, and where environmental harm done by countries like the U.S. has an outsized and devastating impact. How could they not, students seemed to ask, all be knitted together? Both teachers and counselors (Jasmine King, Kenneth Felton III, and Maëlle Davenport) wove that lesson—to take care of the Earth, because it’s the only home humans have—into all of the music and student book presentations. In Jerry Estes’ “Rhythm of the Rain,” vocalists patted their thighs, rubbed their flattened palms together, and tilted handmade rain sticks back and forth until the sound of a storm undulated through the space. When steel pan joined in, it seemed as though warm, fat drops could have been falling inside, landing softly on the carpet. In John Forester and Tom Chapin’s “This Pretty Planet,” performed as a round with a resonant solo from counselor-in-training Cameron Cotton, a person could close their eyes and see the planet tilting gently on its axis, a whir of blue and green. In “I Could Be A Florist,” Adina Salahuddin’s voice glimmered over pan and strings, lulling the audience into a kind of trance that broke only after the song had ended. The result was an audience that often learned, and listened, right alongside students. When student Tomas Girmay announced that “if you cut down a tree, you cut down oxygen,” attendees nodded thoughtfully with the words. When, during a presentation on pollinators, Haneif went quiet, attendees and counselors alike leaned in and cheered her on. “Can you tell them what you know?” King asked her, and Haneif relaxed, the exhale palpable, and she continued. When Cairo Straun burst in to announce “Okay, so I’m gonna tell you all about the beehive!” a few moments later, a wave of tickled laughter drifted through the room. Nowhere, maybe, was the camp’s sense of learning—and the joy within it—more Con’t on page 05

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

City Kicks Off Black Wall Street Week By Lucy Gellman

Penfield Communications Inc

The New Haven independent

A honey-voiced R&B singer who will serenade a Hamden studio into its first birthday. A youth poetry slam powerful enough to bring the whole house down with the sheer weight of words. A party to celebrate Black artists, makers and entrepreneurs across generations—and give them a space to take a beat and unwind together before the summer is over. Those are just a few of the events coming to New Haven and Hamden this week, as the Black Wall Street Festival returns for its fifth summer in downtown New Haven, and fourth on the New Haven Green. Organized by Aaron Rogers and Rashad Johnson of The Breed Ent., it rolls into New Haven this week with seven days of events and a Saturday festival that is expected to bring in over 400 vendors and thousands of attendees. A full schedule is available here; more information below. The term “Black Wall Street” references the history, often overlooked and undertaught, of self-sustaining Black business districts in the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1970, many of those became the targets of devastating violence at the hands of white people. "To be here, this morning, on the Green, where there's so much history, and to be preparing for our next moment in history—" started City Cultural Affairs Director She McAllister at a Monday morning press conference on the event. She paused as an engine revved on Church Street, and an ambulance sped by. "As you can see, New Haven is alive. New Haven is bustling ... as a city, we are just so proud of the Breed team and everyone who has come together to make this happen." "We're just really grateful to be here, and we really just want everyone to come out, spend some money, and have a good time with the fam," said Rogers. In the past five years, the festival has grown from a modest, day-long celebration on the Temple Street Plaza to a history-making event on the Green to a week

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Contributing Writers Scenes from the 2025 Black Wall Street Festival on the New Haven Green. Lucy Gellman File Photos.

of activities, with a sense of community partnership that has remained consistent throughout. What that means, between now and Sunday, is a week of programming celebrating Black artists, entrepreneurs, and culture workers across the city, from a youth "lock in" at the Dixwell Community Q House to a forum exploring economic development at Skiro Studios in Hamden. After starting with an "Open Streets Skate Day" on Sunday (stay tuned for an article by one of our youth journalists!), events range from a concert with L.A.based artist Zae France (that's Wednesday; tickets here) to "Further, Together," an economic development summit designed specifically with the greater New Haven community in mind (that's Thursday; register here). Skiro Studios, which Rogers and Johnson opened in Hamden

exactly a year ago, will be a home base for many of those events. As in previous years, BWS Fest culminates with a day-long festival on the New Haven Green and a celebratory Sunday brunch with Chef Christina Ramos of the Chef Chrissy Experience. "This is unbelievable," said Mayor Justin Elicker. "When you think about the Puerto Rican Festival over the weekend, where the Green was just packed ... and now we're going on to Black Wall Street. It is hopping in New Haven. And it's just unbelievable how much this thing has grown." This year, The Breed has also continued to grow its list of collaborators, with new and returning partners like the Center for Inclusive Growth, the City of New Haven and Connecticut Department of Econom-

ic and Community Development, Leadership, Education, & Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), the New Haven Free Public Library, and New Haven Poet Laureate Yex Diaz. In addition, Johnson said, the BWS Fest team has tapped a number of "community ambassadors"—business owners, nonprofit leaders, and individuals who can talk about the work that Black Wall Street is doing, and help bring more people onboard. "Beyond the programmatic alignment, we're inspired by the event and what its organizing leaders are asking us to join," said Malwin Dávila, associate director at the Center for Inclusive Growth. "A legacy of Black Street. A legacy that calls us to imagine a community of abundance, of cooperative economics, and of collective care."

“I Vote All The Time” — Plus, “Get Rid Of Trump” by Thomas Breen

The New Haven independent

Carrie Johnson was one of 75 west-side voters to cast a ballot at Westville’s Mauro Sheridan School as of 10:15 Tuesday morning as New Haveners from across the city hit the polls on primary day. “I vote all the time. People died for us to vote,” Johnson said, wearing an “I Voted” sticker and standing alongside fellow voter Betty Estelle. Why vote in this particular Democratic primary for governor and 92nd District state rep? What motivated her to head out to the polls on Tuesday? “Get rid of Trump,” Johnson replied. “Get rid of Trump.” Johnson wasn’t the only Mauro Sheridan voter on Tuesday who had the president on the mind as she cast a ballot in a mid-term primary in which Donald Trump is not running. “I hope they make a change,” said another voter, who declined to share her name or be

Board of Education member Andrea Downer and Ward 27 Democratic co-chair Judy Sparer.

Carrie Johnson and Betty Estelle.

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photographed for this article, as she walked down Emerson Street on her way to go vote. How so? “Trump needs to be out of office,” she said. “Period.” She said the president is “ripping off” the country while enriching himself. Who did she plan on voting for in the threeway Democratic primary for the 92nd State House District — incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon or one of her two challengers, Eli Sabin or Justin Farmer? “I haven’t decided yet,” the voter said. She paused, then continued, “We need another new person.” Johnson also declined to say who she had voted for for state rep, saying instead that “we will see” who wins the hotly contested primary. Meanwhile, Whalley Avenue resident H. David Hogan left Mauro Sheridan with a clear answer as to who he supported. “Eli Sabin,” Hogan said. “I think he may be a good representative.”

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Paul Bass www.newhavenindependent.org

Memberships National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc.

