Save the Date! Newhallville Family Gospel Festival!

Christian Community Commission & Newhallville Promise Land Collaboration 

Present

The Family Gospel Festival! 

Free food, vendors, kiddie lands, games, contests, and giveaways! 

Saturday, August 5th, 2017

Lincoln Bassett School Park

Shelton Avenue, New Haven, CT

11:00 AM - 7:30 PM

For more information, call: 203-624-9228

NHS Kicks Off NeighborWorks Week 2017!

On Saturday, June 3rd, NeighborWorks America officially kicked off their NeighborWorks Week events around the country. This year's theme is NeighborWorks Works!

NeighborWorks Week is a nationwide celebration of the good that comes out of neighbors working and playing together. Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven and the entire NeighborWorks network are committed to bringing about positive change by improving lives and strengthening communities. NHS is helping residents thrive in New Haven, ensuring that the core needs of individuals are met by listening to our neighbors, no matter their income or professional position, and providing or linking residents to essential services.

This year, NHS of New Haven's volunteer event was themed "NeighborWorks Works for Veterans!"

Staff from both NHS and Save the Sound (a local nonprofit that aims to protect and improve the land, air, and water of Connecticut and the Long Island Sound) came together at the home of veteran, Loreen Lawrence, to make minor repairs and additions which included: sanding and staining a wheelchair ramp at the back of her home, landscaping in the front and backyards, as well as installing an eco-friendly rain barrel, storm drain and rain garden.

We simply cannot thank Kendal Barbery (Save the Sound) and her staff enough! Kendal worked the entire week prior to our kickoff with senior students from Hopkins School in order to prepare the rain garden installation. Kendal was also kind enough to teach the Hopkins Students (and NHS staff) the intricacies of designing and building a system that connects the gutters, rain barrel, storm drain and rain garden. The project will help diminish storm water runoff in the West River and the Long Island Sound and help prevent raw sewage from entering the water system unfiltered. 

At the rear of the home, NHS staff worked diligently on landscaping, as well as performing simple and small repairs to the wheelchair ramp and backyard deck. Staffers also managed to fit in time to stain the deck with a special traction paint.

The work is far from done, but NHS staff members are so proud to have been able to help a Veteran homeowner enjoy her home just a little bit more, become more environmentally savvy, and have a gorgeous deck to relax on. We look forward to a few more volunteer events at Loreen's home.

A few pictures of the event are below, and more can be found on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/nhsofnewhaven.

Newsletter! December 2016

Event Highlight: International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace

Sunday, September 18, 2016

1:00PM - 6:00PM

United Nations Peace Garden in West River

For more information, contact Stacy Spell: (203) 777-2192 or wrnscsecretary@gmail.com

Event Highlight: A "One Community" Forum

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

6:00PM - 8:00PM

HILL REGIONAL CAREER HIGH SCHOOL

A "One Community" Forum
"Building Bridges -- Not Walls"

Featuring spoken artists, religious & political leaders.

Hosted by The West River Neighborhood Services Corporation, in collaboration with The Malik Human Services Institute and The Way of the Cross Bibleway Church.

NHS Workshop With SeeClickFix

written by Vishakha Negi

Members of the audience were prompted to
answer a few questions about their community,
the first of which was why they cared about it.

Why do we care about our community? 
The answer may seem obvious. We live there. Some of us work there. It's where we were raised and want to raise our children. At the SeeClickFix workshop co-hosted with NHS on June 23^rd, however, even more answers materialized. People cared about the impact their community could have on the larger environment, the availability of essentials like groceries and jobs, and the implications it could have for future generations. These answers were a result of an activity during the workshop, which prompted a conversation about what it means to improve communities, as well as how one could go about improving them. As the name of the workshop suggests, the solution that was discussed was an app called SeeClickFix.

SeeClickFix members Nadine Herring, Andrew Johnston and Amanda Parr ran through the basics of the app. Users can share images with comments about issues in their community not only with other community members, but also the relevant authorities. As a result of this process, the issue could be quickly fixed. As an audience member aptly pointed out during the workshop, some individuals may not have smartphone access. Luckily, members of SeeClickFix assured the audience that libraries throughout New Haven would be trained to enter the relevant issues through SeeClickFix’s online platform, and so individuals without smartphones could just share their concerns at a local library. A picture would not be necessary at all – just the issue and the location. SeeClickFix is a viable platform for all individuals and a powerful tool for transforming how we see our communities and take charge of them.

The end result of a brainstorming session on why we care about our communities
and what aspects of it could be improved. Members of See Click Fix finally sorted
these responses into relevant categories like Environment, Investment, Local Pride
and Education.

