Emily Hays Photo
Gwendolyn Busch Williams outside the Coogan learning hub.
The city has so far been able to open only three of the proposed nine learning hubs to support students who have not signed on for their online classes during the public schools’ remote-online class schedule.
That’s about only 60 kids out of the total of an estimated 1,500 New Haven school kids who are in need of the service, outside of those served by churches and other nonprofits that are also pitching in with their own hubs.
But the search goes on.
That was the word from Gwendolyn Busch Williams, the first director of the newly reconfigured Youth and Recreation Department, and her staff.
Busch Williams and Community Recreation Coordinator Felicia Shashinka delivered that report and other updates Wednesday evening at a workshop convened by the Board of Alders’ Youth and Youth Services Committee via the Zoom teleconferencing app.
The gathering drew a half dozen members of the aldermanic committee chaired by Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Kimberly Edwards.
The city has opened hubs at the Barnard Nature Center and Edgewood Park’s Coogan Pavilion at Edgewood Park as well as in the Trowbridge Square neighborhood.
The reason the others are slow in materializing: Hard to find indoor spaces that must meet health standards for ventilation, filtering and of sufficient size for social distancing, said Shashinka.
Busch Williams was welcomed and warmly received by the alders as the inaugural director of the newly organized department, which combines the youth activities formerly associated with the parks and other city departments.
She restated her commitment to maintain, despite the challenges of Covid-19, the “prodigious programming” for the city’s young people. Especially at this time, she said, “It is important that we do not deviate from any of our signature programs.”
Those include a Covid-revised version of “Trunk or Treat,” a community Halloween celebration for kids, which is in the planning and will serve 2,000 families; a Thanksgiving giveaway of approximately 1,500 holiday fowls and their attendant fixings; and in December, a traditional Christmas toy distribution.
Also upcoming are re-upping of the contracts for the Street Outreach Workers and other youth violence prevention initiatives.
Williams expressed gratitude both to the alders and to her staff for helping her make the transition from being the business manager of the previous youth services department to the director of the newly organized department.
She reported that she had just ordered the bags to be pre-filled with candy for “Trunk or Treat.” Then with apologies to the alders for having to leave the meeting early (it will not happen again, she promised), Williams excused herself to meet with her advisor, an important appointment she could not change, as she pursues her doctoral program in social work at Southern Connecticut State University.
Thank you to Ms Busch Williams and Ms Shashinka for doing all that they can to make sure that young people are still going to have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and working towards finding spaces for learning hubs for the students who need extra online learning help, and working with youth outreach and anti violence groups.
They deserve our support and any assistance we can afford to give them so that our children don't miss out anymore than they already have due to the pandemic and the resulting economic fallout. Please donate to their holiday events so no child has to miss out on celebrating these important childhood memories.