Pilot Program Targets Energy-Efficient Newhallville Homes

May Mitchell, a lifelong New Haven resident and former Pratt & Whitney inspector, was facing utility bills of $1,700 a month after a solar company incorrectly wired her heating system, causing it to run non-stop. 

That was only one of many problems with her Ivy Street home. Her back door was damaged and drafty, the window frames were rotting, and there was no insulation or moisture barrier.

All that changed, however, when a state-supported nonprofit stepped in to retrofit her home as part of a 30-house effort to promote energy efficiency in Newhallville.

On Monday, a press conference celebrating the program was held in Mitchell’s front yard. Speakers included Gov. Ned Lamont, Mayor Elicker, DOH Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, and several other state legislators who praised the program’s impact.

The focus of the presser was the nonprofit Efficiency for All (EFA), which in December 2024 launched its M=Power 2.0 Retrofit Pilot Program, expanding on its workforce training model by partnering with local contractors and graduates of the original M=Power initiative. The effort began in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood, where EFA has already completed retrofits on 15 homes — including Mitchell’s — and is currently working with 15 more families.

According to EFA Associate Director Lillian Brough, each home undergoes a detailed assessment based on the ​“ABCs”: Attics, Basements, and Conditioned spaces and garages — any part of the home that includes heating or cooling. From there, the program works to address the home’s specific needs, whether that means sealing air leaks, adding insulation, or rewiring hazardous electrical systems. In many cases, however, the work begins with tackling mold, with 96 percent of the homes in the pilot program found to have some level of mold infestation.

Leo Nicoara, co-owner of the mold remediation firm Precise LLC, emphasized that addressing mold is not just a starting point — it’s a necessity, both for the health of residents and the safety of the contractors who follow.

“We actually work with the majority of energy efficiency companies in the state,” Nicoara said. ​“We believe in treating the entirety of the home. If you see mold, that doesn’t mean that it’s the only place it’s happening — it just means that’s where there’s a food source for the spores to attach.”

Nicoara, along with insulation contractor Martin Harisi of Harisi Energy, also stressed the strong sense of community among those working on M=Power 2.0. Many contractors praised EFA’s commitment to building local networks and their efficient communication.

“After all this is all done, I’m going to go inside, take a look at [Mitchell’s] basement — just to make sure the dehumidifier is doing its job,” Nicoara said. ​“It really is one big family. We’ve only done about 15 houses so far, but it’s just going to keep on growing and growing — it’s community-built.”

Mitchell is far from alone in her struggles. From the surrounding houses in her Newhallville neighborhood to those across the state, many residents — especially those living in aging houses — are grappling with homes that leak heat in the winter, trap moisture year-round, and harbor dangerous levels of mold. These problems are particularly exigent for low-income families, for whom the cost of repairing these issues is often out of reach. Thus EFA.

M=Power 2.0 is being implemented in collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Housing (DOH)’s Urban Investment Initiative, which awarded EFA $900,000 to retrofit 30 homes as part of the pilot. The DOH ultimately aims to scale similar retrofit efforts in cities across the state, including Hartford and Waterbury. 

The retrofit program is also running alongside a DOH-led affordable housing development, which includes eight new units under construction on Hazel Street. The neighborhood was selected based on a range of indicators, including a high concentration of low-income residents, overcrowded housing conditions, and elevated rates of asthma, cancer, and poor mental and physical health.

For EFA co-founder Leticia Colon de Mejias, these statistics reflect a deeper crisis: ​“I worked in a hospital for 16 years and I thought I was saving lives, but what I learned was that I couldn’t stop asthma, cancer, or stroke unless I dealt with the largest part of pollution, which is energy production, transmission, and energy usage,” she told the Independent. ​“That’s why I started this — not for money, but because I was concerned about the pollution.”

That holistic view guides the M=Power 2.0 program, which seeks to address every aspect of the homes in the program and bring them up to a standard that promotes long-term health, safety, and sustainability. Sometimes, that means addressing issues homeowners might not even know they have, including hazardous electric wiring or other fire hazards.

“Some of these elderly people — they’re unaware of these issues,” Demont Murphy, an Energy Conservation Specialist with Energy Efficiencies Solution and M=Power board member, said. ​“Along with financially bringing down the cost of living in the home, we’re making the home healthier as well.”

For Mitchell, the transformation of her home has been deeply personal.

“These are people you can count on to help you, and I appreciate everyone that had a hand in it, that helped me get a better life,” she said at Monday’s press conference. ​“They’re always going to be family to me.”