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By Kerri Provost, December 1, 2011 1:15 am

A cheaply-made plastic toy that fails after a few months, or knowledge?

Regardless of your income, you can give the latter to some 550 Hartford schoolchildren.

That’s the number of youth who are served by Everybody Wins! CT, a literacy organization based on Arbor Street. Statewide, they provide reading assistance to approximately 800 students between the ages of 5-18, annually.

The organization explains that “50 percent of the chronically unemployed are not functionally literate– in Hartford 68 percent of adults are illiterate.”

A literate population is a more employable population.

One goal of the organization is to give three new (or like new) books per year to each child who is in the Everybody Wins! Power Lunch program.

While monetary donations are always welcome, Allison Holst-Grubbe — Program Manager at Everybody Wins! CT — says the need for Reading Mentors is great. Continue reading 'The Must-Have Gift this Season'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 22, 2011 10:27 am

Not unusual: people coming into Hartford with big ideas about what residents need and what will “save” us.

The Public Allies — an AmeriCorps program — promise that is not their mission. They insist that they are “not here to re-market Hartford.”

Young adults in the program work with a non-profit four days every week; each Public Allies “community” — Connecticut has ones in Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven — undertakes a service project each year.

This year, the group’s goal is to “strengthen community through figuring out assets and problems,” Al Riccio, one of the Allies on the “Greater Hartford Team”, told participants at the Hartford Public Library Monday evening during the Hartford Unity Community Conversation. In chatting with residents, the Public Allies identified that many residents feel “proud to be from the city,” but believe that there are negative perceptions of it due to the news media. He added that a lack of jobs, housing, and access to resources were other issues identified.

During the first of what Public Allies say will be several community conversations, residents were told that the Allies — several of whom are long-time Hartford residents — would be facilitating discussion, but not participating. Heads nodded as residents commented that these conversations need to be in the neighborhoods, not just Downtown. The library was named a “hub,” a natural place for civic discourse to take place, and there are library branches throughout the city.

Broken into small groups, residents and stakeholders named activities that could “create attention toward positive aspects.” In the brainstorm, two groups named the Walk the Frog tour as an example of an event that has highlighted the positive aspects of a neighborhood Continue reading 'Hartford Unity Community Conversation: “Empower People Already in Hartford”'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 5, 2011 12:18 pm

Volunteers from the neighborhood are making the blue box at Park and Babcock into a more inviting space. Continue reading 'Park Library Getting a Friendlier Face…Now'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 2, 2011 12:21 pm

The City of Hartford has been providing periodic updates for residents who are temporarily living without electricity. The latest press release states:

Schools are high on the priority list when it comes to restoring power to the City of Hartford.  CL&P officials have also assured all town and city leaders that municipal offices and large industrial and commercial sites are high on the list as crews work to get electricity back on line.

“These areas are critical to our residents as we work to get back to some sense of normalcy.  Please remember that downed lines need to be treated as energized lines, so please do not go near them.  To help ensure public safety, police, fire, and public works are all teaming-up with CL&P crews to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible, but we need your cooperation,”  said Mayor Segarra reiterated.

Committed resources include 5 CL&P crews with an additional 6 going active about 1:00 p.m., this will bring 11 total crews active by day’s end.  They will be focusing their efforts along Prospect Avenue, Kane Street, Reserve Road, Maple Avenue, Nelson Street, and Blue Hills Avenue, among others. In addition, 8 city and contracted crews will be working to remove debris and open roads. Two of those crews are dedicated to the Blue Hills neighborhood, which is one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Hartford.

Hartford residents are reminded that even without power, we have advantages that those in rural areas do not. Continue reading 'Power Restoration'»

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By Kerri Provost, July 20, 2011 5:35 pm

Image courtesy of Jenny W. at stock.xchng

Three hours later, the two dozen volunteer participants were asked to describe –  in one or two words — their experience with the pilot community dialogue. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and several people were eager to put their ideas into action.

The National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services provides funds ($637,896) for the Immigrant Civic Engagement Initiative of which this pilot dialogue was a part. Everyday Democracy is partnering with the Hartford Public Library on this three-year initiative. The hope is that the Immigrant Advisory Group will take a leadership role in continuing the Community Dialogue work after the grant dries up.

A cultural brokering program, which pairs a newcomer family with someone who acts as an advocate and mentor, is another component of this initiative The cultural brokers and families will meet for a minimum of three hours each week at the Hartford Public Library, over the course of twelve weeks. The library was selected as a meeting place because of its central location, neutral setting, resources, and history of serving the immigrant community. This service is for families who have been in the United States for less than two years.

The need for advocacy was spelled out by Homa Naficy, the Multicultural Education and Outreach Manager, and Nancy Caddigan, the Intercultural Liasion, at the Hartford Public Library. They spoke about newcomers who, though learning English, were still confronted with the daily challenge of language barriers. Some suffered health issues because they did not understand doctors’ diagnoses, or were unsure of what medication they were given to treat ailments. Continue reading 'First Talk, Then Action: Increasing Civic Involvement in the Immigrant Community'»

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By Kerri Provost, July 13, 2011 7:44 am

Live jazz and cold lemonade.