The Inner-City Newspaper is published weekly by Penfield Communications, Inc. from offices located at 50 Fitch Street, 2nd Floor, New Haven, CT 06515. 203-3870354 phone; 203-387-2684 fax. Subscriptions:$260 per year (does not include sales tax for the in State subscriptions). Send name, address, zip code with payment. Postmaster, send address changes to 50 Fitch Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Display ad deadline Friday prior to insertion date at 5:00pm Advertisers are responsible for checking ads for error in publication. Penfield Communications, Inc d.b.a., “The Inner-City Newspaper” , shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad or for typographical errors or errors in publication, except to the extent of the cost of the space in which actual error appeared in the first insertion. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable for publication. The entire contents of The Inner-City Newspaper are copyright 2012, Penfield Communications, Inc. and no portion may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Arthur L. Jenkins’ The Prince of Brown Explores Identity, Resilience and the Journey Toward Healing By Inner City News Staff CONNECTICUT — A new work of literary fiction is giving readers an intimate look at the complicated intersections of identity, family, trauma and survival. Arthur L. Jenkins’ The Prince of Brown: A Fictional Memoir, published by Atmosphere Press on April 17, 2026, follows Denzel Davis through a life marked by family secrets, generational trauma, questions of identity, love, mental illness and the search for self-acceptance. The 372-page paperback is priced at $19.95 on Amazon.com. Thriftbooks, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Queerbooks.com, and Goodreads carry the book as well. The novel centers on Denzel, a Black queer man navigating multiple worlds— including academia, incarceration and the ballroom scene—as he confronts the challenges of being seen and understood while attempting to define himself on his own terms. Jenkins' story moves beyond trauma to explore healing and self-reinvention. According to the book's description, Denzel ultimately reclaims his story and embraces the title of the “Prince of Brown,” a symbol of endurance, truth and the beauty that can emerge from survival. The novel's themes are particularly relevant to conversations taking place in communities across Connecticut and beyond, where questions surrounding race, LGBTQ+ identity, mental health, family and belonging continue to shape the experiences of many residents. Rather than presenting survival simply as overcoming hardship, Jenkins examines the complicated process of turning painful experiences into a source of strength and personal identity. The narrative addresses what the author describes as the “dual burden of invisibility and hypervisibility” experienced by Black queer

Arthur L. Jenkins’

men. From Psychology to Creative Writing Jenkins brings an interdisciplinary background to his storytelling. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Widener University and a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Gwynedd Mercy University. He also completed an academic creative writing certificate at the Community College of Philadelphia, where he was a multiple-time winner of the Judith Stark Writing Contest. That combination of psychology, counseling and creative writing informs a novel that places emotional and psychological experience at the center of its narrative. For readers, The Prince of Brown offers more than a story about one man's struggles. It is a meditation on what it means to inherit pain, confront it and ultimately decide what parts of one's history will define the future.

Jenkins' novel may also provide an opportunity for book clubs, educators, community organizations and readers to engage in conversations about identity, resilience, mental health and the importance of telling stories that have historically received limited representation. Book Details Title: The Prince of Brown: A Fictional Memoir Author: Arthur L. Jenkins Publisher: Atmosphere Press Publication date: April 17, 2026 Format: Paperback Pages: 372 Price: $19.95 ISBN: 979-8-90174-116-0 ASIN: B0GS7F5QLY For media inquiries or information about interviews and author appearances, Jenkins can be reached at arthurjenkins010@gmail.com. Check out Jenkins’s Black-Gay-Writers-and-Readers. com for upcoming events and blog posts.

Con’t from page 03

In the parish hall at St. Luke’s Church, a rainstorm was brewing. heart-pullingly clear than in Amy Grant’s “Trees We’ll Never See,” performed with strings, steel pan and vocals after student presentations on the forests, gardens, pollinators and mycelia they’d spent weeks learning about (a nod to both Anderson and to Teason’s husband, beekeeper Michael Bergman, who came into Possible Futures for a special session on bees). As over two dozen students and teachers gathered at the front of the room, strings gently played musicians in, the sound of pan bright above pint-sized cello and the short, shrill-edged pull of early violin. Voices entered the fray, rising above the instruments but never overpowering them. Showin' me how life's supposed to work Around the room, at least three generations of New Haveners looked on, some misty-eyed as others lifted their phones to record. A handful of them fingered newly-gifted lavender sachets, gifts that

students had made at Possible Futures (where lavender grows in thick, fragrant bunches beside the Edgewood Avenue pavement) during the program. Younger siblings, some still too tiny to be in the program, stood on their tippy-toes to ensure they didn’t miss a moment. Back at the front of the room, the sound was rising now, students swaying in the choir and as pan players bounced with the beat. At the left side of the room, young vocalist Javion McKinney let the sound wrap around him, extending his arms briefly like an invitation for the audience to join in. When he stepped forward for a short solo a verse later, he pulled his hands behind his back, and let his voice fill the whole room. King, a recent graduate of Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School who plans to attend Western New England University for medicine in the fall, said she was thrilled to participate as a men-

tor this year, and learned along the way. Growing up in New Haven’s Whalley/ Edgewood neighborhood, “I always wanted to have my own garden,” but she never felt like she could have one because of the urban setting in which she lived. Now, she feels more inspired to work with what she's got. That was also true for Cameron Cotton, a rising freshman at Eli Whitney Technical High School and counselor in training who has played the cello and the bass for four years (fellow counselors in training included Camissa Salahuddin, Eliana Ortiz, and Malaysia Bowden). Somewhere between checking in on students and making sure his bass was ready to go, he said that music gives him a sense of community that has been very much alive during the camp. When he plays or sings, “I feel like me,” he said. “Like, I feel alive and I feel like I really belong.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

As School Year’s Start Draws Near, DeLauro Pitches Expanded Child Tax Credit by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent

Ellen Puzzo has dreaded back-toschool shopping for her ten-year-old son this year because of the shockingly high prices she saw when buying a new water bottle, book bag, lunch box, and fruit snacks. That sticker shock prompted her to stand beside U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the Hill on Wednesday as New Haven’s congresswoman detailed a proposal for a permanent, expanded child tax credit. DeLauro and Puzzo gathered with other local children’s advocates at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Haven at 253 Columbus Ave. to stress the need for a monthly child tax credit for families like Puzzo’s that are experiencing the surging cost of school supplies this year. Lincoln-Bassett School kindergarten teacher Alexander Oji spoke on Wednesday about his experience as a teacher preparing for the fall. He said he’s doing what many school staffers do each year — which is voluntarily paying out of his own pocket to fill the supplies and other needs of his students that parents can’t afford. DeLauro reported that the 2026-27 school year will cost families on average close to $4,000. “That is nearly an 11 percent increase from last year,” she said. School supplies cost nearly 8 percent more than last year, DeLauro said, at a time when “families can least afford it.” That means supplies are likely to cost on average for families this fall about $175, according to a recent report by Groundwork Collaborative. DeLauro also reported that “45 percent of parents plan to take on debt to afford back-to-school shopping this year.” The press conference was held for an audience of Boys & Girls Club summer campers. Students listened in as DeLauro told them that, while their families are working hard to meet their needs, the struggle has gotten worse this year. DeLauro pointed to two key issues driving the back-to-school affordability crisis. First, she said the war in Iran is driving up oil and gas prices, which will spike transportation costs as well as the cost of manufacturing plastic. Second, she said the Trump administration’s tariffs are driving up pricing for imported goods, including many school supplies. She gave the example that a lunch box in 2025 cost around $15. Now prices are around $19 for a lunch box. She also said that filling up that lunch box with groceries will cost $400 more — an increase of 11 percent — than it did last year. “Sliced turkey and ham has gone up 12 percent. Sandwich bread has gone up 22 percent. Apple juice 20 percent. Animal crackers about 12 percent,” DeLauro reported.

