The goals of energizing communities include creating safe, lively neighborhoods people want to live in, promoting local businesses, supporting children and youth in academic and non-academic pursuits, and protecting the environment. A few of New Haven’s neighborhoods are moving forward in reaching these goals, thanks to ongoing collaborations and some targeted funding. Both West River and Chatham Square in Fair Haven were neighborhoods at risk of “turning” toward decline if drug dealing, prostitution and violence overcame neighbors’ efforts at improvement. Census data for Fair Haven(1) (of which Chatham Square is a more prosperous part) show that 67 percent of adults do not have a college degree; half of families have household income under $35,000; and 78 percent of housing units are occupied by renters. Corresponding data for West River show 82 percent without a college degree; 40 percent with household income under $35,000; and 81 percent of units occupied by renters.(2)
Mary Ann Moran has lived in Chatham Square for 31 years; she’s a former carpenter who now runs her own kitchen design business from home. Hope Metcalf, an attorney who teaches at Yale Law School, moved into the neighborhood five years ago with her family. At first they lived next door to a crack house, but things have improved since then. Stacy Spell has lived in West River even longer than Moran has lived in her home – 33 years. A retired police detective, he’s spent decades trying to improve the quality of life in his neighborhood. Kevin Ewing lives in West River and worked for a total of four years as a community organizer first in Chatham Square, then in West River, hired through a grant from The Community Foundation, so he has insight into both neighborhoods.
In 2005 the Foundation prioritized support for at-risk New Haven neighborhoods. It provided funding to bring Chatham Square neighbors together to discuss their concerns and dreams for their neighborhood. That was followed by funding for a community organizer who could provide ongoing support to help residents – most of whom were already busy with jobs and families – realize their vision. Metcalf says having someone with time to help organize the neighborhood was a big help. Ewing himself sees his most valuable role as that of a helpful outside force: “We all get focused on our own specific interests; [an outsider] doesn't really care about the project, he cares about developing the leadership of the people. For example, I don't care about planting flowers; I care about the people who want to plant flowers. The focus is on developing leaders, not on the projects.”
The Community Foundation surveyed a group of residents in Chatham Square in 2006 and 2007 and found a significant increase in their satisfaction with their neighborhood from one year to the next. The Community Foundation also provided grants for tutoring kids in the Quinnipiac Terrace housing development and provided support for a community organizer in West River and the annual festival at the United Nations Peace Garden on Ella Grasso Boulevard.
In 2006 to bring neighbors closer together and increase knowledge sharing, The Community Foundation became an early sponsor of the New Haven Independent. Both the New Haven Independent (founded 2005) and its sister on-line news source, the Valley Independent Sentinel (founded 2009), are operated under the Online Journalism Project and have contributed greatly to weaving their respective communities together and providing a platform to enable residents to contribute their ideas to revitalizing their communities.
What others are doing
Hope Metcalf helped launch the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association in 2005. She lists the events it organizes every year: the annual festival in September, an Easter egg hunt, a spring clean up, art in the park for kids in the summer, a Halloween festival and a winter potluck.
“We've been successful in getting people to meet and mingle,” she says, “but less successful in getting a higher level commitment from more than just a small core group. I think we did a great job of leveraging [Community Foundation] funds, but I'd be more inclined to provide support for an organizer rather than one-off block parties or whatever.”
Mary Ann Moran enjoys working with children. She and a small group tutor kids during the year at Q Terrace; this year they extended the tutoring to a summer program. “I wanted to do something that focused on the [Quinnipiac] river. We wrote a grant emphasizing science and math skills and brought in Schooner to familiarize the kids with the river. The final thing is a three-hour ride on Schooner with their parents.” The summer group encompasses kids ranging from 5 to 16.
“Part of my motivation was to get kids to see their neighborhood was bigger than just Q Terrace,” she says. “Now they're going to nearby streets and comfortable walking by themselves and their parents are comfortable letting them go because we've created an extension of their neighborhood and other adults they know in Chatham Square. Q Terrace is cut off from the rest of the neighborhood – it’s like there’s an invisible fence – and I think we've changed that and given the kids a sense of safety outside of where they live.” She adds that traffic-calming measures on the streets have helped make them safer. The Community Foundation has provided funding for both the school-year tutoring and the summer program and traffic calming study.
Moran believes the right mix of homeowners and renters is key to the revival of the neighborhood. Right now it’s about 75 percent owners and 25 percent renters in absentee-landlord buildings. “We have people wanting to move in here, young people with kids, and mixed races – it’s affordable, and it’s becoming a destination.”
New Havener Ben Berkowitz co-founded SeeClickFix with some friends in 2008. The goal, he says, “is to increase citizen participation in improving the community around them.” New Haven was the first city to adopt it, so any resident can go to the SeeClickFix.org website and report a problem – say, a pothole or a broken street light, or speeding on a certain street – and the complaint goes directly to the relevant city department to be addressed. The program is now operating in many other cities.
He says, “When you get more citizens speaking up, they begin to feel they are a bigger part of the solution.” Of the hundreds of examples of the process at work, he mentions the collaboration between SeeClickFix, the Safe Streets Coalition and the City’s Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking in placing in-street pedestrian crossing signs around town. “We had 20 to 30 intersections marked with multiple comments on each one; the city used that data to decide where to put them.” He explained the secret to SCF’s success: “We started by casting the net wide and taking advantage of the fact that people tend to speak up more when they’re frustrated than when they’re satisfied.” The New Haven Land Trust oversees 50 gardens in every neighborhood of the city. “The gardens connect neighbors to each other and to their communities,” says Trust executive director Chris Randall. [Hear what garden participants have to say or watch the brief video from Chris below]. Vegetables flourish along with flowers and, in some places, fruit trees. Gardeners share potlucks and make new friends. He adds that another project grew out of the collaboration of many non-profits, called Grow New Haven. It aims to start a garden in every school in the city, or connect schools to existing gardens. “The goal is to connect kids to the natural environment, to growing food and to sustainability,” he says. The project ties in to nutrition, school curriculum and economic development, Randall adds, “The Community Foundation is the #1 funder for our community gardens program; we’re very lucky to have such a committed partner – they seem to really get it.”
Chris Randall from Garden Voices on Vimeo.
“Our core value is collaboration between the public and private sectors and the team-building that occurs,” he says. One of the most exciting projects the SEDC has tackled is riverfront recapture. Shelton has nine miles of waterfront along the Housatonic River. “Our downtown looks like 1800s industrial development; working with the community and conservationists we’ve had our eye on the river and how to reintroduce people to the river and access to the waterfront. Our focus is on our downtown; half a mile has a riverwalk on it.” He says redevelopment of all those abandoned factories (“brownfields”) Is a prerequisite to riverfront development.
What you can do
To join in the efforts to build community in local neighborhoods, consider donating to a local nonprofit on giveGreater.org, volunteering, or creating a permanent fund designated to support local neighborhoods. Already have a fund at The Community Foundation? Make a grant recommendation by logging on to DonorCentral. You can create change with just a click of the keyboard.
(1),(2) http://www.ctdatahaven.org/
© The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
October 2011