Juneteenth celebration at Carver!
On Saturday, June 10, 2017, WNLK 1350 AM and JEH-Productions invited everyone near and far to join together at the Carver Community Center to celebrate Juneteenth!
See more photos of our Juneteenth celebration here at our Facebook album!
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is a holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, and more generally the emancipation of slaves throughout the Confederate South. Celebrated on June 19, the word is a combination of "June" and "nineteenth". Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states.
The holiday is observed primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and readings by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou. Celebrations may include parades, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.
2017 Carver Testimonial Dinner Photos!
Each year, the Carver Foundation of Norwalk awards Carver students, including current college students, with scholarships and recognition. We also recognized our Volunteer of the Year, High School Volunteer of the Year, and our College Graduate of the Year. We honor all our college graduates, high school graduates, most improved students of the year, and many other levels of graduation and achievement. Dozens of young people and their proud parents came together at the Carver Community Center for our Annual Testimonial Dinner on Friday, June 9, 2017.
HERE ARE THE NEARLY 150 PHOTOS OF THAT EVENING AWARD CEREMONY!
Darien Rowayton Bank leaders visit Carver
Darien Rowayton Bank was a major sponsor of our recent Hometown Love 2 community event at the Carver Community Center. Robert Mantilia, Pat Smith and Malcolm Hall visited the Carver Community Center to learn more about our kids and the work they do here to advance their academic careers.
Darien Rowayton Bank is a bank with hometown roots!
At Darien Rowayton Bank and at their branches, the bank offers the financial services you expect, with the incredible conveniences, safety and personal attention. The bank also offers low rate student loan refinancing for alumni of a Bachelors or Graduate degree program or parents of Bachelor degree holders.
The bank supports many worthy organizations in our community. Their commitments include support of cultural institutions, sports programs and civic associations providing tremendous value and service to the community. In addition, their Rowayton branch conference room is available to community organizations looking for meeting space on an as-needed basis.
Thank you, Darien Rowayton Bank!
Standing with Carver students, (L-R) Joe Gallagher, Carver's Director of Philanthropy; Robert Mantilia, SVP; Malcolm Hall, Business Development Officer; and Pat Smith, Rowayton Branch Bank Manager
Deloitte Impact Day 2017 Transforms the Carver Community Center!
Deloitte’s annual day of service—Impact Day—is a longstanding tradition both globally and at Carver. The Impact Day at Carver is led by Deloitte employee and member of the Carver Board of Directors, and also Carver's Treasurer, Jude Earl Alaba!
SEE THE PHOTOS HERE at our Facebook photo album page.
Today is a celebration of Deloitte’s year-round commitment to collectively making an impact that matters in our communities. It’s also one of the top reasons cited for why Deloitte was ranked No. 6 by Fortune and Great Place to Work on their 2017 list of the “50 Best Workplaces for Giving Back.”
On Impact Day, Deloitte professionals and leaders come together in 80 cities across the country to work on more than 1,000 projects for nearly 190,000 collective hours of service. At Carver, Deloitte volunteers refurbished the inside and outside of the Carver Community Center!
Together, they help tackle community and societal challenges on Impact Day—and year-round. Through these efforts, they focus on helping to strengthen our communities—whether it’s helping diverse, underserved groups reach their full potential or assisting community organizations—which in turn can help strengthen America’s future workforce and its economy.
Deloitte’s research helps show the link between Impact Day—as well as their year-round volunteerism programs—and leadership development. The results of Deloitte’s 2016 Impact Survey of hiring influencers indicated that corporate volunteer programs might be able to help employees develop stronger professional and leadership skill sets and better prepare employees for leadership roles:
- 92 percent of respondents agreed that volunteering improves employees’ broader professional skill sets
- 92 percent of respondents agreed that volunteering is an effective way to improve leadership skills
And they know from a separate survey of their professionals who participate in Impact Day that they value the experience. In their 2016 survey of Impact Day participants:
- 88 percent said they would participate in Impact Day again
- 87 percent said they would recommend Impact Day volunteering to a colleague
- 83 percent said Impact Day increased their impression of Deloitte as being a socially minded organization
- 81 percent said Impact Day increased their pride in working for Deloitte
Making an impact that matters is at the core of what they do at Deloitte -- and the Carver community is grateful!
Carver 2017 Testimonial Dinner, tonight, 6-8PM!
Help Halstead Real Estate Feed Student Success!
