nothin Yes, You Can Give Us $1M, As Long As ... | New Haven Independent

Yes, You Can Give Us $1M, As Long As …

Markeshia Ricks File Photo

Newhallville Alders Foskey-Cyrus, Clyburn and Alfreda Edwards.

The Board of Alders approved a resolution that will allow Mayor Toni Harp to accept a $1 million federal grant aimed at making Newhallville safer, but not without passing a separate resolution that attaches caveats for city staff going forward.

In addition to unanimously adopting a resolution Tuesday night that gives Harp the green light to accept the competitive Byrne grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, alders also passed a second companion resolution. That resolution emerged following weeks of meetings between neighborhood critics and board leaders, including President Jorge Perez and Majority Al Paolillo. Some in the neighborhood had been prepared to try to kill the grant.

Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn read the amendment that said be it further ordered that per the agreement between city staff and the board of Alders”:

• The selection committee responsible for reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, and hiring shall include the Newhallville alders and the chair of the management team;
• Funding shall be made available to Newhallville entities who are qualified to receive the grants;
• Lapsed funding shall be made available for community projects, especially those that are focused on jobs and youth;
• The project coordinator will meet monthly with the Newhallville alders, the ward Democratic co-chairs and the chair of the management team in addition to providing quarterly written reports;
• A sub-committee will be created to work with at risk youth and women.

It’s been a rocky road leading up to the vote on whether the board would allow Harp to accept the grant, which must be used to address crime and youth violence specifically in Newhallville. The feds announced in October that New Haven had won the competitive grant. (Read all about that here.)

Newhallville alders had argued that the city had applied for the grant without more input from the community and that the grant didn’t address concerns that the community cared about including jobs and blight. There have been a series of contentious meetings with some Newhallville neighbors suggesting that maybe alders should turn down the money. (Read about that here, here and here.)

The Harp administration applied for the money to help the police, street outreach workers, schools, youth and health-care workers, anti-blight officials, small businesses, and grassroots activists (like a new resiliency team” and Community Matters” team as well as the community management team) collaborate on ways to stem violence in one of the city’s poorest and most violence-plagued neighborhoods. (Click here to read the city’s full application describing the plan.) Newhallville had the city’s most violent crime in recent years, though the past year has seen a marked decline in shootings.

Newhallville Alder Brenda Foskey-Cyrus said after the meeting she was happy that her colleagues supported the resolution that is aimed at making sure that the neighborhood’s interest are represented going forward, but she didn’t declare the resolution a victory.

It’s a work in progress,” she said.

Bobby Streater of Believe In Me Empowerment Corp. (pictured at far left in the photo), which provides programs for young people and families in Newhallville, also is taking a wait and see approach.

I want to see if they live up to it,” he said of the resolution. Where we come from talk is cheap.”

Lifelong Newhallville resident Jerome Perkins said he didn’t see much in the way of specifics, but we have this written agreement and we’re going to hold them to it.”

Several members of the Newhallville Community Resiliency Team, which isn’t mentioned in the companion resolution, said they’re not sure what the resolution means for them because they’re not exactly sure of who some of the people mentioned in the resolution such as the ward co-charis are. They said they would take it back to their steering committee to see what the team’s role might be going forward.

Jason Bartlett, Department of Youth Services director and the city’s point person for the grant, said he doesn’t have any problems with the guidance. He said what must keep in mind that this federal grant requires that the city come up with evidence-based strategies” for combating crime and youth violence, that are validated by an independent evaluator, and make Newhallville a vibrant and safe place to live.”

Anything else is a sideshow,” he said.

Read previous coverage:

Feds Send $1M To Make Newhallville Safer
We’ll Take The Million, But …
Plans For Newhallville Grant Rile Neighbors
City Hall Tells Newhallville Its Plans For That $1M

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