180 Center Steps Up With Free Haircuts, & Much More

On a recent sun-splashed afternoon outside the 180 Center on East Street, John A. was dog-sitting a bull terrier named Cherish when he heard someone calling his name. It was a staff member telling him she had his mail. 

“This place is my lifeline,” he said, amid the aroma of hot dogs and festive crush of attendees on Community Care Day. Each day he goes to Bible Study classes at the center. On Sundays, he attends church there. Otherwise, he’s flying a sign on the corner of Long Wharf Drive and Sports Haven. 

With its slogan ​“Turning Lives Around,” the 180 Center, which relies solely on charitable donations, provides free breakfasts and lunches to anyone in need year-round. It also offers a warming center, an intensive 18-month rehabilitation program comprising Bible studies, conflict resolution classes, and prayer sessions for up to nine men, and a Christian 12-step program. 

“It’s about getting rid of the uck in your life,” said warming center supervisor Teddy Natter, a graduate of the 18-month program, as people browsed through racks of t‑shirts and sweat shirts.

“This is a place you can come to when it’s raining, get a meal in the morning, no questions asked,” said board member Peter Hvizdak, gesturing at the methadone clinic next door. ​“They’ll come from there, and they’ll know they’re safe. Cops know us, so does the fire department, and the EMT guys.”

Pastor Mike Caroleo, who founded the center with his wife Ginny in 2009—the two also own five sober houses in the Fair Haven area — sounded a similar refrain. ​“No vetting, no screening, come as you are,” he said. ​“We had a battle at our old place on Grand Avenue. One lady said to me, ​‘Your problem is you help anybody.’ Well, I love everybody, I don’t care what you’ve done.”

The mission is simple. ​“We’re here to restore hope and help people through crises,” Caroleo said, as mellow guitar music from Christian, another graduate, filtered through the warm spring air. ​“We do conflict resolution on Wednesdays, guys come in with notes about conflicts they’ve had throughout the week, we do AA meetings on Friday nights, I do one-on-ones to give guys a place to voice their stuff. We’re here to do what we can to meet the needs of our neighbors.”

The community day, it seems, served as an extension of that credo. Everything was free — from clothes to shoes to boxers and hygiene bags, to hotdogs and baked beans and health screening and haircuts. 

“Barbers don’t take SNAP,” said Dixwell/Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Troy Streater, who works at the center, over the buzz of a razor inside the center. ​“People might want to look for a job, but they can’t afford clothes or shampoo or deodorant.” More than that, he said, ​“it’s up to us to help those who need help the most. It’s up to us to preserve their dignity.” 

State Rep. Al Paolillo Jr., standing nearby, commended the leadership and staff. ​“This is what New Haven is really about, giving back and helping the most vulnerable among us,” he said. ​“This is beautiful.” 

Inside an office, a man named Byron was having his blood pressure checked. He’s been sleeping at the warming center for the past month or so, he said.

Byron, who was clad in a new sweatshirt he got that day, said he was initially dropped at a halfway house in New Haven after being released from prison. He’s from Danielson, in the northeast corner of the state, and is trying to get home. ​“I’m not used to cities,” he said. ​“It’s noisy.” 

For now, he’ll stay at the warming center. ​“I get meals and it’s safe,” he said.