Thomas Breen photos
Hundreds of New Haveners did their hair, dressed to the nines, and turned out in style to celebrate half-a-dozen locals who have worked tirelessly — in some cases, for decades — to build community and support their neighbors.
That was the case Thursday night at Anthony’s Ocean View in Morris Cove, where over 500 New Haven politicos filled the waterfront dining room for the eighth annual Board of Alders Black and Hispanic Caucus Fall Gala.
The sartorially impeccable fundraiser and awards ceremony this year had the theme “Coming to America.” It recognized six stalwarts of New Haven public life: the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association, as represented by association President Rafael Zayas and Vice President Steve Ortiz; longtime Hillhouse High School administrator Lucille Bittle Patton; the labor organizing force and worker rights advocacy group New Haven Rising; state Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno; City Clerk Michael Smart; and local funeral home owner Howard K. Hill.
The event also honored Hill Alder and Black and Hispanic Caucus Chair Dolores Colon, who is stepping down from her seat on the local legislature next year after having served nearly two decades as an alder.
“This is a time when everyone comes together and puts our differences aside,” said Dixwell Alder and gala emcee Jeannette Morrison (pictured at right, with Smart), decked out in a black dress covered in red scarves and tassels and crowns all glittering with gold.
The beneficiaries of the night’s fundraiser included the city’s three senior centers and the New Haven Hispanic Fire Fighters Scholarship Fund.
“Tap yourself on the back because you have just helped a young person stay out of trouble,” Colon (pictured at center surrounded by Alders Jody Ortiz, Jill Marks, Kim Edwards, and Delphine Clyburn) told the jubilant crowd as she spoke about the scholarship fund the money raised at the gala would go to support.
From educators to activists to entrepreneurs to public servants, the awardees Thursday night all seemed to share at least one trait in common: their steadfast perseverance, over years and years and years, towards helping improve the lives of their fellow New Haveners.
Zayas (pictured at center, with trophy), in accepting the Heritage Award on behalf of the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association, said that, over the past 18 years, the group has given out free toys to over 6,500 New Haven students and raised over $52,000 for local high school seniors.
“We need to stand together and protect these children,” he said. Many New Haven kids are exposed to far too much violence at far too young of an age, he said. “We need to stand together as one community to help these kids.”
Patton crossed the dining room’s dancefloor to accept the Pioneer Award to a standing ovation from former Hillhouse students who remembered her fondly as a dedicated school administrator always focused on improving student attendance.
When you were late to school, Morrison said with a smile, you had to see Ms. Patton.
“I used to see Ms. Patton on a regular basis,” she said. “That’s not good. And I lived across the street from the school. I’m still trying to figure that one out.” Thank you, Morrison continued, “for loving those children every single day.”
Patton returned the thanks, to Morrison and to the dozens of people applauding her recognition. She said it meant so much to her that children whom she had seen grow up were now present as adults, in that room, honoring her work.
This year marks her 50th year working at Hillhouse, she said.
“I love every single one of you,” she continued. “I love every single student who came through Hillhouse High School. They mean so much to me in my life.”
Morrison introduced the Community Service Award recipients, New Haven Rising, with the admonition, “If you have not seen them, then you must be asleep all the time.”
True to form, the group’s co-founder and lead organizer Scott Marks led two dozen New Haven Rising members across the room in a rallying call-and-response shout of: “New Haven!” “Rising!” “New Haven!” “Rising!”
“For five years,” said community organizer Jaime Myers-McPhail (pictured above), “we’ve been fighting to ensure that all New Haven residents have access to good jobs. This year, we won a victory.”
Yale University’s commitment to create 16 new training and hiring pathways for New Haven residents will result in $40 million per year in wages and benefits bolstering the pockets of local residents from the city’s neighborhoods of need, he said.
Smart (pictured), a native New Havener who represented Wooster Square on the Board of Alders for eight years and has spent the past six years as City Clerk, kept his remarks brief before giving some praise to the half-dozen tables’ worth of friends and peers who had shown up Thursday to support him as he received the Leadership Award.
“It’s never been about me,” he said about his career in public service to date. “And it never will be about me. It will be about serving the public of this great city.”
Mosquera-Bruno (pictured, with Morrison), who received the night’s Mentorship Award, offered a similarly selfless summation of her own life to date working from being a 23-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant to a factory worker to a Harvard University fellow to the 15-year leader of the Fair Haven-based affordable housing development nonprofit Neighborworks New Horizons to becoming the new state housing commissioner under Gov. Ned Lamont.
“Work hard,” she said, describing a maxim imparted to her by her grandmother. “Go to school. Be someone. Never just type yourself to a job description.”
“When you do something,” she continued, “do it because you care. Do it with passion. Do it because you really, really want to make a change in somebody’s life.”
Hill (pictured), the recipient of the Advocacy Award, directed his speech almost entirely at the aldermanic caucus itself. “Your work speaks for itself,” he said. “Your work is very, very much needed. The idea of collaboration between the blacks and Hispanics is probably one of the more powerful things that we actually need for our community, our communities.”
Then he gave the 23 alders in the Black and Hispanic Caucus a challenge.
“Dig deep,” he said. “Dig really deep. To deal with root cause issues versus surface issues. The root cause issues keep a lot of people in business, and generally, it’s not the black or Hispanic communities.
“Deal with the root cause issues.”
The Elephant In The Room
Even though New Haven’s contested mayoral election between three-term incumbent Mayor Toni Harp and Democratic nominee Justin Elicker is less than two weeks away, not a single speaker over the course of the gala’s entire lineup mentioned the race.
Morrison thanked all of the alders in the room. She thanked all of the members in the state delegation in the room. She thanked all of the elected officials in the room. She even thanked someone running for Stratford’s Town Council.
She didn’t once mention Mayor Harp, who was listed on the program’s agenda as slated to give opening remarks for the gala but, apparently, did not show up to the event.
She didn’t once mention Elicker, who did attend the fundraiser with his wife and his campaign manager and sat with a handful of alders and supporters at a table towards the back of the room.
Elicker handily defeated Harp by 16 percentage points in September’s Democratic Party primary. He will face off against Harp on Nov. 5 as the latter runs on the third-party Working Families line. A majority of the alders backed Harp in the primary.
The only person to mention Harp during the entire public speaking portion of the program was Marks, in a noticeably awkward exchange towards the end of New Haven Rising receiving its award.
After talking briefly with local attorney Alex Taubes, who attended the fundraiser along with fellow Harp campaign supporter Emma Jones, Marks returned to the podium alongside Morrison and in front of the two dozen New Haven Rising members.
Marks’ group had endorsed and campaigned for Harp in the primary. After Harp lost the primary, Marks helped lead a “unity rally” for Elicker alongside a number of high-profile Connecticut Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
“What are you looking at me for?” Morrison asked as she prepared to hand the mic over to Marks. “Reverend Scott’s looking at me, and I’m looking at him,” she told the crowd with a smile.
“I just wanted to say quickly,” Marks said, “that the Black and Hispanic Caucus, the entire Board of Alders, Mayor Toni Harp, worked tirelessly to win the jobs campaign. She stood with us during those tough times. We look forward to continuing to fight, to continue to do the things that we need to do.”
And that was that.
