Dalal To Leave For State Post; Elm City Montessori Director Tapped As Next Social Services Chief

Mehul Dalal will be stepping down from his role as the city’s top social services administrator for a policy advisor job in state government, and the mayor plans to replace him with the founder and executive director of a Blake Street public charter school.

City spokesperson Lenny Speiller made that announcement in a Thursday afternoon email press release.

He wrote that Dalal’s last day as community services administrator in the Elicker administration will be July 13. He has accepted a new job as chief policy advisor at the state Department of Social Services (DSS).

Mayor Justin Elicker has tapped Eliza Halsey, the founder and executive director of Elm City Montessori School and a former New Haven director for the childcare nonprofit All Our Kin, to be the city’s next social services chief. If approved by the full Board of Alders, Halsey’s first day on the City Hall job will be Aug. 28.

Speiller wrote that, in the interim between when Dalal steps down and Halsey takes her post, city Health Director Maritza Bond will fill in as interim community services administrator.

The community services administrator oversees such social service departments at City Hall as the Department of Community Resilience, the Department of Elderly Services, the Office of Housing and Homelessness Services, and, as of July 1, the New Haven Free Public Library. 

During his three-year tenure with the city, Dalal helped create the non-cop crisis response team COMPASS and the Department of Community Resilience, and also played a key role in the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has been an honor to serve in the role of Community Services Administrator for the City of New Haven,” Dalal is quoted as saying in the press release. ​“I have abundant gratitude for the confidence Mayor Elicker placed in me over the past three and a half years to carry out the vital functions of this office. I’ve been fortunate to work alongside a leadership team and staff fiercely dedicated to improving people’s lives in New Haven. I hope they know their work is seen and appreciated.”

“The Community Services Administrator is one of the most important positions in city government, and we are fortunate to have had Dr. Dalal at the helm through some of the most challenging times we’ve faced as a city,” Mayor Elicker is quoted as saying in that same press release. ​“Since day one of my time as mayor, I have relied on Dr. Dalal’s counsel and judgement as we navigated through the pandemic and taken on the vexing challenges of substance use, mental health crises, homelessness and gun violence, among others. There are more New Haveners alive, well and thriving today thanks to Dr. Dalal. He is an exceptional leader, innovative problem solver and dedicated public servant, and now the entire state stands to benefit from his service.

“Similarly, I am confident New Haveners will be well-served by Eliza Halsey who brings a wealth of local knowledge and over twenty years of subject matter expertise in child, youth and community development. Eliza has a proven track record of starting, growing and managing new and innovative programs and organizations that have changed the trajectory and improved the life outcomes of New Haven residents. I look forward to her fresh perspective and the new ideas she will bring to the table as we seek to further strengthen the important work of the Community Services Administration.”

Halsey is quoted in the press release as saying: ​“As a life-long New Havener committed to the well-being and inclusive growth of our city, I am thrilled to serve in this new capacity and build on the important work of Dr. Dalal and his team. I look forward to collaborating with Mayor Elicker, residents, community partners and our elected leaders to further the City’s progress, to provide high-quality services and impactful programs and to advance opportunity so that more New Haveners have the ability to thrive.”