Early Wednesday morning Quinnipiac University students received an email informing them that all classes after 12 p.m. would be cancelled due to the impending snow storm.
Snow has yet to fall in a heavy manner today. However, www.weather.com is remaining steady in predicting that the surrounding Quinnipiac area will receive snow this evening and through the night.
All Quinnipiac University offices will close at noon. This story will be updated as it develops.
Late Monday night, residents at Quinnipiac University’s Mount Carmel campus experienced power outages that lasted into Tuesday afternoon.
Students first received an email at 11:27 p.m. on Monday with an update regarding the power outages.
As the severity escalated, students in both the Hill and Village resident halls were instructed to evacuate for the night in the event that the power was not returned to them by morning.
Today just before noon, students received an update on a possible solution.
At approximately 2:40 p.m on Tuesday students received another email that, in summation, stated that the problem was not yet dealt with.
This story will be updated accordingly as more details emerge throughout the day.
In this podcast, I share the stories of three people who have all suffered from mental health issues. I also interview a counselor at Quinnipiac University and students from around the campus to get their perspectives about mental health problems. This project is devoted to encouraging people to become more aware of what people may be going through, as well as what they can do to help them.
Newhallville community members finally have access to the $1 million federal grant it has waited two years to use.
By Grace Manthey
A Christmas tree on Shelton Avenue lit up what is now called the “Learning Corridor” on the Farmington Canal in Newhallville, New Haven, on a chilly December evening. To the left of the tree a small crowd huddled around a table with vats of hot chocolate. Conversation and laughter warmed the winter air as members of the community celebrated the holidays.
But this “Newhallville Winter Extravaganza” wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago, at least not at the Learning Corridor. According to Jeanette Sykes, who grew up in Newhallville and is a member of the Newhallville Management Team, this area used to be called the “mud hole,” and was a hotbed for shootings.
“That used to be a really bad area, but now we have a local guy who comes to cut the grass, we put some flowers out…[it’s] a big piece in our community which it wasn’t before,” Sykes said.
An entrance to the Farmington Canal near Shelton Avenue.
From 2011 to April 2014, Newhallville had two to three times the city crime rate in major violent crime categories. The Learning Corridor transformation is just one example of how residents working on the Newhallville Safe Neighborhood Initiative (NSNI) are trying to reduce that number.
And now the NSNI has a $1 million federal grant to work with.
At the end of October, after two years of meetings, drafts and planning, the Department of Justice approved the grant for implementation.
Over half of the usable budget (minus employee benefits and expenses) will be going to youth-oriented programs, which offer mentoring programs, employment opportunities, and activities designed to keep kids off the street. The grant will give over $200,000 to organizations like the Promised Land Group, the NAFI Youth Police Initiative, the Newhallville Neighborhood Corporation, The Perfect Blend Mentoring Program, Newhallville YouthStat and Newhallville Ambassadors Program over the next two years.
The community members working on the initiative will give the remaining usable funds to community policing and beautification programs, such as the Neighborhood Housing Services and sub-grants aimed at violent “hot spots” and “community cohesion projects through a competitive mini-grant process.” Also, the grant will give to community programing, like the holiday party at the Learning Corridor.
Finally, the Farmington Canal will get a makeover, courtesy of the Byrne Grant. Funding will allow for more lighting and cameras, as well as fixed workout equipment and chess tables.
Roll over each pie title to learn more about what each category represents.
Residents say that positive changes seem to be coming out of the grant. But it’s been a long wait that has had its challenges.
The grant application was originally submitted on May 6, 2014. Planning officially began in October of the same year. A few months later in January 2015, it was approved by the New Haven Board of Alders.
But the approval process was nowhere near finished, according to New Haven Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett.
“Ordinarily when you write a grant…you say I’m gonna do all these prescriptive things and they give you the money and then you have to do it. That’s not what happens here,” Bartlett said.
According to Bartlett, the approval process for grants like the Byrne grant are usually long. But while the city worked with the DOJ to finalize the planning and budget for the grant, the DOJ expected officials to start building “community cohesion” to create support for the initiative and the grant.
