Edition 5 of 6 (July 24 – July 30, 2018)

Report compiled by Will Taft, NHS CB&O Summer Fellow

NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES

Community Building and Organizing Weekly Project Report

Community Gardens and Greenspaces

Doreen and Haley continued their work to turn the Hazel
St. garden into a site of community engagement and
gardening programming. They met with Hazel St.
Garden Keeper Mr. Alonzo and Bradley from the Land
Trust on Tuesday (July 24th) to prepare the Learning
Corridor garden for future plantings. On Thursday (July
26nd), they returned to the Learning Corridor garden to
plant squash. Newhallville Ambassadors visited the
Learning Corridor on Friday (July 27th) to decorate the
raised gardening bed containing a pumpkin patch that
Doreen and Haley installed and planted earlier in the
summer.

When rain kept Haley and Doreen out of the Learning

Corridor on Wednesday (July 25th), they brought
Explore.Discover.Create programming to the Harris and
Tucker School. Haley and Doreen made concrete
stepping stones with Harris and Tucker school students.

On Monday (July 30th), 9 Newhallville Ambassadors and

8 students from the Harris and Tucker school
participated in face painting and active outdoor games.
Haley taught the Ambassadors how to paint faces and
they worked together to paint the school student’s faces.
Doreen set up active outdoor games like badminton and
corn hole for the students to play. The event connected
Newhallville young adults with younger students and
provided a space for engaging exercise. Consistent
programing at the Learning Corridor makes healthier
lifestyles more accessible and allows students to have
positive social interactions that build community.

Doreen envisions the Learning Corridor as a public space

where residents are free to introduce programming that
inspires healthier lifestyles. On Sunday (July 29th), doctors
from the Mt. Zion health ministry rode bikes with
Newhallville residents on the Farmington Canal Trail and
lead a conversation on health and wellness. The group of 4
doctors attracted 20 residents for the ride.

The Learning Corridor became an outdoor office for

Doreen this week as she planned future Learning Corridor
developments and events. She met with City Engineer
Giovanni Zinn and Alder Delphine Clyburn to plan the
coming infrastructure upgrades to the greenspace. By
the end of the year, the city will install benches, a table,
streetlights with cameras, a bike repair station, and
outdoor work-out equipment. On Thursday, Doreen met
with Common Ground Mobile Market Manager Kelly
Shreeve to discuss bringing the mobile market to the
Learning Corridor for a combined farmer’s market
rummage sale. At a meeting with community organizers
from New Haven Legal Assistance, Doreen discussed a
survey to collect information for a food mapping of
Newhallville. The survey will help Doreen approximate
the number of SNAP recipients in Newhallville, where
residents buy food now, and what barriers lie between
residents and healthy food. This information will guide Doreen’s
effort to alleviate the food desert in Newhallville through resident-
driven farmer’s markets.

Images
In order of appearance
from top…
1. Haley teaches
students at the Harris
and Tucker school how
to make concrete
garden stepping
stones.
2. Newhallville Ambassadors paint pumpkins on the walls of a raised gardening
bed. The bed contains the pumpkin patch Haley planted with Learning Corridor
visitors earlier in the summer.
3. A Newhallville Ambassador paints a Harris and Tucker school student’s face.
4. Riders participating in the bike ride with doctors event sponsored by Mt. Zion
health ministries cross a bridge on the Farmington Canal Trail.
5. Newhallville Ambassadors assemble a badminton net at the Learning
Corridor.
6. Representatives from NHS, New Haven Legal Assistants,
and the Common Ground Mobile Market meet at the Learning
Corridor to discuss a farmer’s market event. Pastor Donald
Morris (in the bottom right) stopped by to greet the meeting
attendees.
What we are reading this week…
We love to see sustainable storm water management systems
winning awards! Read this article in the Independent about the
award the partners in the bioswale initiative in New Haven
received.

What draws people to parks? In the Community Building and

Organizing Department, we are always looking for way to keep people engaged in greenspaces. This article published
through the Google project Sidewalk Labs suggests risk may play a key role.

Want to get involved? Sign up to volunteer here: https://tinyurl.com/y7dt3lzo