U.S. Rep. DeLauro answers questions from Boys & Girls Club campers. Credit: Maya McFadden photos

Adding on school clothes to the backto-school shopping list, DeLauro said Carters, Vans, and Gap have raised their prices. DeLauro spoke up in support on Wednesday of the American Family Act, which would make permanent an expanded monthly child tax credit first implemented in 2021. DeLauro’s plan would increase the value of the 2021 child tax credit from $2,000 per child to $6,360 for newborns, $4,320 for children ages one through six, and $3,600 for children age six through 17. DeLauro said that one third of the parents that received the child tax credit used the relief for school-related expenses like transportation, tutoring, and after-school programs. Puzzo, who lives in Wallingford, said the Boys & Girls club in Wallingford is the only reason she was able to send her ten-year-old son to camp this summer. If the Boys & Girls Club hadn’t been around, she said, her son would be home all day watching TV. She described feeling “terrified” to go to the grocery store several times a week to shop for her family due to price increases. Puzzo said she went back-to-school shopping on Tuesday. “I was shocked by how much everything cost,” she recalled. “We’re struggling as parents.” She said she bought a non-branded water bottle and backpack this year because they cost the least. She noted that buying fruit snacks and other foods for her son’s lunches also stood out to her for their high prices.

Lincoln-Bassett teacher Alexander Oji thanks DeLauro for her work supporting families.

A Worthington Hooker student asks if families will have to pick between paying for Boys & Girls Club and school supplies. DeLauro responded that families shouldn’t have to pick between the two

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She concluded that for many families like hers ,finances often “fall short” in other areas because she is doing all she can for her child. United Way of Connecticut Director of Advocacy Daniel Fitzmaurice added Wednesday that many families are working jobs and “doing everything right” but still struggling to make livable wages. “Right now there’s no town in Connecticut where you can make $20 an hour and earn enough to live,” Fitzmaurice said. “Groceries cost 30 percent more today than they did a year ago and paychecks haven’t gone up that much,” he said. “And this is not about whether parents are working. In Connecticut, 94 percent of households with children have at least one working adult at home. It’s just that prices are going up faster than wages.” While work still needs to be done, Fitzmaurice said this year the state exempted non-electronic school supplies like notebooks and glue from the state sales tax. And sales tax free week was expanded this year to Aug. 16 to Aug. 22, raising the cap from $100 to $300 per item. “There’s so much more that we can do to meet the rapid pace of the affordability crisis. In fact, every other state in our region has created a state level child tax credit to match the federal child tax credit,” he said. Fitzmaurice concluded that parents are the core of Connecticut’s workforce by powering today’s economy and raising the future workforce. “It would return $316 million directly into family budgets but also into our local economies,” he said. “For every $1 invested in this type of credit, $5 comes back to the community in social and economic benefits.” Oji, who also serves as an active board member for the New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT), emphasized that educators, paraprofessionals, cafeteria and custodial workers, and nearly all school staff work hard daily to help students. They often reach into their own pockets to help cover the costs of everything from school supplies to clothing to food and gift cards. “Parents need support and when they feel like their kids’ needs are being met, they’re less stressed at home,” he said. Oji also said the Trump administration must put an end to “reckless tariff policies” and the war in Iran, which are both driving up costs for families. To concluded Wednesday’s presser DeLauro answered questions from an audience of Boys & Girls Club campers, like how long the club has been around and where DeLauro grew up. DeLauro said the child tax credit is a high priority for her fellow Democrats and she believes when it comes time to pass, they will be in the majority.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Baldwin Street Block Party Honors Unsung Heroes A Marabou Finds A New Home The Marabou Who Crossed the Sea By Rohanna Ssanyu Small Harbor Publishing

by Lisa Reisman

The New Haven independent

They were the OGs of Baldwin Street and Davenport Avenue, the elders. For 35 years, Frances Jackson and Bridget Smith had an open door policy for anyone to drop in if they needed a bite to eat, a place to rest, a listening ear. At the first Baldwin Street Reunion and Block Party on a recent Saturday, the two were packing book bags with school supplies alongside Jewu Richardson, whose organization, Building IT Together CT, hosted the event. “Miss Frances, she never had a door locked,” he said, as a squeal erupted from a nearby bouncy house. “Anybody going through hard times, you knew you were welcome at her house and Bridget’s.” That was until 2002, when a total of 91 families were displaced after the city identified a three-block area in the Hill neighborhood — including Baldwin Street, Davenport Avenue, and Congress Avenue — as the best location for a new school to replace the deteriorating Prince and Welch-Annex elementary schools. Jackson and her family relocated to West Haven, as did Smith’s. “I grew up on this street, did a lot of stuff on this block, a lot of negative things, because there was a lot of that,” said Richardson, the August sun beaming down on the 75 attendees. “But there were always a lot of real positive older people helping us.” The block party, he said, “is for the ones that didn’t make it and for the elders like Miss Frances and Miss Bridget that helped us along the way to make it.” There was also Pastor David Via, known for “feeding people, giving out clothes, and organizing trash cleanups in the neighborhood,” Richardson said; Ann Boyd, a former Black Panther who, he said, “helped revitalize this community” with her advocacy of public education, housing, and social justice, and Emma Jones, who has fought for police accountability and systemic reform since the 1997 fatal shooting of her son Malik Jones. Inspired by their example, Richardson said everything at the event was free, from hair cuts, school supplies, a game truck, to a bouncy house and Super Slide, to an assortment of food trucks, to cups of Italian ice. “We are showing this ward, especially our young people, that we see them, that we care for them,” said co-host Angel Hubbard, alder of Hill North’s Ward 3, as the Stepping N Tyme Linedancers of New Haven shuffled and pivoted to “Come Get to This.” Under a tent near Davenport Avenue, Halisi Moyo and Terry “T.D.” Davis were engaged in a heated chess match, with Brandon Smith looking on. Smith is involved with S.P.O.R.T. Academy, founded by his father Ed Trimble, which uses chess, he said, “as a tool to build future leaders and independent thinkers.” Not far away, Sharon Jones, Ward 26

Before you look up what this African stork looks like, read an excerpt from “Marabou,” the second poem of The Marabou Who Crossed the Sea, a newly published chapbook by New Haven Adult Ed teacher Rohanna Ssanyu: Skeletal legs, an inkblot held to cloud, a grainy beak, pink flesh, a nape of hair, a head splattered in orange blood!