“These grants are targeted toward neighborhoods that are systemically dysfunctional…[with] lots of problems on both the political level as well as dealing with difficult demographics. And a lot of times some of Byrne Grant communities, you know, they don’t even want the money. We actually faced that question here in New Haven,” he said.
Bartlett said a lot of it has to do with “Yale fatigue.” With Yale being so close and such a high profile university, many people in communities like Newhallville feel like “lab rats” when grant money comes through, and they feel like a lot of the research is more about helping the university than helping the people.
To fight that “Yale fatigue,” and build community cohesion, Bartlett and the city were then forced to “do some of the work without the money.”
In October 2015, one year after planning had officially started, Bartlett hired Arthur Edwards as project manager for the initiative. As a native of Newhallville, Edwards played an important role in building trust between community members and city officials.
“I saw it as an opportunity to be that person to really facilitate positive change in Newhallville … We already knew that there was a trust factor on several levels that would have to be worked out … I thought I would be a great fit being from the area and knowing a lot of the residents in Newhallville,” Edwards said.
“I stayed focused on the fact that collaboration is key, and the only way that we are going to get change is through a collective effort,” he continued.
To facilitate that “collective effort,” Edwards set up a governance council of 13 people to serve as his advisors and representatives of the Newhallville community. The council included three alders, leaders from the Newhallville Management Team, the Board of Education, religious leaders and regular community members.
Edwards and the council continued the work that Bartlett started.
So while working with an organization called the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a non-profit community development financial institution, to get approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, Edwards and Bartlett engaged with young people, started a program called YouthStat, invested in beautification projects around “hot spots” like the Farmington Canal, started a clean streets initiative and worked with the New Haven Police Department. All of this to prove the long term effects to the DOJ.
“You’re basically making an argument in writing on paper that what you’re doing is going to have a lasting impact on those hot spots and somehow you’re going to alleviate the hot spots in the neighborhood and that’s going to last beyond the two years and the million dollars,” Bartlett said.
For Bartlett, Edwards, Sykes and the rest of the governance council, the decision of how to divvy up the money to ensure sustainability in the community wasn’t an easy one.
“The biggest challenge for me was the communication between various governments … again you’re talking city to federal … the turnaround for information was very challenging and frustrating at times,” said Edwards.
But it wasn’t just communication between city and federal departments that hindered a smooth planning period.
“Everyone was so passionate about what they believe in,” Sykes said. In community meetings the governance council held about the grant, Sykes said there were definitely arguments over whether the money should be spent on elderly, youth, redevelopment or activities. However Sykes assured the community members that no matter what the money was spent on, “everything intertwines.”
“I said to them even if you do a youth program or a youth workshop, a youth workshop can help the elderly. What about the elderly people in our community that still have their houses but they can’t do their lawn? Or they can’t do the snow removing? Well maybe that’s a job we can develop for a young person to do,” Sykes said.
She continued and said that once the community was able to refocus the passion to sustainability, that was when the transition become smoother.
“We do have a lot of great organizations. And a lot of little organizations that have been around for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. We went wow! You’ve been doing this all this time? Okay well you need to come to the table,” Sykes said.
It may be difficult, though, to conclude how much this initiative has helped curb crime in the neighborhood. According to crime data from the New Haven Police Department, between 2015 and 2016 violent crime in police district seven, where Newhallville falls, actually rose from 11 percent to 14 percent relative to city-wide violent crime rates.
Up to December 3, 2017, however, the total relative violent crime rates did drop one percentage point to 13%. And after a spike in 2015, total crime in the district seems to be dropping. (See chart)
Numbers based on data collected from the New Haven Police Department.
But the primary goal of the initiative and the grant is long-term sustainability, and implementation only started a relatively short time ago. So despite the fact that according to Sykes, talks of this initiative started nearly a decade ago, seeing a significant difference in a year may not be realistic.
“I think we need to get the bad rep off of us,” Sykes said. “I think that every community has their strength and every community has things that they can work on. And I think when people hear Newhallville they automatically go to the negative. And it’s not all negative. [There’s] a lot of positive that happens in Newhallville.”