We are proud of Carver's partnership with Halstead Real Estate on many projects. We write today to bring your attention to Halstead Real Estate's partnership with The Pantry @ NCC to help them alleviate the barriers of food insecurity so students can remain in school, and ultimately, earn their degrees.
Food insecurity has increasingly become an issue on college and university campuses across the country with some data showing 39-59% of college student experience food insecurity - exceeding the national average and having negative effects on a student’s GPA, levels of energy, and concentration. And while there may be community resources available, it may be difficult to access them due to transportation or scheduling, or these resources are not able to accommodate students based on their eligibility guidelines. Bringing a food supply to the NCC campus eliminates some of the barriers students may face with outside sources and encourages academic success.
What Do We Need?
While we receive a variety of items here is a list of the items most needed and used:
- rice (5 lb bags are best);
- bags of beans (especially black & pinto);
- baking mixes (pancake, cake muffin, jiffy mix); - flour
- cereals & oatmeal;
- grab and go items - snacks
- condiments (mayo, ketchup)
- peanut butter, jelly
- oils (vegetable, canola, olive)
- spices (salt, seasoning)
- apple sauce, canned fruit, fruit cups;
- pasta & pasta sauce;
- canned meats (chicken, beef, fish); - progressive soup
- coffee/tea;
- juice (100% juice preferred);
- shampoo & conditioner; - toothpaste & deodorant; - toothbrushes & floss
- wipes
- lotion
- paper goods (all kinds);
- laundry and cleaning products.
Please bring donations of non-perishable items to one of our offices:
379 POST ROAD EAST, WESTPORT 21 RIVER ROAD, WILTON
#FeedingStudentSuccess
Join us!
Op-Ed in The Boston Globe: After-School Programs are a Lifeline for Kids and Parents
By Lawrence H. Summers and Emily McCann JUNE 05, 2017 See the op-ed here at The Boston Globe.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has announced its first full budget, which calls for the elimination of federal funding for after-school and summer programs for low-income communities, known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
This cut would have drastic effects for working families. Federal funding for after-school programming supports 1.1 million students nationwide. An overwhelming body of evidence says that these programs help to close the opportunity gap in education, increase student academic and behavioral outcomes, and reduce school absences.
These programs are often a lifeline for working parents, especially working mothers. As Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen recently observed, programs that enable women to balance work and family life help foster greater workforce participation, which has real economic consequences: Increases in women’s workforce participation from 1948-1990 expanded the potential growth rate of real GDP by a half percentage point per year.
Federal investments in after-school programs yield a significant return on investment. The total cost of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is only $1.2 billion, approximately 0.2 percent of total federal spending, and only one-20th the expected cost of Trump’s border wall. Unlike the wall, federal investments in after-school programs yield a 3-to-1 return, according to state and national reports, by increasing students’ earning potential and reducing crime and other social safety net expenses.
At Citizen Schools, a national after-school organization that serves 5,000 students in five states, we have seen firsthand the difference that these programs make in young people’s lives. Consider a student named Nelson, who attends Joseph A. Browne Middle School in Chelsea. Nelson has struggled during the traditional school day. His mother works two jobs. She couldn’t afford the academic and extracurricular supports that Citizen Schools makes possible, so she relies on federal funding to ensure that Nelson is in a safe, enriching space after school. That matters, because these supports help change a student’s academic trajectory: On average, students at Citizen Schools are 25 percent more likely to go to college and twice as likely to graduate with a four-year college degree, as compared with their peers. At Citizen Schools, Nelson has thrived.
Even for those of us not currently juggling the demands of our children’s education with the obligations of work, we need to ask ourselves, as a society: Do we have a responsibility to help educate our neighbor’s children? Among those members of Congress who ultimately will be responsible for accepting or rejecting the administration’s proposal, we hope that the answer is a resounding “yes.”
We need to recognize as a nation that education is about more than the school day and school year. It is about what happens before children are ready to enter school, what happens during half the days in the year they are not in school, what happens after school ends and before a parent comes home, and about how students transition from school to work. Yes, school reform is essential. But it is not enough to meet the challenge of opportunity for the next generation. We must work more broadly to assure adequate education for all our kids.
The reality is that a significant majority of Americans support federal funding for after-school programs because those programs measurably benefit students, working families, and the broader economy — and that’s good for all of us.
Lawrence H. Summers is president emeritus of Harvard University and former secretary of the US Treasury. He chairs the Board of Citizen Schools. Emily McCann is the CEO of Citizen Schools.