Frances Jackson and Bridget Smith, unsung heroes of Baldwin Street. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

The block party organizers, including Ward 3 Democratic co-chair Lisa Velasquez-Torres, Alder Angel Hubbard, Neil Richardson, and Jewu Richardson.

Carrying on the work… Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

co-chair, settled on a bench with her husband. “You didn’t have to leave the neighborhood,” said Jones, who grew up on Elliott Street. “The movie theater was the next block over, two blocks down was the roller rink, Tikotsky’s Bakery was over on Legion Avenue, and then you could walk a few blocks to downtown.” Just beyond a queue of neighbors waiting to indulge in the sweet offerings of Ken’s Cool Ice, Asst. Police Chief Manmeet Bhagtana was introducing herself to residents. The event, she said, was “a great opportunity to connect with people and tell them what the police are doing and to hear what they want from the police, what their ideal police force should look like,” she said.

Richardson greeted Bhagtana, then stopped to chat with a volunteer at a table with leaflets for the Malik Jones Center, a community space that will be built at 425 Grand Ave., the exact site where Emma Jones’ son was murdered. He said his organization, Building IT Together, was helping Emma Jones secure the space. “She was one of the first pioneers of community organizing in our era, and I am inspired by her,” he said. He turned and look at Jackson and Smith loading notebooks and pens in book bag after book bag. “A lot of what we’re working on was started by those that came before us, and it’s up to us to continue their work,” he said.

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This ugly marabou goes on a long journey, popping in occasionally throughout the book. Originally from the savanna, it eats black plastic in Kampala, then crosses oceans to go to a Lord & Taylor. He is clearly far from home. (Ssanyu is Ugandan-American.) The chapbook in parallel also follows a second-generation daughter, who is trying to understand her mother and overall family history in the context of the Ugandan diaspora. What is lost, and what has been baked into her identity? She is overeager in “Time Traveler Hears Dancing Queen,” when she relays her stories from the future, and of empire, to her younger mother’s closed ears. Perhaps she learns her lesson enough that later in the “Time Traveler Catches the Akamba Bus,” she just observes. She sees the last time her mother and her siblings are “together in life, before the scattering, before the taped funerals.” I was reminded of how tight-lipped my first-generation immigrant relatives are about the past. And if I time traveled and witnessed the pain of someone I loved, especially in their formative years, I think I, like this daughter, could also understand more about myself. Ssanyu’s most humorous poem is “Confession,” which is addressed to the ancestors. The Hi-C her mother bought from Safeway is what made her a “raspberry lime and wild berry baby.” It’s rhythmically snappy, and matter-of-fact, too. Take me as I am. Or maybe not. Maybe this daughter can change. In “Notes on Turning Self into Muganda Girl,” she stuffs herself with Luganda, one of the major languages in Uganda, only to “burp” or “cough” them out to her Auntie, who is almost disgusted. Throughout, Ssanyu so richly describes the beauty of Uganda, which I imagine is a reason why the daughter seeks to understand her connection to

Rohanna Ssanyu

the land. The poem “Kazinga Channel” was particularly striking, and a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the capital, “Kampala.” The animals on the Kazinga Channel are resting near, against, and on top of each other, but there is calm and peace (unlike some of the busyness that we humans can create for ourselves). And the marabou, who once called that large river home? Now enclosed in a zoo in “African Aviary,” where there’s “painted sand” and “dried gumballs.” There to be gawked at, but at least in a home with other misfits. The poet Ssanyu will give a reading of her chapbook, “The Marabou Who Crossed the Sea,” and lead a still-life drawing program at the Pardee-Morris House on Sunday, Aug. 9 at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to all ages.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Young Sabinistas Flood Streets To Pull Votes by Laura Glesby

The New Haven independent

Eighteen-year-old Saidan Thapa’s family went on vacation without her this week, mountain-biking in Vermont. She stayed behind in Westville so she could volunteer for state rep candidate Eli Sabin. You could hardly tell that she had sprained her ankle two weeks ago, while she was working as a counselor at a city-run camp in Edgewood Park. (A kid “pulled me, I missed the sidewalk, it crunched,” she explained.) The ankle hasn’t slowed Thapa down. She has been door-knocking for the Sabin campaign every day for the past six days. She has walked, on average, about 20,000 steps a day. “This is fun for me,” she insisted, as she wound her way through the quiet, loopy roads of Upper Westville on Tuesday afternoon. She was nine hours into her shift, having started at 5:10 in the morning. It seems as though no door in the 92nd General Assembly District had gone unknocked by a state representative campaign this summer. Nearly every home had a campaign brochure or a lawn sign for Sabin, Justin Farmer, or incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon, who are competing in the Democratic primary. “You’re the third person to come! We’re good!” one resident called out through her window after Thapa’s knock. “I’m going to vote at 3:30!” On Tuesday alone, Thapa was one of

Robin Golden and Rishi Gurudevan at Golden’s home, Sabin’s election day HQ.

100 to 120 Sabin volunteers fanning out across the district, according to Rishi Gurudevan, Sabin’s campaign manager. (Thapa is technically both an intern and a volunteer, and some of her work hours on Sabin’s campaign are paid.) “We are pretty persistent,” remarked Thapa as she turned to leave. Thapa is home for the summer in between her freshman and sophomore year at New York University. She grew up in New Haven, moving between Westville and City Point. As a graduate of Hopkins School, Upper Westville is familiar territory. She’s pursuing an interdisciplinary

major in law, ethics, history, and religion. She might want to go to law school after college. She became involved with the Sabin campaign a few weeks ago — starting with weekend volunteer work, then a few canvassing shifts in the evenings. After working as a camp counselor from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thapa would canvass for Sabin from around 4:30 to 8:30 in the evening. She feels inspired by Sabin, she said, in part because of his accessibility. On the doors, when she encounters a voter with

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Saidan Thapa checks her route.

a question she doesn’t know how to answer, she’ll put their number on the “Eli call list” — and Sabin will know to follow up with them directly. In the Sabin campaign, “A lot of people knocking on doors are young people,” Thapa noted. “This campaign is powered by young people.” In general, she noted, “there has been a new push nationwide” of “young people” getting involved in politics. Thapa sees herself as part of that new wave, although she has always felt immersed in civic culture. When she was a child, she got to know her former alder,