By investing the positive aspects of Newhallville: the youth, and the long-lasting projects, community leaders hope the DOJ and city goal of sustainability will become a reality. According to Bartlett, in two years “a million dollars is not that much money. So what you’re doing, you want to be able to sustain it so that there’s real and lasting transformation.”
Because at the end of the day, according to Sykes, “Our message is we are committed to our community, we love Newhallville and it’s not just a safe haven for us, it’s a loving community.”
Above, it is easy to see the time it took for the DOJ to approve the grant, in comparison to when New Haven officials originally submitted the application.
I want to give myself a gold star for not slipping on ice today.
My mood Wednesday shifted from “early morning snow day excitement” to “wow, I’m going to make a snowman!” to the final, worn down stage of “today is miserable.”
Snow days are supposed to be fun— at least, that’s what television always told me. As a native Floridian, born and raised in the Sunshine State, I looked at snow with the same mythological aura as something out of The Odyssey. My state rarely experienced the white fluffy stuff, and therefore never knew much, if anything, about the negative side to a snow storm.
We pictured sledding and snowball fights, not shoveling and trees falling. Besides, palm trees only fall in hurricanes where I’m from.
My first snow day, with the Stanley Cup of snow. For winners only, of course.
How much of a positive is snow in Florida? My junior year in high school, back in Tampa, the weather reached a frigid 27 degrees. For a city that bundled up when the thermometer dipped to the 60s, this was an all-time evil. However, when an army of down jackets and snow boots trudged through the gates of my school, we had to stop and stare at something few of us had ever seen.
Snow? Not even close.
The baseball field, part of our little downtown Tampa campus, was covered in dew. Frozen dew.
A mass of students spent the day trying to make a single snowball out of frozen dew.
When I came up to Quinnipiac, I mentally prepared myself for snow. I pictured warm and rosy thoughts of sledding with friends, skating on frozen ponds, and the typical TV nonsense that gets thrown your way.
My first snow day was exactly that: snowmen were made and subsequently torn asunder, hills were shredded from cafeteria trays and trash can lids, and snowballs were— finally— made.
An alternative spring break trip for Quinnipiac students to Battle Creek, Michigan has been canceled due to low participation. Vincent Contrucci, the director of the ffice of community service, said that this is the first time he has had to cancel a trip in his 11 years of working at Quinnipiac.
Contrucci said that he has been able to send groups of Quinnipiac students to the Habitat for Humanity branch in Battle Creek for the past eight years, but this year “it just didn’t work out.”
“Even though I had 20 students apply, it didn’t mean that all students accepted invitations to participate on the trip. I had people that dropped out, so ultimately I had to cancel one of the trips,” said Contrucci.
Contrucci said there has been a decline in students interested in the trips in recent years, though he doesn’t know why.
In its most recent data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said that only 18.4 percent of individuals aged 20 to 24 volunteered in 2015, while individuals aged 35 to 44 volunteered the most with 28.9 percent.
The reason why the school decided not to send just a small group was due to a matter of resources. Matt Kurz, assistant dean of student affairs for campus life, said that the cost of each trip is determined by how many students are going.
That trip budget would be used to pay for food and lodging, and the trip is more cost-efficient if more students go. He added that only sending along a few people wouldn’t have enough of an impact on the construction work for the trip.
Kurz said that this is an unusual situation.
“At previous institutions that I’ve worked at, going on an alternative spring break trip is very highly valued. Students are excited, (they) want to go and want to participate,” said Kurz.
Some Quinnipiac students, such as junior Charissa-Joy Okang, did not notice the trip’s promotional emails or posters.
“I don’t look at the posters anyway,” Okang said. “Email (depends on) who it’s coming from. I wouldn’t remember getting an email.”
Kurz agreed, illustrating his perspective on selling the idea of the trip to students.
“If I’m going to buy a car,” said Kurz, “the car salesman is going to say ‘Hey! This car is great and here are all the reasons you should buy it.’ But I know I’m working with a car salesman that has an interest in me buying that car.”