On a gorgeous summer morning, offering bribes seems like the only way to encourage people to delay their picnics and beach trips by an hour or so.

Newsflash: bribery works. Continue reading 'Hartford Pew Review: Asylum Hill Congregational Church'»

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By Kerri Provost, April 28, 2011 11:51 pm

Christina Pumariega in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps // Photo by T. Charles Erickson

In addition to the items that Kyle has posted on the Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog, here are a few more things happening this weekend you might want to know about:

This weekend is your last chance to see Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps at Hartford Stage, as it closes on May 1st. This is one of the most impressive plays I have seen at Hartford Stage. The adaptation by Patrick Barlow is dubbed a “comedy thriller,” but honestly, it’s primarily comedy. It’s creative, unpretentious, and worth checking out.

Friday

While they won’t be opening their doors at the crack of dawn, La Paloma Sabanera will have The Royal Wedding on their television. Of course, there will be tea to sip while watching the historical event. I realize Friday is not really the weekend, but I do know some people who have taken the day off from work specifically to watch this wedding on tv, so I guess it’s the weekend for them.

Saturday

At ten, volunteers will meet in Baby Pope Park (Pope Park North) to do some Spring cleaning. From there, they will tackle Russ Street and Babcock Street. Another clean up beginning at the Billings Forge compound is supposed to meander over toward Babcock. Both will then take on Park Street, Lawrence Street, and Putnam Street. These events usually take three or four hours.

Sunday

Wear comfortable shoes. Sunday is designated for walking.

The Walk Against Hunger check-in begins at 1pm at 690 Asylum Avenue. The actual walking begins at 2. It’s a very short, three mile walk through Asylum Hill and the West End. This is a fundraising event.

If your feet haven’t blistered over at that point, you can do some more traveling about the city with the SlutWalk from 3-5pm. This route has changed to a more manageable one, going from the Wadsworth Atheneum to the State Capitol. This is an awareness-raising event.

You can also be perfectly sedentary and take a stab at Connecticut Museum Quest’s new feature, the Sunday Stumper.

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By Kerri Provost, April 6, 2011 9:12 pm

Yes, Mayor Segarra has a bemused look on his face as he's announcing that the evening's awards are called "onesies"

Over a dozen organizations and individuals were given sharp, green Onesies on the sixth floor of the Connecticut Science Center.

The One City Celebration and Awards Ceremony featured an overview of the City of Hartford One City, One Plan — adopted in June 2010 — and gave trees to those who have already taken action to meet some part of the Plan of Conservation and Development goals.

The Urban Forestry Working Group was one that proposed an ordinance to promote Hartford’s urban forest; the Tree Ordinance was recently adopted by City Council. Bike Walk Connecticut, which organized the Discover Hartford Bicycling and Walking Tour, also won an award. The Urban League of Greater Hartford was honored for the Litter Attitudes survey that its Youth League (along with Respect Yourself Hartford) administered last summer.

Other awards recipients included: Frog Hollow NRZ, Parkville NRZ, Asylum Hill NRZ, Julio Concepcion, Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, Green Ribbon Task Force, Fairfield Avenue Neighbors Association, HUB of Hartford, The Market at Hartford 21, City of Hartford Employee Green Action Team, Thomas Swarr, Leadership Greater Hartford and Ted Carroll, and the Hartford Planning & Zoning Commissioners.

COO David Panagore said that if people have ideas for projects that fall within the goals of One City, One Plan (POCD 2020), then the City will support them.

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By Kerri Provost, February 18, 2011 6:00 am

Nine families were displaced by Wednesday evening’s fire on Putnam Heights. Some of these families are from a neighboring house that firefighters “borrowed” to attack the flames from an angle they could not reach with their ladders; they are expected to return once their house is dry. The American Red Cross has been assisting these families by providing financial assistance for food and clothing, along with a personal care kit; residents are being given short-term shelter at a local motel.

The destroyed building’s landlord is reimbursing security deposits to allow smoother transitions as people locate new apartments. Some have already begun the process.

For information about how to donate or volunteer with the local Red Cross, see their website.

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By Kerri Provost, December 17, 2010 6:13 am

Because it’s often my route to work, I have seen the lights in Bushnell Park plenty during the daytime, which is to say, I have not had much to look at but cords running everywhere and people constantly working to adjust the display. Still, it is a treat to hear laughter coming from the area of the ice rink, as it’s being used by people of all ages. Last night was my first opportunity since the kick-off tree lighting event to return to the park in the evening. They have added lots of lights since then, including the small white ones that were absent from the aforementioned event.

This was also my first time this season getting to see Constitution Plaza at night. I had heard that there were fewer lights there, but honestly did not think it was a noticeable difference. Christmas music was playing loudly on the plaza. As in other years, only a few other people were out enjoying the lights. Since Spris has closed, there was even less of a human presence in  that area.

Continue reading 'Lights, Window Displays, Action'»