Lisa Deane speaks this month at overdose awareness event at state Capitol.
A woman who lost her 23-year-old son to a fentanyl overdose in 2018 has launched a campaign to provide scholarships for trade school education as an alternative for kids who might otherwise migrate into the deadly drug life.
She intends to offer the $1,000 scholarships dedicated to a kid in each of New Haven’s neighborhoods, beginning with Hill South.
That woman is Lisa Deane. She kicked off her initiative in memory of her child, Joe Deane, putting out the word and the scholarship application information at Wednesday night’s Hill South Community Management Team (CMT) meeting.
The gathering drew 25 participants via the Zoom teleconferencing app and was hosted by CMT Chair Sarah McIver.
“I wanted to do something to honor my son Joe, who was taken from us from an overdose of fentanyl,” Deane told the group.
The scholarship program — which Deane has developed with Hill South District Manager Sgt. Justin Marshall, CMT Chair McIver, and the CMT member Thomasina Shaw — is part of an overall initiative which she established after her son’s death.
It’s called Demand Zero. Its aim, she said, is “to help New Haven to fight the overdose epidemic.”
After raising money on the Shoreline, where she lives and runs a business, Deane last year donated two police dogs and a canine-quipped police cruiser to the New Haven Police Department. Deane has also been instrumental in the commissioning of a sculpture in Hartford to memorialize people who have died of opioid overdose.
Deane, Demand Zero, and other groups were also key advocates in the passage last year of Connecticut House Bill 5524, which legislates stiffer penalties for the sale of fentanyl.
As part of her group ‘s mission to combat the drug trade in New Haven County, Deane said she wants to send the message to younger kids that “drug dealing doesn’t have to be a way of life.”
The idea of offering the scholarship in the neighborhood and for trade school education came through Deane’s consultations with Thomasina Shaw and others such as Project Longevity’s Stacy Spell.
Deane met them when then-New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell, after Joe’s death, suggested she come to CompStat, the police department’s regular public gathering to review crime trends and strategies to address them.
The scholarship application involves a short questionnaire asking how opioids are affecting the applicant’s life. The applications can be obtained through Deane’s Facebook page, and through guidance counselors at the city’s high schools, whom Deane is in the process of reaching out to.
The deadline is April 30. The scholarship award is to be announced in June, beginning next year. She said she hopes at that time to have one organized in each of the city’s neighborhoods following the pattern of the community management/policing districts. Next up will be the Hill North.
Why begin with the Hill?
The two officers who attended to her son — Joshua Castellano and Jeremy Mastroianni — “went above and beyond,” Deane recalled in a phone conversation after the meeting.
“They were incredibly compassionate and respectful. We’ve stayed in touch. We love these guys. And they were officers from the Hill,” she recalled.
“I’m thrilled to be able to do this,” she added.
Deane’s offer was received warmly by the Hill South team participants. Wilson Branch Librarian Luis Chavez-Brumell offered to post notices and flyers and to help Deane get the word out to the high schools and to the community.
Lisa Deane is an exceptional individual with a fantastic idea and follow through.
Wouldn't it be equally fantastic if BLM with all it's millions would match each and every scholarship Lisa Deane gives to kids in New Haven.