NHS plans to continue with the workshops, especially because this one was so well-received by both participants and facilitators alike. 

Here is an excerpt from a blog post, which SeeClickFix wrote about the workshop:

“At SeeClickFix, we are grateful for the privilege to work alongside Neighborhood Housing Services and the actively engaged residents and governments dedicated to taking pragmatic steps towards improving their towns and cities. We are dedicated to providing a platform where all voices are given a chance to be heard, where respect is shared and communicated, and where education inspires engagement, awareness leads to involvement, and initiative generates change.”

We are truly lucky to have these opportunities to partner with SeeClickFix. By working together, we are able to better address the issues that affect quality of life in the community.

NeighborWorks® Week 2016: Creating Opportunity to Grow

Saturday, June 11, 2016, was a day full of activities to culminate NeighborWorks Week® 2016! This photo was taken at our Garden Workshop at our NHS campus.

The Seed Saving and Seed Swapping workshop was free, open to the public, and taught by certified Advanced Master Gardener Rachel Ziesk; in partnership with Common Ground, RMA.



Participants learned all the ins and outs of saving seeds from their favorite vegetable crops. The class covered growing, harvesting, and storing seeds, as well as ways to ensure healthy crops from saved seeds.

NeighborWorks® Week 2016: Creating Opportunity to Learn

Thursday, June 9, 2016:

Day 7 of our NeighborWorks Week activities -- Creating Opportunities to Learn! NHS worked with the Urban Resources Initiative on Sherman Parkway, planting trees to create an urban oasis!

NeighborWorks® Week 2016: Creating Opportunity to Succeed

Our Community Building & Organizing Staff Getting Ready to Fire Up the Grill!

Day 6 of our NeighborWorks Week activities (Thursday, June 9, 2016)! Creating Opportunity to Succeed with our HomeOwnership Center's Money Management Workshop! 

Participants of the class were surprised with a BBQ dinner prior to the workshop. The Money Management workshop covers the importance of managing money and understanding credit so that participants will be a wiser consumer and avoid financial pitfalls.

NeighborWorks® Week 2016: Creating Opportunity to Explore

On June 4th & 5th, the West River Watershed Coalition (which NHS of New Haven is a part of) sponsored two incredible West River hikes. 

NHS staff member, Kathy Fay, managed to score this awesome shot with our NeighborWorks Week signage! 

You can view more photos here.‪

NeighborWorks® Week 2016: Creating Opportunity to Serve

Bike & Build is a nonprofit organization that organizes cross-country cycling trips to benefit affordable housing in the United States. In between their riding days, each group takes the time to "build" and volunteer at different organizations that promote affordable housing.

On Wednesday, June 1, NHS welcomed 30 cyclists at the intersection of Sherman Parkway and West Division Street. Once there, the group joined another 25 volunteers from the Hopkins School in a massive clean-up around Beaver Ponds Park.

The two groups transformed the strip of land by pulling weeds, planting flowers, picking up trash, and distributing mulch around the trees. It was a beautiful transformation and we encourage everyone to drive by Sherman Parkway to see all of the work that has been done!

You can find more photos of our volunteers on our facebook page.

Spread the Word -- Second Annual Pre-Summer Bazaar!

Common Ground Seeding Sale & Farm Festival!

Neighborhood Clean Up Event!

Volunteer Planting Event!

On Saturday, April 9th, there will be a volunteer planting event and celebration of the Pond Lily Dam removal!  
Please contact Annalisa Paltauf (Apaltauf@savethesound.org) with any questions and to RSVP.

Welcoming a New Superintendent to NHS

Angel Pantoja, NHS of New Haven's property manager, has worked our organization for nearly three years now. He is a valued employee who works hard each day maintaining our properties, and managing our rentals on Edgewood Avenue.

But Angel is also generous and thoughtful, and the rest of the NHS staff recently had the chance to see this first hand. As NHS welcomed a new superintendent to our team (managing our Carmel Street apartments), Angel took it upon himself to organize a surprise housewarming!

On Wednesday, March 16, Richard Andres, our new superintendent, walked into his apartment to find it fully stocked with brand-new furniture including a dining room set, bedroom set, tables, chairs, pots and pans. Staff from NHS were present as well as many guests from Richard's life including his friends from church.

We wholeheartedly welcome Richard to our NHS family, and thank Angel for all that he does.

See photos from the housewarming below.

Vacancies are available at our Carmel Street apartments. If you are interested in renting, please click here to view photos of the property and for more information.