Dolores Colon. She would accompany her Westville-based grandmother to the Edgewood School polling place on election days. Her grandmother would always keep the television running — tuned into “MSNBC or CBS — no, CNN,” Thapa recalled. Thapa was a year old when Barack Obama became president, and her parents brought her to DC for his inauguration “in a little backpack.” She was 8 years old when Donald Trump was elected for the first time in 2016. She remembers the shift in the air that she felt at that time. The state of being “constantly overstimulated and confused,” as she put it, became the political backdrop of her childhood. Her first experience campaigning for a local politician was when Steve Winter successfully ran for state representative in 2024. Since then, she has come to see political campaigns as a way to move beyond “accepting things as they are.” “I understand how everything in the world can bog us down,” she said. “This” — campaigning for a candidate she believes in — “is something I can do.” Thapa had started her shift before sunrise at the Davis School polling place. She had pre-registered to serve as a campaign-affiliated poll-checker at that location — listening and noting down the names of the people who voted, so Con’t on page 11

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Kimber Boosts Lamont At GOTV Gospel Concert by Thomas Breen

The New Haven independent

Rev. Boise Kimber threw his support behind Gov. Ned Lamont on Sunday evening as his Newhallville church hosted the two-term incumbent for a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) gospel concert in the runup to Tuesday’s Democratic primary. “We are on the move and there is no reason to change horses in midstream,” Kimber told several dozen congregants, elected officials, and “TEAM NED” campaign staffers gathered in First Calvary Baptist Church’s 609 Dixwell Ave. sanctuary. “When you have a Kentucky Derby horse, let’s ride him to the finish line.” Kimber — a politically influential local pastor who now lives in Meriden — has long mixed his ministry with Connecticut gubernatorial politics (including in 2018, when he ultimately wound up on the side of Lamont’s Republican opponent, Bob Stefanowski, before the general election.) Kimber’s national stature has only grown in recent years, as he became the president of the Nashville-based National Baptist Convention in 2024. In addition to leading First Calvary Baptist Church in Newhallville, he also helms New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Bridgeport as well as an all-boys charter school a few blocks away on Dixwell. On Sunday evening, Lamont, state Treasurer Erick Russell, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal served as the featured guests at a free gospel concert designed to urge residents to hit the polls on Tuesday for the gubernatorial primary. Not once did anyone on Sunday’s speaking lineup mention — or even allude to — Lamont’s Democratic challenger, Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott. Instead, Kimber and elected officials touted Connecticut’s investments in young people, and drew a sharp contrast between a state government that cares for the neediest and a more hostile Washington, D.C. Under Lamont’s leadership, Connecticut has been a “backstop” to federal cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and other parts of the social safety net, said Russell. “The federal government is not there for us right now. It is state government that has stepped up.” He and Lamont put a special emphasis on Connecticut’s Baby Bonds program as well as its Early Childhood Education Endowment. The Baby Bonds program, which is run by Russell’s office, invests $3,200 into a trust for every child born under Medicaid coverage. They can access that money between the ages of 18 and 30 — and can use those resources “to build wealth,” purchase a home, start a business. “It’s a check that says we believe in you,” Lamont said. The Early Childhood Education Endowment, meanwhile, is designed to provide free childcare for families making under $100,000 per year, Russell said. Families making over that amount will see childcare costs capped at 7 percent of their income. “That is about investing in people who need it the most,” Russell said. “Despite the headwinds in Washington,”

In the front row were Brandon McGee (left) and Pastor John Cotten (right).

Treasurer Erick Russell: “The federal government is not there for us right now. It is state government that has stepped up.”

Rev. Boise Kimber (right), with Tony Dawson on Sunday: "There is no reason to change horses midstream." Credit: Thomas Breen photos

Gov. Lamont: “With God, all things are possible. With all the storm clouds out there, all the noise coming out of the White House — with God, all things are possible.”

New Hope’s Jermaine Walston on the keys and John Cotten on the drums.

he added, “we continue to move in the right direction, investing in people.” Even as he called on attendees to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, Lamont stressed that he wants to “send a signal loud and clear to Washington, D.C. about who we are” during November’s mid-term elections. “Because we have a president of the

United States who looks at a congregation like this and a lot of the times, he’s saying, ‘You don’t belong. You don’t belong. You weren’t born in this country. You’re not like me.’ And he knows nothing about this country,” Lamont said. “You are the people that make this country amazing. It’s the incredible diversity, race, color, creed, wherever you’re born, we love u here in Connecticut. That is what America is all

about.” Even though Sunday’s gathering was billed as a GOTV event for Lamont, Kimber ended his time at the mic by making a special plea for a different Connecticut Democrat running in an even closer primary race — U.S. Rep. John Larson. “It is the seventh game of the series. There is no reason to put a rookie in the game,” Kimber said, alluding to Larson’s

lead First Congressional District challenger, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. Kimber asked those in attendance to tell people they know in Hartford and Windsor and Middletown “that we don’t need a rookie in the game at this time. We need someone with experience, someone who has stood for us, understands us, and understands the plight of America today. Pass that word along.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

Sisters' Journey August Survivor of the Month - Dorothy Gibbs

I never imagined that I would be here today, sharing my story of resilience, loss, faith and survival. But after everything I’ve been through, I know that my journey isn’t just my own. It belongs to every woman who has fought, every family who has prayed, and every person who has ever faced the fear of hearing the words: You have cancer. My journey began long before my diagnosis. In the late 1970s, a mobile mammogram van would visit my workplace, offering screenings. Each time I went, trusting the doctors who told me there was nothing to worry about. But one day a technician in the van saw something. No alarms were raised. No action was taken. I was reassured that I was fine. Years passed. Then, at age 55, everything changed in May 2002. I switched to a new doctor, Anna Trido, a female. I will never forget the moment she examined me and said, “Dorothy, something doesn’t feel right.” My heart pounded. Fear gripped me. I wanted to believe it was nothing, but deep down, I knew. An ultrasound confirmed it was a mass in my left breast. A biopsy followed. Then came the phone call that turned my world upside down. Stage II breast cancer. I screamed. I cried. And then I fought. I underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. I was on Tamoxifen until 2008 and when the treatment was over, I was declared cancer-free. I thought my battle had ended. But cancer had other plans. In June 2015, I heard those words again. This time, the cancer was in my right breast – Stage 3, aggressive, and relentless. I braced myself for another war, but this time, I wasn’t alone. My husband and my aunts stood by me, lifting me up when I felt too weak to stand. I was treated with adjuvant TCH-per-

Dorothy Gibbs

tuzumab and completed carboplatin/ docetaxel in November 2015. I also completed radiotherapy in April 2016. I drove myself to my appointments, but my husband never missed a chemo session. He held my hand through the pain, through the exhaustion, through the fear. Then, in February 2020, I lost him. Skin cancer took the man who had walked beside me through my darkest days. The grief was unbearable, but I knew he would have wanted me to keep fighting – to keep living. For years, I was afraid to share my story. I carried my pain in silence, unsure if my voice mattered. But then, I found Sisters’ Journey. I listened to the stories of

other women – warriors just like me – and I realized that our voices do matter. Our stories do matter. Because somewhere, right now, there is a woman who just got the call. A woman who feels the same fear I once felt. And she needs to know: She is not alone. Today, I am a 24-year cancer survivor. I have survived chemotherapy, radiation, a double mastectomy and the loss of the man I loved. I have retired from my job, but I will never retire from sharing my journey because my survival is not just my own. It is a testimony to faith, to family, to perseverance. I am still here. Many of the women I sat beside in those treatment rooms are not. I carry their stories with me. I honor them by living, by speaking, by reminding every woman that early detection saves lives, that faith carries us through, and that no one fights alone. I am truly blessed, and I will never stop giving thanks for every single day I have been given.