“If a friend of mine says ‘Hey! I own a Subaru, and Subarus are great for these reasons’ I’m more likely to listen to that friend.”
Okang agreed with Kurz’s logic.
“I think If you had actual students… talking about their actual experiences, (it would) be more like ‘I wanna do that too’ rather than coming from an email,” she said.
Okang, a biology major, will travel to the Dominican Republic as part of her Global Public Health minor. She looked forward to being able to help people while experiencing a Spanish-speaking country. When she learned about the minor, she attended a presentation with a friend.
“We met some of the people who went on the trips… they made it very exciting to join them,” Okang said.
Sophomore Nadia Filipic said that, as a sister of Kappa Delta, she regularly does community service with the Children’s Center of Hamden and the Girl Scouts. She added that serving others is important.
“I think we all have to try and help people out and make the world a better place. Whatever you can do to help… it’s a good thing,” said Filipic.
With the cancellation, Contrucci was concerned about students not wanting to get out of their comfort zone.
“Part of the reason to go to college is to experience new things, and if you’re only sticking with the familiar, you’re not growing,” said Contrucci.
Contrucci said that the students who participated in previous trips have come back to Quinnipiac “enthusiastic” about the experience, especially since they get to learn something in a new way. He added that going on a service trip when he was in college was memorable.
“It’s one of the things that really sticks out that I recall and remember. It influenced my perceptions about the homeless population in the United States,” said Contrucci.
As for the future of the alternative spring break trip at Quinnipiac, Contrucci isn’t sure what will happen. In the meantime, the other trip to assist Habitat for Humanity in Cornelius, North Carolina will commence.
“I hope that it’s successful as (it has) been in the past, that the students have a positive experience and the affiliate has a positive experience with the team that they receive,” said Contrucci.
Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity Deutschland
One of the many trees knocked over by the wind at QU after Wednesday’s storm.
Photo by Bill Ruocco
A tree down in an HQ Press reporter’s road
Photo by Rob McGreevy.
HQ Press reporter Rob McGreevy couldn’t make it to class today because of this tree
Photo by Rob McGreevy
Rugby coach Becky Carlson’s driveway in Guilford, CT
Photo by Becky Carlson. Her dog could get out of her driveway, but she had to cut the trees with a chainsaw.
As the snow picked up Wednesday morning, officials in Hamden closed “non-essential” offices as of 12 p.m on March 7. These include the government center, the memorial town hall and libraries, according to the Town of Hamden Facebook page.
Hamden Public Schools Superintendent Jody Goeler announced on Twitter that the district closed all schools at around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Hamden Public Schools are closed today, Wednesday, March 7th. Editorial note: I hate March. Stay safe.
Quinnipiac University, Southern Connecticut State University and Albertus Magnus College all cancelled classes as well.
City officials also issued a parking ban, which prohibits parking on any odd-numbered sides of streets. Additionally, the city encouraged residents not to shovel snow from their private driveways onto streets. Violators risk a fine up to $50 for either offense.
Courtesy of the Town of Hamden
In spite of the closings, Hamden officials announced the opening of 24-hour warning centers at the Police Department and Hamden Fire Stations.
Contact Fire Chief Berardesca’s office at 203-407-5880 for more information, and call 911 in case of emergency.
The Connecticut Citizen’s Defense League logo, courtesy of the CCDL official website.
By Bill Ruocco
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, both Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods made efforts towards slowing their sales of firearms. Walmart, America’s largest gun supplier, adjusted the age requirement to 21 in order to buy any firearm. Dick’s made the move to completely cease the sale of any assault rifles.
To learn more about the situation with Dick’s and Walmart, click here.
There is no shortage of these super-stores that sell firearms in Connecticut. Take a look for yourself, the map below contains every Dicks Sporting Goods and Walmart in Connecticut that sells firearms.
Locally this announcement did not send shockwaves of any sort given Connecticut Dick’s Sporting Goods have not sold assault rifles since the tragedy of Sandy Hook.
“So-called ‘assault rifles’ have been banned already in Connecticut back in 2013,” said Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League. “The policy to up the age to 21 years on up was more of a surprise.”
