Lisa Reisman photo
Princesses abounded at a LEAP-hosted Halloween festival last fall at the Q House.
A local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit won final approval to run the Dixwell Q House community center for at least the next five years.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved that contract Monday between the city and LEAP, or Leadership, Education & Athletics In Partnership., which has helmed the 197 Dixwell Ave. community center since its reopening two years ago.
That ensures that LEAP will lead the Q House for another five years starting this coming July. They took that vote during the local legislature’s latest full board meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
Per the now-approved contract, the city will pay LEAP up to $350,000 each year — including $100,000 per year in management fees, and up to $250,000 each year to reimburse for operating expenses at the Q House..
The contract’s initial term runs from July 2023 to July 2028. After those first five years, the contract provides an option for the city and the Q House Advisory Board to jointly renew LEAP’s role annually for an additional five years, paving a path for the organization to run the Q House for another ten years in total. (Read more about the contract here.)
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, who championed the Q House’s revival through its reopening in 2021, spoke up in support of the contract Monday before her colleagues took a final vote on Monday evening.
She touted the myriad of programs that LEAP has operated in the gleaming Q House building over the past couple of years, including dance, music, and theater activities; GED classes and job training; and themed family-friendly events.
Morrison noted that over 800 people utilize the Q House building each week, demonstrating “how needed the Q House building is.”
Lisa Reisman File Photo
Line dancing at the Q House.
$517K OK'd For Ed Board Legal Contract
The Board of Alders on Monday evening.
Also on Monday night, alders also unanimously approved a one-year contract renewal with Worldwide Travel Staffing Inc., a travel nursing agency that currently provides registered nurses to New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) and the Health Department clinics.
The contract will cost the city a maximum of $400,000 for one year, beginning on July 1, 2023.
According to Health Director Maritza Bond, who presented on the contract at an April Finance Committee meeting, Worldwide Travel Staffing Inc. assesses the need for temporary nurses on a week to week basis, depending on the availability of the city’s staff nurses. The city compensates the agency depending on the calculated need.
The nursing agency allows the city to provide a nurse in every school, according to Bond.
Alders also approved on Monday $517,204.60 in legal expenses for the Board of Education. That money will compensate the education-focused law firm Shipman and Goodwin for representing the Board of Education in labor and civil matters over the course of the past year.
Alders have to approve NHPS-related professional services that go beyond $100,000. The school system’s original 2022 – 2023 agreement with Shipman and Goodwin called for $80,000 of expenses; at an April Finance Committee meeting, alders reprimanded NHPS Chief Operating Officer Thomas Lamb for not coming before the board immediately after the fees surpassed $100,000, and for initially presenting a vague proposal to alders.
Despite these bumps in the road, Finance Committee Chair Adam Marchand called on alders on Monday to support the legal fees, praising the law firm’s “expertise in education law.” The alders approved the expenses unanimously.
Of course they did. $3.5 million big ones - it's good to have friends.