Cleaning up Beaver Ponds Park with Local College Students

Update (3/23/16):
We received this great note this morning:

"Thank you, UNH students, and Neighborhood Housing Services, for your heroic work cleaning up the badly neglected Sherman Avenue side of Beaver Ponds Parks. We, as Friends of Beaver Ponds Park, thank you for your arduous work clearing old bottles and even the kitchen sink out of the park.

Nan Bartow 

Bill Bidwell

Friends of Beaver Ponds Park"

-----

All this week (March 14-18), University of New Haven students have been working with NHS to clean up Beaver Ponds Park, along Sherman Parkway. They were joined on Friday, March 18 with a few more students from Yale, and together they picked up trash and debris from the site.

Stephen Cremin-Endes (NHS) addressing the group

Beaver Ponds Park is owned by the City of New Haven and is an approximately 107-acre park that includes athletic fields (including Bowen Field) and an approximately 86-acre wetland and pond system. Friends of Beaver Ponds Park is a community group active in preserving and enhancing the pond areas for recreational uses.

Trash funneling into the pond.

A trash study was conducted in 2009. The study found that residential waste including plastic bags, bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappers, etc. from the areas surrounding Beaver Pond Park are improperly discarded and are transported by the stormwater system into the pond. Click here to learn more about this issue.

5 trash bags collected in just one morning!

UNH Student, Brianna

University of New Haven student, Brianna, says, 
"I haven't done a ton of community service and wanted some new experiences. We're always learning about other students going to exotic places for spring break to clean up, but sometimes where you really need the help is locally."

LtR: UNH Students Jen & Sarah

Sarah, a sophomore at UNH says, "I chose to volunteer as part of an Alternative Spring Break. I wanted to get more involved. When I first got here, [the Pond] was disgusting. There were bottles everywhere, from one end to the other."

Jen says "I’ve never really done anything like this. So I thought why not? And you have an entire week to do it. I actually enjoy it. It’s nice to feel like you’re making a difference." 

Cleaning up everything -- including the kitchen sink!

Thank you to all our volunteers! 

For more information about this activity, or any of our other volunteer opportunities, feel free to reach out to Stephen Cremin-Endes, Director of Community Building & Organizing at NHS: scremin-endes@nhsofnewhaven.org.

Common Ground Community Calendar

Hello NHS Family & Friends!

 We wanted to share with you this calendar of community events from one of our favorite partners, Common Ground CT! Click the photo to find out more information on Common Ground's website.

Join Us! Ribbon Cutting: 141 Newhall St!

Date Announced! 7th Annual Family Festival!

For Immediate Release
February 17, 2016
Media Inquiries: Maria Perez-Martinez, 475-227-0530, mmartinez@nhsofnewhaven.org

7^th Annual NHS Family Fun Festival:
Paint the Town Green

Promoting Environmentally-Minded Initiatives with Free Activities, Games, and Food for Families and Guests of All Ages

New Haven, CT — Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven, positioning neighborhoods to succeed for 36 years, announced today that their 7^th Annual Family Fun Festival will take place on NHS’ campus on Saturday, May 7, 2016. The festival, which has become a community staple with participants from all over Connecticut, has featured past themes such as Entrepreneurship, Health & Financial Literacy, Environmental Awareness, and Family Fitness. The Festival is a chance to honor both the diversity and spirit of the New Haven community and beyond. The 2016 Festival theme, Paint the Town Green, will promote environmentally-minded initiatives and encourage families to do their part to preserve the Earth.

 “We are thrilled to be hosting this event once again to bring people together for a day of fun activities, healthy refreshments, and meeting with old friends and acquaintances to discuss different ways in which we can respect our environment,” said NHS of New Haven executive director Jim Paley. “Our organization strives to include sustainability in all of our housing development activities, but the Family Fun Festival gives us an opportunity to reach additional people in our neighborhoods.”

As an opportunity to bring neighbors together, build community, and have fun, the Festival strives to provide a space for people of all ages to enjoy and celebrate all that New Haven has to offer. Admission is free and includes games, food, and activities. Most, if not all, of the food, activities, and entertainment groups will be from New Haven and will introduce a “green” element to participants.

 “Our family festivals have afforded us with an opportunity to give back to the community, and each year, we highlight different themes,” said HomeOwnership Center Managing Director, Bridgette Russell. “This year’s theme ‘Paint the Town Green’ highlights the importance of living in harmony with our environment.”

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven is part of the national NeighborWorks® network, an affiliation of more than 230 nonprofit organizations that increase homeownership, produce affordable housing and revitalize neighborhoods in more than 4,400 communities across the nation. The NeighborWorks® network was founded and is supported by NeighborWorks® America, which strengthens the network through training, technical assistance, and funding.

###