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that the campaign would know to stop canvassing their homes. After a few hours, she headed back to phone-bank at Robin Golden’s house on McKinley Avenue, which was serving as the campaign’s Election Day headquarters. Another volunteer called her in to drive a voter who had trouble walking to their polling place. When she got back, it was time to canvass. She was walking along Stevenson Road with a particular mission: checking in with residents along her designated route who were “ones or twos” — people whom other volunteers had marked as highly or very likely to vote for Sabin. She was there to make sure they had a plan to vote. Few voters were home. At one house, a teen answered the door. Thapa was hoping to check in with his dad. “Do you know if he’s voting today?” she asked. “I’ll ask him,” the teen said, taking out his phone to call his dad. “He’s not answering,” he said after a moment.

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“Encourage him to vote!” Thapa urged. “The polls close at 8 p.m.”

11

© 2026 Consumer Cellular, Inc. Terms and Conditions subject to change. Plans shown include $5 credit for AutoPay and E-billing. Taxes and other fees apply. Credit approval required for new service. Cellular service is not available in all areas and is subject to system limitations. For unlimited plans, high-speed data is reduced after 35GB on single-line plans and 50GB of combined usage on multi-line plans for the remainder of your billing cycle. Unlimited data plans only for customers age 50+. Age validation required. *2025 ACSI® Survey of customers rating their own wireless service provider. ACSI® and its logo are registered trademarks of the

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

OP-ED: From Selma to South Los Angeles: An Unsung Voting Rights Foot Soldier Says the Fight Isn’t Over More than 60 years after marching for voting rights, Leatha Davis says the sacrifices of Selma still carry a warning for a generation at risk of disengaging.

BLACKPRESSUSA OP-ED : Leatha Davis was a teenager when she marched in Selma, survived violent attacks and testified in a federal case that helped clear the way for the Selma-to-Montgomery march. Now 81, she says the fight for voting rights is not over, and neither is the responsibility to vote. By Stephen Oduntan (Updated Jul 31) More than six decades after risking her life in the fight for voting rights, 81-yearold Leatha Davis still remembers the sound of billy clubs striking peaceful demonstrators, the screams of marchers under attack, and the sacrifices that defined the Civil Rights Movement. Today, as recent Supreme Court decisions have narrowed key protections under the Voting Rights Act and battles over congressional redistricting continue, Davis believes the struggle she joined as a teenager is far from over. But she worries the greatest threat is not only the legal battles over voting rights—it is also the growing number of people who choose not to exercise them. “It makes me really angry when I think about we did all of that and people stay at home and don’t try to vote,” Davis said. “Every vote counts.” For Davis, those debates are deeply personal. She joined the movement in the days surrounding Bloody Sunday, when Alabama state troopers brutally attacked peaceful demonstrators attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma with billy clubs, tear gas, cattle prods, and attack dogs. “We thought John Lewis was dead,” Davis recalled. “They beat him to the ground. And if you ran to help him, they cracked you upside the head too. It was horrific.”

Days later, Davis marched carrying a sign reading “One Man, One Vote.” During the demonstrations, she said she was struck with a cattle prod. She later testified under her maiden name, Leatha Mae Stover, in the landmark federal case Williams v. Wallace, describing before U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. the violence peaceful demonstrators had endured. Johnson’s ruling allowed the Selma-to-Montgomery march to proceed. The trauma of those days has never left her. Davis said she still has nightmares about Bloody Sunday and hopes to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge one more time before she dies. “I’m going to walk across that bridge one day before I die,” she said.

would haul the family’s harvest to the white landowner. “He’d tell my father he only broke even,” Davis recalled. “For all the work we did, he only gave my father three dollars and a one-gallon bucket of syrup.”

“We were the foot soldiers,” Davis said. “And we’ve been forgotten.”

Watching her father remain trapped in poverty convinced Davis there was no future in sharecropping. But economic exploitation was only part of life under Jim Crow. Black residents were expected to lower their eyes, answer “yes sir” and “no sir,” and accept humiliation as a way of life. Refusing, Davis said, could invite violence—or worse. Davis said the lessons that shaped her activism began even earlier, listening to her grandmother describe life just after slavery.

Born into a sharecropping family in rural Alabama, Davis said she was picking cotton from sunrise to sunset by the age of five. After months of labor, her father

“My grandmother used to say she was born the third year after slavery ended,” Davis recalled. “That’s how she told her age.”

Those experiences taught her that the struggle for voting rights was never just about casting a ballot. It was about dignity. It was about freedom. “When I marched,” Davis said, “I wasn’t just marching so I could vote. I was marching because I wanted to be free.” As the Selma-to-Montgomery march approached, Davis wanted her younger brother to march beside her and asked her father for permission. “No,” he said. “One is enough.” Only years later did she understand why. “That means he didn’t know whether I would come back or not,” she said. Today, Davis worries many younger Americans have never been taught those stories or the sacrifices behind the right to vote. “We have lost a generation of people who don’t care because they were never told,” Davis said. “What they did to us was unspeakable. We lost some lives. It hurt.” Voting rights advocates say Davis’ concern reflects a challenge they encounter across the country. Eric Hall, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham and a voting rights organizer in Alabama, said many younger Black voters question whether voting still makes a difference. “We don’t have a voter registration problem,” Hall said. “We have a voter participation problem.” Hall said many young people believe the political system no longer works for them, but organizers remind them that “the sacrifice of the people was about getting those rights. Today it’s about keeping those rights.” Hall said organizers across Alabama are working to reconnect younger voters with the stories of civil rights foot soldiers like Davis, arguing that understanding those sacrifices is essential to protecting voting rights today. The Rev. Dr. James M. Thomas, presi-

dent of the NAACP San Fernando Valley Branch, said younger Americans often see the sacrifices of the Civil Rights Movement through a different lens. “I don’t think they do,” Thomas said when asked whether younger generations understand what civil rights foot soldiers endured. “They’re looking at older generations and asking, ‘What have you done with the vote?’ That’s the question young people ask.” Still, Thomas urged people not to disengage. “Vote in the name of your ancestors,” Thomas said. “Even if you feel like you have nobody to vote for, still vote. Someone your ancestors knew died because they wanted to give you the right to vote.” For Davis, preserving those stories is as important as preserving the vote itself. She believes thousands of ordinary people helped build the Civil Rights Movement, even if history rarely remembers their names. “We were the foot soldiers,” Davis said. “And we’ve been forgotten.” Professor Marcus Hunter, a sociologist at UCLA, said Davis’ story demonstrates why ordinary people like her remain central to understanding the Civil Rights Movement. “History often remembers the microphone and forgets the multitude,” Hunter said. “Dr. King and John Lewis were essential leaders, but movements are built by thousands of people whose names never appear in textbooks. Preserving the stories of foot soldiers restores the true architecture of social change and reminds us that democracy is made by participation, not spectatorship.” More than six decades after Selma, Davis remains convinced that change begins with ordinary people willing to act. “I can’t change the world,” she said. “But I can make a difference where I stand. And I’ve done that.”

