New Haven Independent

Over 40 members of the James Hillhouse High School football team gutted the Newhallville structures to bare bones in a rehabilitation project Tuesday.

“They’re strong!” Cecily Jones, volunteer engagement coordinator with the United Way of Greater New Haven, observed with a laugh. “They’ve got that student athleticism, and the natural strength skills.”

The team spent just under six hours of work on demolition. The homes were purchased from the City of New Haven by Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), the sole purpose to refurbish for sale to families with moderate or low income, the way it has with properties throughout town.

A group of several senior boys took their break on the front stoop of 664 and discussed the project.

“I like destroying stuff,” said Reno Dunkley to the underhanded snorts of his teammates.

In practice, this actually bodes well for the relationship between NHS and the team, a match made by United Way. They’re students, not construction workers. As for the required prying, hacking, and throwing — that’s just fine with them.

“We learn something from all these different things,” said senior Daron Williams. The boys were guided by a contractor and the other supervisors from United Way and NHS. “It might be our future.”

Head Football Coach Tom Dyer was also on site Tuesday. He recognized the precautions necessary for the level of student experience. Each teammate had protection goggles, boots and sweaty dust masks which circled their necks.

Above all, Dyer said, is the team’s mutual ownership of the community. “We have students that live up and down this very street. I want them to walk by here in 30 years and see what they were a part of.”

Prior to demolition, the abatement and design of the future homes were already taken care of by Rehabilitation Specialist Kathy Fay and the rest of her department at NHS. “[The average homeowner] couldn’t afford to fix up a home like this,” said Fay. Some houses in the neighborhood stay vacant for as long as 10 years, she said. “But as a non-profit organization, we get subsidized and as a result can improve the neighborhood and community.”

Shawn Morrey, a junior, joined the Hillhouse team this year. “We all like to joke around a lot,” he said, “but we know not to swing a hammer or start playing around with tools if one of us is behind each other.”

Taurese Washington, another junior, credited this to team communication. It’s enough to make Morrey feel “comfortable enough with them in any environment.”