New Haven Independent

Wednesday was Elm-Ivy day, the day each spring when Yale invites civic leaders to lunch at Woolsey Hall’s second-floor President’s Room to bestow “Elm” and “Ivy” awards — and pin carnations — on gownies and townies who make a difference in New Haven.

Some 80 business, political, government, and charity-sector leaders filled 10 tables and applauded the 10 honorees. The winners included Rafael Ramos (at left in top photo) and law professor Harlan Dalton (at right). Their praises were detailed by, among others, Yale Assistant Vice-President (and new Chamber of Commerce board chief) Michael Morand, who is standing between them.

Ramos’s accomplishments may be familiar to Independent readers, between his work as deputy chief housing inspector for the city and organizer of the Fair Haven-based community theater troupe, Bregamos.

The same holds for recent “cop of the week” Sgt. Anthony Duff (pictured). The Arkansas-born Yalie settled in town after graduation and became a model community policing manager.

Katrina Clark (pictured) was honored for her work building a model neighborhood health clinic over the years, the 35-year-old Fair Haven Community Health Center. (Click here to read more about that.) Another group was honored for its health-care work in Fair Haven: the medical students who launched Haven Free Clinic, aimed largely at serving immigrants.

Other winners Wednesday included Shirley Neighbors, Jennifer McTiernan H., Wayne McCrae, Lois Sadler, and Diana Mosca. Read all about the winners’ good works in these remarks Morand and other presenters read at the ceremony.

“We are indeed one community,” Yale President Rick Levin (at right in photo, huddling with Yale Vice-President Bruce Alexander). He said the awards reflect how “we have achieved and can achieve a great deal as neighbors when we work together in trust.”

Levin spoke of how Yale has built 1.5 million square feet of new buildings since he became president in 1993 and renovated three times that much space. “We will continue at or even more” than that pace, he said — bringing not just jobs, but tax bucks to New Haven. New Haven received $9 million a year in state payments in lieu of taxes on Yale property when the building boom started, he said; today the figure is $33 million.

As the event closed, these three participants gazed reflectively toward the town-gown future. Or else toward Yale’s official photographer, who was assembling everyone for sunlit shots on Beinecke Plaza.