OPINION: in the Fight for Voting Rights, Winning Is Not the Same as Victory By Evan Milligan Special to the Birmingham Times Source: Black Press USA Wire

Since 2021, a case bearing my family name has been winding through our federal court system. Allen v. Milligan asked whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act could still be used to challenge racial bias in how voting districts get drawn. I joined this lawsuit expecting to lose. Yet, my co-plaintiffs and I are undefeated. Five times the courts have reviewed our case — a federal panel and the U.S. Supreme Court — and five times we have won. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais. Just a few summer months before our country’s 250th birthday, the Voting Rights Act lost, badly. Justice Kagan, in dissent, wrote that the

ruling renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter.” The 1965 Voting Rights Act was already a shadow of the bill President Johnson signed into law. In 2013, the Supreme Court dismantled preclearance, the VRA’s most powerful tool for preventing racial discrimination before it happened. What was left was Section 2 — a way for ordinary Americans like us to challenge discriminatory voting systems after the fact. Callais has all but closed that window too. What remains is a path the size of a needle’s eye. And then there is our peculiar case. Each Milligan plaintiff took a different path into the litigation. Mine was grief and the appeal of storytelling on a grander stage. So many close loved ones and local leaders had died during the pandemic that litigation felt like a way to keep their

stories in the historical record. A likely doomed attempt felt cathartic. In February 2022, three federal judges — two appointed by President Trump, one by President Reagan — unanimously held that Alabama had violated federal law, ordering the state to redraw our congressional map to include two majority-African-American voting districts or something close to it. The state refused to comply. It spent millions in tax dollars appealing all the way to the Supreme Court. In June 2023, the Supreme Court agreed with us too. The state still refused to comply. That summer, during a special session, the Alabama legislature passed a map that diluted Black voting strength even more

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

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Federal Reserve for the Hood THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

COMMENTARY: By The Positive Community Source: Black Press USA Wire John Hope Bryant has long argued that the greatest civil rights challenge of the 21st century is not only discrimination, but also financial illiteracy and the lack of access to capital. The entrepreneur, author, and founder of Operation HOPE believes that economic empowerment is the key to creating lasting change in underserved communities. Rather than waiting for outside institutions to solve persistent wealth gaps, Bryant has urged Black Americans to build financial strength from within. Central to Bryant’s vision is what he calls becoming the “Federal Reserve for the hood.” The phrase is both symbolic and practical. It reflects his belief that neighborhoods that have historically been excluded from mainstream banking and investment systems must develop their own networks of financial education, lending, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. Instead of relying solely on government assistance, Bryant argues that communities should become producers of capital rather than simply consumers of it. Bryant often points out that while money flows through Black communities in enormous amounts each year, too little of that wealth stays within those communities. He believes that increasing financial literacy, improving credit

scores, expanding homeownership, and encouraging investment can create a cycle in which local dollars generate local prosperity. In his view, capital should circulate through neighborhoods just as effectively as it does in thriving business districts. Another cornerstone of Bryant’s philosophy is his ambitious goal of helping create one million Black-owned businesses across America. He argues that business ownership has historically been one of the most effective paths to building generational wealth. Entrepreneurs not only create income for themselves, but also generate jobs, provide services, mentor future business leaders, and strengthen the economic foundation of their communities. Bryant believes that many aspiring entrepreneurs already possess the creativity and determination needed to succeed but often lack access to affordable financing, experienced mentors, and practical business education. Through Operation HOPE and related initiatives, he has promoted coaching programs, financial counseling, small-business development, and partnerships with banks that can help entrepreneurs move from ideas to sustainable companies. His emphasis on credit deserves particular attention. Bryant frequently says that a person’s credit score has become one of the most important numbers in modern economic life. A strong credit

John Hope Bryant’s

profile can open doors to business loans, mortgages, equipment financing, and investment opportunities. Improving credit, he argues, is not simply about borrowing money—it is about gaining access to opportunities that can change the trajectory of an entire family. Education also plays a central role in Bryant’s strategy. He believes financial literacy should be taught alongside reading, writing, mathematics, and science from an early age. Students who understand budgeting, investing, entrepreneurship, taxes, and responsible

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credit use are better prepared to navigate adulthood and make informed financial decisions. Bryant sees financial education as a lifelong asset that can be passed from one generation to the next. Technology has expanded Bryant’s vision even further. Digital banking, online marketplaces, artificial intelligence, and e-commerce platforms have lowered many of the barriers that once prevented small businesses from reaching national and international markets. Bryant encourages entrepreneurs to embrace these technologies while maintaining strong financial discipline and customer-focused business practices. Bryant’s proposal has attracted support from many leaders in business, banking, government, and philanthropy because it focuses on creating long-term economic capacity rather than short-term relief. His collaborations with major financial institutions have demonstrated that public-private partnerships can expand access to financial services in communities that have traditionally been underserved. The goal of creating one million Blackowned businesses is undeniably ambitious, but Bryant argues that ambitious goals inspire transformative action. Even if every entrepreneur does not build a large corporation, thousands of successful small businesses could collectively employ millions of people, expand local tax bases, support

neighborhood revitalization, and create wealth that remains within families for generations. Critics acknowledge that entrepreneurship alone cannot eliminate systemic barriers such as unequal access to capital, educational disparities, and discriminatory lending practices. Bryant agrees that policy reforms remain important, but he maintains that building financial capability at the individual and community levels is equally essential. His philosophy emphasizes that advocacy and economic empowerment should work together rather than compete with one another. Ultimately, John Hope Bryant’s vision of becoming the “Federal Reserve for the hood” represents a call for economic self-determination rooted in knowledge, ownership, and opportunity. His campaign to help create one million Blackowned businesses challenges communities, financial institutions, educators, and policymakers to rethink how wealth is created and shared. Whether viewed as an ambitious blueprint or an inspiring aspiration, Bryant’s message continues to emphasize that financial empowerment is not merely about accumulating money—it is about expanding freedom, strengthening families, and building resilient communities for future generations. Based on reporting by The Positive Community.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

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

Listing: Part-Time Class A Driver 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 ***An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Disabled & Veterans***