Members of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, or CCDL. Photo courtesy of the CCDL official website.
Wilson is not the only individual who commonly puts the words “assault rifle” in quotations these days. In the gun community, a lot of the frustration is geared towards the broad definition of an “assault rifle” that is quickly placing bans on many firearms that seemed relatively tame and very safe in their eyes.
The remaining frustration is a driving idea that most gun enthusiasts share.
“Our job as a gun rights organization is to educate the public at large about how little more laws would have little effect on such outcomes,” said Wilson. “Remember, criminals bent on murder do not really care about the laws.”
In the minds of most who are passionate about firearms, the recent laws and bans are virtually pointless.
Leaders in organizations specific to gun rights are not the only local individuals who have grown weary of regulations on firearms.
After a quick visit to Blue Trail Range Gun Store in Wallingford, Conn. it was quickly apparent how people feel.
“The key word in the Second Amendment is infringed,” one anonymous individual stated, “That means it cannot be touched at all.”
The man also said, in so many words, that once we give up one of our rights, we are vulnerable to give up everything else.
The York Hill campus, courtesy of Quinnipiac’s website
By Tatyana Youssef
As Quinnipiac reaches its goal of 7,000 undergraduate students, the student body is experiencing changes in the traditional housing structure. More students are being fit into the 15 different residential areas on York Hill and Mount Carmel campus, while many others are living in off-campus options such as Quinnipiac owned houses or apartments. “Approximately 4,800 students live in university-owned housing in traditional residence halls, suites, apartments and off-campus houses,” according to the university’s website.” With housing selection approaching, students are making decisions with the limited options and new changes.
In early 2017, Quinnipiac announced a variety of changes to the housing structure aimed at reducing the crowding being experienced in some dorms due to the increasing size of incoming classes. There is no longer enough room for all sophomores and freshmen to live on Mount Carmel campus, which is within walking distance of classes.
Current senior and Vice President of the Student Government Association Jacqueline Schmedel has seen drastic changes in housing since she began her experience at Quinnipiac. She says, “I have seen freshmen packed into common rooms, students temporarily displaced due to combusting generators, and underclassmen being sent up to York Hill because there isn’t enough space on campus to accommodate them.”
Good thing Quinnipiac ran out of Housing for over 100 sophomores…… Including myself
Some sophomores are currently living on York Hill, a campus originally intended for upperclassmen. While the university’s website states, “The Crescent and Westview residence hall is one of our newest residence halls, providing housing for upperclassmen,” this does not hold true for the many sophomores living in Crescent dorms.
Alongside freshman dorms of Commons, Ledges, Mountainview, Irma, Dana and Larson, the rise in populations opened up Judge Philip Troup Hall, a former sophomore housing option, as a freshman dorm.
Junior options expanded on York Hill as the former senior dorm, Townhouses, now houses six juniors each. Whitney Village, a living option off campus in a condominium style is now open for juniors.
For many students, living on campus is seen as a privilege entering their first two years at Quinnipiac. When news broke of the sophomore separation, students were disappointed and feared losing their sense of community tied to the Mount Carmel campus. Whitney Leyland, a sophomore psychology major, recalls what her peers say about the York experience. “I haven’t heard of it being stressful on York. Some of my friends actually really like it.”
Charlotte Gardner, a sophomore journalism major, was nervous to find out her higher lottery number left her with a crescent room option on York Hill last spring semester. This year, she is satisfied with the experience, “I love living on York. I’m so much more relaxed and calm and not as anxious as I am when I’m on Main (Mount Carmel campus)- it really feels like I’m coming home as opposed to a dorm.”
Students have expressed frustration with the random “lottery system” through which housing numbers are assigned. Freshman health science major Gisselle Acevedo vocalizes her annoyance with the current housing process, describing the experience as “too competitive.” She questions the temporary solutions combatting the influx of incoming students accepted this year. “I don’t like how for most of the good rooms it’s seven people. What is the point of a forced triple? Why not make rooms with 8 people and have equal space?”
