New Haven Independent

Zakur and his father David (pictured) were in the thick of volunteering things Saturday at the annual spring clean up organized by the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association (CSNA), the engine for a revival of an up-and-coming residential enclave of the Fair Haven neighborhood.

The Zakurs were joined by some two dozen other volunteers, all older than Cole, including two long-time leaders of the Chatham Square neighbors, Lee Cruz and Barbara Melotto.

David Zakur later briefed and deployed a crew of Yale students and employees rendering service on the occasion of the university’s annual day promoting volunteerism. As they raked, Melotto reminisced on the changes that had transformed the park and the area.

He recalled his move to a house at the perimeter of the park 15 years ago: “There was a bent lamp post in the middle, pathways were a mess, and litter was everywhere.”

Melotto was there picking up trash and reclaiming the park from drug addicts some five years before Zakur moved in.

“One day I noticed these people cleaning up,” said Zakur, “and I joined them.” He began to walk his wolf hounds along Front Street and people stopped to talk to him. “I discovered a wonderful neighborhood, contrary to all the bad things people said about Fair Haven, you know, the ususal, drugs and so forth.”

The small group grew. Chatham Square became the first and now holds the record as the longest-running “green space” in the city. Building on the grassroots “friends,” city authorities redesigned and rebuilt the park.

In 2006, when Cruz and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, were looking to develop a new home ownership-based model for community builidng, they in turn developed the Chatham Square Association on the strong shoulders of the “friends.”

It has worked, Cruz said, as he raked and picked up trash.

“For example there is anecdotal evidence at the foundation that suggests that if you draw a circle around Fair Haven, the number of red dots — with each red dot meaning a foreclosure — that pop up in the Chatham Square Area is much smaller here than in other areas of Fair Haven. Why? Because of a sense that’s been created here that this is a place for families.”

Click here and here for previous stories on CSNA festivals, traffic calming events, and other activities.

Crystal Manning, another longtime resident, and her daughter Sheila couldn’t agree more.

“And I never wait for these annual or special events to do my cleaning up,” said Manning, a philosophy professor.

Manning said that in transit on foot from her house at Perkins and Grand to Chatham Square Park, she and Sheila had filled no fewer than five plastic bags of trash and litter.

“Its amazing,” said Manning, who teaches at Sacred Heart University and is planning a course next year on religion and the environment, “how much junk is out there.”

Cruz said developing a strong sense of community, through the presence of families, works subliminally so that people grow to value their neighborhood. Then if trouble strikes, families don’t panic or move away. “It’s the area that matters. And they’ll struggle harder,” he said, “to stay here. It becomes a value in itself.”

“Programs catch people in at the moment of crisis. What we’re doing here,” he said, “is community building. It reaches people long before a crisis and it strengthens deeper elements for stability.”

Cruz said that the economy has hit hard the Latino community in particular. Their participation in the association was one of its aims, Cruz added, and that participation in CSNA events as well as in the home ownership programs is not what he’d like it to be.

“There’s so much economic pressure now,” he added, “that when I talk to local ministers they tell me fewer people are even coming to church. For example, over at Second Star of Jacob on Chapel Street, the minister says his attendance is down because people are out working an extra job on Sunday to survive.”

Cruz said that more outreach to Latino families is going to be needed to have them attend events, and to participate in the home ownership assistance programs that have been one of the foundations of the area’s improvements.

Those wanting to participate in the association, learn about homeownership assistance or contribute to a $5,000 neighborhood endowment challenge grant, the contact is Hope Metcalf. Email her here or call her at at 917-710-7523.