A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with Ann of Metropolitan Business Academy, Michelle (UW's Boost! Program Manager), and Kim Bohen (UW's Director of Educational Initiatives), and I must say that I walked away EMPOWERED!

Higher Heights YEP, Inc. is a local college access program and our area of expertise of college preparation for families.  This year we are expanding our services to include mentoring for young women and men through our HIGHER Men and HIGHER Women Programs.

As a New Haven resident and education advocate, I have been thrilled to see New Haven Public Schools and various other philanthropic and community organizations embracing bold strategies for school improvement. There is a wonderful energy across the city, with adults and youth alike thinking about what it would take to give every student what they need (both academically and financially) to get to and through college successfully. In the spirit of continuing this conversation and learning from successes in other states, my organization, the Connecticut Black Alliance for Educational Options (CT BAEO) is hosting a FREE event next Saturday, February 5, at Yale Law School.

We have two HUD-certified counselors (supported by the United Way) on staff who work with homeowners in danger of foreclosure to find solutions that are affordable for the homeowner and reasonable for the lender.  The process can be long, and often needs to be very creative to make it work.  In one case, we helped a daughter and mother who purchased a property together.

I thought I would share a story of why we need a formal system of communication and collaboration for providing wrap-around supports to New Haven’s youth.

A couple weeks ago, a social worker from one of the schools came to our office to talk about an 8^th grader who was doing extremely poorly in school.  One of the things he told her that he was succeeding at was our Green Jobs Youth Development program.  She found us to find out more, and figure out how we could work together to support him so that he stayed in school.  Because no one could really tell the other exactly  what was going on with the family due to privacy concerns, we worked something out, and committed to stay in touch.  The boy has 2 younger siblings who are in our programs as well, attend the school and are not doing well.

On the evening of December 16th, I watched the Barnard Nature Center at West River Memorial Park bubble with excitement!  Over 30 parents, friends and community members gathered to hear what the Solar Youth participants accomplished this Fall season at our Public Education Forum (PEF).  For the last 10 weeks, our teams of youth from all around the city of New Haven have been exploring their environment and community, engaging in hands-on lessons and activities, hiking the local parks, and building skills to act as stewards to their environment. 

For the last several years, I have advocated for the State of Connecticut's adoption of the Primary Care Case Management model, “PCCM”, for HUSKY, Connecticut’s Medicaid program that provides health coverage for low-income children and families. PCCM does not involve insurance companies or HMOs. Under it, primary care providers are paid extra to coordinate care and keep their patients out of more expensive settings. This Medicaid model could deliver better quality care at a lower cost.

David Newton and I are teaching a course in the Spring aimed at encouraging and training young people to join boards of not for profit organizations. I was talking to one young man named Bob who was interested in the course but not sure if he had the time right now in his life to join a board. He was just starting a family and said he thought life would be less hectic in a few years when the kids were older and he could probably find time to volunteer as a board member then.