Whitney Leyland, currently living in Sahlin on the Mount Carmel campus, understands the temporary solutions but sees what makes it so complicated for the students new to the process. “The whole lottery system is chaotic because after people start to get their housing situations set up, people have to get kicked out to fit other styles.” In an ideal world, she believes having the same number of students in each room allows the housing selection process to run smoother. “Having the same amount live together would alleviate the stress of the possibility of getting kicked out and everyone would know how many they needed to fill the room.”
One administrator proposed a different idea when approaching the random lottery housing process. Erin Twomey Provistalis, Assistant Director of Student Affairs, says “I think there should be a way for students who get a certain GPA, are involved outside the classroom, pay their bills on-time, etc. get preference in the lottery.” With the unfairness that stems from random lottery, Twomey would “love to see a system that rewards our students who are really making an impact at Quinnipiac.”
When it was being constructed in 2010, the York Hill campus was originally approved to have several more dorms in addition to the ones that were built. While these dorms were never constructed, President Lahey revealed in Fall of 2017 that Quinnipiac was beginning the process of applying for permits to begin constructing a new 220-room dorm on the York Hill Campus. The addition of this new building could alleviate much of the stress experienced during the housing process by giving students more modern and attractive options.
The contest’s theme this year, “Compassion,” is a common thread throughout the university. Research and Writing Institute director, Paul Pasquaretta, who carefully combed through every submission, said the value has been a focus since 2016.
“I think it has something to do with the fact that life is stressful and difficult. One way to help each other is the ability to respond compassionately to each other and have the capacity for that feeling,” Pasquaretta said.
Contest winner and QU senior Danielle Radeke
WAC is a common program among universities, according to psychology Professor Christopher Hakala, the executive director for the Center for Teaching and Learning. It’s goal is to help faculty and students use their experiences in different classes to make their writing stronger.
Hakala says Quinnipiac does it better than many other schools.
“Instead of making it extra work we make it more of a process. We encourage students to use writing as a tool to think about things differently,” he said.
Hakala admitted that many students don’t necessarily always enjoy the program, but senior Danielle Radeke said her experiences as a nursing major has made a big difference on the way she thinks about writing.
“My patient experiences have opened my eyes to the reality that everyone has a story,” Radeke said. “I have also witnessed how one person bearing the burden with the person grieving really lightens the load. So nursing has made me who I am as a person and a writer.”
Radeke has been doing theater since she was six, and plans to continue after college in addition to her nursing career. She submitted a play she wrote for one of her theater classes to the WAC contest, called “Colby’s Trucks.”
Pasquaretta said Radeke’s play stood out because she was able bring together lots of different parts of her education.
Contest winner and QU freshman Maily Tran
As a senior, Radeke has been able to refine her interdisciplinary techniques. Another winner, physical therapy major Maily Tran said because she is a freshman she hasn’t taken many classes related to her major yet. But her other classes have opened her eyes to recognizing and understanding different experiences.
“No matter who we are, different ages, from different backgrounds, we can experience suffering in various forms. But, as humans, compassion can always to be there to help ease that suffering,” Tran said about the main theme of her work.
She said much of her inspiration came from her Introduction to Honors course, a zero credit class taken by all freshman honors students in to supplement their First Year Seminar. For class they were required to attend a presentation led by Scarlett Lewis, the mother of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis.
“She emphasized the importance of compassion, among other factors such as social emotional learning to the development of a happier, healthier population in our world,” Tran said.
Contest winner and QU freshman Jordan Wasylak
The contest’s third winner, Jordan Wasylak, is also a freshman, but a film major. She saw the contest as motivation to do some creative writing.
Wasylak’s piece, “Blue” is a story about the relationship between a young girl and an older homeless man.
“I wanted to emphasize the innocence of children and how, for the most part, they are born with kindness until people tell them to treat certain people differently,” she said.
Wasylak said an English class she took last semester helped her learn to write without fear of messing up. She is now thinking about minoring in English.
The three winners received $150, a gift card to the Quinnipiac Bookstore, and a book related to their winning piece of writing. The QUWAC will schedule a ceremony for the winners later in the spring semester. Pasquaretta said he hopes to have a date early next week.
