Allan Appel Photo
Bertolino, right, chats with Fair Havener, and police commissioner, Kevin Diaz after the meeting.
Southern Connecticut State University President Joe Bertolino brought his charm and outreach tour to the Fair Haven Community Management Team (FHCMT) Thursday night.
It cost him $200.
Bertolino, president of Southern Connecticut State University since 2016, said he is the first president in recent memory who lives in the city (Morris Cove). He has been on a campaign to visit each of the city’s community management teams to promote a closer relationship between New Haven and the university.
Bertolino with SCSU development officer Gregg Crerar.
Fair Haven’s gathering was the fourth of 12 management teams Bertolino, who encourages listeners to refer to him as “President Joe,” intends to hit. He made the case that SCSU is the city’s “working-class institution” serving an increasingly diverse student body as the school approaches its 125th anniversary next year.
He was warmly received during his ten minutes of speaking during an agenda-filled gathering. Longtime community activist Mary Ann Moran thanked Bertolino for Southern’s athletes who for the past four or five years have participated on their “day of service” helping to clean up portions of New Haven like Dover Beach Park.
Bertolino said students of color now comprise 40 percent of enrollees; he expects the number to hit 50 percent within five years.
Kim Johansen, the New Haven Housing Authority’s (HANH) residents service coordinator, said that some of her clients find the process of applying for admission a little confusing. Bertolino said he’d be happy for his staff to drop in on HANH’s sites with a program or workshop to help make the process less daunting.
“We are your public university. We want to be good neighbors. If you’re looking for partnerships, call us first,” he said.
Not a bit shy, FHCMT Co-Chair David Steinhardt immediately replied that the team is always on the look-out for support for picnics and dinners it puts on for hundreds of Fair Haven kids and the seniors at the Atwater Senior Center.
Might SCSU pony up, say, two hundred dollars?
Bertolino’s eyes opened a touch wider at the spontaneous request. Then he recovered.
“That … I think we can do,” he said.
Steinhardt smiled.
“Can my students and staff volunteer?” Bertolino asked.
Steinhardt nodded in the affirmative.
In other news from the meeting, voting members approved the writing of a letter, on behalf of the FHCMT, to Mayor Toni Harp asking the city to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to find a bank to take over the city’s accounts with Wells Fargo. The request was in response to a pitch made by local activist Melinda Tuhus, representing New Haven Stands for Standing Rock, in protest of the bank supporting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as its shoddy banking practices.
The vote was 9 in favor, with four abstentions.
