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A special shout-out to one of our first youth Community Advocates! Jayden Whitmore will be graduating from P-Tech High School and will be attending Wentworth Institute of Technology in the fall. He will be majoring in Computer Science and Cybersecurity. Thank you for all of your hard work! Good luck!
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In order to best serve Norwalk, we need to recognize its history. As part of our internal race equity work, members of the Norwalk ACTS Backbone Team took a field trip to the Norwalk Historical Society Museum in April. Their exhibit, Destination Norwalk: African-American Migration From The South, 1940-1970 highlights the migration of 5 million black Americans from southern states during the "The Second Migration", from 1940 to 1970, to urban industrial centers of the North, Midwest and West. This mass exodus was spurred on by civil, economic and educational injustices that made up everyday life in the South. As the racial composition of Norwalk changed, the City's political priorities, labor relations, community and cultural expression evolved in these decades of major Civil Rights reforms.
Learn with us! The Norwalk Historical Society Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 12 pm – 4 pm.
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QUARTERLY CONVENING RESOURCES
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Yesterday's convening marked our first time meeting together, in person since December 2019! It was wonderful to be in the same room with so many people and organizations that help us work toward our mission.
Jennifer kicked off the meeting with reflection from over the past two years, followed by presenting two awards within our membership. Reverend Lindsay Curtis presented Board Member Reverend Elizabeth Abel with the Sally Grose Award and Anamilena Moreno, our Community Engagement Coordinator, presented Community Advocate Angel Dorleans with the Ubunto Award. We were thrilled to honor these two incredible women and you can watch their presentations below. Congratulations!
Jesse Buccolo, our Director of Strategy and Operations, walked through updates on our Strategic Plan. Then, MJ Chirrona and Anamilena Moreno gave a glimpse into the Community Engagement Cornerstone, featuring videos and testimonials from our Community Advocates. We presented the new Board Slate and asked for a vote, which was passed. Congratulations to Julie Corbett, Adyna Gamboa, Diamond Sead, and Ken Waller for being voted on by membership to serve on the Norwalk ACTS Board of Directors!
Kirk A. Wesley, of CONECT, talked about Authentic Community Engagement, and members discussed ways their organizations could move forward on the Community Engagement Spectrum.
Jennifer closed the meeting by briefly talking about policy, reminding everyone how policy creates change. Please take a look at the Convening Slides to learn more details about each subject!
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2022 Sally Grose Award Presentation
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2022 Ubuntu Award Presentation
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SOCIAL JUSTICE & RACIAL EQUITY
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As Juneteenth approaches, it is an opportunity for us to recognize June 19th, 1865 as a reminder of the resilience of Black people, the bravery of people of all racial groups who fought to end slavery, and our continued work today of dismantling systemic racism.
Here are 3 ways you can Juneteenth:
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Educate and Reflection
Explore the meaning of the holiday. As a reference, these resources are a great place to start:
Support Black-Owned Businesses
By diverting purchasing power to more Black-owned businesses, you can not only help to strengthen local Black economies — but it can also contribute to shrinking the racial wealth gap, fostering more job creation.
Celebrate Juneteenth Locally
Juneteenth is also a time to rejoice together. This year, Juneteenth will be celebrated on the Norwalk Green on Saturday, June 18 from 4-8 PM.
In observance of Juneteenth, the Norwalk ACTS office will be closed on Monday, June 20, 2022.
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The Connecticut General Assembly’s legislative session wrapped up on May 4th, with our Legislators passing a budget adjustment for the fiscal year 2023 as well as numerous other legislation that provides tremendous support to families in our state.
We applaud the hard work of our Norwalk Legislators, who brought almost $300 million of state funding back to our community. Thank you to Senator Bob Duff and Representatives Lucy Dathan, Travis Simms, Terrie Wood, Chris Perone, and Stephanie Thomas for your hard work this session!
Some highlights of policies passed this session:
- $223 million Toward children’s mental health resources over the next two years
- Expanding Medicaid coverage to children 12 years old and younger, regardless of their immigration status
- Enacting the first-ever state child tax credit, $250 per child, up to 3 children
- Establishing Juneteenth Independence Day as a legal holiday
- Expanding eligibility and access to absentee ballot voting
- Increased Special Education funding to reduce local property tax burdens
- Over $100 million towards child care
- Passed comprehensive data privacy legislation with the strongest data protections for children in the five states with comprehensive data privacy laws.
- Free bus fare and continuation of the 25-cent gas tax through December 1st
We would like to take a moment and thank Representatives Stephanie Thomas, Terrie Wood, and Chris Perone for their service to Norwalk and our state, as they are not seeking re-election to the House of Representatives next year.
2022 Child Tax Rebate Application is Now Open!
For more information visit this page, applications are open through July 31st, 2022.
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YBI’s Community Day will be held on Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 at Veterans Park in Norwalk, and the rain date is Sunday, July 24th.
We invite any provider who is interested in setting up a table at this event. For any questions, please reach out to Anamilena Moreno, at amoreno@norwalkacts.org.
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We will begin to host a series of smaller, targeted meetings based on the early childhood work starting on June 30th. For any who are interested in participating, email Denique at dlewis@norwalkacts.org.
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- Enrollment and district services
- Family and community engagement
- Student wellness
- Language and academic services
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This month's highlights:
- LGBTQ+: why it matters to students, what parents should know about our local data and how to support their kids, and Pride Month events
- Sneak preview of Norwalk's new TEEN NIGHTS OUT initiative
- New FREE teen support programs provided by YBI and Positive Directions
- Summer camps and programs in Norwalk, such as:
- Information on FREE art classes provided by The Norwalk Art Space
- Free LGBTQ+ summer camps for teens and young adults
- Free LGBTQ+ 101 educational programs for teens and for parents
- Youth Business Initiatives (YBI) upcoming basketball tournament
- Healthy options to explore this summer
- Upcoming Summer Concert dates and performers and so much more!
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Please continue to share our resource, the Out of School Time Program Locator, with your networks!
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COLLEGE AND WORKFORCE READINESS
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Norwalk ACTS is grateful for the City's major investment (via American Rescue Plan State grant funding) into the hiring of a Workforce Development Coordinator, who will streamline communication and alignment between stakeholders within Norwalk’s workforce development ecosystem to promote system collaboration.
In partnership with the City of Norwalk, Norwalk ACTS recently co-hosted a workforce development convening to hear stakeholder feedback, build consensus, and strengthen collective commitment to these city-wide workforce development efforts.
In addition, Norwalk ACTS is pleased to announce that it recently received a $10,000 grant from The Bank of America Charitable Foundation to support our collective impact programming infrastructure and partnerships focused on workforce development in Norwalk.
In the next few weeks, Norwalk ACTS will be releasing a job description. Stay tuned!
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INTERESTED IN BECOMING MORE INVOLVED?
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GIVE WHILE YOU SHOP: Are you an Amazon shopper? Set Norwalk ACTS as your selected charity on Amazon Smile, and a portion of every purchase will be donated to transform how a community works. Get started here.
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Norwalk ACTS | [www.norwalkacts.org]
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