Alder Takes Newhallville’s Pandemic Pulse

As Covid-19 sweeps through New Haven again, Delphine Clyburn is knocking on doors to help her community stay strong.

Clyburn, the alder representing Newhallville’s Ward 20, had knocked on Morrison’s door on a crisp mid-October Saturday to request information for a neighborhood-wide survey she created to assess how residents are faring in a time of remote education, record unemployment rates, and a deadly virus.

Clyburn surveyed one Shepard Street block that morning, going door to door and stopping pedestrians who walked by. She had just returned to New Haven from spending the better part of recent months with her newborn grandson in Florida, and said she wanted to take a pulse of how her ward’s needs have evolved since the start of the pandemic.

She expressed particular concern about kids enrolled in online school who might not have the technology or internet access needed to log into class.

Through a Surveymonkey form, she asked questions about each family’s ability to attend school, as well as employment status, voting and census participation, and the issues they felt that the local legislature should be prioritizing. In the process, she wound up connecting with new neighbors whom she hopes to draw further into both neighborhood and civic life.

When Morrison answered the door, she told Clyburn that staying mostly inside hasn’t been too difficult. ​“I’m a homebody,” she said.

Her most pressing concern was the need to provide kids with structured, positive activities in a time when there is little in-person support for young people.

“I don’t know how long I’m gonna stay here,” she said of her apartment. Her kids don’t feel safe on that block.

Clyburn didn’t treat Morrison like a temporary resident. Hearing the passion in Morrison’s voice when the topic of after-school activities for kids came up, she encouraged Morrison to bring her ideas to neighborhood meetings, like the community management team.

“It’s good to be involved in your community,” she said.

“We come together as one, and then we work on it.”

“Put the ​‘neighbor’ back in the ​‘hood,’” Morrison agreed.

Morrison shared that her daughter just started at the Sound School, which has a community service requirement for graduation.

Clyburn offered to put her daughter to work. She said she has taken on high school volunteers in the past, asking them to check on neighbors and go door to door.

“She won’t be bored now,” Clyburn said when Morrison responded enthusiastically.

As she knocked on doors, Clyburn carried a neighborhood newsletter, a voting information sheet, and flyers for free tutoring and food giveaways to distribute to her interlocutors.

When she handed a packet of sheets to Shepard Street resident Louvine Spears, she didn’t expect to receive a stack of papers in exchange: flyers for a prayer-themed event with Spears’ church.

“Whatever I ask God for, He always provides,” Spears told Clyburn. While she suffers from congenitive heart failure, she said, she has been holding up OK during the pandemic.

“It looks like it’s dark here,” Clyburn said, pointing to the treetops outside Spears’ door.

“It is,” Spears affirmed. ​“And the sidewalk needs to be fixed.”

Clyburn jotted down notes on the back of one of the flyers.

“Alder” = ​“Call For Help”

Next door, Rosdely Bello answered the door. A language barrier made it difficult for Bello and Clyburn to communicate. So her three kids — Mandy, Benjamin, and Matthew — came to the doorway to translate between English and Spanish.

Trying to explain what the word ​“alder” means, Clyburn said, ​“if she needs help, I’m the person she calls.”

As they helped Clyburn fill out the survey, the family shared that all three kids were able to log into school.

While walking from house to house, Clyburn met new neighbor Mary Henderson on the street.

Henderson, a home health aide who lost her job when her client’s daughter started working from home due to Covid, said she didn’t need the free tutoring program for her children, who are now all grown. But ​“if they help me get my G.E.D., I’ll take it,” Henderson said.

“You call me about that,” Clyburn replied. She pointed out her phone number on the neighborhood newsletter sheet.

“I’ll call you when I need you,” Henderson said in response.

Voting Rights

Clyburn spontaneously introduced herself to nearby resident Jason DeBois, who was passing by with his son Elijah. The pair agreed to fill out the survey on the spot.

The survey questions revealed that Elijah broke his laptop a few days earlier. He’s been going to a special education school in Waterbury.

Clyburn asked DeBois if he was registered to vote.

“I can’t vote,” DeBois said. ​“I have a felony.”

Clyburn shuffled through her papers to find a voter information sheet.

Have you completed your parole? she asked DeBois.

When DeBois answered that he had, Clyburn nodded. ​“You can vote, then.” She explained that he could contact vote in person at Lincoln Bassett School, or else contact the City Clerk’s Office to obtain an absentee ballot.

At the end of their conversation, Clyburn turned to Elijah.

“I’ll take you to the Learning Corridor,” she promised, referring to the revitalized corner of the Farmington Canal Trail in her ward. Where there’s plenty more community-building work to do.