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

360 Management Invitation for Bids

Fairmont Fire Unit Turnover

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE DRAFT ANNUAL INTENDED USE PLAN FOR STATE FISCAL YEAR 2027 The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) is holding a remote Public Hearing via Microsoft Teams video conferencing on August 18, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., to receive testimony from the public on the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Draft Annual Intended Use Plan (IUP), which includes the draft Project Priority Lists (PPLs), for State Fiscal Year 2027. This draft IUP includes the fifth year of additional funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The hearing will be held in conformance with the provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (Public Law 104‐182), and pursuant to Sections 22a‐478(h) and 22a‐482 of the Connecticut General Statutes and Section 22a‐482‐1(c) (4) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies. Copies of the Draft Annual IUP, which includes the draft PPLs, may be obtained online at the DPH’s webpage at www.ct.gov/ dwsrf. To listen to or participate virtually in the Public Hearing please visit DPH’s webpage at www.ct.gov/dwsrf. The access information for the hearing will be posted in the near future. Please continue to visit our webpage for information regarding the DWSRF Program. Upon request, a physical location and electronic equipment necessary to attend the meeting will be provided to anyone submitting such request in writing at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. Persons wishing to provide comments to the DWSRF section on the Draft Annual IUP are invited to do so in writing no later than 4:30 p.m. on August 10, 2026 to DPH.CTDWSRF@ct.gov. Please note in the Subject line “DWSRF Public Hearing”. DPH is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

360 Management is currently seeking bids from qualified contractors to Fairmont Fire Unit Turnover Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing. cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

August 10, 2026, at 3:00PM.

INVITATION TO BID: LaRosa Building Group, as Construction Manager, is

seeking trade bids for demolition and new construction of Leroy Downs Apartments located at 79 S. Main St. in Norwalk, CT. The project consists of structure remediation/demolition followed by the new construction of 68 apartments and common areas. This project is subject to prevailing wages, is tax exempt, and is subject to CHRO Set Aside requirements (all firms must solicit trades and materials accordingly). A prebid will be held on site, Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 10am. Bid documents can be obtained by contacting Vince Parete via email. Bids are due to Vince Parete no later than 3PM Thursday, August 27, 2026 via email vparete@golarosa.com. LaRosa Building Group is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Small, Minority, Women, Disabled, and Section 3 Businesses are strongly encouraged to participate.

THEINNERCITYNEWS.COM 15

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

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

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

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.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 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 12, 2026 - August 18, 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 Staff Attorney 1 (Confidential) in the Office of Legal Affairs. Further information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at: https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/ sup/bulpreview.asp?b=&R1= 260723&R2=1637CR&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 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

BLM Sports invests $200K in HBCU athletics and community initiatives Nationwide By Atlanta Daily World ATLANTA, GA — August 6, 2026 — At a time when nonprofit organizations and community programs are being asked to meet greater needs with increasingly limited resources, BLM Sports is putting real dollars behind the people and organizations doing the work. Founded by philanthropist and social-impact leader Cicley Gay, who also serves as Chairwoman of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, BLM Sports has invested nearly $200,000 in nonprofit organizations, HBCU athletics and community-based initiatives using sports, education, mentorship, technology, entrepreneurship and wellness to create lasting change. The investment includes $166,000 donated to 19 organizations, along with additional support for HBCU athletic programs and community initiatives designed to expand access, strengthen institutions and create opportunities for students, young athletes, women and families. “Sports have always had the power to bring people together, but their impact should extend far beyond the court or the field,” said Gay. “This investment is about supporting organizations and institutions that are already on the ground changing lives. They are mentoring young people, developing future leaders, supporting student-athletes, creating safe spaces and opening doors that too often remain closed in our communities.” The organizations receiving support from BLM Sports include: Allen Iverson Classic Atlanta Dream Black College Gamers Association Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia Community Through Hoops Crown 3 Basketball Dynamic Cares Edward and Tamara George Foundation Fab 5 Foundation

Transform Your Bathroom and Change Your Life.

Ghana Community Fitness Day Girls Who Brunch Tour Grind Pretty Josie’s Girls League of Industry Moms Love Quest Foundation National CARES Mentoring Movement NY3on3 Soul Reborn Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation Together, these organizations represent a broad network of leaders and programs using sports, mentorship, education, technology, entrepreneurship and wellness to build stronger communities. BLM Sports’ additional investments in HBCU athletics recognize the critical role historically Black colleges and universities play in developing student-athletes, strengthening communities and creating pathways to education, leadership and professional opportunity. The support is intended to help athletic programs and related initiatives provide students with the resources, exposure and development

opportunities they need to succeed both during and after their collegiate careers. The organization’s wider community investments also support grassroots programs working directly with young people, women, entrepreneurs and families. By investing at both the institutional and neighborhood levels, BLM Sports is helping ensure that resources reach communities where they can produce meaningful and measurable results. “This is not about writing checks for the sake of making an announcement,” Gay added. “It is about investing in organizations with a proven commitment to the people they serve. We want these leaders, programs and institutions to have the resources to expand their reach, strengthen their work and continue producing results.” The recipients range from youth-focused organizations and athletic programs to initiatives supporting girls,

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women, families, HBCU students, aspiring entrepreneurs and emerging leaders. While their missions differ, each shares a commitment to creating tangible opportunities for people who have historically faced barriers to access and advancement. Under Gay’s leadership, BLM Sports is developing a philanthropic model that connects athletics with education, economic empowerment, institutional support and social responsibility. The nearly $200,000 investment reflects a deliberate effort to use the visibility and cultural influence of sports to address needs extending far beyond competition. Gay brings the same commitment to social justice and community empowerment to her leadership of BLM Sports that she demonstrates as Chairwoman of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. Through both roles, she continues to champion investments that strengthen communities, expand opportunity and support organizations working closest to the people they serve.

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By supporting nationally recognized organizations, HBCU athletic programs and community-based initiatives, BLM Sports is helping ensure that funding reaches leaders working directly with students, young people and families—not only during moments of crisis, but throughout the year. The investment represents more than financial assistance. It is an affirmation of the essential role these organizations and institutions play in developing talent, strengthening families and building healthier, more equitable communities. “We cannot continue asking community organizations and HBCU programs to solve major challenges without giving them the resources to do it,” Gay said. “If we want stronger students, stronger athletes, stronger families and stronger communities, we must invest accordingly. BLM Sports is proud to stand with the people and organizations creating change every day.” Through this national investment, BLM Sports is reinforcing a clear message: the true power of sports is measured not only by what happens during competition, but also by what becomes possible when influence, resources and opportunity are intentionally shared. About BLM Sports Founded by Cicley Gay, Chairwoman of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, BLM Sports is a sports philanthropy and social-impact organization committed to using the power, reach and cultural influence of sports to create meaningful opportunities for young people, student-athletes, women, families and underserved communities. Through charitable giving, strategic partnerships and community-centered initiatives, BLM Sports supports work across youth development, education, HBCU athletics, mentorship, entrepreneurship, wellness and economic empowerment. For more information, visit BLMSports.net.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - August 12, 2026 - August 18, 2026

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